Itinerant Air-Cooled

Well, I failed.

I was going to replace the engine mounts on George, and found this write-up on the Samba by somebody named Rocknrod, posted back in 2008:

I do it without unbolting anything but the rubber mounts, and the metal tray that has four bolts behind the bumper... forgetting the name at the moment. Unbolt both sides, jack up the engine on one side, rotate the mount sideways, then lay it flat on the metal pad.

Set that side down. Repeat procedure on the other side. Go back to the first side and pick up engine slide mount backwards and up. It'll wedge in the frame, rotate around until it slips out. Install new mount by laying flat, then twisting into position. Go to other side and repeat. Install bottom bolts on both sides and then jack up the bar until the upper bolt holes show themselves.

It takes longer to explain than to do, but keeps the exhaust in place. Jack up on the moustache bar on either side of the engine to get the clearance you need. For the most part you don't need to worry about it dropping, though it may settle around while you work so keep fingers out of pinch points and only go to town with the jack in place.

Armed with this knowledge, I was confident that I could do the job without having to remove the muffler and mustache bar, as others assured me that I had to do.

I failed. There was no way I could wriggle those suckers out, regardless of whether the opposite side one was laying flat or not. There was just not enough room.

Is there anybody else (besides Rocknrod, obviously) who has done this? What's the trick?

FWIW, I was able to rotate each engine mount completely around while it was still in its "cage," and they looked fine to me (although Ronnie Feitelson of Bustoration told me that one was cracked). So I'm content to wait until such time as I either have the engine out or have to replace the muffler before I start getting worried about it.

I have done this a few times. I leave the mounts connected to the mustache bar, then use a bottle jack under the engine to support it. Loosen the bolts that hold the mounts to the frame, then make sure the engine is supported by the jack + a little more to take the weight off the suspension. Remove the rubber mount bolts and remove the three bolts rom the engine case/mustache bar center locations. (13mm and 17mm ratcheting open-ended wrenches are your friend here.) From here, jack up the engine another inch or two, then see about wiggling the mustache bar out with a slight twist in whatever directions help. If that doesn't work, then you can remove the nuts that hold the mounts to the mustache bar, then they'll come out with little persuasion. At that point you can remove the mustache bar to clean and paint it.

Even Wolfsburg West sells the Euromax $10 mounts that seem to be all we can get these days. I've only had one fail, but it made a real racket when I would shut the engine down and it would clang. Start to finish was a little under and hour, because the mustache bar was already painted.

Robbie

JLT wrote:Well, I failed.
I was going to replace the engine mounts on George,

It is doable. If your car has very been hit in the rear, it will be more difficult, as I discovered with Chloe. There actually is a preferred sequence, but I can't remember which side needs to be done first. Don't be afraid to jack the engine further up after you have loosened the upper engine mount nuts to allow them to rotate to an advantageous position. Must run, good luck.
Colin

I just did this on the '69. First I unbolted the lower bolt on the mounts and then I gently jacked up the engine a little bit - maybe an inch? Using a BF screwdriver I pried just a bit on the old mount and had enough room to get the it out and the new one in. I did not remove or loosen the bolts between the mustache bar and the block. Stock 1600 and stock exhaust. Maybe something unique with my bus but it was not that hard.