I looked around the forum and found no DIY for motor mounts with photos. All the ones I found gave the basic info to do the job, but I thought some pics and pointers would help others eliminate the trial and error that makes the job tougher and longer than it needs to be.

You will need to get two new motor mounts and the corresponding flange nuts. The nuts on motor mounts are one time use so get new ones. My dealer charged me $1 each, not so bad.

Tools needed:

1- 3/8” ratchet
2- 6” extensions
1- 10” extension
1- Swivel adapter
1– Six point 16mm socket

You really need the extensions and swivel to do the job. Here are the new motor mounts and flange nuts.

This is the setup you will use to remove and re-install the flange nuts....the only change will be the number of extensions.

Step one: Jack up the front end of the car. You may want to take the wheels off to give yourself more room. I wish I did. :stickoutt

Step two: Take off the 16mm flange nuts that hold the motor mount in place. You will remove the nuts for the bottom mounts from underneath the car, and the top from the engine bay. Let’s start with the top. The PS is easy to find and do. Set up the ratchet with all the extensions so you get down there…you will need the swivel because the angle requires it. Hit all the nuts with PB Blaster to help loosen them up.

Now remove the nut from the drivers side. The drivers side is a little harder to find. Remove everything back to the throttle body: air box (or CAI), MAF, and 90 deg boot. The DS top mount is right under the TB.

Step three: OK, the tops nuts are off, now crawl under the car. You will see the bottom mount. Here is the driver's side. Use a single 6" extension and swivel and go through the hole in the control arm to get to it. Do the passenger side also.

Step four: With the top and bottom flange nuts off, the mechanical connections are done. You just need to lift the motor high enough to free the motor mount....about 1-1/2 to 2". Use a piece of 2x4 to spread the load, and jack up the motor by the oil pan. Do this very slowly and make sure no hoses or other connections get strained. I had no issues here.

Note: If you have an x-brace it needs to come off...you can see mine under the car.

Step five: Now just remove the old motor mounts. The driver's side is a little tricky to work out because of the steering linkage, go outboard of the control arm. The passenger is easy. If they won't come out you need to jack a little higher. Sorry no photos, I was doing this alone :D

Step six: Install the new motor mounts. Insert the top stud first, and then the lower. The motor mount has a specific orientation. The diagram shows you the orientation looking up from below the car. Once you have this orientation right you will hear and feel it fall in place. Visually check to make sure. Let the motor mount rest on the lower mount and loosely install the new flange nut.

The passenger side has a heat shield to protect the mount from the exhaust. The heat shield has a pin that orients it correctly toward the exhaust. It fits into one of two dimples (one is for PS and the other DS)..you'll see...figure the proper placement and install the mount.

Step 7: Lower the motor slowly allowing the top stud to be inserted into the top mount. Mine went right in. Install the top flange nuts and torque all to 33 ft-lbs. You really can't get a torque wrench on properly so I went a little high to account for the extensions and the swivels.

You're done! :redspot

Here are my old mounts with 160,000 miles on them...not too bad

Oh, this is so good and clear, I was thinking to by UUC mounts next mounth and do a swap.
Good job hellrot325, I won't have any problems doing a swap, cause we have a nice DIY :) Thanks. I went with stock. Don't want NVH issues.

another :handclap and an exemplary DIY writeup by hellrot325

Is it really safe to rest the engine by the pan on a jack? This is only thing that scares me without a engine hoist.

Oh, this is so good and clear, I was thinking to by UUC mounts next mounth and do a swap.
Good job hellrot325, I won't have any problems doing a swap, cause we have a nice DIY :)

Sorry I interupted your DIY :)

Thanks. I went with stock. Don't want NVH issues.

What's the NVH issue? Vibration?

Is it really safe to rest the engine by the pan on a jack? This is only thing that scares me without a engine hoist. Every DIY says it's okay, and I had no problem. YRMV of course. I vouch for nothing. :stickoutt

What's the NVH issue? Vibration? Noise Vibration Harmonics. Stiff urethane bushings transmit more of it of course.

next time, i would recommend getting the whole write-up together before starting the thread, so that you can copy & paste and get everything said before others have time to post.

good write up, BTW. is it as simple & straightforward as it looks? how long did this take? ill add it to my list of things to do.

Noise Vibration Harmonics. Stiff urethane bushings transmit more of it of course.

OK, thanks. Is it so noticible? I am not doing track so I will probably stick to OEM then.

OK, thanks. Is it so noticible? I am not doing track so I will probably stick to OEM then. I've never used them so I can't say first hand, but a stiffer bushing will trainsmit more NVH. The amount, and whether it's tolerable, is best left to others to say.

The plus side is that it will also resist engine torque. This will better kep the engine and tranny lined up, reducing the (minimal) risk of misshifts. They should last longer too. But you can see mine after 160K miles, not so bad.

beautiful wiret up! i was just looking for someting like this the other day. Did you feel any difference in the smoothness of the car?

beautiful wiret up! i was just looking for someting like this the other day. Did you feel any difference in the smoothness of the car? Seems like shifting is smoother and less vibration overall. Not sure if it actually is or I just want it to be. :stickoutt Have to say that I never checked them, but I'm replacing all the bushings in my car. Next and last are the rear-subframe bushings. Going to have the reinforcements welded in too.

Good write up, thumbs up.

Great writeup as allways Hellrot. Thanks. good to see yours were still in one piece. my driversside mount ripped in half by 140K. May be time to check them again...Have about 80K on the replacements.

