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ilo · 10-03-2015, 10:19 PM

Hey guys,

Does the bolt come up from the bottom and nut and lock washer on top? That seems like the easy way to do it..
On my tear down they were both ways... I'm sure they were out at some point.

thanks
James

marxjunk · 10-03-2015, 11:01 PM

one is one way the other is the opposite..at least thats what i found...the the engines where set in assembled, all the brackets and assys on them..and i believe the drivers side had the nut towards the front of the car because its was easy to do that way...

rexs73gto · 10-04-2015, 02:49 AM

Mine on my 73 GTO where & are all with the nut on the bottom.

ilo · 10-04-2015, 09:31 AM

In this photo they look like the nuts are towards the top of the bracket..

James

'ol Pinion head · 10-04-2015, 10:17 AM

Nuts on the top is the typical Pontiac A body assembly plant way. each of my factory 455 mount cars has the nuts on top. my '72 400 4speed car has the nuts up top. The '73 455 frame brackets I've pulled had the nuts up top. One of my keepers, the prev owner began the frame off under my supervision, and when he reassembled it, his thought, being an ex aircraft A&P mechanic, was the bolt heads should be up top, of course I explained to him the chassis assembly and rollover process, but he preferred to do it his way.

marxjunk · 10-04-2015, 10:47 AM

i misunderstood...i thought he was asking about the crossbolt..i dont know what i was thinking....i dont even have that right..i think i was thinkin chevy..or something...i dunno...i was cornfused

ilo · 10-04-2015, 02:10 PM

yeah too much going on in this small area...

I'm going with Nuts on top... "thats what she said"

thanks
James

ilo · 10-04-2015, 09:58 PM

So I put the engine in and the RH side lower bolt was way to close to the oil pan.. so I flipped it over.. The Engine seems way too close on the rh side compared to the LH side. is that correct?

thanks
James

marxjunk · 10-04-2015, 10:03 PM

there is a left and right..the left mount is taller, you can see it in the pic above.

old mounts sag...some repop mounts are wrong

when you put the frame side on..was the frame pushed down?its common i dont know why..like the motor falls off the cherry picker and dents the frame down..then everything gets tight

ilo · 10-04-2015, 10:23 PM

No dents... it must just be the height difference.. its only a half inch at most..

thanks

68ragtop · 04-05-2018, 11:41 AM

2.5 year thread revival:

So what would the originals bolts be finished in, black oxide? I need to buy a bunch of fasteners like this. First time I used std hardware store fasteners. looked clean, but no liking that much anymore. I may, or may not install the bolts upside down, Lol. I used hardware store bolts for all the engine bolt on stuff & it would seem I tossed the originals. No idea why I did that. Long PS pump bolts especially.

68ragtop · 04-05-2018, 11:45 AM

Also, is there a lock washer on the nut side? I am so ticked at myself for not taking a boat load of pictures of my late father in-laws lemans. I used it for parts. stripped it & scrapped the body & frame. Was stupid crazy rusty, but was bought new by him & never messed with. I so badly want to go back in time & just put in away complete. so many details like this that I could have used as a manual. not saying everything is the same on a lemans, but both that car & my GTO were built in pontiac MI about 3 month apart. I probably only have 4 or 5 pictures of it.

dataway · 12:36 PM

Nuts are up, see attached photo of unmolested frame. Picture isn't good enough to see washers.

OK, also here is part of a page from the 68 assembly manual. Says the bolts can go in either way .... they show them going in from the top ... but that's way more difficult than putting them in through the bottom.

Note the two holes that get plain washers, they must be installed on the bottom regardless of which way the bolts go. Then you have three spring type lock washers under the nuts no matter which direction the bolts go in.

Just checked my frame and noticed I'm missing the lock washers under the nuts ... hope I can get them on without dropping the bolt through, since my suspension is on and it's a real pain to put those bolts with the control arms installed.

Not sure about bolt finish .... in general I think they were painted along with the frame ... so might not matter much.

Just checked the Ames catalog for the bolt kit to install the engine mount brackets ... shows black bolts ... but then it also mistakenly says they must go in from the top, and they don't include the washers that the assembly manual says MUST be used .... so, yeah .... always do research as the people selling things often don't research as well as they should.

