Quantum TD Motor Mounts

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:46 pm

Hey does anyone know how to change the motor mounts on a Quantum TD? Bently doesn't give an explanation. Can I jack up the motor or will I need to lift it from above? Thanks
--Chris

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:33 pm

I should think you can raise from above.
Remove the front bracket bolts first and remove nuts top and bottom from mount you wish to replace.
I shall be doing this tomorrow! Well actually I'm pulling the engine out to move it to a new shell.
I'm removing front bracket so that the engine can pull forward. Rad gone too! I've forgotten how hard it is to get to the clutch housing bolts down behind the starter... Also the starter is a pain to remove. Just about to give up pulling that a it wouldnt lift out with turbo hield in the way when it suddenly twisted free and rested on engine mount. Front mount/alternator still prevents complete lift out of starter... Ready to lift tomorrow. I'll use my dads JCB excavator as a crane

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:54 pm

Or jack up on the sump.....

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:25 pm

Quantum-man wrote:Or jack up on the sump.....

The sump? You mean the oil pan? Are you serious or will that damage it? I have no way to lift the motor from above. If that is the only way to change the mounts I will have to take it somewhere.

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:02 am

Methanolab wrote:
Quantum-man wrote:Or jack up on the sump.....
The sump? You mean the oil pan? Are you serious or will that damage it? I have no way to lift the motor from above. If that is the only way to change the mounts I will have to take it somewhere.

Yep the 'pan' . Use a soft interface between jack and pan.
You are only lifting a little.
OK maybe if you don't know your own strength and the blighter seems wedged in then an alternative would be to push up on the front mount (bolts removed from body work). To lift from above, use a length of wood or a piece of tubing long enough for a span across engine area and reach a pile of bricks/wall on the other side and lift while a buddy changes the 'unbolted' rubber mounting. This can be done with a piece of wood along the wing/fender in the water drain and raising from there. If working on your own then use wood in both channels a piece to span and raise engine with car jack. tie off engine to the transverse piece of wood. If you feel the mounting has just gone a little soft; then I have inserted pieces of 15mm copper tubing into the holes of the rubber to stiffen.

NB
If you think the pan would collapse then this would happen if you rested an engine on the ground after removal. If you are only replacing one engine to subframe mounting at a time then I see no problem.

rayray · Post by **rayray** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:45 pm

Done this several times....
Use a jack from below on the oil pan. I used a chuck of wood and a piece of rubber to soften the contact point.
-Jack up the engine just enough to release the weight pressure on the mounts, but not actually enough to raise the engine much.
-Undo mount nuts on drivers side motor mount.
-Raise jack/engine enough that you can slip out mount and put new one in.
-On passenger side I find it easiest to remove the mount and the metal bracket from the engine block together because of some sort of blockage issue. I cant recall what it is right now without looking at it, but I know you should remove them together.
-After putting everything back together, loosely tighten rubber mount nuts.
-Lower engine to the point that the mounts just begin to compress and tighten nuts tight.

And there you have it. Engine shake-no-more.

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:22 pm

Ray I see you are getting quite a collection of 'Q's.

I've still not installed that A/C... I'm looking for a source of ISO Butane.

Pulled engine and transmission today. Very surprised to be able to disconnect shifter from gearbox as soon as clamped rod undone. These have often been welded by salt over here.

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 10:20 pm

Hey thanks guys, you kick butt. Here I was thinking no one would have ever heard of one of these let alone have experience and tricks to replace the motor mounts. The copper pipe trick sounds cool. The mounts are totally gone and I have new OEM ones so I want to do the swap. I guess I have to remove the cup that is attached to the back side of the front clip, huh? I was thinking I could jack it up by that brace that fits into it bolted to the front of the motor. Thanks again, I am not longer worried about tackeling this or having to pay someone $100 to do it.
--Chris

rayray · Post by **rayray** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:43 pm

Yes mark, I've had quite the collection of Q's. Much to my neighbors relief, I only have the TD and Synchro sitting in the driveway now. The other two have gone to the scrap yard in the sky. Also, my roommate has an 82 TD SW.

