I am about to replace the engine mounts on my B280F Bertone. It has been suggested that I just jack up the engine by placing the jack with a board or something under the oil pan and lifting that way. I wonder if I would be better off to rent a hoist and relieve the engine weight that way. I cringe to think of damaging the pan......any thoughts, including any tips relating to the whole job? Thanks in advance. Steve

I just replaced both my mounts with the hydraulic type and I jacked the engine up at the point where the transmission meets the engine. Remove the center nut on the mount and loosen the 4 bolts before lifting, then slowly lift up the engine until it clears, remove the loosened bolts and mount, install the new mount and bolts, lower the engine ane reinstall the center nut. Done. Its quite easy and the engine can be pushed around to enter the center bolt. Will take you about 45 minutes to finish it. Good luck. PS: I used anti-seize on all threads - good practice.

Steve when I did my mounts, I was able to lift each side of the engine seperately by the bellhousing ( manual trani). As was reported, someone did crunch their oil pan because he was foolish enough to put the would under the buldge for the drain bolt. AND I suspect he jacked the engine until his bellhousing hit the firewall. The oil pan can't handle the weight of the whole front of the car.

The advantage to jacking from the bottom is that as you ease the motor back down onto the new mounts it's easy to see the engine mating with the mounts. If you do it from the top you can't see whether you are mating it properly.

Pick your poison.

Check the 700-900 FAQ section about replacing engine mounts. There are sketches in the 'Special Tool' section that describe a homebrew engine hoist - basically a hefty plank across the engine bay by the strut towers, and a screw/hook to lift the engine by one of the lifting eyes. Safe, effective, cheap! You only need to lift it a little bit anyway...

Steve: in a word; DON'T! There was a thread here a few months ago, started by a guy who had taken someone's advice to do the 'lift with wood from the oil pan' thing, and, having followed that advice wrecked his engine. Whatever you spend on renting a hoist will more than be made up by the fact that you'll be able to drive your car when you've finished the job. That thread also started a long number of 'disclaimers', most to the effect that 'just because someone else said it, doesn't make it right, true, or good for your car, and if you don't know good advice from bad, don't do the job yourself', etc. Engine hoists exist for the simple reason that there is a good way to take an engine out, or lift it, and that's from the top. Put another way, have you ever seen an engine jack? (Okay, okay, maybe there is such a beast, probably in a very rural setting, probably a LONG way from Detroit or Gotheburg....it's probably the only one ever made, too.....). Do it the right way. It's much more fun to read about a success than it is to hear about a failure.----PD.