Getting ready to replace my left engine mount this Saturday and am looking at what I think is the lifting point. The drawing in the manual is for a normally aspirated engine - not supercharged so I want to be sure.

Is the boss in these photos where the left engine lifting bracket is supposed to go? Does anyone know the thread size? It looks small to my eye - maybe 10 to 12 mm.

I plan to lift only the left side as the right mount seems to be ok.
I want to be sure this is the right place and that it will hold the weight.

EDIT. I managed to get my hand down to the boss with a male thread restorer bit and it is an M6 X 1 thread. Can that be a lifting point then?

 

Nope, I think it's just below the valve cover. Here's a picture of the right side, the left side is the same.

 

OK, Thanks for the photos. I see it way down there now on the inside of the valve cover. Getting something on it is another matter; I understand now why the brackets are such a convoluted shape. Time to start removing the intake tract to try to fit something up. Too bad I'll have to put it all back to drive to the club shop to use the lift, but better than being there and not having a plan worked out.

Anyone happen to know what the thread size is?

EDIT: Ok, finally got one of my thread restorers started in; it is M12X1.75 Off to the hardware store.

 

Make sure you loosen both engine mounts before lifting the engine on one side even if you are just replacing one engine mount. You will ruin the other one if you do not do this.

A few weeks back, I replaced both the engine mounts on my 73 Cadillac and I had to lift the engine about 4 inches to clear the mounts out. I even had to remove the hood.

Engine mount replacement is in my future in my XJR if the upper control arm replacement schedule for this weekend does not eliminate my clunking noise. I did procure the special engine lifting tool that the manual requires. I just buggered too many things over the years by rigging things up incorrectly.

S.

 

Good photos and good advice, I'll loosen both just in case. I did a dry run lift of about two inches today after making a lifting rig for the left side.

I bought a 12mm bolt and lock washer for the lifting lug and the bottom hole in a short piece of 3/16” thick steel bar with two holes in it that I had on hand, and I made a hook out of a shallow U bolt I also had on hand to hook into the top hole and hook onto the lifting bar of my engine beam. It was a bitch to get the bolt started in the lug with all the hoses still connected and I dropped the bolt and the lock washer in the driveway drain in the process and had to slide under the car and pry the drain grid up and fish around with a magnet to retrieve the bolt and washer, but I eventually got it started and tightened up the short bar which I can leave in place. I did a test lift of 2 inches with the hook and nothing slipped or bent. The left mount lets the engine rise much more than that when under torque so I figured the short lift would be OK as a test.

Thanks again to all who responded. I wouldn't have found that lifting lug without it.

 

Nice design Phil. That will make short work of it.

 

Awesome! Looking forward to a successful replacement and more pics!

 

Phil,
Having recently replaced my A/C compressor, the left mount had to be removed in the process. Getting the motor mount bracket off the engine was a real PITA. I don't recall if that has to be removed to replace the mount only or not, but the hook that you are using looks (to me) to be a little light to be holding the engine, while your hands are working under the engine. perhaps a chain connector would be safer, the kind that has a threaded barrel to close the opening in the connector. I did mine on a lift, and used a screw jack to raise the engine, as I don't have a lifting bar. Just be safe.

 

Just as a reference, I am attaching a picture of the SPX 303-749 specialty tool that Jaguar recommends




Also, instructions for usage:

 

Thanks for the advice and the lifting bracket photos. They are nice looking but it appears using the left one would require one to disconnect the intercooler hoses on a SC engine, but then they are designed for removing the engine so in that case those would be disconnected anyway.

I did consider bolting a chain to the top hole of my little bracket but it appeared that would require removing the hoses too. I like the idea of using a quick link and I'll see if I have one that will fit through the bracket hole (it is about .440 diameter so a 7/16 thread should just fit if it can be snaked through).

I see the brackets are rated for 550 pounds (250 Kg) which would be the whole engine weight (apparently without the transmission from the drawings in the instructions), and I will be lifting only a portion of that. Still, I plan to use a safety block or jack under the engine as they tell me we have a jacking pan for the club's lift; I just thought it would be better to lift from above rather than put the pressure on the oil pan alone. I'll take a quick link along or buy one on the way and let you know if it works out.

And, yes the manual says to remove the upper bracket and mount together and then remove the top mount nut. I suspect that either there is not a good way to get at it from the top or that the engine would have to be lifted much farther to clear both mount studs at the same time. I'm not surprised to hear it is a PITA; is there any repair operation on these cars that is not? Having replaced the rear calipers on my Daimler Double Six last year without dropping the rear cage, I have a good understanding of what a real PITA is; hope this bracket is not as bad.

Did you need any special tools to get to the bolts on the bracket? I plan to take every 3/8 socket accessory I own just to be safe. And, BTW, what did the lifting brackets set you back? Do you have to keep them in a safe deposit box? That right one looks a bit like the painting "The Scream"; hope it wasn't as dear.

