Didn't know where else to put this at.

Previous owners of my 85 TA have always had problems lining up the left front motor mount. Some people have had to ratchet strap it in place. This hasn't been a one time deal, the car has had more motor swaps than sets of tires. Each time was the same problem.

I also noticed that my right front sets at 27.5" while the left front sets at 28.0". (ride height from ground to fender)

Could I possibly have a bent K-member? The car was wrecked in '86 in the right rear, and does have a kink in the sump by the spare tire well, but that shouldn't have effected the K-member. So would that mean that my whole car is ****ed? It runs and drives perfect, never had a problem with alignment, only problem is getting the one motor mount to line up.

Any help would be appreciated. Yet another motor is going in soon and I want to be able to take care of the problem before I have to fight the motor into place.

 

Mine have always taken a little elbow grease to install. Stock K member and aftermarket UMI K-member were both that way.

 

Measure from center of front hub to center of rear axel on both sides.

 

How much elbow grease? The two previous owners told me recently that the mount is about an inch off track.

I will... whenever it stops snowing! Just dumped about 5" on us tonight with more to come over the weekend.

 

They are usually hit or miss. its a bit harder on a stock k-member, but if you loosen the mounting bolts for the mount on the k-member, it will help some.

 

you do know that motor mounts can only be installed one way right? that would cause the issues that ur having also

 

The last 3 owners each installed different motor mounts. The last one was a professional nutswinger for GM. I honestly don't think they would install them backwards, but I will check anyway. Thanks

 

Never even thought of that, thanks!

 

no problem..ive seen alot of "proffessionals" screw alot of things up.. take your mounts and swap them around..im willing to bet its ur issue

 

Nah thats not his issue. You can swap mounts around (the clamshell part at least) and still bolt the motor down. I did it until i realized i had em backwards and had to swap them with the motor in the car. Not fun. But yes the motor will bolt down with them swapped.

Im going to think a bit different than everyone else and ask if the trans was ever replaced or taken out at some point. I wonder if they didnt get it just right when they bolted it down. If its too far forward it could cause problems lining up mounts. Again ask me how i know that one lol.

 

Its had numerous trannies in throughout the years, and still, the same problem

 

The left motor mount bracket is shorter than the right one. they look identical except bolt hole height. I just went through this.

 

It's still possible or the motor mount locations have weakened. I always stress STRENGTH with the Third-Gen. There are a lot of areas to improve the rigidity of the cars that should always be taken. Believe it or not, some motors can make so much power they can twist the cars up pretty bad. So it's even possible the engine has torqued over to the left side over time. haha

 

Agreed, I have held the suspicion that this is why my transmission crossmember bolt takes more elbow grease to get in these days....

 

Well, the previous owner did have a 600RWHP 383 stroker in it
Owner before that had a 480RWHP 406.

It's not like the suspension hasn't been worked over first though, tubular SFC's, tubular control arms, spohn torque arm/panhard bar etc etc... everything except for springs and shocks. Damn thing rides as stiff as a rod.

I will be tearing the car apart in about a month to replace the motor and tranny, and maybe tear it down even more to get it painted