Joel posted this description; thanks Joel

Well a few weeks ago Matt H dropped me an email about engine mounts. I had an order coming over from the US and after spending a couple of
hours on rennlist I decided to go for the solid rubber Anchor 2689S mounts at $30 each from www.928sRus.com . At that price I figured it didn't really matter if they were slightly inferior to the Porsche mounts at £200+ each, and Roger who sold them to me insisted (having installed 5 sets) that they were in fact superior to the hydraulic items.

Matt suggested that I bring the car up to his barn so we could install the mounts. The procedure is as follows:

- put car up on ramps under front wheels
- remove air box and tubing
- remove cross member cover
- unbolt anti-roll bar and swing downwards
- unbolt earth strap on RHS
- remove heat shields

This takes a little while. Your heat shields may be badly rusted and are held on by 2 10mm bolts that you need to unscrew from above. You'll need a 10mm stubby ratchet spanner.

- remove cross strut from engine bay (requires a 6mm or 7mm hex key)
- jack engine up until just touching the firewall


Smiffy recommends jacking the engine from one side (the side which you  are removing the mount from, then swap over to the other side). We
actually found that jacking from the centre of the sump got it up just as high, but your mileage may vary.

Be very, very careful when jacking the engine. Have your assistant feel the front wheels for the first traces of lightness - this will indicate that the engine has gone as far upwards as it can and you should jack no further.

You may find that jacking, gently releasing and re-jacking the engine gets it further. You get a slightly different lift each time. Hoisting the engine from above is not necessary.

- unbolt the engine mounts from their brackets (19mm bolt from above).
- unbolt the EngineMount (EM) brackets from the block (2 bolts from below).
- separate the mounts from the brackets

You will now be able to jiggle the EM, bracket and circular plate around freely in the gap. At this point you will probably be thinking 'how the hell am I ever going to get this damn thing out?'. Make a cup of tea.

- fiddle, fiddle fiddle until you can remove first the bracket, then the mount. In our case the LHS mount came out after the bracket and plate. On the RHS we could not unbolt the old mount from its bracket so they had to come out in 1 piece.

** If it looks impossible, release and re-jack the engine. Remember you will get a different lift each time. Perseverance is the key.

- You've now got the old mounts out - congratulations. This may have taken you an hour or two, so time for another cup of tea and then you need to get the new mounts in.

- We had to use an angle grinder to reduce the length of the bolt on the new engine mount as it was just too long to fit in, especially as the new mount will be a lot bigger than the compressed and collapsed old mount.

- It took Matt a solid 30 minutes of fiddling to arrange the plate, new mount and bracket successfully 'in situ' on the LHS which we did first. There was in fact no need to remove the oil filter on my S2.  This is the part that is like solving a Rubik's cube one handed in the dark.

- on the RHS it was a 2 man job. Firstly have your assistant hold the bracket in place, but held tight vertically as high as you can (against the block). Person 2 maneuvers the new mount into place with the circular plate underneath the bracket. Person 1 then takes the upward pressure off the bracket and it all drops into place. You may need to use a mallet and a long screwdriver to get the plate to hook onto the bracket in the correct way. Again, allow half an hour to an hour just for this bit.

- You're now ready to release the engine down and bolt up.

The heat shields are a bitch to get back on - you may have to bolt them in reverse by threading a bolt upwards through the captive nut
(we did). Replacing the original and knackered bolts with stainless steel is a smart move.

- Bolt everything back on in reverse order. Don't forget the cross strut in the engine bay and be careful with it - I've read tales of windscreens cracking when this is removed.
- Don't forget the earth strap and anything else you may have disturbed.
- Don't forget to release the steering lock before you do up the anti-roll bar (d'oh)

When you've got everything back on, start the engine and rev it.
Marvel at the way it rocks from side to side and tell yourself it was time well spent. Go for a spin.

Joel

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Tip: if you have problems getting the  big bolt in to fit the cross member with the chassis (PET HG 1, UG 09, Bild 109-00, Position 8), here is a trick for you: fit a long M12 bolt in the remaining hole and adjust gently until the cross member bolt aligns and goes in. Then remove the "helper" bolt. Sure beats pushing up that one extra mm.

Thanks to Shocki and Roger to make this public.

Theo