7 replies to this topic

[Mrt88]

Hi all ,
so I have a few post on the go now at once. I'm looking at getting new engine mounts.
Question is what else do I need ?
Mini spares do mounts with captive bolts. Are these any good?
So I might get them. How many bolts do I need per side ? 5 ?

[tiger99]

They are no good at all, as the captive nuts break loose, another piece of completely amateurish design from the usual source of such things. There are 5 bolts per side, but it is quite rare to have to replace them.

I have always made my own by welding steel self-locking nuts such as the Philidas type to standard mounts. You need to have the mounts in water to do that without damaging the rubber, but it is quite easy. I have done them with a primitive arc welder, and with MIG.

[Woreign]

I will be changing out my engine mounts as well. I also purchased the Mini Spares mounts with the captive bolts. Hopefully I won't have any trouble with them...

[Guess-Works.com]

As an enthusiast, I use to use engine mounts with captive nuts, but as tiger has done, I use to put a couple of welds either side of the nut ( or press fit thread ) to hold them in place.

But now working with cars, and removing and installing more engines that most, I will only use the standard mount, and more importantly the correct sized bolts which makes the job a whole lot easier... More often than not I will remove an engine from a customer car, and there's a right assortment of fixings being used from pan head screws to monkey metal metric nuts and bolts.

An HT Steel 5/16" UNF x 3/4" is the correct bolt, and should be used with a spreader washer, spring washer and a nut on the outside of the frame, bolt poking through in-to-out, not out-to-in, this prevents the bolt falling out if the nut fails.

[A-Cell]

Ditto, I do same as Guessworks. Just not as often! That is to the design intent.

[Vipernoir]

Captive nuts make the job more difficult rather than easier - while lining up the holes in the mount and the subframe you can't poke anything through and lever without knackering the threads.

[tiger99]

Opinions differ. I have always found them to be easier to use, but I remove one of the long through bolts, and loosen the other, that holds the radiator side mount to the alloy adaptor block on the gearcase, so that there is more freedom to move things.

I used to fit the bolts the official way, from above, using a piece of stiff wire, such as gas welding rod to hold them, as some are not accessible by fingers, but gave that up after the second time I had an engine out.

Just do what works best for you.

Edited by tiger99, 08 February 2013 - 01:55 PM.

[Guess-Works.com]

I used to fit the bolts the official way, from above, using a piece of stiff wire, such as gas welding rod to hold them, as some are not accessible by fingers, but gave that up after the second time I had an engine out.

Telescopic magnetic pickup tool, best tool for putting in engine mount bolts.