Engine Mount Problem

I tried installing my new engine this past week, but I ran into trouble. When I dropped the new engine in, the passenger's side mount slid right into place, with the threaded stud all the way at the bottom of the slot and the little nub / button in its hole. However, on the driver's side, the mount doesn't want to go all the way down into the slot, and the button / nub ends up resting on the k member mounting face instead of in its recess / hole.

I have tried removing the engine and dropping it back in several times, to no avail. I have tried changing the angle of the engine every which way using a load leveler, and it simply will not fully seat in the correct position. I even tried installing the mounts on the k member first, then dropping the engine down on top of them, but it didn't make any difference. No matter what I try, the engine wants to sit the same way.

Has anyone else run into this issue? I have spent quite a few hours on this by now; I'm almost convinced that the new mounts are defective. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

nyuk98gt said:

Flghtmstr1:

I've heard (read, actually) of others having to grind the nubs off the new mounts to make things fit. Not sure why the nubs are there or, if they are a problem, why the manufacturer keeps putting the nubs on. I'll look around for a few motor mount threads where nub grinding was reported.

edit
Well, I found the thread(s) but those who had to grind off the nubs had aftermarket k-members, not the stocker. Apparently, the solution is to use a large prybar and leave the engine loose so the nubs will fall into the alignment holes. I have not done this job myself so I can't give you any "real" tips, just nuggets from other threads, lol.
end of edit


HTH,

Chris

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Thank you for digging up those old threads. I was tempted to grind the nubs off and be done with it, but I couldn't bring myself to do so without searching / asking on the forums first. Can you post links to the threads themselves? I searched for quite a while but I couldn't find anything.

wmburns said:

When I did my last motor swap, I had trouble getting the nubs to line up. In my case, the fix was to loosen both motor mount bolts and raise the motor slightly.

Has this car been in a wreck?

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Do you mean loosening the 3 bolts that attach the motor mounts to the motor? If so, I already tried that (albeit on the driver's side only).

I have never been in an accident and the car has a clean Carfax, but I am not the original owner so I cannot say for certain that the car has never been in a wreck. I hadn't even thought of that until now. The old motor was lined up perfectly when I removed it, though.

Would there be any foreseeable problems with grinding off those nubs if all else fails? Why does Ford put them on there in the first place? It's not like the mounts are going to go anywhere when the threaded stud is fully seated in its slot and the nut is tightened.