OEM motor mount holes damaged, 01 TJ, will a bracket like bomb proof work?

[beavermatic]

My buddy just bought a nice low mile 01 TJ, and upon inspection after hearing some noise, he notice the fan shroud was busted, and upon further inspection, notice that the motor mounts didnt seem right, and had a "wedge" piece of diamond steel between the OEM bracket and the 3 OEM mount holes on the engine.
Come to find out, someone had busted all of the OEM mount holes from the cast iron, and created a plate with drilled holes to reach to the "new" mount holes, which they screw onto the OEM bracket.

I attached a image of the mount holes, and what they should look like, but all 3 of those OEM holes are unusable/broken off on his engine...

there is a official bracket he can use that will allow him to use the "new holes" as listed in the picture, but it uses the OEM holes as well... the M.O.R.E. bomb proof bracket.

He doesnt think he can weld or reform any of the damage OEM holes as its cast iron...

is there anything he can do to securely mount his engine, or did he just waste $10,000 on what seems to be a otherwise outstanding looking TJ?
any suggestions would be appreciate

 

[SteelHeadz]

First, i would try to re-tap the hole with one size up. enlarge the hole on the engine mount bracket and slap it on. From what it looks like on the picture, theres enough wall there to support a larger bolt.

 

[beavermatic]

stellheadz, aprpeciate the suggestion, i will let him know. He was also considering getting the bullet proof mount bracket, and then trying to fix the OEM holes by using some sort of German high end JB weld to remold the (2) broken OEM holes.

If you notice in the pic, theres a hole to the far right that isnt really labelled (couple inches to the right of the oem hole), but he was considering also welding a additonal arm to the bullet proof mount bracket to reach over there to screw into.

any other suggestions are allways appreciated

 

[beavermatic]

stell headz,

the two upper OEM bolt holes are gone, they broke off.

They are not stripped out... they're completely gone.

The third OEM bolt hole is split in half....


any suggestions?

 

[SteelHeadz]

The other way to go about this is to make a template of the other holes available thats still good and cut it out of at least a 1/4 inch steel plate. drill the holes for the bolts, position it in place and line up the original motor mount bracket then weld it. The only thing that needs to be modified is the original bracket may have to be cut down to size before welding it to the steel plate. Otherwise, the engine will sit lop sided.

 

[beavermatic]

Steelheadz, sounds like the way to go... but can you weld directly to the cast iron block? thats our only question at this point. Not sure how well a cast iron weld would work

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You can weld to cast, but you have to know exactly what you're doing. Often requires preheating and annealing.