motor mount - arms too narrow.

[Andre3127]

Grind the locating nub off and rotate them 180 degrees to fit.

[jwetering]

So you have an e30 subframe in the car now? If so, then things should fit fine. I assume you noticed alignment tabs on the bottom of the mounts, and the only thing I can think is that they are rotated 180 degrees, since the top post is off-center.

The short story here is that it looks like I got dealt a set of defective OEM motor mounts. The top hats were turned 180 degrees so the pins were offset outboard rather than inboard. I have another set of OEM on the way - they should be here tomorrow. If those are also goofy then I already have a set of MTC aftermarket mounts lined up which I have put eyes on and which I know will work because the pin is indeed offset inboard.

The longer story is that I was initially working with an m10 subframe and a set of e36 motor mounts that RockAuto shipped instead of the e30 mounts they advertised. The early m10 e30 subframe is slightly different than the subframes installed in every other e30. First off there's a set of tabs to hold a small shock absorber and second off the holes for the bottom stud and locating dowel are a few mm farther apart so late model motor mounts won't fit without a little bit of filing.

The e36 mounts didn't work because the spacing between the stud and locating dowel on those was *way* too wide for the m10 subfarme. I filed out the subframe to make them seat but the top pins were way too widely spaced. Took me a while to figure out the problem was with the mounts and not my subframe.

That's when I said fk it and found a later model e30 subframe (cheap) and bought a set of OEM e30 mounts at big $. The mounts seated in the new subframe just fine, but imagine my frustration when the top pins were *way* too widely spaced for my motor. Took me a long tie to figure out thatthe mounts were defective. Not a lot of good photos of e30 motor mounts showing the offset (until now).

Anyway - here's aside view of the defective OEM mount (one of the ones installed in my original post). See how the top pin is located closer to the dowel ? I will post a photo of the correct mount tomorrow for comparison.

[bmwman91]

So you have an E30 subframe in the car now? If so, then things should fit fine. I assume you noticed alignment tabs on the bottom of the mounts, and the only thing I can think is that they are rotated 180 degrees, since the top post is off-center.

[jwetering]

So I ponied up the big bucks and bought OEM e30 m42 motor mounts because I could not get the e36 m42 motor mounts that RockAuto shipped me to fit to my satisfaction.

Well I will be damned though because these e30 mounts don't fit much better.

See the photos attached but when everything is torqued down and the mounts are seated properly in the subframe the holes in the arms are just too narrow to square up with the top pins on the mounts themselves. Both the passenger and driver side mounts are skewed right over.

Anybody ever seen this ?


I should mention this is an m42 swap into an early m10 car - but I changed the subframe after I blamed the original m10 subframe for not letting the e36 mounts fit.


Anyway - see the photos...