Well, I replaced the engine mounts this evening, and as usual I guess things could have gone more smoothly. Yep, it was like most all jobs on these things....
As a reminder, there was a brown oil leaking under the car. It was coming from the engine mount.
At least on these cars you don't have to mess with engine shocks! I looked at the set up and thought "man, this is gonna be so much easier than a W123. Well, it didn't really end up that way, although it isn't more difficult either.
On these mounts there is a 17mm bolt through the top and a 17mm bolt up from the bottom. Here is the driver's side mount with the bolt removed from the top.
And this is the view from the bottom, bolt still attached.
I think it is better to do one side at a time. You really have to jack the engine up quite a bit for the extra room required by the new mounts, and the oil filter housing sure does crunch into the faux fire wall insulation.
The top 17mm bolt on the driver's side wasn't a problem really, although it was a bear to break loose. I got the best angle with the ratchet on the bolt and breaking it loose from beneath the car.
The passenger side took a bit more effort. These bolts were very tight, and with a swivel I just couldn't get a good bite on it.
So, I had to remove a bracket holding the exhaust pipe to the manifold.
Moving that down and out of the way allowed me to get a 1/2" 17mm socket with swivel and extend it up in order to break it loose with a bigger ratchet. The swivel was almost straight in this configuration.
Next.....