PurelyGTO68 · 04-05-2018, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

2.5 year thread revival:

So what would the originals bolts be finished in, black oxide? I need to buy a bunch of fasteners like this. First time I used std hardware store fasteners. looked clean, but no liking that much anymore. I may, or may not install the bolts upside down, Lol. I used hardware store bolts for all the engine bolt on stuff & it would seem I tossed the originals. No idea why I did that. Long PS pump bolts especially.

The hardware on my 68 convertible had a black phosphate finish. The bolts were inserted up through the frame with the lock washers and nuts on top.
There were two flat washers under the top two bolt heads on the RH engine mount only. Required because that side of the frame has slotted holes. The lower bolt hole does not get a washer nor do any of the 3 bolts on the LH mount.

I am pretty sure the mounts were installed after the frame was painted because there was black paint on the frame when I removed the mounts. There also were some sort of white chalk or grease pencil mark across the holes. I presume this was to help identify which holes to use for the mounts because there are multiple holes drilled in the frame.

Here is a photo that I posted on my restoration thread over on the GTO forum...
Hope this helps.

68ragtop · 04-05-2018, 05:40 PM

so where there black phosphate nuts & washers too? I realize this isn't critical, I'm just curious. I thinking the nuts on the suspension bolts where zinc, & bolts where black.

Dataway, do you have an assembly manual? Is it a GM, or third party print? I have an original 68 service manual, but would like to buy one of those assembly books. Those detail picts are very cool.

PurelyGTO68 · 04-05-2018, 07:00 PM

All the hardware used to bolt the engine mount brackets to the frame were black phosphate look as best as I could tell.

Recent photo....disregard all the powder dust.....just finished block sanding the primer ...

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

68ragtop · 04-05-2018, 07:11 PM

Nice picts. That dust always glows with a camera flash too. Are your control arm bushings natural, or did you protect them with something? Looks nice.

PS, looks like your springs are natural painted? Have more picts?

PurelyGTO68 · 04-05-2018, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

Nice picts. That dust always glows with a camera flash too. Are your control arm bushings natural, or did you protect them with something? Looks nice.

PS, looks like your springs are natural painted? Have more picts?

The control arm bushings had some sort of plating on them so I just used them as they came out of the box. Purchased all my stuff from AMES.

The springs were blasted and then painted with POR Cast Manifold Gray. I use it out of a pint can and apply it with a sponge brush. Best stuff that I have ever used on exhaust manifolds since it doesn't burn or change colors. I also use it on the cylinder head exhaust ports and intake manifold cross over under the engine color paint. Also used it on steering boxes, master cylinders etc when bare cast finish is what I am trying to go for. Looks pretty good on the springs so I went with it even though it's not exactly correct. Being spring steel....the bare coils would likely be a little darker than the grey I used but it looks good enough for me.

Here are some pics from chassis assembly. I had to slap it together quickly because I needed to mount the body on it for the quarter panel replacement. Some things are not correct, will go back later and fix those items. The rear springs are black because those were purchased new. Looked like the rear of the car sagged a bit more than I liked so I ordered some stiffer springs from Ames. I left them black and attached the (incorrect) spring tag as a visual clue to remind me they are not original to the car. The detail tag kit I bought for my car from Ames didn't have the correct part numbers or codes on many of tags so the kit wasn't much use to me. I am not planning on 'tagging up' the car anyway so I guess it's going to be fine. I still have my original springs....painted just like the front so I can always pop them in later if desired.

PurelyGTO68 · 04-05-2018, 10:21 PM

On a side note....
Hopefully someone noticed two different drums on the photo of the rear axle. They both fit, but one is probably a replacement. Does anyone know which one looks more correct for 1968 model? At this point I am thinking the LH drum looks like it might be for a 67 car so I am holding off on applying the ZL tag to that drum until I figure out if it's correct. (had to make the ZL tag myself since the one in the kit was for a different axle ratio....)

68ragtop · 04-05-2018, 10:56 PM

I can't say I know what the originals look like, but the left side on your axle looks a bit too deep. I don't believe they ever went past the backing plate that far?

Guessing your bushing are Moog. I think thats pretty much what everyone is selling that is closest to original. I assumed they were bare steel, interesting that they have a coating on them. I am on the fence yet about using the energy suspension ones I have, or buying the moog. I might order them to have a closer look.

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