Do I have a bad motor mount?

[reapedinhalf]

So let me preface this by saying I'm a bicycle mechanic, so excuse my ignorance toward this car and go easy on me.

When I bought the car, I noticed that the fan shroud was cut on the right side so that the fan could stick out a good 1 1/2". I thought that was odd but it didn't seem to cause any problems so I ignored it. The car was also set up with a short cold air intake type filter. Today I opted to revert to stock because it looks stupid the way it's set up and everyone seems to say that stock is the way to go.

Not happening. There's no way that the intake boot will stretch far enough for the air meter to plug into the top of the air box.


So I feel like my whole engine is sitting a good inch or more to the right. What could cause this?

I can provide pics if necessary. Thanks.

On a good note, great day @ the pull-a-part. $12 got me upper air vents that stay put, a clean rear-view mirror, an elephant trunk, the knob for the moon-roof crank, a dozen or so lug bolts, and a hood shock. Got a bunch of stuff for the e34 too.

[Nelson_40]

The very first test I would run would be to grab hold of the valve cover, when it's cold, and give the engine a vigorous shake from side to side, if all is well it shouldn't budge much. If it wobbles, take a look at the mounts themselves, one on the passenger side below the exhaust manifold, which you can see from above the engine, another on the drivers side that is easier to see from below. If they are cracked or show signs of leaking it is probable you will need some new ones. If none of that yields conclusive results post up some pics of the gap, it's possible you just have something backwards, or maybe the wrong part. Good call on going back to the stock filter BTW.

[reapedinhalf]

Nelson, thanks for the heads up, and I appreciate your advice. I cant seem to get the motor to budge in any direction, so we'll call the results inconclusive. Here's a shot I took earlier of the way the shroud was cut in order to let the fan clear. Looks like shit, I know... Look @ the lowest fan-blade (as it sits perpendicular to the shroud's edge) to see how far it actually sticks out.



Here's the other side as I bought the car. I probably should have taken the picture of my attempt to fit the stock air box back up so you all could see the gap, but it definitely seems to coincide with the issues on the other side of the vehicle.



Like I said, I'm not much of a mechanic, but it's apparent to me that this car has been rigged. The current air filter is on there because the stock one wouldn't reach and the shroud is cut to clear the fan blades.

As someone who does complete bicycle restorations, I appreciate custom, independent, fabricated, one-off, home-made, etc, but this is straight up ghetto-rigged and I don't approve. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Also, the intake boot is cracked and dry-rotted to hell, do I go OEM, or is there better?

thanks in advance for any replies.

[teetime4one]

I replaced my intake boot 8K miles ago. I paid under $30.00 for mine from the dealership. I got a CEL the day I noticed it. The new boot took care of that.
My car doesn't have a fan shroud. The previous owner removed it for some unknown reason.

[Nelson_40]

It does seem that your engine is tilted to the passenger side. I also notice that you have a non OEM type intake boot, or at least one I have never seen before. Further, your car has the throttle body heater plates deleted, which can influence intake boot fitment, but not more than .5". On that note I think you should read up on the mess under the intake on this forum and make sure the delete was done correctly. Next we need some pic of your engine mounts to see if they are stock or otherwise.

[reapedinhalf]

Thanks again fellas. Been a bit busy the past few days but here are the motor mounts if that helps at all. I had a friend do the "grab the engine push" test too and he seemed to think it was solid.





The first pic is the driver's side and that's just PS fluid.

Nelson, I'll read up on that for sure. From what I gathered, it was just cleaning up poorly routed coolant lines?

I have no idea what these heater plates were or why they are gone, so I guess I'll get to reading, but everything seems to run and drive fine.

Also, thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out and give their opinion.

[Nelson_40]

Well, the mounts look fine, maybe a little cracking, but nothing that would cause the engine to tilt. Perhaps the engine is not tilted and you just have the wrong fan and intake boot? I am not sure what other fans fit, but the right solution there is to switch over to an electric fan, there are good write ups around. Second, order a new OE intake boot, then try to reassemble the air intake, perhaps the length is just that much different, after all, its hard to measure from pics. Of course with such a clearly neglected engine/car you should give it a real going over, drop the pan, pull the valve cover to at least inspect the cam timing gears, order new gaskets & etc. Once it's all together I am sure you will have a nice car on your hands.

[Nelson_40]

Just for reference, the assembled stock intake system looks like this (my car when I purchased it)

[e30jake]

If you never solved this problem, try loosening the motor mounts while the engine is running and letting it shift to wherever it wants to go (which should be the center)