Convertible motor mounts = lower exhaust?

[Darkwriter77]

Still trying to solve the mystery of what's causing my exhaust to hang so friggin' low. Aside from the crappy placement of the cats on my UPR X-pipe - just an inch forward would've made all the difference in the world, as they wouldn't be hitting the transmission crossmember - I've long suspected that it was just the length of the X-pipe that was causing it to hang so darned low. However, when looking at it straight-on from the front or back, I can see the system appears to be tilted ... and then, I noticed the oil pan is slightly angled down on the driver's side, too. My motor mounts appear to be wearing down on one side.

Comparing the convertible mounts to the hardtop mounts at my local parts house, I see the vert mounts are wayyyyy shorter. I also noticed that it appears the mounts currently in my car are, in fact, the verts. So I figure, if the vert mounts make the engine sit lower, will that, in turn, make the rest of the exhaust hang way down, too?

Anyone notice a change in ground clearance on their exhaust when swapping to/from convertible motor mounts?

I was considering a set of poly engine mounts up until I noticed that they look so much like the vert mounts, and if this is what's adding to my exhaust dragging on the street all the time, then I think I'll just stick with the crappy rubber pieces...

 

[mustanghunter50]

i have the same problem- i dont think its from the mounts though

 

[vristang]

I have heard that vert mounts were shorter, but never compared side to side as you did. I guess they are shorter.

How much shorter are they?

Yes, this would lower the exhaust along with the engine.

It may even cause problems with the midpipe?

Before you give up on the poly mounts, I would give them a call and see what specs they are built for; vert or not.

jason

 

[srothfuss]

I have never heard that the mounts were differnet in height. The main difference should be a OEM vert mount was encapsulated where as a hardtop mount was not.

My cars exhaust doesn't hang low at all.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Well, from laying them out on the counter side-by-side, all four (both lefts, both rights), the hardtop mounts are WAY taller - at least a full inch in height. I'll have to bring a digicam to the parts store sometime to snap a pic. They're also totally different in design, and the vert mounts seem to take one extra bolt/nut versus the hardtop model ... or maybe I've got that backwards. Not sure what the "encapsulated" part of the design amounts to, but there's definitely a difference in height and overall design.

Oh, and because I seem to be unconsciously smoking crack from time to time, I must correct myself to say that I DO NOT have the vert mounts - I had the part numbers backwards when I was looking them up. I have the taller hardtop mounts ... which are probably the 1989 originals with 250k miles on 'em, for all I know.

Anyone had a bad/worn motor mount make your whole drivetrain lean to one side? Mine's tilted a few degrees to the passenger's side, which brings the driver's side exhaust pipe up about an inch to where I have the aforementioned problem with the cat hitting the crossmember (the passenger side clears it just fine, oddly enough); what's really weird is that after the X crossover, I have the opposite problem in that the driver's side hangs an inch lower than the driver's side. I can't tell if it's because the X was welded up in a totally messed-up way or if it's because of my crooked motor/tranny (you can see the tranny mount is cocked over almost 1/8" higher on the driver's side).

Attached a groovy collage of pics detailing the above mechanical madness. The bottom-right picture is the passenger-side motor mount. It looks like there's a slot for adjustment where the large bolt/nut secure, and the thing is sitting WAY at the bottom, but I dunno if this is really something tweak-able, or if that slot is just something to allow for ease of installation of the entire motor or something. The mount looks kinda squished toward the bottom of itself, too, but it's hard for me to tell if that's just how it sits with the motor's weight on it or what, compared to a new one off the shelf.

All of this being stuff that I wish I'd taken care of before school starts this Monday, whereafter I shall have ZERO free time to do these all-day car projects into which I always seem to fall...

 

[p.exeter_bleu]

they may be taller, but they arent capped with metal, so it probably squishes down when the engine sits on it. my headers were hitting my steering shaft on my car until i replaced the engine mounts with the vert ones and now it has the height to clear the steering shaft.(bbk longtubes)

 

[Darkwriter77]

I guess I may as well invest in a set of convertible mounts before I go completely re-doing the exhaust yet again. Cheaper to blow fifty bucks on a pair of mounts than another $150+ on muffs/tails and $175+ on a different mid-pipe. I still think the UPR X-pipe has a lot to do with all the alignment issues, but the whole system kinda hung way down before with the Frankenstein'ed setup that some chump welded together (an off-road H with two universal cats hacked/stick-welded into place and flat-flange connectors at the back).

Anyone know if I need to pick up some extra hardware while I'm grabbing the new mounts? I do remember there being an extra bolt or two on the verts vs coupe mounts...

 

[HISSIN50]

Some of the AZ mounts dont even use the same fastener threadings (SAE vs metric). So check beforehand.

