Thunderbird Sc Motor Mounts

I'm thinking of buying a 1990 SC.
The owner says that the Motor Mounts should be repl;aced, as they're the original "Fluid Filled Ones".
I'm not all that familiar with that term.
Can someone tell me, is this an expensive fix?
I'd be having a Mechanic do it and NOT myself.

Also he says that the Odometer quit working about 2K miles ago and that the needle on the Speedometer, bounces around, but he has a speedo from a wrecking yard to install.
Again, is this common on SC's?


Roger

You have the hydraulic mounts, which are filled with a viscous fluid for motion/vibration damping, similar to a high performance harmonic balancer. They're not real expensive if you replace them yourself, but most parts stores will have to special order them.

So I bought the SC today.The clutch, Pressure Plate, Throw out Bearing have been replaced.
The Flywheel has been resurfaced and the Clutch Slave Cylinder all replaced 6 months ago.
The guy I bought it from was really "adamant" about having the OEM Fluid Motor Mounts changed to Aftermarket solid mounts.
He said they're probably cheaper than OEM and he said, that will cause the car to "shudder" when taking off in 1st gear, (which it was doing, when I'd take off from a stop).
So my question is,
1)has anyone done the "solid" MM replacement?
2)Would this cause the "shuddering" I'm experiencing?
3)Is it an expensive fix, as I will be having a local mechanic do it (not a Dealership)?

Roger

Depends on how your mechanic charges you. If its by the hour expect at least an hour per side. If he wants you to pay in beer expect at least a case. I'm not big fan of solid mounts, they're ok in an all out race application but on the street no way. If you think about it, running solid mounts places all the torsional load of the motor on the k member, as opposed to hydraulic mounts absorbing some of it. The shuddering you feel is most likely the motor twisting around a little as the clutch grabs. Any kind of new mounts should fix it.

Depends on how your mechanic charges you. If its by the hour expect at least an hour per side. If he wants you to pay in beer expect at least a case. I'm not big fan of solid mounts, they're ok in an all out race application but on the street no way. If you think about it, running solid mounts places all the torsional load of the motor on the k member, as opposed to hydraulic mounts absorbing some of it. The shuddering you feel is most likely the motor twisting around a little as the clutch grabs. Any kind of new mounts should fix it.

So I bought the SC today.The clutch, Pressure Plate, Throw out Bearing have been replaced.
The Flywheel has been resurfaced and the Clutch Slave Cylinder all replaced 6 months ago.
The guy I bought it from was really "adamant" about having the OEM Fluid Motor Mounts changed to Aftermarket solid mounts.
He said they're probably cheaper than OEM and he said, that will cause the car to "shudder" when taking off in 1st gear, (which it was doing, when I'd take off from a stop).
So my question is,
1)has anyone done the "solid" MM replacement?
2)Would this cause the "shuddering" I'm experiencing?
3)Is it an expensive fix, as I will be having a local mechanic do it (not a Dealership)?

Roger
i'd expect a mechanic to charge you at least 4 hours for both mounts, but possibly more.do not use the fluid filled ones as they are junk and more expensive than solid ones. you can check out mn12performance.com for pricing on a pair of solid mounts. as for the shuddering, this sounds like a clutch problem but maybe in extreme cases of motor mount failure, this might be possible.you should go ahead and replace the OEM fluid filled mounts with the solid ones and if this doesnt take care of the shudder then you will have to remove trans to inspect clutch. that "new" slave might have a small leak, and getting on the clutch causing the shudder. ive seen this happen before.