Best Place to Buy Motor Mounts For my 383 Formula S.

-
TimS

TimS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
301
Reaction score
27
Location
Walton, IN
Where is the best place to buy motor mounts for my original 383 Formula S Barracuda? I noticed the LH mount rubber has a crack and when the clutch is applied will open up. It doesn't appear to be cracked all the way thru but I doubt it will take long.

Thanks.

Motor RH.JPG
 
I got my original driver side on E-Bay, the passenger side is used on many models and readily available. With the stick in your car, I would opt to through bolt it! It will be a little shakey in the car but never fail! :lol:
 
I was thinking that LH side is the one that might be hard to get for an A body big block.
 
Tim; Dont bother trying to find a new mount...they're next to impossible to find because most have cracked or broken LIKE YOURS.
Remove yours and have it welded and braced. Figure out how you wanna brace it.
After you get it all back together, I would recommend a Torque Strap to stop the mount from cracking again. Schumachers makes a nice one.
________________________________________________________
Stephens Performance sent me one years ago that actually fit my 68 Dart GTS 383, but this was 20 years ago. I had bought 3 others before that did not fit.
Mine was a 4 speed Car also and the Stephens mount later broke.
Now a 727 Nostalgia Car. I had a steel mount specially welded up specifically for racing. Elephant ears will not fit an A Body Big Block K Frame.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll give the torque strap a look see. Also will check on the Poly Locks. Anyone try those on this application. I see those things are $200 as well.
 
I ordered a Schumacher torque strap yesterday. I like the idea also of being able to adjust for the amount of engine lean under torque.
 
One grade 8 bolt and nut would do the same, drill top plate and align through the K-frame. Install nylock nut as tight as you like for some play if desired. Mine lasted 4 years of drag racing that way after it spit. To be honest the new NOS mount feels no different as far as vibration into the car.
 
Last edited:
Well I got the torque strap kit from Schumacher's but it won't work on my stock 383 Barracuda. The LH mount is such that there is no room or spot to mount the lower bracket. I see that this would work on most cars or if you were doing a conversion, but in stock form, it will not work. My power steering doesn't help that either.

Looks like I'm off to the Polylocks now.
 
Polylocks suck in my experience. I have an original 383 car with headers. The passenger side mount 'melted' three times, Schumacher replaced it each time no charge. I fabricated a heat shield two different times, same result. The torque strap doesn't fit 383 cars, as you found out, so I bolted a chain to the engine, that didn't work either.
The polylocks are designed to 'lock' in place, they will not pull apart, but they will slide apart, if that makes sense. I could see the poly stretching and the motor got lower on the passenger side.
For the passenger mount, I ended up drilling a hole through the mount and putting a bolt in, however there isn't enough room for the bolt to stick out the bottom and get a nut on the end. It has held for some time though.
Now I see for the first time, the driver's side mount is 'melting' the same as the other side. It is clearly not caused by heat, that mount is way forward of the exhaust.
I ordered solid mounts from Summit, for a B Body I believe, this gets me the passenger mount, and solid mounts for a small block, if I recall correctly. This is for the driver's side, not a bolt on like the passenger side, but it is the correct size and shape.
Just need an afternoon to modify the one and replace both. I'm leaving the poly tranny mount so I don't break the transmission.
With the polylocks, the engine never moved, and still doesn't when driving, easy to tell as I have a tunnel ram, so I am not worried about the solid mounts.
For what its worth, it's a four speed car, however I don't do burnouts or beat the heck out of it. I do drive it regularly though and enjoy it.
 
^^^^^^^^^^

Passenger side is in compression. Factory mount rarely fails if the driver side mount is controlled. This is why I said to through bolt the driver side. Drill the top plate just behind the outer stud all the way through the original mount. There will be enough room for the bolt to slip through the outer slot in the k-frame. Put a washer and nylock nut on it and tighten just enough to keep the driver side mount from pulling apart. If done right it will flex a tad so it does not feel like a solid mount but not enough to roll the engine over hard on the passenger side.