EDIT: I take back what I said about the intercooler hoses having to be removed for the OEM brackets; the manual's drawing does show a supercharged engine and the bracket appears to be designed to fit under the hoses. Unfortunately that would put the eye a bit too far to the left for my lifting beam which has one lifting screw in the center of the middle bar with the somewhat adjustable ends; I can just get it far enough left to be over the lug. The OEM bar shown has two sliding lifting screws.

 

Phil, I have not used the brackets on the Jag yet. This weekend I am doing the upper control arm replacement, which will be covered in another thread in this forum, and if that does not work in eliminating the clunk, then the sub-frame is coming off the following weekend for engine mount replacement, sway bar mount replacement and inspection of the sub-frame mounts. That is when I will use them.

The brackets were surprisingly reasonable for a Jaguar specialty tool. About $138. Check this out (item 303-749)

 

I got part way through my left engine mount replacement Saturday up to that darn top front engine mount bracket bolt. It is started and almost snugged up, but the universal and socket keep slipping off that one because of the interference with the top of the new engine mount and the extreme angle of the long extension. Also there is a bit of a bind on the bracket making it even harder to turn the bolt. The other three were torqued up tight but I've backed them off a bit to try to get the fourth one tightened.


I had picked up some quick links to use in lieu of my home-made lifting hook and one fit nicely through the hole in the little bar I had bolted to the lifting lug, but I couldn’t get the rod of the lifting screw through it and adding another quick link made the combination too long to lift the engine very far, so back to my home-made hook which held OK.


The engine shifted some as you can see in the photo of the old mount below, and even jacking up the engine farther from below I could not get quite enough space to get the bottom stud of the assembled mount and bracket into the sub frame hole, so I had to take it apart and put the mount in first and then put the bracket on top. It is possible to tighten the top nut with a 15mm deep offset box wrench if the bracket is a little below the hard plumbing; I wish I had tried removing the nut before removing the bracket - that may be possible too.


My camera battery crapped out after the old mount photos, so I'll try to get some more when I go back next week - I had to leave the car on the lift until I can get that top bolt tightened up and the steering rack back in place. The steering universal was really hard to pry off of the rack spline, so that will probably be another hard job to reverse. (yes, I did remove the pinch bolt)


It took most of the day Saturday to get this far including a fiasco with a simple oil change. I decided to do the easy part first and change the oil while it was warm and while I loosened the steering rack. It went OK up to removing the oil filter which was so damn tight that the filter wrench crushed the filter before it finally broke loose and when it did, the threaded adapter “nipple” came out with the filter. I tried wrapping it with tape and using vice grips to remove it from the filter but it would not budge and left some nicks on the thread. It had an internal hex, but neither I nor the shop had hex keys that large. I was finally able to find a bolt with a head size that sort of fit the internal hex and clamped the bolt in a vice and used the filter wrench again to break the nipple loose (crushing the filter some more in the process). I had to clamp the bolt in vice grips to turn the nipple back into the block one flat at a time; it didn’t want to start at first, but did eventually go in with some red lock-tight on it, so perhaps it won’t come out again, and I did get the new filter back on (I hope well enough). Whew!



I'll try to post more photos later.

 

Harbor freight sells a hoist bar that has 2 lifting hooks for under $80.00. Many reviews stated to grease up the threads to make it easier to turn. One purchaser set up a cheap bearing and race to make it work even better. I'm going to pick one up, as its needed for so many repairs ( mounts, alt, a/c compressor ect). Also many reviews on the brace noted easy cheap improvements. I have to measure the width of the trough on the wings first to ensure it will fit the wide Jag. 59" and 1000 lb limit. The 1000 lb capacity is more than enough. Don't know about the width.
I did make a brace for my xj-40 out of 2 2x4's when I swapped the front crossmember. This unit is so much better. Adjustment was a pain with the wood homemade brace.

 

For the top nut on the motor mount itself, try Snap-On Bluepoint BFCRM 15A.

It is a 15mm ratcheting offset head for a 3/8" extension. About $20.

On the earlier models the bracket is not removed.

Maybe try loosening the 15mm nut as well to get some
more wiggle for that troublesome fourth bolt.

 

Thanks for letting me know. Looks like HF revised the support bar since I bought mine years ago.

From memory, I think I set the legs of mine at 62", outside to outside, so 59" could be a tad short. Too bad because the dual lift screws are just what we need. If the new model is not long enough I could drill new holes offset from the center in my old bar to match the spacing of the lifting lugs on the engine, but I'd still have only one lifting screw.

I'll measure when I get back to the car. It is 10 degrees F here today and there's no heat in the shop where it is still on the lift so I am hoping things warm up by Wednesday and I can check the width again then.

Here's what we woke up to here today.