Carrier Bar Questions for I4 Swap

[Dub Misfits]

I have an 86 Tintop waterleaker with a 4spd manual. I purchased all the diesel parts needed to swap in my ABA I4 motor at 50*. The carrier bars I have are apparently from an 82, as they have the rubber bushings at both ends of the bars. I had to cut out the bolt on one of these ends because it was rusted in place and wouldnt come out no matter how much I soaked it and hammered it. I am seeing that 83 and later bars were solid and then went back to bushings only on one side of the engine. I also see that they shift the motor back to accommodate for the larger 5 speed trans.

Since parts like the end bushings and also motor mounts are hard to come by, I was thinking of cutting the bushing mount ends off and welding the bars directly to the mount bracket ends. Will this be a problem or should I just hunt down new bushings?

I also plan on cutting off the motor mount brackets and putting in a plate for a pancake motor mount. Maybe run a SBC solid rubber or poly mount. Im reading hydro mounts go bad quickly. If I ran solid bars, what would be best to kill some of the vibration?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Vanagon Nut]

I'm sure there's lots of pics here in the gallery
showing this but would suggest that something like Audi 5000
hydraulic mounts with new arm brackets would
work fine. There is a 50º hydraulic engine mount thread
here.
FAS hard mounts their carriers to vehicle frame
but then the orientation
is much different. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate
to delete the rubber bushings on each arm and
weld the arms to the brackets. I'm assuming
these brackets have some adjustment room where they bolt to frame.
I don't know if those DV bushings are tough to
press out but on the rear trailing arms, I found
that heating up the arm at bushing helped a lot. Penetrating fluid was present.
Smoke! Flames!
Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
(VW Gas I4)

1988 Westy DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[MarkWard]

You would need to lengthen the 82 carrier bars if you cut the bushing ends off. So if you are up to some welding and fabricating, have at it. My 82 bars are much different from stock now. I am using Saab hydraulic mounts and no indication they are not up to the task. If you are running an 091/1 4 speed you sort of need to relocate the engine bracket attachments to the earlier carriers to accommodate the longer 4 speed or you need to make up the length difference at the trans mount. There is a member selling reproduced carriers here in the classifieds. No affiliation, the quality is there and he could probably accommodate any changes you might need. They can run 83 mounts or he has adapters for hydraulic mounts. Post some pictures. Good luck.