ENGINE MOUNT INSTALLATION (SOLID MOUNTS)

Thanks to Tim O'Brien for contributing to this FAQ!

Good engine mounts on the 1984 Saab 900 are crucial. If they are bad enough, they will not only cause the clutch to misalign (making a big bump when you shift especially from first to second gear) -- they will actually cause the engine to seize and stall around corners. At their worst mine caused a loud noise from behind the instrument panel like an old school oven timer when I was going up hills, and I canÂ’t be sure, but I think the engine was yanking the speedo cable forward, because it was moving that much. I heard a story about another Saab where the engine lifted up so much it smashed the distributor rotor on the hood.

I replaced the mounts with the engine in the car. It is somewhat difficult but possible after removing the cooling system including the radiator, the alternator, the power steering pump, the oil filter, the exhaust manifold and the header pipe. It seems like a lot of trouble for only a hundred or so dollars worth of parts but believe me it is worth it if the mounts need to be changed! It is also a great time to change the oil seal and O ring on the oil pump (see faq), and the exhaust manifold gaskets, belts, do rust control, etc. (Please note there is no turbo on my car, it has been removed though the engine was originally designed for one. I know the oil supply for the turbo is by the passenger side engine mount, but I donÂ’t know how many turbocharger components would also require removal.) On the passenger side, there is a long bracket that bolts into the engine and extends almost a foot to the engine mount, which is attached to the body of the car. I used a jack to lift up the engine slightly, just enough to release the pressure. The tricky thing here is the power steering pump bracket. It is between the engine and the engine mount bracket, and takes
some of the weight from the engine and distributes it down to the engine mount bracket and thus the rubber engine mount. When the power steering pump bracket is removed you will probably see the engine move downward noticeably. I took off the power steering pump bracket first, then the engine mount bracket, then removed the engine mount. The engine mount bracket has a long bolt attaching it to the engine mount. The engine mount is attached by two small nuts underneath which are easy to access on this
side. After the mount was switched out, I reattached the long engine mount bracket and adjusted the jack until I could slide the long bolt through the bracket and the new mount. Then I used a small bottle jack between the wheel well and the valve cover to slowly twist the engine enough to get the power steering bracket back in. Probably a controversial move, but it worked. If you donÂ’t want to try that, you could probably achieve the same effect with the jack under the engine.

Next, the front. This one I thought was really weird. There is a full bracket holder built onto the car, nice thick metal, and two bolt holes in shafts that extend upwards about an eighth of an inch from the top of the
bracket holder. Then the bracket itself is, well, kind of flimsy in comparison, and it attaches to the circular engine mount with a long metric hex head bolt. This bracket sits on top of the two raised bolt holes in the bracket holder, then is attached by bolts and spacers from the top. The circular mount is then attached to the front of the gearbox by a half-circle bracket that has bolts on the top and the bottom. There is a puzzle like sequence to getting it replaced. To complicate matters, in my case, what I am calling the somewhat flimsy bracket was broken, and it doesnÂ’t seem replaceable. I called the yard where I usually get used
parts, and they said it was removed when people took the engines, all of which were gone. So I could either get one made or make one myself. First, the disassembly. I undid the bolts on the top of the flimsy bracket, one on each side, then lifted the engine up just enough with a jack under the gearbox so that I could slip a metric hex wrench in through the half inch space at the top of the bracket holder and loosen the bolt that holds the flimsy bracket onto the mount. I did this because part of the flimsy bracket is a band around the bottom that interferes with getting access to the bottom bolt on the half circle bracket attaching the mount to the gearbox. After loosening the hex head bolt I swiveled the flimsy bracket around, and could get a socket through under the mount. Once I got that half circle bracket off, I was able to remove the mount from the car. I tried using epoxy to fix the bracket and it was unsuccessful, the metal is only about an eighth of an inch thick. So I dispensed with the one piece design and fashioned a piece of steel from Home Depot with a hammer, a vice, a drill, and a jig saw that crudely approximated just one side of
the flimsy bracket. The other side appeared to be okay, so I brush cleaned it, then I reinforced both the new half and the old half on the seams with the JB Weld epoxy. I painted both with Rustoleum. After they were dry enough, I attached the new half brackets to the circular mount with the hex bolt but left it a little loose. No more issues with getting at the lower bolt on the half circle bracket to the gearbox! And the one-piece design of the original bracket did not seem to add much to the structure. I swiveled the two half brackets slightly because the engine was at a slight angle due to being raised up in the front. Then I attached the mount to the gearbox with the half circle bracket. Make sure that it lines up right, there is a divot in the circular mount that fits a tab sticking out of the mounting area, on the passenger side. I tightened the mount half circle bracket, then gradually lowered the engine until the half brackets were guided properly over the raised bolt holes, but not quite all the way. While the hex head bolt was still accessible through the hole at the top of the passenger side of the bracket holder, I tightened the
bolt. Then I lowered the engine all the way. Finally I tightened the two top mounted bolts with the spacers onto the redesigned half brackets and it was done.

Last, the driverÂ’s side. Getting the nuts off of the mount itself is difficult because you have to get your arm in around the axle, etc. The one towards the rear of the car can be removed by a long extension on a
socket wrench or nut driver. I lifted the engine up with a jack again. The bracket holding the mount to the engine has two bolts on the front end of the car. They can be removed. The long bolt holding the engine mount to the bracket can also be removed. Then there are two hex head screws towards the rear of the car also holding the bracket to the engine block. You can remove the top one with a hex head wrench. You canÂ’t access the bottom one, the engine mount is in the way. Once the top hex screw is removed, you can lift the engine mount straight up, then swivel the bracket to get the mount out of there and replace it. I had to fuss around with it for a minute but it did come out of there. Once the new mount is in
and nutted at the bottom, reattach the bracket to the block. I obviously left the lower right hex head screw a lot less torqued with this method, and I wonder now if I didnÂ’t lift the engine high enough. That is
something you could try if you want to put the bracket on with that lower right hex head screw at full torque before replacing the engine mount. I felt like I wanted to be really cautious about lifting the engine too
much, so I didnÂ’t. Either way when the mount is replaced slowly adjust the jack until the long bolt can be reinserted through the bracket and the new engine mount.