Yes Chris, there are some people out there that have this strange, unexplainable fascination with the Quantum. I think me and MArk may be some of the biggest Q nuts in the world

Oh yea, I forgot about unbolting the 'cup' brace that the front motor mount sits in. You will need to do that to get the jacking height you will need to slip the side mounts out.

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:31 pm

Just testing my Quantum list...

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:10 pm

Thanks. This is the only Quantum I've ever had. I am thinking about rebuilding the motor and puting it in my aircooled vanagon but it is such a sweet car, totally rusted out though. Its my daily driver and I couldn't afford my commute on anything but a diesel vw. Guess I gotta get another, or a Rabbit/Golf if I can't find a Quantum.
I have 214K on the original motor and I loose about 1/2 to 1 guart of oil per 400mi mostly at the base of the dipstick. We shall see what the good Lord has planned for my transpertation needs.

rayray · Post by **rayray** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:14 pm

The Quantums have the best feeling suspension of all the old VWs in my opinion. Based on the 'luxury' Audi line.

The oil out the base of the dipstick is one of the easiest oil leaks to fix.
-Remove oil dipstick bracket bolt that connects just below the back of the injection pump.
-Pull dipstick straight out. You may need to do a slight wiggle.
-Find appropriate sized o-ring. This may need a little trial and error. As I recall, it needed a fat o-ring in relation to the inside diameter.
-Stick dipstick tube back into hole and reattach bolt.

Its just that easy. The hard part is finding the right size o-ring. It needs to fit tight against tube and snug within the hole in the block.

When I bought my first Quantum, the "mechanic" I bought it from had replaced a missing dipstick with one from a Ford, or something like that. He had etched a couple of marks on it that were suppose to represent the fill amount for the VW. Of course, it was marked about three quarts too much. When revving the engine, oil would squirt out from the dipstick tube base. So that made it obvious that this o-ring needed replacement.

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:18 pm

It would be nice if that is all it is. I think I even have the parts from the dealership (washer and o-ring) I just havn't gotten around to it yet. I have been thinking it needs new piston rings though and the oil leak is from too much blow by. I have hesitated replacing the o-ring because I figured that would just make oil shoot out the dipstick tube.

Quantum-man · Post by **Quantum-man** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Methanolab wrote:It would be nice if that is all it is. I think I even have the parts from the dealership (washer and o-ring) I just havn't gotten around to it yet. I have been thinking it needs new piston rings though and the oil leak is from too much blow by. I have hesitated replacing the o-ring because I figured that would just make oil shoot out the dipstick tube.

Blowby is a funny thing. With oil filller cap off try holding a sheet of paper over the hole; does it flap a lot or just blow away. Increase revs... does it get worse or actually reduce? Sometimes blowby just seems bad to the palm of the hand but is not quite so. Pushed out oil can be down to a partially blocked gauze in the rocker cover . I assume it is due to increased velocities through the smaller opening. When I was young I stripped an engine down unneccessarily because of this oil spurting display. Only to find nothing wrong and not the broken ring I thought had occurred. An old vw mechanic pointed me to this fault in the rocker covers of Volkeswagon. Clean with parafin [kerosene]?

Methanolab · Post by **Methanolab** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:45 pm

Well, I just did the motor mounts. It was easy and went just like you said. I jacked the motor from the oil pan with rubber mat and wood. I changed the front rubber too because I had a new one and the old one looked a little worn. That was a real PITA to get off and on without removing the bracket. It took a whole lot of prying and jacking and a little WD-40 to get it all together. It think it is a good bit quieter now.
On to the blow-by. I think the prognosis is not so good. It is strong enough to make the oil filler cap jump at idle when it is loosened. Paper flaps heavily at idle and sounds like a bee farting on a tin roof at higher RPMs. All the breather tubing is clear and the oil screen in the valve cover looks pretty good through the breather hole. I will check it and clean it the next time I have the cover off. What do you think, should I change the dipstick o-ring or will that just make oil squirt out the tube or wose blow a gasket? Thanks for all your help,
--Chris