While underneath our '88 GL =
yesterday
cleaning and re-lubing the shift linkage (seems I have to do it =
annually ),
I took a look at motor mounts which I have suspected to be in =
trouble for
some time. We have had alot of "driveline =
lash" which
is best described as rubber banding of the van on sudden accel or
decel. Also have had intemittent clutch shudder. I =
expected to
see the forward (tranny) mount tearing itself apart. =
Nope. That
one is fine. Must be the others at the rear of the engine. =
Look,
wiggle, shake, yup, the rears have small separations in them. =
Can
these be replaced? Uh, looks like these mounts are a unit with =
the
entire cast aluminum engine plate. Ka- Ching $$$$. Must =
be
another way.
Decided that beyond the =
separation of rubber
from metal the rubber itself didn't look so bad. Here's the =
Mickey
Mouse part. I found 4 places where engine motion was being =
permited by
these separations. Into these gaps I drove 4 handmade =
polyurethane
wedges. The polyurethane originated with pink skateboard =
wheels and
was previously used to make racecar suspension bushings. Cuts =
easily
with a hot knife.
Without getting into riduculous =
detail, the
gaps should be obvious to you if you shake the engine. The way =
to
"lock" the wedges in should be obvious too. Sounds stupid =
I know,
but... Boy the van feels much different. The rubber =
banding is
gone. No clutch shudder -yet. It just feels much
tighter.
If Mickey Mouse fails me in the future, I'll let =
you
know.
Gary
Redding, CT