Hi-Performance Straight Eight Engine Mount!

Well, we know that everyone with a straight eight Buick is out there burnin' up tires and blowin' away the competition! Right?!:)

You bet!!! Well maybe not right now, but as nostalgia becomes more popular who knows...

So much for some rambling. Many of you younger guys won't remember, but a problem for many early hotroders was tieing down their engine, that's right tieing it down! The early engine mounts were simply plates of metal bonded to rubber and were prone to separation when abused, especially the torque side. This left an engine hopping around wildly in the engine compartment! The most common fix was to simply run a chain from the engine side of the mount to the frame. The best fix was when manufactures recognised the problem and made the engine mounts so that they sandwiched the rubber and could not come apart.

Anyway, I'm working on my '52 Roadmaster and while I am not planning on abusing it, you never can tell what could happen on a warm Saturday night, especially if I found myself at a strip! So the age old problem surfaces! I am trying to do a nice restoration and don't really want to "chain down" my motor. I think I have found a solution.

This is not a tested product, NO GUARANTEES!!!

This is the modified engine mount, it is hidden away and should look good to an inspection at a car meet. It is relatively easy to fabricate. I used 3/16"" plate and an old engine mount. To separate the bonding, mount the engine mount in a vise and heat the unwanted plate with a torch until the bonding releases. I doesn't take much. external cracking is not a problem, it should pretty well disappear by the time the mount is shaped.

In the above picture you can see the modified engine mount. You must remove the center locating pin with a hacksaw. The slot is to allow clearance for the original engine mount bolts. The slot is about 1" wide and as close to the metal as I cared to get with my table saw. I used a table saw to cut my slot. It did a nice job, but extreme care should be used to keep all fingers on your hand! I would suggest bolting the mount onto a piece of wood in a manner to allow you to keep your fingers well clear. Another and probably safer method would be to clamp the mount in a vise and use an angle grinder.
I used an angle grinder to reshape the mount with the bevel towards the top. This was necessary to allow clearance when the new mount was pushed up into the original mount. The angle grinder removed material quickly and the odour left me reminiscing of standing in the burnout area of a drag strip! You will need to remove about 1/8" into the steel plate to have clearance when the mount is located in the tower. You will have to bevel the rubber until a comfortable fit is achieved. Try not to build too much heat while performing these tasks.

The holes in the top plate are large to allow the engine mount to "float" into the best location in the tower.

When you fit the mount in place you want Zero Clearance! If you have to pry or jack a bit, and have a bit of a hard time starting the bolts into the engine, that's a perfect fit. If you decide to try building this accessory, you can click here and print out the picture or the tracings of the mount I built. It should get you close, fast.