My Headers are hitting the frame on the passenger side.
It looks like the motor mount on that side is bad.
I got new mounts and I was wandering what is the best way to raise the engine to install them. I was told to push up on the oil pan with a flat board under the pan. Not sure if I want to do that. I know this is the best place to ask to do it the right way. Thanks Barb.

 

A flat board on the pan will work, or you can turn the board on its end and jack it up where the pan bolts to the block.

 

Do not jack it up with the pan. You could damage the pan.....ask me how I know.....

 

Use a board that's wide enough to span to the edges of the sump, so that you're transferring loads to the sides of the pan, not the bottom. Also, do not push up on the train plug. I've done dozens of motor mount replacements this way with no damage to the pan.

 

By the way, how did you jack up the motor to install the headers?

Oh, and stop jacking up on the pan once the bellhousing hits the underside of the tunnel. At that point you WILL start to dent the pan.

 

It might be a good idea to pop the distributor cap off too. I have HEI and cracked the cap pressing it against the firewall when I did my headers. No biggie but it was annoying that it happened.

Adam

 

The headers were on the car when I bought it.
I hope I don't have to raise it up more than an inch or two, but It sounds like that's not going to be high enough.
OK! thanks, Well give it try next week. Wish me luck. Barb.

 

Before you start, purchase some new header and collector gaskets. You may have to have to loosen them to get at your motor mount bolts.

 

If you have a engine hoist you can run a short length of chain across the intake ( have to be careful of the carb!) and lift the motor a bit that way which has always worked better for me than messing around with a jack and blocks of wood while laying under the car. Where in Wisc are you? I am in the Easter Suburbs of the twin cities ( Minnesota ) and could loan you my hoist if you like.
Steve

 

An inch or so is usually plenty to swap motor mounts. Usually you first have to raise it just enough to take the weight off the mount so you can pull the cross bolt, then raise it a little more to remove the mount-to-block bolts and pull the mount. Hint: loosely install the mount-to-block bolts with the new mount, lower the motor, install the cross bolt, THEN tighten everything.

 

Yeah, you can do that, but on my hoist the legs of the hoist end up right in the way of accessing the motor mounts. I don't know why people are so afraid of using a floor jack and block of wood for this. Never had a problem in four decades of doing this on many, many Oldsmobiles.