Motor Mount Replacement

[AlfaNeely <AlfaNeely@aol.com>]

 Subject: Motor Mounts

 In  Alfa Digest  #V6-033, Ralph  DeLauretis asks,  <I am  in the
 process of changing my motor mounts on my 82 Spider and was
 hoping someone can give me some instructions or guidelines.>

 Always  remove the negative battery  cable first!   Just as well
 put the whole car up in the air on very secure jack stands.  You
 might check the exhaust system, transmission and  rear end fluid
 levels while it is in the air.

 The exhaust side motor mount is easy to replace.  Remove the air
 cleaner  top and  unscrew the  air cleaner  bottom half  to gain
 access.   The  motor mount  attaches to  the crossmember  in two
 places.  Remove the bolt into the crossmember and remove the nut
 and washer on the underside of the motor mount.  There is a stud
 projecting out of the crossmember and a slot on the  motor mount
 that slips over it.  Feel under the mount and you will find it.

 Remove the three  nuts and  washers attaching the  mount to  the
 engine block.   A 13 mm Sears  Craftsmen end wrench is  required
 for all the above.

 Place  a jack under  the drivers side  of the bat  wing oil pan,
 place a block of wood on the jack, jack it up,  pull out the old
 mount and  install the  new.   Bolt the new  part to  the engine
 first  leaving the nuts loose  for the moment,  lower the engine
 making sure  the slot slides over the  stud in the cross member.
 Put  on the washer &  nut finger tight.  You  might have to jack
 the  engine  back up  just a  touch to  align  the hole  for the
 remaining bolt.  Let the engine down and tighten every thing.

 On Spica or  Weber spiders  the passenger side  mount is  almost
 exactly as described above.  Just make sure to do one side at  a
 time!

 As yours  is Bosch injected you  can start using the  F___ word.
 You will have  to remove  the radiator overflow  bottle and  the
 distributor cap  at a minimum.  Reach  your right hand under the
 air plenum while peeking through the  plenum wherever an opening
 will let you.  You will find the following:

 Throttle  linkage is the first  obstruction encountered.  A bell
 crank hangs from the air plenum with a throttle  link running up
 to  the  intake  butterfly  and  another  running  back  to  the
 firewall.  The ends of the throttle links will just pop off with
 a  Craftsman screwdriver.  There  is also a  braided wire ground
 strap attached  from the block to the plenum.  The bell crank is
 not hard to remove or replace, so do it.  Watch the alignment of
 the spring on the bell  crank as you just as well take  it apart
 and grease it while it is off.

 The air  plenum is supported  by an  upside down L  shaped brace
 that bolts to  the passenger side  motor mount,  runs up to  the
 plenum and  in toward the engine.   The engine end  of the brace
 bolts to the underside  of the intake manifold while  the center
 attaches to the air  plenum with two 10 mm bolts (which requires
 a 17 mm wrench).  The lower end of the brace  bolts to the motor
 mount with a 10 mm bolt requiring a 17 mm wrench on the head and
 19 mm on the nut.   On earlier spiders a bracket  supporting the
 end of the starter  is held with this  same bolt.  86  and later
 spiders with  the smaller  diameter high  torque starter  do not
 have this bracket (at least, mine do not).

 The end of the cable from the battery terminates at the starter.
 The end  is exposed  and anxiously  awaiting its  opportunity to
 weld itself to any wrenches you put under the plenum.  Make sure
 the battery is disconnected.

 At  this  point,  consider  making  shims  to  fit  between  the
 passenger motor mount and  crossmember.  You can reach  the bolt
 and  the stud holding the motor mount to the crossmember without
 removing the air  plenum (not  easy, but they  can be  reached).
 Jack up the  engine, slip in a shim, lower  the engine and check
 to see if the shim has raised the engine enough to give the  air
 conditioner belt room to  operate without shoving the  engine up
 through  the  hood.    Adjust  the  thickness  of  the  shim  as
 appropriate and tighten everything  back up.  You will  not find
 this in the  Alfa Romeo  repair manual and  certain purists  may
 scream, but it works.

 It is marginally  possible to  change the motor  mount with  out
 removing the  plenum.  This will require much contortion, bloody
 knuckles and the F___ word.

 I suggest removing the air plenum.  Which means removing all the
 air injection  hoses from the top of the engine.  There are four
 hoses connecting the plenum  to the intake manifold with  8 hose
 clamps.

 The two 10  mm bolts in the middle of the L shaped bracket are a
 pain  to remove and even  harder to replace.   Replacement seems
 easiest from under  the car  with a very  long socket  extension
 with a  end  that  allows the  17  mm socket  to  rock  sideways
 allowing the extension to project below the oil pan.

 Remove the plenum,  the L brace  and the rest  is just like  the
 driver's side.

 If  you are going this far, you  just as well pull the radiator,
 shroud and fan,  which you have to do anyway  to replace the air
 conditioner belt.  Plan to replace at least half the antifreeze,
 and flush the system.

 Remove the valve cover and suck the pint of dirty oil out of the
 cam galleys with a  turkey baster and finish with  paper towels.
 (I pull  the valve  cover every  other oil  change).   Check the
 valve  clearance and  chain  tension while  you  are here.    Be
 careful to align the  plunger from the electric solenoid  on the
 valve  cover to the variable intake cam when replacing the valve
 cover.

 Before putting things together,  scrape all grease deposits, put
 plastic  bags on the distributor and intake ports, apply Gunk or
 other  engine  cleaner and  wash  the engine,  cross  member and
 everything.  Wash all rubber parts with soap and water and apply
 Armor All  inside and outside  all rubber  hoses.  Just  as well
 make everything pretty!  Plus I do not mind getting dirty taking
 things apart, but feel I have not done a good job if I get dirty
 putting things back together.

 I  washed all  parts removed  in petroleum  naphtha in  my parts
 washer.  I also loaded the spider on my  car trailer and took it
 to the car wash.  Using Gunk and high pressure  water, I managed
 to give  my transmission an overhaul as  well.  Laying under the
 car trailer to wash the transmission got me a bit dirty and wet,
 but  everything is clean.   Hot Rod Magazine  once described the
 cleaning and painting of the engine as a Krylon overhaul.

 My  87  Graduate is  currently in  exactly the  condition above,
 clean with new parts awaiting assembly.  I originally pulled the
 air plenum  for access to the  starter and injectors.   It turns
 out the starter is  ok, but the ignition switch is  bad.  I also
 had  a leak  in one  of  the hoses  between the  fuel block  and
 injector.     When  installing  the  air   conditioner  belt,  I
 discovered  the  motor mounts  had sagged.    When I  pulled the
 spider out of storage, I expected to replace the battery, change
 the oil and drive it.

 Russ Neely
 Oklahoma City
 4 Spiders (91, 87, 84, & 82)
 2 87 Milano Gold
 2 75 Alfetta Sedans (one purchased new)
 2 Giulia Spiders
 1 GM tow vehicle
 and a few more Alfas for parts.