Motor Frame Towers Replacement

[Dover]

Fellas, looking for some outside opinions. My passenger-side motor frame tower needs to be replaced. Whoever did the original work absolutely butchered the welds (not that I could do much better myself), and you can see in the picture where they even used a bolt as “extra support” for some reason…

I’ve got a frame shop taking a look at it. Their initial assessment from the photos is that they’ll need to pull the headers and the starter to get proper access. The shop owner is also a little concerned that whoever installed the tower may have torched off some of the metal at the base of the frame.

I ordered a new set of motor frame mount towers from Tom’s Bronco Parts along with new engine mounts.

Before I dive into this, is there anything else I should be thinking about? Any potential issues I should be ready for?

Also—since the headers will be off anyway and they’re pretty rusted—should I just replace them now or is that money wasted unless they’re leaking?

Oh, she is a 66 with a 351W. One pic is looking forward and one is looking aft.

Any and all opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[bigmuddy]

If the headers are that rusty I would plan on replacing them..
The engine mounts are a crap shoot until you get them off, but I would plan on replacing them and have the shop grind everything down to check for issues. Plate over the problem areas if they arise and reweld the engine mounts.

 

[Broncobowsher]

My suggestion is to just pull the motor. Being a '66, my guess is it started life as an I6 and was swapped to the V8.
Hack off both mounts and clean the frame. Pick up a set of V8 conversion motor mount towers from your favorite vender and follow the instructions on installing them. My guess is they torched off a set of used frame towers and when the went to put them on they realized they torched off too much material. If one is that bad, they are both bad.

 

[73azbronco]

I think the sign of quality is evident using a bolt to fill space.

Yeah I would redo those, was that an original 6 cyl?

 

[Dover]

I think the sign of quality is evident using a bolt to fill space.

Yeah I would redo those, was that an original 6 cyl?

Nope, it's a 351W (D8VE). Not sure when any of these repairs or engine replacement took place.

 

[Oldtimer]

Dover, I think the question is, did this Bronco leave the factory with an 6 cylinder engine?
No chance of a Marti report on a 66, but with the vin someone here can probably tell us what engine it had.

 

[Dover]

Dover, I think the question is, did this Bronco leave the factory with an 6 cylinder engine?
No chance of a Marti report on a 66, but with the vin someone here can probably tell us what engine it had.

ahhhhh. U15FL
U = 170ci inline-6

So yeah, 6 from the factory as far as I'm tracking.

 

[Broncobowsher]

That is what we have been saying. It has had a V8 conversion sometime in the past, that was done poorly. Cut out the garbage welds and chopped up used brackets, get the V8 conversion brackets from nearly every Bronco specialty house. Put those in. Go from a hack conversion to something correct. Taking the whole engine out is the way to go.

 

[SteveL]

If the headers fitt well and don't leak send em out for jet hot coating.