Mondial T motor mounts

That motor mount, even has me weeping... and I thought I was immune from sticker shock.

They're damn near $1500/ea. Let us know if/when you get your hands on a new one.

 

It's easy to get to them with the engine out of the car

Seriously though, it may be one of those jobs that's so much easier to do engine out, that you may as well take the engine out and do a belt service while you have it there.

 

Here is a picture of the 2 different kinds of motor mounts that came in a Mondial t. If yours is the smaller one, you will have to modify the mount bracket on the engine. (I have heard of someone substituting in a 355 mount but this should probably be done with the engine out because the mounting holes to the frame are different.) To remove the mounts you will need to jack up the motor slightly and remove the bracket from the engine block.
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I assume that you must have had the smaller mounts. You will also need to cut off the small locating stud on the new mount. There is no coresponding hole in the old arm.

 

FWIW, we were able to fabricate new motor mounts for a client's Mondial T Cab from F355 engine mounts...and do it all without removing the engine. Finished product below...

Thanks,
JMG
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Could you elaborate a bit? What were the fabrication tasks? Is the picture of the finished product? If so, how does that bolt up to the bracket?

Much thanks for sharing your creative efforts!

Regards,

Randy Lee

 

Hi Mike,
How did you know they were bad? Did you notice a vibration or other noises or did you just find it on inspection? Why do they break? I accidentally hit a parking lot wedge with the clutch housing when reverse parking and ever since I have been worried about our mounts, although I haven't noticed any problems.

Dave

 

Hi Dave, I can answer that question: I noticed something when I was cavorting on a twisty back road. I crested a sharp whoop-de, unloading the rear end. Then, just as the rear end started to load back up, there was a loud bang from the engine compartment. It was obvious.

But to confirm the separation, I put the car up on jackstands, and then, using a floor jack with a block of wood to protect the case, and with it contacting the case in the transverse center and on, or just a bit forward of, the line between the two mounts, I jacked up the engine. Unsurprisingly, it came up about half an inch with no movement of the frame at all. The clincher was that with the weight of the engine off the mounts, I could spin the center rubber section. Clearly it was no longer connected to the piece bolted to the support.

That was 4,000 miles ago, so one may drive the car with separated mounts and not have any major problems. Still, of course I want to fix this, and soon shall. I just have to determine a cost-effective solution as no way in hell am I paying even $1000 for an engine mount. I have my eye on some Audi mounts that are hydraulic, and have been used in at least one t. AutohausAZ lists them for $60 each but they are backordered. They will require some moddys to get them in place as the flange is much lower relative to the top surface compared to the Ferrari part, at least it appears so from the pics. I think that I can bring them up from below with a nice steel spacer. This may make fitment with the engine in place much simpler. Will report as I go.

 

I'd love to get more details too, as the 348 ones are just obscenely expensive.

 

Glad you said that. I need your help with my project. Email has been sent.

 

The picture is of the completed mounts. We had a customer come to us with broken mounts...similar diagnosis to elsewhere in this thread...the jack stand would raise the motor without the subframe. We happened to notice it on a test drive with engine "tramping" (is that a word? I think you know what I mean) under accelleration. After pricing new mounts...and finding them unavailable at any crazy price nonetheless, we asked the owner if he would consider a manufactured solution and we determined that the 355 mounts, while not an exact bolt pattern fit, were an exact height fit with a spacer...essentially the same height as the existing lower plate on the bolt mounting on the existing spacers.

We removed the engine mounts in situation...a bit of a task but we have a 4 poster to work with and we then used a jack stand to raise the engine enough to unbolt the existing mounts and mounting arms. (You will need to lossen/remove both to do this in place.)

Once removed, we cut the plate away from the mount (metal/rubber portion) with a plasma cutter and cleaned up the lip that was left on the bracket. We did some additional grinding to allow the 355 mounts (which are fairly inexpensive from Ricambi) to sit flat on the plate. The picture that I had attached is the back side of that grinding work. You can see the original 355 plates sleightly overhanging the Mondial T plates. We then welded those in place and painted them. So what you are looking at in that picture is the bottom of the old mounts, with the 355 mounts inserted in them from above.

As for mounting, it was simple...all of the bolt patterns lined up perfectly since it was the orginal plate. Reassemble and enjoy.

I have additional pictures and video of the cutting process but I will be travelling the next few weeks and am not sure when I could send them out.

If you find the task too daunting, we kept the exact measurements and could manufacture them for you without using your old mounting brackets. We would create brackets and mount them to 355 mounts and ship them out to you. I don't have an exact cost but could take a bit of time to figure it out if you or anyone else is interested. It would include new 355 mounts mounted to a generic plate that you could then install in place.

TCab...

 

Thanks much for the details! I am getting close to placing an order with you - still considering my options. One thing that I am curious about: the center hole looks larger in diameter than the size of the stud in the original mounts. Did you put some kind of insert in there, or did you open the hole in the engine's bracket, or are my eyes deceiving me? Perhaps the "lower spacer" and "upper spacer" I see in Ricambi's 355 parts diagram are what locate the bolt in the larger hole I think I see in the picture?

 

Not quite sure if I understand your question...but you are looking at the original T plates...so the bolt pattern there is as removed from the car. If you are referring to the size of the hole in the middle of the plate and the 355 mounts themselves, yes, I do believe the 355 mount "diamter" is actually smaller than the original Mondial T design which is why we were able to simple weld the two of them together.

Thanks,
TCab

 

I am talking about the center hole in the mount rubber. See Red Arrow. That hole appears to be larger in diameter than the stud on a Mondial's mount or the bolt that the 355 uses. I am wondering how the bolt is located in light of the large hole size. I suspect that in additon to the the 355 engine mounts one will also need the top and bottom spacers, and other hardware, at a cost of $28, $2.20, $.80, $83.00 (!), and $16 each. With the mount at $121 each that adds up to $251 each. However, the mounts Ricambi shows a picture of look completely different - they look like they have the spacers built in, so all bets are off. Where did you get the ones you used?
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I beleive we used the same hardware for remounting but since I am on the road (again) without pix, difficult for me to review them to make sure. PM me and I can put you in touch with my partner that did the actual fabrication.

Thanks,
JMG

 

Hi JMG - I know this is a very old thread, but any chance you have more info on modifying the 355 mounts to fit Mondial. Looking to potentially build these for my car. Thanks MIKE

 

Have a look on Superperformance uk site as they have engine mounts for mondial and the T version. £300 !!