Click to view attachmentHello All,

I have a 914-6 conversion that I bought from someone. Well, looking at the rear trans mount, it's off the posts. This does not look right. Any ideas of whta is wrong and what I need to do to correct. (this does not look safe.) The engine appears to be mounted in the correct place and everything else looks ok. I am thinking that the rear mount is the wrong one???

Here's a pic.

I really hope someone can point me in the right direction.

-- brett

I'd be looking at the front some more to see what has allowed the engine and transmission to move that far back.
It's not right and it's not safe to drive until you fix it.

Also that big cup washer doesn't belong there.

The engine has to be in the wrong place.

The car is up on jack stands at the moment. I will check the front mounting and post some more pictures.

What is really scary, is that I have been autocrossing the car and it's been doing well. I even had the car in the shop for work, and not one word was said about the trans location.

Well, it's going to get fixed now.

Thanks for the help, and I will have some more pictures in a couple of hours. (can't get to it right now.)

-- brett

The cup goes on top with the dish facing down. The big flat washer goes on the bottom. What you have is a dangerous time bomb.

Figured that was the case, which is why I am asking everyone. It will be remedied now, and will not be driven until it is.

thanks again for the help.

-- brett

That's what this place is for!
Steve

Thanks Steve,

Just went and tried to take some pictures of the mounting of the engine, and the pictures were useless. I will try again tomorrow with some more light.

Appreciate all the help!

-- brett

This can be tricky but it can be done with ease if your careful.
If you remove the shifter bar it will make it easier. That will bind.

On jack stands.
Put a block of wood on a floor jack and put it under the motor, but only about a third of the way from the tranny....trying to center the weight of the whole package. make sure the wheels on the jack face forward...

Jack up the jack to relieve the wieght of the motor, but dont take on the weight of the car...let that stay on the jack stands.

Remove the front splash tray underneath the steering and gas tank.
Wrap a good strap around the cross member and attach a come along to that. One the other end, you want to grab the tranny at the rear...its tough to describe but put a strap around the rear of the tranny up and over the muffler bracket so all the force will be on the tranny itself.

Now attach a come along between these two strap and gently cinch it tight...you really dont need a whole lot of pulling power, you are sliding the motor and tranny forward....it really is gentle and wont bend anything it you put the straps in the right place and dont pinch anything..
Use blocks of wood between all the straps and the bottom of the car/tranny/motor etc.

A few clicks and it will pull forward again..then tighten it all back up.
Try to get the motor/tranny square to the lower firewall..it makes shifting alot better if the whole package is square and it can easily be put in not square.

rich

Ahh dont do the above until you find out the problem, not finding the cause first is a recipe for disaster.

I think its your front mount for your converted six that is causing the problem.

Rich mentioned something important. If someone just straightened the shift bar it'll be too long. Someone might have shifted the engine back to make the shifting work? Hard to say. You can measure the shift bar for us and we'll tell you if it's too long or not.

Finally got back to working it.

Ok. I looked at the rear mounts, and they were not symetrical. So, I rotated them, and it's a little better. Hum. So, I crawled to the front of the engine, and the motor is all the way forward on the cradle, and the cradle can only go one way, and it's mount directly on the cradle mounts on the frame. Still nothing that looks amiss. I did check the shift rod, and it's been cut and respliced together.

So, I am wondering if this is a homemade engine cradle, and was built wrong. Anyone point me to somewhere that there is a picture of a correct one?

I am still puzzled as I can't see anywhere that the engine can move forward anymore.

Thoughts anyone?

-- brett

How about a picture of yours?

Andy

That's going to be next. I am on my way to somewhere that I have to be presentable. So, later, when I can afford to be dirty, I will crawl under and take another picture.

-- brett

ok. I am risking being in the dog house. Here's some quick pics...

Another.

Yet another

Last one (for now.)

Yeah, that's an aftermarket mount. The problem could very well be that it's not made very well.

The stock mounting--and the better aftermarket ones--mount to the firewall, not to an engine mount bar.

Is there any chance the bar and bracketry is backwards?

--DD

Hello Dave,

Yep, I checked it. There is no way it can be mounted the other way. It's welded into one piece, hence only one way it can be mounted. I am thinking it was made poorly or is the wrong application.

I am wondering if there is another rear trans mount that will solve the problem. ???

-- brett

"Bracketry"???

