It seems the 65 had a unique motor mount unlike the rest of the classic mustangs. Since I have them, I decided to clean them up and use them. The other option was to buy the 66+ mounts and mounting plates. Or, my crazy motor purchases may make me buy drop mounts like I put in the 67 coupe. So, I started with the most economical option first.

What got me thinking on this was a link for Virginia Mustang’s 65 motor mount hardware. Mine is rusted, and I hate dealing with rusted bolts, so that got my attention. I ordered the kit and started media blasting the cast iron mount bracket.

The hardware kit is advertised as concurs correct. I am fairly certain the rusted bolts I have are original. The nuts look virtually identical, but the bolts are slightly different. That said, the two differences are both good features.

One, the new bolt has a cap, or washer face built into the bolt. Nice option since this bolts directly through the shock tower mount point. The second change is the pointed tip. This makes getting them through the frame nice as well. The originals were a tight fit, so the flat face made it that much more difficult to get them in. The new set was super simple.

The mount bracket itself was kind of awkward. I had to look up pictures to figure out how it bolted on. Fortunately, Eric’s 65 was up on the lift so I took some pictures of an untouched motor mount looks.

While showing how the bracket goes on the car, it also shows how it all works together. I couldn’t find the middle L shaped piece, so I ordered those when I ordered the hardware. No bolts or washers were included, so I took a trip to the local hardware store and got a set of lock nuts and washers for both the L bracket and the mount that attaches the L bracket to the engine.

The picture also helped me to see the bolts are pushed in from the back with the nut in front. Not important for my non original car, but might a well put them in right.

After blasting the brackets, I painted them with a metallic engine paint I like. I was going to just coat them with clear, but they had a green tint to them in some places, so I went with paint. Besides, I really like how this paint looks on cast iron parts.

Bolted in, following how Eric’s are, and ready for the next step. I attached the mounts and the L brackets to the motor in preparation for dropping it in here in the near future. I hope it’s not too tall, forcing me to take this off and go with the Ron Morris drop mounts. After all this spend on the car, I probably should due to the design preventing a break free motor, but I like the original stuff where I can keep it.