Peter's motobecane engine mounts

• Author: Peter (---.hsd1.mi.comcast.net)
• peter
• Date Posted: 07-04-07 20:04

Problem:
Motobecanes rely heavily on their engine mounts since the engine moves as it variates. They act as a pivot point and get put under heavy load. Every single motobecane i have seen (even my 40tl which had 301 miles on it and barn kept) has had dry rotted engine mounts.

What about aftermarket or NOS?:
The aftermarket 3rd party mounts are absolute shit. They fail rapidly and aren’t worth buying. NOS are expensive, hard to get, and are still 30 year old rubber.

My objective:
To find a solution to this problem using readily available materials and minor labor.

Solution:
First, i tried packing the old mounts; old rubber and all, with black windshield adhesive which is urethane based. This works well, but i knew i couldn’t run my new powerful kitted motobecane with band-aid’d mounts. So i set out to find a new solution. These moped mounts are just like car engine mounts. Rubber, with metal bushings in them which get pressed into the frame, then have metal sleeves where the engine mounting bolt goes through. Back when i used to build record breaking honda civics, i replaced all my engine mounts with hard urethane to keep the power to the wheels and not being lost in the flimsy stock mounts designed for comfort.

While daydreaming in AutoZone one day i had looked at a set of Energy Suspension Performance Endlink Bushings for factory sway bar replacement. Made of urethane, they are stiff and tough. These were the perfect size and shape to replace the rubber in the mounts. I bought them and got em home. $11.99 at every AutoZone. Includes 8 bushings, or enough for 4 sets of motor mounts.



Then, i pulled the factory mounts out of a beater frame to test it out using my O.E. vintage motobecane engine mount pulling tool $$$$$$$$$$$



Then, doing what i had to do with some old honda control arms with stuck bushings… I put the mounts in a fire to burn out the old rubber.



After the fire died down, i scraped off all the residue, and cleaned them up with a rag. These look nice!



Here is where i had to get creative. The endlink bushings aren’t quite big enough to press firmly into the outer sleeve of the mount. So what i did was JAM THE FUCK out of the inner sleeve into the mount. I had to drill/dremel open the hole in the bushing to get that shit to fit. Remember, you want it to be as tight tight tight, because you are relying on the expansion of the entire bushing you get when forcing the metal sleeve into the center. This expansion helps it fit tight into the big outer sleeve. I used a hammer to press the bushings in. They fit really nice.



Then, the inner sleeve is longer than the rest of the bushing, so i grinded that shit down to be the same length, and will use metal or nylon spacers to fill in that area missing. I guess you could skip this step…

Reinstall!



Gonna test another set of these on my daily rider tomorrow. This is something most everyone can do. I used a bench grinder, hammer, drill, dremel, and basic hand tools.

Enjoy!! Keep Riding!