How many motor mounts?

[RandallNeighbour]

Anyone got a diagram or pic of the motor mounts on a 986?

I think I shall crawl under the car and inspect them for wear and tear but I don't know where to look beyond the front one.

2009 is not going to be a good modding/repair/replacement year for me. We're about to pull the trigger on a CPO $40k BMW and I know the wife too well... she will ask for all my extra income this year to build up our savings as quickly as possible.

However, if I do the motor mounts myself they should not be too expensive.

[Topless]

Randall,
There are three motor mounts. 1 front and 2 rear that mount to the trans. You can't really see any problem until you get them out. The front is usually the culprit and fairly easy to do with basic tools. Here is Pedro's DIY with pics:
http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site%203/Install%20Front%20Engine%20Mount.html

Yup. You can find anything on the net.

[cheetah]

The front mount is garbage stock, and will fail quickly under hard driving.

This is the best choice to keep stock vibration levels, while really stiffening up the engine and having a bullet-proof mount:




http://www.cheetahonline.com/products/c8037.html

[Sputter]

+1 for Pedro's mount.

[Jake Raby]

Lots of new developments in the way of mounts and bushings are on the way.. I spearheaded these developments this week with a trip across the country.

In less than 8 weeks you'll see mounts with different levels of energy absorption, rebound and etc and they'll be offered at prices that are very affordable.

[Blue-S]

I just installed a Pedro's front mount this evening on my 2000 S, replacing the original 65K mile mount. Of course the original rubber "legs" were broken loose from the outer shell. I expected a reduction/elimination of driveline windup with the new mount, but I was surprised by how the car was transformed: the clutch take-up was more progressive and shifter travel was reduced. This occurred because the new mount stopped the pitching of the engine while shifting.

If your 107K mile car still has its original front mount, it's definitely due for a new one! The more durable Pedro's enthusiast mount is a good choice.

[edevlin]

How long did the replacement take you?

Ed

[Boxtaboy]

I just had my motor mount replaced because I was experiencing some grinding/vibrations during hard cornering. The bad motor mount caused my engine to shift enough during hard turns to upset the driveline geometry. Porsche updated the part for my 986 to a 987 part number, and I hope it lasts longer than the 58K my old mount lasted.

The grinding is gone, and another side benefit is that the vibration that I used to feel when letting off the gas pedal at around 3000 rpms is also totally gone. Here's a picture of my old mount. You can see that the rubber has totally ripped apart, and pieces of the rubber are missing. What a cruddy part.

[Dragonwind]

Looks like I'll be adding this to the project list. I checked out Pedro's and will probably get one of those.
Thanks!

[Blue-S]

Originally Posted by edevlin

How long did the replacement take you?

Ed

I was done in under 2 hours including some time inspecting the car's undercarriage, but I had the use of a hoist. I used the directions from Pedro's website and they worked fine. There is a surprising amount of stuff in the vicinity of the mount, particularly in comparison to the front wheel drive cars I am used to working on. I have only had my Boxster for a week, and this was my first repair on the car. Fortunately/unfortunately, I made a discovery while under the car: the new, genuine Porsche water pump that the prior owner paid to have installed one year and 5,000 miles ago is weeping! I imagine that any warranty which may be in effect would only be for the customer who paid the bill. Dang!

The original mount on my car was broken much like the one pictured above. The center piece was free to rotate, so the powertrain must have been moving around quite a lot. I have noticed a light vibration at idle with the Pedro's enthusiast mount, but that's a small price to pay for a more durable mount that locates the engine better than the original design. In my opinion, Porsche really dropped the ball with this mount design. I can only assume that NVH control was their primary focus. The rubber mount itself is shockingly similar to the front mount on my '97 neon track car - both in size and design. The difference is that on the neon, the front mount only handles torque reaction while the weight of the powertrain is carried by a mount on each side of the vehicle. Porsche expected their similarly-sized-and-constructed front mount to carry load (including part of the engine weight) in the vertical and horizontal planes!