Rear engine carrier bracket mark off?

[Lars S]

I know we should not loosen or remove the the rear engine bracket (the one below with two oval holes in it) that holds the engine bar because if done it will require a an engine/trans alignment...
Would it be possible to carefully mark the brackets position and re fit it afterwords exactly enough?

Asking because i experience the bracket often being in the way at an engine removal.



/Lars S

_________________
Porsche 914 -72, Bahia Red daily driver
VW411 2-d -70, White, sold
VW412 4-d, -73, Gold Metallic, daily driver
Suzuki T500, -69, Candy Gold, sold
Suzuki K50, -77, Black, daily driver
BMW R69S -69, White, sold
Husqvarna 118cc, -47, Black, Sold

[raygreenwood]

Yes!
I remove them when pulling the engine.

In reality.....it makes part of the adjustment easier.

The hanger part of the mount on each end allows fore and aft movement and "some" left and right movement. All of this is only in the horizontal plane......UNLESS you remove the nut on the vertical stud and disturb the position of the nut on the top side of the hanger bar. The key is finding methods to lock that top nut so that it does not move while you have it out.
Since the load on the nut is really small....you can replace the nut with a class 10.9 locknut....or at one point i drilled a small hole through the side and installed a set screw. If you have enough thread above the nut when your driveline is properly adjusted....you can install a thin jamb nut.

That takes care of locking the vertical adjustment.

The best way to set/lock the fore and aft adjustment is to make a dedicated shim that fits between the plate that is attached to the transmission tail cone bumper and the flange that protrudes from and surrounds the bore in the suspension cross member......since this is a critical gap anyway its great to have this measurement. Make the shim wedge tight....but not tight enough to actually push the transmission rearward when you slip it in.

Put that shim someplace safe once you establish the gap. So now you have vertical tilt set and fore/aft position set.

For the side to side......you will make another shim. Choose left or right side of car...whichever has the most servicable gap. If you look carefully there is usually a gap on one side or both.....between that vertical flange that contains the two oval holes for the horizontal bolts.......and the chassis.

I am going to describe this in writing for mental orientation it may be long:

Look carefully.....there is front and rear face of that flange on each end of the hanger bar with the oval holes for the horizontal bolts. The front side has the heads of the bolts protruding.....and the rear side shows the holes with the two bolts at the tops of their slots with the nuts removed.
It is the central feature in the picture/drawing you posted.
Now....with you finger/eye on the two oval vertical bolt holes.....in that picture ....which is drivers side of the car......slide your finger/eye......to the right....all the way to the triangular looking vertical 90° flange that protrudes for and aft. There is a flange like it on the front side as well.

That flange or fin....is the side to side limiter for how far the mount can slide side to side. Make a shim that slides tightly between this flange and the body. One side will suffice but its more accurate to make a right and left shim.

With these three shims and a locking method for the top nut on the vertical stud.....you can very quickly just unbolt the two end mounts. It makes it easier to work when you are only partially removing or lowering the engine.

The only time the vertical stud position needs to be truely readjusted....is when either the center bushings from the rear hanger bar are replaced or the upper bushings on the transmission mid hanger bar are replaced. Ray

[Lars S]

Thanks for the deep explanation Ray!
I will try this on my next engine removal.

For the vertical stud readjustment isnt it so that the adjustment was done at the factory with all new rubber bushings so when fitting new bushings one will not have to readjust but instead one should readjust when driving around with old, worn sagged bushings?


Lars S
_________________
Porsche 914 -72, Bahia Red daily driver
VW411 2-d -70, White, sold
VW412 4-d, -73, Gold Metallic, daily driver
Suzuki T500, -69, Candy Gold, sold
Suzuki K50, -77, Black, daily driver
BMW R69S -69, White, sold
Husqvarna 118cc, -47, Black, Sold

[raygreenwood]