This is only good for a factory BB k-frame and mount.
 
The Poly locks are on the way so I'm going to give those a shot. I'll report the results when I get those on.
 
TimS said:
The Poly locks are on the way so I'm going to give those a shot. I'll report the results when I get those on.
Click to expand...


They will likely work fine for you if they fit right. The factory cast iron manifolds do not put the heat on them like headers do. One grade 8 bolt is just much cheaper and hardly noticable! You likely have an extra in your tool box somewhere at no cost.
 
1969383S, can you post a pic of your driver's side mount?
I get what you are saying, but the Schumacher driver mount has 2 studs on each side that do not appear to line up, so it is a little crowded already.
I did put a chain on the driver's side at some point, with the same result on the passenger mount. This last version has a bolt through the passenger mount, and a chain on the driver side, the driver's side mount is sliding apart/down.
Mancini has the MagMount, basically a rubber mount with a flat head bolt through it, but not for BB a-bodies.
The pic is the poly-loc cross section. In my experience it runs in the wrong direction, which is why the compression force makes it slide apart and the motor sinks. They are also not fun to drill through.
I'm still leaning towards solid mounts, just thinking that would put an end to this issue.

Cross Section II.jpg
 
matthon said:
1969383S, can you post a pic of your driver's side mount?
I get what you are saying, but the Schumacher driver mount has 2 studs on each side that do not appear to line up, so it is a little crowded already.
I did put a chain on the driver's side at some point, with the same result on the passenger mount. This last version has a bolt through the passenger mount, and a chain on the driver side, the driver's side mount is sliding apart/down.
Mancini has the MagMount, basically a rubber mount with a flat head bolt through it, but not for BB a-bodies.
The pic is the poly-loc cross section. In my experience it runs in the wrong direction, which is why the compression force makes it slide apart and the motor sinks. They are also not fun to drill through.
I'm still leaning towards solid mounts, just thinking that would put an end to this issue.

View attachment 1715079156
Click to expand...

Still waiting on those Poly Locs I ordered from Classic Industries. Taking forever for some reason.
 
matthon said:
1969383S, can you post a pic of your driver's side mount?
I get what you are saying, but the Schumacher driver mount has 2 studs on each side that do not appear to line up, so it is a little crowded already.
I did put a chain on the driver's side at some point, with the same result on the passenger mount. This last version has a bolt through the passenger mount, and a chain on the driver side, the driver's side mount is sliding apart/down.
Mancini has the MagMount, basically a rubber mount with a flat head bolt through it, but not for BB a-bodies.
The pic is the poly-loc cross section. In my experience it runs in the wrong direction, which is why the compression force makes it slide apart and the motor sinks. They are also not fun to drill through.
I'm still leaning towards solid mounts, just thinking that would put an end to this issue.

View attachment 1715079156
Click to expand...

Yes the bottom studs through K are in line, but the top studs are offset. My mount always installed on the K with the studs down to the bottom of the slots. There is plenty of room at the top of the bottom K slot to run a bolt up through the mount and top plate. You can see where it comes out the top in the first pic, pretty much in the center of the assembly. Course I have a nos mount installed after resto but this is the hole from before. Second pic is just to show how the K studs align to the bottom of the 2 slots. If I had a stick car that bolt would still be installed regardless! My auto does not see the stress it used to due to my tameness and limited desire to stand it up on the rear hides! Just every now and again!

IMG_1836.JPG


IMG_1851.JPG
 
Last edited:
My old original mount was nearly ripped in half but with that bolt never failed further and still gave some isolation. The passenger mount is readily available and with control of the driver mount it and the tranny mount take much less stress! It is hard to tell but you can see this split where the old mount was seperating in half. It started at the arrow and all way down the blind side. It Lasted 3 seasons of bracket racing on the 8th mile with foot brake launches @ 3500+!

image.jpeg
 
Last edited:
1969383S said:
They will likely work fine for you if they fit right. The factory cast iron manifolds do not put the heat on them like headers do. One grade 8 bolt is just much cheaper and hardly noticable! You likely have an extra in your tool box somewhere at no cost.
Click to expand...

