Gen 1 & Mustang convertible motor mounts

[Tx_coyote68]

OK, I need some help with a 5.0 swap. I have a 1992 5.0 Mustang convertible donor car for my swap, it is going into a 1987 extended cab Ranger. Everything has been going good till I got to the motor mounts. I have read that the convertible mounts will work but when I put them in the factory cross member holes the motor sits too far forward and the holes are too close together. I swapped them from left to right but it doesn't help. Is there a trick and if somebody has pictures in a Gen. 1 Ranger using these mounts it would help.
If I can not use convertible mounts then I have been looking at the L&L mounts but I really don't want solid mounts. If there is a better mount then let me know.
I will be using a set of long tube Kaufmann headers for the swap and if I can make it fit I want to use a T56 transmission. I have the EFI wired and all the suspension done. I just need to finish the hydro boost to complete the brakes be system.
Anyway I would like to keep moving along with this project so I need some experienced help. Thanks for any help I can get

[cgrey8]

I'd heard the same about convertable mounts "working" but I never really knew why a convertable motor mount would be different than non-convertable mounts. I just wouldn't have guessed the Mustang convertable crossmember would be that different from a standard. But I guess it is.

Anyway, what I understand most people have to do is redrill their crossmember to locate whatever mount you have where you want the engine. For me, the L&L mounts were an absolute bolt-in solution. And BTW, they are not solid. They look solid, but there is a rubber layer between the engine bar and the part that the single-bolt goes through to hold it to the crossmember mount. The one thing I can say about the L&Ls are they are a bit of a pain to get installed. You'd think it would be as simple as bolt the crossmember pieces in, bolt the other pieces to the engine. Drop the engine in, line it up, and push the centerbolts in to secure it. But it's just not that simple. Both engines I installed in my Ranger required far more finagling because I could never get the engine to line up well enough to get the bolts to go through both pieces cleanly. So what I had to do is install the engine piece very loosely (bolts going into the block in the block with just a twist or two). Same with the crossmember bolts...only a few threads on the bolts. This way the engine parts and the crossmember pieces are free to float around a bit. That way, there was enough play everywhere to get that big centerbolt through cleanly. Once it was through, the engine weight could be dropped down onto the crossmember then all bolts tightened up.

If you do go with L&L, also make sure to put some threadlocker or silicone gasket on the threads of the bolts that go into the engine. Twice, I had the engine mount bolts back out with the 302. Once I put something on the threads, it was never a problem again. So I did the same when I installed the 331. So far, no issues with it. I also had to learn to put silicone gasket on the exposed threads of the bolts that hold the crossmember pieces in place so the nuts don't back off and leave you with just a bolt. L&L upgraded the included nuts to locknuts. Evidently others complained about this too.

The only other thing I can say about the L&Ls is I thought they would last longer than they did. I'm not sure if it was the "loose bolt" issues that caused this, but they shredded after a few years. Although I kept them installed for 6 years. They never broke, they just weren't pretty. Notice:

Driver Side Mount

Passenger Side Mount

Now if you don't go with L&Ls, you can use whatever goes in. I've heard of people reusing the stock Ranger 4 cylinder (liquid filled) mounts, the solid rubber V6 mounts, Mustang Mounts, and Explorer mounts. But again, you just have to drill the crossmember for where you want the mounts to go. Where they go dictates how level the engine is and how low the engine is. You mount the engine to these mounts using fabricated steel plates.

[Tx_coyote68]

Thank you for the reply. This helps me a lot. I returned the mustang mounts and ordered the L&L mounts.

[cgrey8]

I should followup and say that when I did go back together with the 331, I called L&L to have the shredded engine mounts replaced. When I bought them, I thought they had a lifetime warranty. But they didn't honor that.

They did give me a discount on purchase replacement of the engine mount part (I reused my crossmember brackets since there was nothing wrong with them). I did have to send back my bad mounts in order to get this discount. So the way that went down is I had to pay full price to have those parts in-hand when I did the engine swap. Then once the old engine was out, I was able to send back the shredded parts and get a partial refund. I don't recall what the price & refund was, but if you need, I can look it up. Those details may even be in another thread where I discussed this.

_________________
Edit.

I found the thread:
L&L Mounts bad or just used?

Re-reading this thread, the RMA deal L&L made with me was better than I remembered.

[Tx_coyote68]

That's OK I will work it out if something goes wrong. I have a long way to go before this thing will be on the road. Next thing will be transmission and then radiator and AC stuff. So I will have more problems and question.

[Teddyzee]

Some info for anyone searching Mustang mounts:

The usual procedure is to bolt the mounts to the block, lower the engine into the position you choose, and mark where the studs hit the crossmember. This may or may not include a stock hole.

Drill a hole where the crossmember is marked, then slot it downward 1-2" for the engine to lower into place.

Here are the stock slots that happen to be on a Lincoln Mark VII:


The distinction for the convertible mount is based on the design, any height difference is incidental. A Fox coupe/hatch uses a mount that is a hunk of rubber with the stud and plate cast into it. The "vert" mount is a captured design, same part as the sn95 Mustang, the Mark VII, maybe other vehicles. My mounts were used L on left, R on right, others have swapped sides. Remove the locating rivet.
You can see in this shot that if the rubber magically disappears, the mount cannot come apart.