Finally have a couple updates for my build:
- I got the hex head bolts changed out to socket cap bolts for tow bar bracket mounts.
- I got the front and rear transmission mounts installed. The rear one went very smoothly, the front one took some adjustment to get to fit, details below.
For the front transmission mount, the stock ones must've been held in by some corrosion, the 2 bolts to the transmission were extremely tight. I couldn't get them to budge with my air impact wrench, the same tool I took the axle nuts off with. I had to use my breaker pipe on my socket to get a 20"+ lever arm to get them to loosen. However when I tried to insert the new bracket, there was no possibility of all 3 bolts going in without something being modified. I could insert the 2 transmission side bolts but the subframe bolt was misaligned by this much:
There is no play in the engine mounting that could shift it that much, I was jacking the engine high enough the whole car was lifting off the stands so I looked into the dimensions and here's what I found.
A - Stock mount: bolt center distance, subframe to upper transmission point: 83mm
B - Stock mount: bolt center distance, subframe to lower transmission point: 122mm
C - Stock mount: bolt center distance, upper transmission point to lower transmission point: 91mm
The stock mount has 3 different diameter bolt holes, upper transmission is a fairly tight fit, lower transmission is a fairly loose fit, subframe is an extremely loose fit.
Next I measured the new bracket, same points:
A - New mount: bolt center distance, subframe to upper transmission point: 80mm
B - New mount: bolt center distance, subframe to lower transmission point: 119mm
C - New mount: bolt center distance, upper transmission point to lower transmission point: 90.3mm
The length deltas (stock - new):
A: 3mm
B: 3mm
C: .75mm
Given how the new transmission mount is designed, there's no way to move the subframe bolt point and I don't want to touch bending the subframe mounts to move them to match. I could insert bolts in only 2 places max, either sets for B or C dimensions above, but the C set of holes didn't give a solution. The good thing is using bolt holes for B meant that I could adjust the upper transmission point hole, check out the misalignment I had to fix here:
I know it's always better to have all bolt holes be tight fit, but the solution I used is to slot out the upper bracket hole. I see no strength issues with this fix. Holes were originally around 12.5mm, I'm guessing 1/2" punch or laser size before I painted.
I slotted the top hole with a dremel to keep the same minor diameter but add a ~16mm major diameter to get opening to overlap the bolt hole on the transmission seen above.
End result with the slot, bracket fit in place. After the following picture, I pulled the bracket out to repaint it before final installation.
I don't know if the front transmission mount dimensions changed slightly through the years or why the DF version was different for the triangle leg lengths but I got it to work with the slot I added. To use the mount without adjustment, I would've needed to tip the front of the engine higher; this is not possible since the side engine mounts fix the angle and on all side bolt points there is no upward tip option. The only possibility of moving the engine would be slightly front to rear sliding on the side engine mounts. Rear mount was loose during the front install, I torqued all the mount bolts down at the end and had no issues or binding.