Good luck.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Ah! Good point. Thanks.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I stand corrected yet again. I DO have the 'vert mounts, after all. The hardtop mounts are downright WEIRD looking compared to the convertible's, and the hardtop models are the ones that appear smaller/shorter. However, I do like the encapsulated design of the 'verts better. There was exactly $1.00 difference between the hardtops and verts, so I picked up a pair of 'vert mounts last night on the way home.

I'm also ordering an off-road H-pipe and a pair of side-exit Dynomaxes; I love the sound of my Pypes Violators, but I'm sooooooo frickin' sick of fighting those stupid tailpipes, and side-exits are a lot easier to rig up. Now, if I can just get a full day off to install all of this crap ... and spend the next few years paying it all off...

 

[Darkwriter77]

Okay, I stand re-REcorrected. I DO have the convertible mounts ... or did, until I swapped 'em with new 'vert mounts. No, really. I'm sure this time. Absolutely positively certain. Honest! The hardtop model mounts look way funky compared to the 'vert mounts, anyway.

Anyway, here's a pic of what the old VS new mounts look like for the passenger's side, which seemed to be the primary culprit behind my whole drivetrain being tilted down on one side. Things still aren't tucked up as high as I'd like, but at least they're level, now. It seems that one major problem (not so much related to the mounts) is the sag I'm getting toward the middle of the exhaust system, which might be due in part to the fact that the UPR X-pipe does not utilize the transmission crossmember hanger. I can loosen everything in the center, jack it up into place, tighten it back down, and it'll all stay up there fairly well for a few days before it's drooping back down where it was before and scraping on everything. I might have to hire an exhaust shop to just rig up some kinda hanger for the center section, and them mayhaps this will be one less stupid thing for me to fight with for the rest of my relationship with this car...

 

[lxwants12's]

i havent read through the whole thread..but im not sure if u had long tubes or not..if you have long tubes however your exhaust will hang lower no matter the mounts u get the headers just place everything lower...im goin through some bs myself right now i have an 89 vert and long tubes and where the midpipe to the mufflers connect is about 2 inches off the ground and it scraps everywhere and the claps are always breaking lose....i have to find a shop that will cut the clamps off and just weld them together, but i kinda dont wanna do that cause i plan on switching cat backs sometime soon..so its like eehhhh!!......just have to tighten them up everytime they coem lose

 

[Darkwriter77]

Nope, no LT's for me. My buddy's '90 notch has LT's and, much to my dismay, he actually had MORE ground clearance than even I did with my stock shorties and UPR X-pipe. For the longest time I thought it was my X-pipe, but now it looks like the mounts might've been the only thing causing problems all along.

I'll give it a week or so to see if things start to droop again in the center, but as it sits right now, I've actually gained about 2 or 3 inches of clearance - can't see the cats hanging down in plain view when looking at the car from the side, now. I guess I should go give it the speed bump test at Fry's grocery store, just to make sure everything's all tucked up nice n' neat.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Off topic.....you say your paint is ROLLED on? The pic in your garage is rolled on paint? Looks pretty smooth to be rolled on..

 

[lxwants12's]

sounds like ull be fine i highly doubt it will drop its bolted in...not something that will sag over time if its good now it will be that way till it breaks!

 

[Darkwriter77]

Well, the ball-and-socket joints are designed to allow for some adjustability in angle, and it seems that if you don't have 'em bolted together God-awful-tight that gravity and the forces of various bumps and dips n' stuff in the road will tend to pull it down where the link is weakest in the exhaust system. I guess I haven't been giving it enough "oomph" the past couple of times I've messed with it, as I never had to re-adjust the exhaust until I installed these Pypes mufflers - not the fault of the muffs, just me being all limp-wristed on the wrenches, I guess. I gave everything a thorough He-Man tightening this time and it seems to be holding up much more securely ... except I still have to fine-tune the passenger-side tailpipe, which is bonking itself against the edge of the fuel tank on every little bump. (Grrrrr...)

As far as the paint ... yep. Rolled-on Rustoleum Professional Gloss Black, to be exact. Used an ultra-smooth foam roller, and had to be reeeeeeally careful to avoid runs and lines n' stuff. It doesn't look near as good as a sprayed-on finish, of course - actually, it looks sort of like a really bad case of orange peel - and there's an overlapping line going down the hood because I stupidly did it in two parts instead of all at once, but otherwise it looks 10x better than the Wal-Mart rattle-can paintjob I'd had on it, before.

It's holding up pretty well, and it takes and holds wax just like any other standard auto paint finish. Only parts that've lost adhesion are where the road debris and stuff have sandblasted away tiny bits from the lower opening in front of the radiator, but that's sort of to be expected out here in the desert (hard to find a car without tons of rock chips and sandblasting effects). Kinda wishing that I'd gone with silver instead of black, though, and that I should've gone ahead and body-colored the trim instead of spraying it back to factory flat-black along with the mirrors. Oh well ... still got 2/3 of a gallon left to play with...

 

[Mustang_Punk]

Don't get prothane, they suck