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Reply to "Torque for long bolt through motor mounts"

As an addendum to much of what's in this post:

1)- Make sure you install the long bolts with the threads DOWN.

2)- torque the nuts 'adequately' for what it is- an assembly with lots of rubber in the mix.

3)- if you have any doubts, double-nut the bolts after tightening.

4)- for the paranoid, drill a small hole in the threaded end below the nuts and after tightening, install cotter pins or hairpin clips.

Marlin's suggestion is good; the lower insulator crushes from the engine's constant weight over decades, and the off-angle strain will eventually break the small bolts torqued into the engine block. Drilling out broken threaded end(s) is a real chore on the left side due to the gearshift rod's presence in the same area.  If a casual inspection shows a lower insulator is smushed on one side, either swap it for the identical top insulator which will not be smushed, or at least rotate the smushed insulator 180 degrees so the thin side is not next to the block. Either way, you can then take your time ordering replacements.

Note when reassembling that the center bolt hole in the lower aluminum part is off-center due to cylinder bank offset, so the completed L & Rt assemblies are NOT interchangeable. True,  some lower motor mounts have two holes about 5/8" apart (a guess) so they can be assembled on either side. My mounts have been severely altered so they're not good photo examples.

If you interchange the motor mount assemblies side to side, it shifts the whole powertrain backwards by that amount, but you must also adjust the ZF rear mount tabs accordingly. This rear powertrain shift often allows such cars to run a desirable large OD distributor cap without contact, as it increases firewall clearance. It slightly increases the amount of halfshaft offset all Panteras already have, but not enough to cause any concern. I did this 30 yrs ago to our '72; no problems yet with Spicer u-joints.... All of this stuff is in various illustrated Newsletter articles, 568 of which of which are in the POCA Archives on the Web.

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