Great writeup as allways Hellrot. Thanks. good to see yours were still in one piece. my driversside mount ripped in half by 140K. May be time to check them again...Have about 80K on the replacements. Thanks. I was surprised :eek: I think replacing my tranny mounts at 89K helped. They work together. I am changing them out but my clutch is starting to go so I will wait until I do that...UUC TM+E. Oh, and Stage 2 LWF and M5 clutch :redspot

another :handclap and an exemplary DIY writeup by hellrot325

Is it really safe to rest the engine by the pan on a jack? This is only thing that scares me without a engine hoist.

Make sure you use the 2x4 under the oil pan, never put the jack directly onto the oil pan, as you will cause a dent and possibly mess up the pickup and mechanicals inside in addition to possibly cracking a seal and draining all your oil.

Short answer, with a 2x4, you're good 100%.

Make sure you use the 2x4 under the oil pan, never put the jack directly onto the oil pan, as you will cause a dent and possibly mess up the pickup and mechanicals inside in addition to possibly cracking a seal and draining all your oil.

Short answer, with a 2x4, you're good 100%. The oil pan is cast...it's not going to dent.

Patiently waiting for the subframe bushing DIY. :shifty

Patiently waiting for the subframe bushing DIY. :shifty That's good, because it's going to be a while ;)

Nice job, Helrot, my man.

Am about to change the motor mounts this week, so your how-to has given me an incentive to tackle the job.

Many thanks.

Thanks for the DIY. I just got done doing this. One word of advice:

Since the oil pan is slightly to the driver's side, jacking it up with both sides unbolted will pretty much only raise the driver's side enough to replace the mount. I did that one first and put the nuts back on that side pretty loose. Then when I jacked the motor up again, the passenger's side lifted up enough to replace the mount.

Word, I 2 just got done, still covered in grease :)

1 Side at a time.

The driver's side was actually easier IMO since that's the side the motor wants to torque away from. Motor was very easy to lift when doing the driver side.

When I did the passenger side, the car came off the jacks completely, bout 4-5 inches off the driver side jack, 1 inch off the passenger side jack.

This is a piece of cake to do as long as you have the swivel and some PB.

-edit 8-7-07.

I finally got the rest of my car done (cooling system since the fan went FU to me :( )
Anyway, even though my car only has 85k on the odo, and the mounts didn't look THAT bad (just some very very slight surface cracking), it might just be a placebo affect, but I'm thinking the car is MUCH more connected/smooth when taking corners/getting on it.

I'll need to do some more 1-2-3 hammer shifts though to really put her thru her paces.

Thanks for the DIY. I just got done doing this. One word of advice:

Since the oil pan is slightly to the driver's side, jacking it up with both sides unbolted will pretty much only raise the driver's side enough to replace the mount. I did that one first and put the nuts back on that side pretty loose. Then when I jacked the motor up again, the passenger's side lifted up enough to replace the mount.I experienced the same thing...good advice!

As always, thanks for putting this together. I'm glad I'm about 40k miles behind you, so that you can replace all these parts and post up your DIY's. :)

Some things I figured out along the way:

a) Not sure if it helps or is just psychological, but I was having some difficulty installing new mounts and noticed I still had my front stressbar in place. Removing that seemed to help. Duh.

And for the 'vert club:

a) Convertible motor mounts are different. They have metal tops and bottoms, and are more "cylinder-like" than the ones pictured here, which are "cone-like". Also, my vert had two metal caps for the top - similar to the Tranny Mount Enforcers (TME) from UUC. Here's a link to pelicanparts.com's website showing the part. (http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/ksearch/PEL_search.cgi?command=show_part_page&please_wait=N&make=BMW&model=BE36&section=ENGman&page=8&bookmark=3&part_number=11-81-2-224-413-BOE) They label the parts "Engine Mount, Left, Convertibles only, 323iC manual trans, 325iC/328iC".

b) It may be I have crappy tools, or since the 'vert mounts are different, I found that I had to use a 16mm deep socket to remove the tops. My standard length would bottom out on the "bolt" which prevented me from tightening the nuts down.

Again, thanks for the write up! Seeing how easy it was helped me to gather the courage to get this done. No more rattles at the drive-thru! :redspot

I just replaced my motor mounts a couple weeks ago with the Vorshlag nylon motor mounts. You get significant vibration in the cabin at idle, but past 1000 rpm it's fine. the car feels solid and I feel more "connected" to the car. I don't mind the vibrations, but I have had some people say that the vibrations are a little much when sitting in traffic. I don't daily drive it so it doesn't matter.

I just did this job today. Thanks to your write-up, the job took only two hours. That was with all the disassembly, work, and reassembly; a few distractions; and my lackadaisical work ethic.

No frustration, you nailed the tools, and I enjoyed doing the job.

Thanks!

nice write up....

hey sorry to bring up an ancient(ish) thread but I just followed this write up at school and it took us about 20 mins with a hoist, great write up hellrot, I will be following your RTAB in a few weeks! thanks again!! I also went with the Ireland Engineering solid mounts and I love the feel, it makes you feel like your driving a race car!

I'm currently doing a clutch replacement and decided now would be a great time to replace the tranny and engine mounts. My M is a daily driver so id like for it to be smooth.

Why replace the mounts with the UUC mounts if it causes NHV? Whats the advantage of the UUC compared to stock replacement? And wheres just the best place to purchase these online.

Thanks for the DIY. I just got done doing this. One word of advice:

Since the oil pan is slightly to the driver's side, jacking it up with both sides unbolted will pretty much only raise the driver's side enough to replace the mount. I did that one first and put the nuts back on that side pretty loose. Then when I jacked the motor up again, the passenger's side lifted up enough to replace the mount.
I had the same issue but even leaving the driver's side loosely bolted didn't help.
With the passenger side's nuts off and the engine supported I removed the aluminum bracket, swapped out the mounts and replaced.
This fixed about 80% of my 'chatter' issue that I've been chasing.

I'll be doing this soon!