164 Motor Mounts and Thunk from Rear End

["Rich Lasner" <richlasner@domain.elided>]

All this talk about 164 motor mounts motivated me to change the two lower
passenger side motor mounts and the upper dog bone mounts yesterday. I had a
mechanic do it, but I was there to lend a minor bit of help. The two lower
mounts were not a problem. Removing the large and small old bushings from
the dog bone was a major nightmare. The small dog bone bushing, attached to
a metal part bolted to the engine, took over an hour to press, drill and saw
out of the mount. The large end bushing, which thankfully can be removed
from the car nearly got the better of a 10 ton press trying to get the old
bushing out. It took over two hours to get out. After we got the old bushing
out, it was hard to see why the part wasnt designed so that it would come
apart and release the bushing. A huge PITA. The car lost its drop throttle
driveline shake, and the shifter no longer kicks backwards over an inch when
I hit the gas hard. All the bushings had deteriorated to the point of
uselessness in about five years of hard driving. The oil filled forward
mount looked fine, but had a hairline crack around the edge where the oil
had seeped out. The rear mount looked fine too, but was compressed about an
inch, leaving no give. Both dog bone bushings were shredded.

Ive been noticing a pretty distinct clunk from the rear end of the 164 as I
go over bumps. Im thinking the trailing arm bushings or the adjustable arm
bushings are worn, and there is metal to metal contact happening. Anyone
else deal with this in their 164?

Rich Lasner
1992 164S
ARA
AROC
Mill Valley CA
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