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A little while ago I noticed I had a broken RHS engine mount.

I removed and replaced it and on closer inspection the rubber looks to be both perished and melted.

I have a full CSC exhaust system and the headers run very close to the mounts.

I have now discovered that the LHS has also failed and looks to have suffered the same fate.

The mounts were original and at 22 years old they have done very well. My question is, was the cause of failure old age or were they victims of the CSC system?

Anyone else seen this before?

I have been re-pouring V6 engine mounts in polyurethane and as a result I have seen a few engine mounts recently. I know what you mean, if you stuck a screwdriver in one of the cracks and levered you'd get a chip off? I haven't done many yet (I really need peoples old ones) but all that I have seen have had this to a certain extent. I don't know the history of them all but I presume they were used on stock cars.

The local Alfa mechanic put a pair on one of his employees cars that had unwrapped and uncoated extractors and they're alright so far. In the scheme of things, I don't think the extractors caused the problems in the space of a few months but it may not have helped.

Cheers, Scott

What hardness are you using and is this a cold cure system?

Scott I think you are on to something good here. These old motor mounts do fail and it's going to be a bigger problem on higher powered cars.

Nicholas, The answer to your question is that these things fail due to age. I am sure headers speed up the process, but 20 year old motor mounts will be pretty much shot on any Alfa.

Well, I'd love to supply more mounts but no-one seems interested. The mounts are mixed to the same hardness as the originals. From memory I think it's 65-70 on the Shore A scale. To tell you the truth, I'm no expert in rubber and pouring is taken care of by an expert. The job was described to him, including mention of the proximity of the exhaust manifolds and he didn't see any problem. Having said this, poly doesn't fare heat as well as rubber, being a plastic. Rubber can fare more heat before it starts to change physically.

Here's a pic of our poly mounts (these ones are in my car now). The local repairer did note that there was a little bit more vibration in my car because of the rear one he thought, but to me I don't really notice it.

Scott

why not fill in the gaps on the rear mount?

Considering that my '83 is quickly coming up to the magic "25" year mark, I'd like to replace my engine mounts as well. Is there any way of doing this without taking the engine out of the car

The front two are easy, no need to remove the engine for these. Jack up the front of the car and support the engine by the sump with a block of wood on a jack so as not to damage the sump. It takes about 10 mins each to remove them. I've never done the rear but it will need to be pressed out and back in from the look of it.

Scott. I would send you my plates and get you to make a set but I love doing this sort of thing myself. I did a bit of reseach before your reply and I came up with a similar spec for the hardness.

They look really good, nice job

Thanks Nick. Luckily there hasn't been any money sunk into it, or I'd be broke. Getting the plates laser cut is possible but it's a lot of extra hassle when there should be plenty of old mounts around anyway. I've read posts by some people using a DIY poly kit bought from a hardware store, but I doubt you could control hardness.

X-rad: Didn't want to deviate too far from the Alfa design especially with a material that was already different. If people want solid ones, it's very easy to modify the mould for 1 or 2, or 10! I think solid ones would be very harsh, but I don't know.

John, what nick said. But one more thing with the rear one: If it's really sad, you can separate the bar from the rest of the mount by using a shifter on the flattened end, just twist. What you're left with then is a short piece of pipe with a little rubber in it. It is much easier to press this out because you can use standard depth sockets and a G-clamp.

If anyone's interested, I sell the mounts for AUD190/pair for the front ones and AUD70 for the rear, preferably exchange but we can always sort something out.

Cheers, Scott

I filled mine in with no problems with about 2000 miles on it, also filled the center d-shaft housing......

I think I know why the back one is a thong.
I have my alt. very close to the power steering line and it hits when I hit the breaks.

And what I have noticed is when the motor is cold the exhaust system is shrunk and leans the front of motor down.(I hit a lot more) As it heats up it expands and the motor leans up in the front( I no longer hit).

If it did not let is move like this somthing else would have to give. my guess is the headers would crack.

good thought....but I'm thinking there is more motion braking and accelerating with the thong than solid and that will cause problems....(front guibo and exhaust wear)

mine was sagging so much there was no gap at the top of the mount...