Engine mounts

[Coldseize]

I am going to put my engine back in soon and the bolts I took out where bent and oblonged the holes. The wood and glass are solid but not sure what the correct way of doing this is.
a) Fill the holes in with resin and redrill.
b) Turn the mounts and drill new holes.
c) Fill in the old hole and move to fresh wood/glass.
d) Duct tape and tie wraps.

Thanks Jeff

 

[stevea661]

I read on another forum where the holes for the lags were stripped out but the wood, stringers and glass were good. The guy cleaned up the inside of the screw holes with a bent 16 penny nail on the end of an electric drill, blew out the holes with air and filled them with JB weld. after it set he redrilled and attached the mounts. Said he had no problems with it. When I did my engine I left the mounts in, I had visions of the lags breaking off in stringers and having to dig them out. Good luck.

 

[tobnpr]

I'd have to research this one further, but my gut reaction would be to just "say no" to just filling with epoxy and redrilling. Too much stress could crack the epoxy-maybe.

I'd take a good look at capping the stringer with a heavy piece of aluminum angle, drilled and lagged (or pref, through-bolted) into the stringer, with holes pre-drilled for the motor mounts. Once that's set in place, I'd fill the old holes with epoxy and drop in the mounts.

If you can find heavy enough angle, maybe drill/tap and use bolts instead of lags for the mounts.

Just some thoughts. I know aluminum angle engine beds are commonly done on large craft to distribute the loads better, but don't know the particulars.

If going that route, I'd coat the stainless bolts/lags with Tef-Gel to protect the dissimilar metals.

 

[1956olds]

Mabey a stainless steel bushing with the proper sized bolts ,just open the existing hole a bit to accomodate the bushing and make sure the bolts fit snuggly in the bushing.mabey even a light coating of 5200 on the outside of the bushing but you want a tight fit in the stringer.

 

[Coldseize]

Thanks for the input! I do like the idea of capping them, think I am going to go with that. Next will be the new head liner, not looking forward to that. There will be more questions!

 

[tobnpr]

Here's an example I found online, done on a 31 Bert:

 

[Sundancer]

Through bolt! Easy access from the bottom too! :grin:

I like the channel with the mounts added to that. The channel CAN be bolted through the stringers horizontally. It gives you a bigger surface to support the load.