Welcome back! In Episode 8, we made the engine mounts and got the OM606 sitting under its own power. This will be a short blog post but will detail the products and process used to make it happen.
First, I needed to shout-out a YouTube viewer, @Aheese, who has made a couple very helpful comments to give insight into some areas that I did not pay enough attention to. He informed me about the difference between the gas and diesel tank switchover valves on the Ford OBS, noting that the diesel version has a physical switchover valve, whereas the gas versions only switch power from one fuel pump to another. This means I would need to either install a diesel switchover valve, which could cost upwards of $300 and require new wiring OR I could utilize one tank only and block off the secondary fuel lines. Luckily, I was able to source a 33-gallon Bronco fuel tank for the rear and will be going with the secondary option and pulling fuel from the rear tank. I do plan on keeping the front tank as a reserve, but I will give more information on that in a future episode.
How Will These Motor Mounts Work?
I’ve chosen to save the OEM mounts from the OM606 and make some minor modifications so we can utilize the new solid rubber dampeners in the Ford engine bay. All of these modifications are specific to the 9th Gen Ford F150 2wd with the 302 and a 4r70w. I cannot speak confidently on what the measurement difference is for other engine, transmission, or 4wd variants.
I sourced some engine mounts that are commonly found in old Dodge, Mopar, and Ram vehicles. I chose these dampeners because they are inexpensive, basic, easy to find, and fit well in the area we have to work with. To make the mount fit properly on the drivers side of the engine, I bought a piece of 1/8″ steel angle iron, cut it to shape, bolted and welded it in between the engine perch and engine cradle. This engine perch and cradle is specific to the Ford 302 in the OBS F150. Yours may be different.
To make the piece of angle iron fit better and get better weld penetration, I cut a groove in between the engine perch and engine cradle. Once we were welded up, I made some measurements with the engine sitting in the ideal position and began to drill the hole to mount the dampener to the engine bay.
To make this fit, I did need to flatten the stock Mercedes mounts both on the top and bottom, the goal was to remove as little material as possible while giving the mount a good flat surface to mate against the dampener. After a lot of back/fourth making small adjustments, we finally got the drivers side mount bolted up.
The passenger side mount was much easier and did not require a piece of angle iron as the stock engine perch sits directly under the mounting point on the stock Mercedes mount. This only required me to drill a hole in the perch for the dampener and to flatten the Mercedes mount in the same manner we did the drivers side. After an hour or so, we got the passenger side in and the engine sitting under its own power.
Here is an Amazon link to the engine mounts (dampeners) I used
If you’ve got questions about this swap, especially if you’re thinking of doing something similar, drop a comment or DM me at @hankejohnson or @hankscarsandcoffee on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. I’m trying to share every step in detail so that others can follow along—or learn from my mistakes.
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