My car is a 33 Master Coupe. This has been bothering me for almost a year. Last year I removed the transmission to replace the throwout bearing and pilot bearing. When I removed the transmission I thought it was strange that I had to pry it away from the bell housing. Upon reinstalling the transmission I found I had to unbolt the engine mounts from the sides of the block and lift the back of the engine up in order to install the transmission main shaft into the pilot bearing because the transmission would not lift high enough for the back mount to clear the frame crossmember. It was very hard to install the bolts in the rear transmission mounts and reinstall the engine mounts bolts. It is like the frame crossmember for the rear transmission mount is too high. When I look in the engine compartment at the starter motor the starter actuation lever is almost touching the floorboard. It seems to me it should have more clearance. Has anyone else run into trouble with the frame crossmember mount seeming to be too high?
The mount bolts to the top of the cross member making the trans. sit about two or thrre inches above the V in the cross member. The cross member looks to be riveted to the frame side rails.
Gene, I received your picture. First off, thanks a lot. As usual I need all the help I can get. Your picture showed page 57 of the Engineering Features manual. I do have that book. It looks as though my rear mount is correct. But according to the picture on page 56 it looks like my front engine mount should be mounted below the frame. From just looking in my engine compartment, it looks as though the mount is mounted between the frame and the timing cover bracket (?). I think if I am right about this, then the engine sitting lower in the front would give it more clearance at the tail shaft of the transmission between the mount and the frame cross member. It also looks as though it might be quite a job taking that front mount apart to try mounting it below the frame. Again, thank you for information. Dennis Jones
I took these pictures of my front mount. It's hard to see, but viewing from the inside of the engine compartment and also from underneath the where the bolts go through the frame.
Wow, that could be the whole problem with the line up problem when reinstalling the transmission. It's just hard to believe that it was installed wrong. It is an old restoration on this car. I'm guessing at least 30 or 40 years old. But whoever did the restoration did such a first rate job I wonder why the front mount was installed wrong. Thanks everyone. Now if I can just figure out how to take it apart and install it the correct way without pulling the whole front end apart. I have a very small garage. Not much room for stacking parts while working on the car.
This is a easy mistake to make and when fitted correctly will fix your problem. I did the same thing when reassembling my 34 coupe luckily I realized it was wrong before I completed the assembling
I am hoping I will not need to remove the hood, headlights, radiator, side splash pans, etc., etc., etc.. It looks like I might need to disconnect the exhaust pipe, engine mounts, fuel line, pull off the air cleaner and maybe disconnect the starter hardware and then the engine might be able to be jacked up high enough to remove the front mount. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for all help everyone. Dennis
I do not know all the differences between your car and 1937 cars. On my '37 Master Coupe I was able to raise the front of engine enough to replace the front motor mounts without taking any of the front end apart.
In my situation I had the oil pan off so I simply used a bottle jack and a piece of wood to push up on the front end of the block. I removed the mounting bolts completely so all I needed was enough clearance to slide the mounts forward enough to be ahead of the engine.
In your situation then you would lower the engine enough to install the mount underneath the crossmember.
I know you can figure it out. You figured out the real problem which to me is the bigger challenge. And you will be pleased with the results.
Dennis, I think your list of preliminary removals is much too long. Take the from mount bolts out, put a jack under your pan at the front (use a block of wood to spread the lift point) and I think when you lift an inch or so, the mount will slide out to the side. I noticed in your starter linkage photo that you do not have the starterator setup. The shape and size of the replacement linkage could be part of your clearance problem also. Getting the front of the engine down to where it belongs will definitely be a step in the right direction.
Thanks guys. As for being smart, if Chevgene had not pointed things out to me I wouldn't have seen it. I'm not real sure what a "starterator linkage" is. I see part numbers in the 33 parts catalog, but it doesn't have any diagrams of it. I just assumed the linkage from the floor button to the starter on my car was stock equipment. I will get to work on this problem this weekend. Thanks for the help. It sure is appreciated.
The 1933-1937 Master Deluxe had the starterator. There was no starter pedal in the car but rather all you did was step down on the gas pedal to operate the starter. When it was adjusted correctly it worked great but also could be problematic. OFTEN removed when caused problems.
I swapped the front motor mount from between the timing cover and frame to below the frame today. Still need to put it all back together to see if that fixed the vibration problem. To get the mount out I had to remove the seat and floor boards, and the starter button linkage from the bell housing because there was no room between the linkage and firewall. Removed the air cleaner because it was binding when trying to jack up the engine. Had to remove all of the motor mounts including the rear mount under the transmission and put a jack stand under the transmission that raised the tail shaft up about two inches. Then was able to jack up the front of the engine enough to get the front mount out from between the engine and the frame. Everything is pretty much back together except I still need to reinstall the floor boards, the floor padding and mat and the seat. Then I will do a much needed lube job on the zerk fittings and try the car out hoping that it fixed the problem. Thanks everyone for the great input on this problem.
After all that work I hope it solved your problem. I have a NOs transmission mount for a 1933 Master. It is the short cross member with the rubber pads valcanized on to it. The rubber is still soft but one has a crack in it that should not harm anything. $30.00
Thanks Chevgene. My rear mount is good shape. I'm going to attach a couple of pictures of the front mount I did the work on today. It does look like the illustrations. The car is back together and does seem to run smoother with better power. There is still a rattle in either the clutch or clutch linkage. With the car running and the clutch pedal out (clutch engaged) there is a rattle. When just slightly pushing down on the clutch pedal the rattle goes away. Someday I will look at it again and see if I can figure out exactly what is rattling. But right now I'm very happy with the way its running and just want to drive it for a while.
The clutch fork rattle is somewhat common on the cars with a carbon throw out bearing. Some times changing the clutch adjustment a little will help or installing a weak spring on the end of the fork.
Chevgene- - - I think the weak spring on the end of the fork is a good idea. I installed a strong spring on it when I replace the throwout bearing. I will give that a try. I will also give it another close look without tearing it apart. Maybe I can see something this time that I didn't see last time.
