Trans mount problems

Here is ackpht's mount showing the spacers at the front and the cast piece against the saddle at the rear.

Brooke,
Mine also has the washers in the same location. They were on #4134 when I purchased it 14 years ago. I think that the mounts are the originals. But, I do not know for sure.

Where did your spacers go ?

Once the ZF is in the car, spacers are used in the mounts front and rear to hold the ZF in place from moving around.

COZ!
Where have you been?
Did you get another car?
There were no spacers with the car. What you see in the photo is how I got it.
My concern was the ZF bushing casting wedged up against the rear of the saddle. The lip on my original mount was shredded and shoved inside the casting on the ZF. That is why its poking out the front. Even if a spacer was in front the trans would have evetually shifted.
The engine and trans appeared to be wedged between the saddle and the engine mounts.
When I pulled the engine mount bolts the engine shifted forward about 1/4 inch.
I have cut the ends off of the saddles and repositioned them so now everything is centered and bind free. The bolts on the motor mounts literally fall out when the nuts are removed.

Hi Brooke...

Been kind of laying low...I opened a shop that restores Pantera's, NSX's and builds NSX's for racing. Just staying busy and racing my NSX as much as I can.

Working on personally getting another Pantera, but for now, working on others :-)

The first Picture shows no washers at all. Whoever put the ZF in the car didn't put the washers back in. They are important since the take up the space between the ZF ears and the frame mounts to keep the ZF centered and solid. By not putting them in and balancing the ZF from front to rear, no doubt it moved around and twisted under torq. Which is why the bushing squeezed out of the ears. There not enough heat there to melt the bushings like yours appear to be, so it had to be pressure & friction from movement.

If you have the ears off the car and still need new one's, call Dennis Q, I believe he has them. Put the washers in this time and take up any space with them front and rear of the ears and frame mounts.

Another thing to check is to be sure the motor mounts have been put on the correct sides. I learned the hard way that it is possible to reverse them and still mount the motor. Look at your motor mounts, the center holes are not centered on the mounts. There is about 1/4" difference front to back. So if the were installed the wrong way, it will push the whole motor/ZF assemble about 1/4" out of position. This may be why your motor popped forward when you released the pressure at the motor mounts. It appears someone forced the ZF ears into the frame mounts to make it go in place, not good.

Sounds like you have already repositioned the frame mounts if I understand you correctly, so this will probably take care of the problem. However, I would be sure to check the alignment of the 1/2 shafts to the hubs to be sure your angle hasn't changed to much. Otherwise you could be starting a whole new set of problems. Also check for any bulkhead clearance problems as things get pretty tight up there.

Call me if you like and we can discuss it more.
480.264.9250
Here a picture of the shop and my boys smiling faces :-)

Coz,
Good for you! 20 years ago I turned my hobby into my career. Then I had to get a new hobby

My mounts were positioned so the hole was forward. This is what was puzzling as my engine was a far forward as it could go but I was hitting the rear of the saddles.

I cut off the rear of the saddles and centered the motor mount bolts neutral and re-welded them
It moved the saddles back about 1/2 inch to achieve a neutral setting in the motor mounts and trans mount bolts.

If I had the mounts reversed from where they are I would have so far rearward that I would not have been able to get the trans in the saddles at all.

Here is a pic of how I had my mounts positioned.

Here is the re-worked saddle. I fit it so that there is just room for the bushing and washers.
I am not using a spacer. The ZF comes in and out of the saddles easily.

Here it is bolted together.

Brooke,

Strange isn't it. The yellow car in the picture of the shop is the same way and has the same problem although now as wuite as bad as yours appeared to be. No matter what side I put the motor mounts on, it has an alignment problem as well. My only guess at this point is that the ZF mounts weren't exactly right from the beginning from the fatory.

Looking at your finished pictures, it looks great, great job.

As for a new hobby, I can't afford any new ones :-)

I have heard storys of shops that work on ZF's, taking your ZF pulling it apart cleaning the parts and putting what is good back on the shelf. Then grabbing the parts to reassemble a ZF for you, and sending you the finished ZF. Some parts might be your original, others off the shelf. A friend had this experience, and his mounts on the returned ZF did not fit correctly. He called the shop, and was told that all ZF mounts were the same size. He asked them to check their shelf and see if they had any different sizes on the shelf. After a long argument, they went and checked and came back and said, they could not beleive it, but they had found different lengths of mounts.He had one shorter and one longer. They sent him the correct size and it fit like it had in the beginning.

That reminds me of a phone call I had with a restoration shop maybe 15 years ago. I wanted a quote for a restoration of a Dodge Challenger and the guy was asking all kinds of questions about how the car was equipped- what color interior, did it have A/C vents in the dash, what rear end, etc.

It finally dawned on me that he was scoping my car to see if it had any parts he needed for other jobs.

Click!!