Making up words again Dave???



Eric Read

That looks like a home-made front engine mount. I had a similar mount on my car before I switched to a Rich Johnson mount. The Quick-Six mount is of that type, and they do the job, just not as nice as the better mounts that isolate the engine like Porsche did in their mounts.

I'd change out the front mount rather than play with the transmission mount. It's just a symptom of the problem in front. Does the sheetmetal around the engine bay fit correctly?

THere is a slight gap at the front. And I do suspect that the mount is homemade. I was looking at the mount on Pelican Parts website to see what it should look like.

I will look at the Rick Johnson mount. Thanks for the input.

-- brett

I second the Rich Johnson mount!

Do a search here, they have been discussed before ...
Andy

Also check with Bieker Engineering/WerksII to see if Galen Bieker still makes and sells his /6 mount.

www.biekerengineering.com

Very, very strong, well designed /6 mount that uses the /4 mounting positions. Much stronger than the Quick-Six mount that was sold in the '80s. The WerksII/6 mount, if still availible, would be less work for you to install. It would just replace the mount you show in your pictures. I bought the WerksII/6 mount when I did the /6 conversion in 1987. It fit perfectly, and has been trouble-free this whole time.

Bieker Engineering also took my /4 shift rod and modified it (straightened?) to fit with the /6 engine. It also fit perfectly when I got it back.

Show up to the Thursday Lunch this week, you can have a look at the WerksII mount on my 914.

Morgan,

I checked the website, and there is not any mention of 914 products. In fact, there seems to be only three products and they are more for tuning. ???

And a link to a sister site is broken. Any other links you may have? I will try sending an email also.

This Thursday, I have a business lunch that I am required to attend.

thanks for the info!

-- brett
(By the way, I am running swepco now....)

I just called Bieker Enginering, the guy there said to call Galen Bieker directly at WerksII (818)845-2530 to see if Galen could still supply the /6 conversion engine mount.

You should consider that with the age of our cars, 200lbs more than the 4, and more torque you really should not be using the stock four mount location. You may be fine but better be safe than sorry

i like my Rich johnson mount, i think most guys will concur that this is one of the best, i have not expeirenced any other but others who have ....usually end up putting a rj on later....some but not all

Without question the RJ/6 mount is excellent. Much better design than even the factory original firewall /6 mount.

The WerksII/6 conversion mount is also an excellent design, a direct bolt-in replacment for the /4 mounting bar it replaces. Galen Bieker used it in his 914/6 race car for years. I installed mine in 1988(no RJ/6 mount availible then). 20 years and ~200K miles later, the engine has fallen out of my 914 exactly zero times.

Where one might choose one engine mount over the other is the ease of, and time required to install, provided the WerksII/6 mount is even still avalible.

The RJ/6 mount is alot of work to install. Drop engine/trans so you have room in engine bay to weld & paint, remove crappy home-made /6 mount from engine, bolt in RJ mount, weld in RJ mount, paint, and then reinstall engine/trans.

If a WerksII/6 conversion mount can be found today, to install it all Brett will have to do is support the front of his engine, lower front of engine slightly, unbolt crappy home-made /6 mount from engine, bolt up WerksII/6 conversion mount to engine, raise front of engine back up, and bolt WerksII/6 mount to chassis.

As far as his shift-linkage is concerned, with any /6 mount he uses he will likely need a longer (and straighter?) shift-linkage.

Also check to see if they used some funky adapter between the engine and transmission... probably not, but worth a look.

You might be able to measure the distance the rear mount is off, then pull off the front mount, take it to a welder and have him shorten it.

I dont think there is anything wrong with these style mounts because they have a larger moment handle on the engine, the problem arrises when someone makes a crappy one and it breaks at the weld seems.

Good Luck!!!

edit: your bar appears to be made out of a 4cylinder bar, so you may want to look into a good replacement, especially if you autocross (like your photo).

I think Renagade makes a V8 conversion rear mount that is extended 2" back.

Alot of guys are putting V8s in hanging off the original mounts. On my LS2 project I decided to wack off the original mounts and plate the whole side of the frame rail and go with a different mounting system. Although the original mount bracket looked solid, it took very little effort to knock it off due to the rust behind it attacking the spot welds. Makes me think anyone hanging a stronger motor off the original mounts ought to stitch weld the original mounts in a bit.