Body Mount Replacement

Q: Body Mount Replacement

How do I replace my body mounts

A: It’s not that difficult to replace of you have a hydraulic jack and a little patience and do one side at a time.

First break loose all four body bushing bolts. You’ll probably need a breaker bar and a pipe extension. The sub-frame bolts are located at the base of the firewall and under the front seat pedestal. If they look rusty, you can soak them in a good rust penetrate for a couple of days before you try to break them loose. You’ll need to remove the seats and fold back the carpet to soak the two at the back of the subframe. The firewall bolts/nuts are accessible from the engine compartment or from under the car.

After you’ve broken all four loose, put a piece of 2×6 on top of the jack to spread the load and lift the body at the front of the rocker panel. As you lift, you’ll see the frame separate from the body. You’ll need to lift the body to gain about 3/4 inch separation to R&R the bushings. You may have to use a pry bar to assist in the separation. That’s about it.

A: I changed mine, but had the front sheet metal apart at the time. I sprayed each bushing, bolts, and nuts with penatrating oil the day before. I also had the carpet (and interior) out of the car so I could get at the captive nuts under the seats for the rearmost bushings. The front 2 are actually in the engine compartment near the inner wheelwell. The bolts broke loose pretty easily with a breaker bar. I then cleaned and painted the entire subframe.

One difficulty, and it wasn’t that bad, was aligning the subframe up with the holes in the floor when putting it back together. It took nearly an hour to do this, since the subframe arms needed to be squeezed together slightly to match the holes.

If you don’t want to remove the sheetmetal, I’d loosen, but not remove the 4 bolts. Then working on one side, remove one bolt completely, leaving the other loose, but with the nut in place.

Using jackstands to support the body (place a wide piece of wood at least 2″ thick to spread the contact area between the jackstand head and the foor of the car),pull the bushing out. At this point, I’d try to apply POR15 or some other rust inhibitor to the subframe area and body where the bushing sits. These areas are prone to rust, and this is the time to stop or prevent it. Some cars may in fact need repair if the rust is bad enough. The new bushings, like the old ones, are 2 pieces, with one sandwiched between the body and subframe. The other half fits under the bolt head, on the underside of the subframe.

With the new bushing and bolts in place, but not tightened down, do the other bushing on the same side. Now do the same with the other side. Once that’s done, you can tighten all four bolts down. The key here is not to completely remove both bolts on the same side, or to tighten any of them until all 4 are done.

With the weight of the engine, and front clip sitting on the subframe, this may add some degree of difficulty to the job. But I’d try it myself. I had my car apart because it was being prepped for body work and paint. And it needed a fair amount of the front clip replaced anyway. Well, ok, the whole front clip got replaced. Plus I have the knowledge that I took care of all the details in that area.

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