Motor Mount Alignment Issue
 

Alright- so I've been working on swapping out my old LS motor in my 1990 Integra. All was going relatively smoothly, until I went to drop in the '95 GSR I had bought to swap in. Me and my buddy have been man-handling the hoisted engine for over 3-4 hours trying to get it to slide in. We've followed all the proper procedures: dropping it in driver side high and bolting in the passenger side mount first. But for some damned reason, the front and rear lower mounts continue to refuse to line up.

Is there anything I can do to make this easier for us? Is there some sort of special technique that I'm missing? If anyone can help with this, I'd really appreciate it. Hell, I'll even pay someone $20 to come out and do some hands on aide. I just can't stand seeing my GSR hanging inches away from an install any longer.

Pix?

Hold on a second. Just took some- I'll have em up in 5 mins.

you have the right mounts??

Front mount?

We've tried pushing the motor further to the passenger side, but the mount on that side is basically hitting the body at this point, and wont allow it to go any further.

does the GSR not use the front mount?

not the motor but the tranny does

They should be the right mounts. Everywhere I looked told me that i could just use the mounts from my LS on the GSR. I kept the lower-rear bracket on from the '95, but i checked its size and it looked identical to my old one.

we had this exact same problem with my buddys DA you still have the tranny mount on right? if you do remove it and it should allow the tranny to go under the frame rail and allow the front mount to go in, OR i have done it where you loosen up the front sub frame that holds that front mount, just loosen it not completely remove it and it will slide in, hope this helps

Good ideas. Which is the tranny mount though? I'll definitely give the subframe loosening a shot- but that still doesn't solve the rear bracket issue.

the tranny mount is the mount that sits right on top of the tranny, and as far as the rear t bracket goes are you mounting it on the engine first then trying to drop it over the rear mount? you can do it that way or just remove it all together line all the other mounts up and fish it down into place after the motor is already settled into place

Once again- good thinking man. I'll try removing the rear bracket and maybe even the tranny mount if i have to, ultimately. you think im going to be able to get the rear bracket torqued down from underneath like that, though? I don't have an impact, so things are definitely a little harder than they need to be, haha.

By the way- thanks a bunch for your help man!

your going to want a breaker bar for the tightning of the rear bracket. obviously do this before connecting halfshaft or exhaust. i agree with integra dc2, i had this problem once and takin the mount of solved it real quick.

since you are bolting the cable tranmission on the 95 engine

you have to use the 90-93 integra rear engine bracket [ "T" bracket]

and you have to change the block bracket on the timing belt side
take the 95 off and put the 90 on

all the 90 integra mounts will be reused

Well- we pulled off the tranny mount, and got the three other mounts to fit in fine. Unfortunately, no matter how far we drop it, the mount wont fit back onto the bracket. Its missing about a couple of centimeters worth of space to fit between the bolt coming from the tranny, and the mounting point of the body.

Honestly, we both dont want to go through the same torment of pulling it out again to try again another way. I'm probably going to end up shaving off a bit of the bolt to get through it. I never knew that just getting the engine in a DA would be so damn difficult. I don't even understand why Honda didnt just design and open top on the bracket connected to the passenger side- as in on the driver side bracket. This one little problem has stopped a good 3-4 hours of progress... :lame:

I wouldn't do that just take your time and do it right. You'll hate yourself if you fuck something up. like dropping a motor on the ground while driving down the freeway.

Very true. However, the part i'd be shaving off isn't a part of the threading at all. It's just the small cone that sticks out a little higher than it honestly should. I don't know. I want to do it right- but to take off any other bracket/mount to do it is going to end up being a bigger liability- as I'm worried I wouldn't be able to get either torqued down again without the proper angle to do so...

haha seriously listen to this guy.

if you're keeping your old trans all you have to do is change the "L" bracket for the drivers side mount.

The L bracket isn't really an "L" anymore... the block has a custom built bracket that throws steel plating around the sides of the block, rather than the bracket simply bolting into the middle...

you going from the top with a hoist?

i always leave the rear "T" bracket on the mount and everything just goes into place from the bottom.

wow....why?

x2 i'm guessing stripped out threads?

Not to sure why- I bought it like that. My theory is that it makes for an easier timing belt swap, but I'm sure it wasn't intentional. :crazy:

well, what did the motor come out of?

'cause u might have a whole other world of troubles.

Order the correct bracket instead of using some backyard builders half assed mount. Again I come at you with this. do it right or do it twice.

Um.. I'm not sure if I'd say the new bracket is of any lesser integrity than the original- but it may don a slue of alignment issues in the long run. I'll take some pictures to show you of it- it looks like a rather professional welding job.

I was finally able to get all of the mounts fitted, but still working on lining up the pivot on the rear bracket with its mount- which I'm finding i may have to loosen my front mount again in order to do so. I ended up using the technique Integra DC2 suggested, but had to pull off the throttle body in order to make enough space to worm it through.

Anyway- does anyone have a suggestion on how to get the mount's pivot hole to line up easier? its literally a few centimeters back from being dead on.

just remember that if your mounts aren't lining up correctly that only the beginning of you issues. The reason to use mounts that are specific for the car and motor are so you don't break axles left and right.

Just go fork out the 300 bucks and get a decent mount kit and I bet all these bolting in issues will probably go away.

How many days have you been haggling with these mounts? how many hours of your time have you wasted trying to make something fit? Ive had the same problems with shitty/ the wrong mounts and low and behold and new mount kit from hasport was all it took to solve my problems.

Just remember that if they don't work correctly you can very easily break the mounting holes on your block. Save your motor and headaches and go get a mount kit already.

do it right or do it twice.

Just because the welding on your old mount looks like a good weld doesn't mean they line up properly.