Looks like I may have to go to plan B. The Poly locs are on national back order. No one has any and the supplier has not given any kind of lead time on these things.
 
It pisses me off that Schumacher sends me emails about going to a show and having big discounts, but all the poly loc's are out of stock.
 
TimS said:
Looks like I may have to go to plan B. The Poly locs are on national back order. No one has any and the supplier has not given any kind of lead time on these things.
Click to expand...

That NOS mount cost me $75. If you can find one cheaper more power to ya! It was hard to take those pics for matthon, so you can see it is pretty much hidden if that matters to you. Your old mount will survive long enough. Just make sure you drill up from the bottom in parallel with the k side studs, you want the bolt to be in straight pull and no shear. Good luck with what ever your plan B is.
 
Last edited:
5.7 hemi said:
It pisses me off that Schumacher sends me emails about going to a show and having big discounts, but all the poly loc's are out of stock.
Click to expand...

To be honest, not impressed with my one experience with Schumacher's. I won't buy anything from them again. I bought that torque strap from them, which with shipping was almost $100. It was advertised by them to fit my car. I found out it didn't then called them. The guy says, oh yea, you have one of those cars this won't fit. When I ordered it they knew what car I had, but sent it anyhow, knowing it wouldn't fit. I sent it back, spent another 16 bucks, and got a $75.00 refund. So I lost $41 bucks and Schumacher's got fully refunded for their mistake.
 
TimS said:
To be honest, not impressed with my one experience with Schumacher's. I won't buy anything from them again. I bought that torque strap from them, which with shipping was almost $100. It was advertised by them to fit my car. I found out it didn't then called them. The guy says, oh yea, you have one of those cars this won't fit. When I ordered it they knew what car I had, but sent it anyhow, knowing it wouldn't fit. I sent it back, spent another 16 bucks, and got a $75.00 refund. So I lost $41 bucks and Schumacher's got fully refunded for their mistake.
Click to expand...

That SUX!

I remember doing my 69 Bee 4 speed Hurst Ramrod with a chain and it stretched like limp spaghetti. I Put a solid 3/16 x 1" strap on and it never failed again. It was shakey but I was young and it was all good to keep the motor in place! Try this bolt solution for your 383S and only tighten enough to give a little less than tight compression on the mount. Install the bolt from the bottom and nylock nut on top. It will hold and not shake you teeth out if you have a big cam in it.
 
1969383S said:
That SUX!

I remember doing my 69 Bee 4 speed Hurst Ramrod with a chain and it stretched like limp spaghetti. I Put a solid 3/16 x 1" strap on and it never failed again. It was shakey but I was young and it was all good to keep the motor in place! Try this bolt solution for your 383S and only tighten enough to give a little less than tight compression on the mount. Install the bolt from the bottom and nylock nut on top. It will hold and not shake you teeth out if you have a big cam in it.
Click to expand...

I'll give that bolt solution a shot. I see where that really should work. I don't hammer on this allot and I'm not drag racing it. I looked at the possibility of running a chain but that mount is really close to the oil pump. Not much area there to work with. I also see that Mancini's appears to have a mount that also fits a 65 C body big block that would fit this BB A body. Like the original.
 
TimS said:
I'll give that bolt solution a shot. I see where that really should work. I don't hammer on this allot and I'm not drag racing it. I looked at the possibility of running a chain but that mount is really close to the oil pump. Not much area there to work with. I also see that Mancini's appears to have a mount that also fits a 65 C body big block that would fit this BB A body. Like the original.
Click to expand...

Best of luck with it! It is a inexpensive solution and worked great for me in the pre-internet days when I could not find a replacement mount! Like you I am a casual rhomper anymore, so my ridiculous $75 mount should last my remaining time with the car! You can not hurt the mount any more than it already is. Enjoy yours and happy Moparing!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top