Engine mounts for new to us A4

[Siobhan]

My friend and I aquired a “free boat” last spring, complete with a very rusty mid to late model A4. That began our love affair with the Atomic 4, this forum and working while living on a sailboat. Unfortunately we had to scrap that original engine, the head was rusting through in parts and it was not worth salvaging. We got it out of the boat on land and have a new to us A4 waiting for us in RI. In the meantime, we’ve cleaned 50 years of oil and soot out of the engine compartment, bilgecoated the whole thing, overhauled the electrical, and replaced the rotten stringers with new white oak.

The previous engine was bolted directly to the stringers with lag bolts, but as Don said it would be a shame not to install engine mounts since we can. So we lowered the engine mount height by 2” and now are looking for the right mounts. Price and delivery time are factors in our decision, we are working on the boat in a yard in CT and trying to get as much done as economically as possible in the next couple weeks.

Options:

1) the mounts that are typical with mercruiser engines, at half price (35-40?) from the salvage yard we are getting the A4 from. But I’ve read that those mounts can be too flexible and fail...

2) order c&c engine mounts from moyer at $45 + shipping. But I hear people are not happy with these due to vibration?

3) order the other engine mounts with rubber from moyer at $44 + shipping. Are these the same as the mercruiser standard ones? Cause I’d prefer to have them sooner if people think they’ll be ok.

Any other options or experiences with this would be greatly appreciated! Can’t wait to get to work on our new A4!!

[Al Schober]

The Atomic 4 does not NEED resilient mounts. I ran mine for decades without them!
If time/cost become an issue, just cut some blocks of oak to fit and get under way.

[joe_db]

My A4 is hard mounted with the "C&C" mounts. There is some vibration, but nothing like a 2 cylinder diesel that shakes the whole boat even with rubber mounts.

[ndutton]

Proper mounts sure make shaft alignment easier.

[Siobhan]

Engine mount challenges

We ended up finding for engine mounts- all the same size but two slightly different in materials from the two that are the same as the ones for sale at Moyer marine. We have been struggling to fit the aft two in as their height lowers our stringers down to basically nothing where the engine mount holes are in the oil pan flange. We plan on reducing that minimum height today by removing the adjusting nut, so unfortunately we will loose the easy adjustability on the aft mounts.

[lat 64]

My friend and I aquired a “free boat” last spring, complete with a very rusty mid to late model A4. That began our love affair with the Atomic 4, this forum and working while living on a sailboat. Unfortunately we had to scrap that original engine, the head was rusting through in parts and it was not worth salvaging. We got it out of the boat on land and have a new to us A4 waiting for us in RI. In the meantime, we’ve cleaned 50 years of oil and soot out of the engine compartment, bilgecoated the whole thing, overhauled the electrical, and replaced the rotten stringers with new white oak.

The previous engine was bolted directly to the stringers with lag bolts, but as Don said it would be a shame not to install engine mounts since we can. So we lowered the engine mount height by 2” and now are looking for the right mounts. Price and delivery time are factors in our decision, we are working on the boat in a yard in CT and trying to get as much done as economically as possible in the next couple weeks.

Options:

1) the mounts that are typical with mercruiser engines, at half price (35-40?) from the salvage yard we are getting the A4 from. But I’ve read that those mounts can be too flexible and fail...

2) order c&c engine mounts from moyer at $45 + shipping. But I hear people are not happy with these due to vibration?

3) order the other engine mounts with rubber from moyer at $44 + shipping. Are these the same as the mercruiser standard ones? Cause I’d prefer to have them sooner if people think they’ll be ok.

Any other options or experiences with this would be greatly appreciated! Can’t wait to get to work on our new A4!!

Since I think the advice we get on this forum is worth a million bucks, I always recommend patronising our sponser. And yes, I'm sure they're Ok. I used Skate wheels for resilient mounts on my engine.