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I recently pulled the 400 out of my 79’ f150 and got the engine rebuilt. Decided to replace to mounts as the old ones were covered in grime and oil. The stars finally aligned and we put the motor in last night. As if the motor mounts aren’t a big enough pain to work around, they don’t line up. We were able to get the motor bolted to the trans but with the motor mount studs bolted to the frame, they miss the engine holes by about half an inch on both sides. Like either the engine needs to go back or the mounts need to move forward. No matter how to oriented them, we could not get them to align.
They were cheap mounts from Summit but they seemed to be very close to the factory ones. My question is has anyone had to modify the mounts or something to make things fit correctly? It sucks putting all this time money and effort into this to be held up by some crappy mounts.
I’ve contemplated widening the stud hole on the frame part of the mount but I figured I’d refer to the experts lol.
Is the box labeled Anchor? Had problems before with that china brand. Better off to dig old ones out of the trash. Maybe check the Ford parts counter thing or Green sales for NOS, be prepared to spend some coin for OEM but you'll not need to replace again in your lifetime.
Agree. I thought Anchor was from India (mine were at least) but the issue is pretty common.
In my case it was not fore-and-aft positioning that gave me grief, but the width where the studs bottomed out on the slots before the mounts sat flat on the towers.
After finally giving up, I have yet to try pulling the frame inward with a ratchet strap or something, to see if i can just "narrow" the frame instead of widening the mounts.
I tried two sets and they both did the same thing.
By the way, the Anchor brand I put in a Saturn a few years ago (very complex mounts, but simple to get to) fit perfectly and were a quick and easy install.
Ford engines, not so much...
I don't think this will make a difference in your case, but I have always had good luck (easier on the fingers) installing the mounts to the engine block first, then simply lining up the studs with the slots in the mounts. This seems more natural because of the design, what with the "V" shape and slotted holes in the towers.
Maybe if you do it that way you can muscle the engine rearward against the pressure of the transmission mounts.
Worth a try at this point I would say.
