Weekly Fun Question - Test Your 71-73 Mustang Knowledge

For this week, I am going to once again pose a question relative to the "differences" the '73 mustang has from the '72 and earlier mustangs.

I will preface the question by noting that if you go through the different mustang parts catalogs, you will find the motor mounts used in the small blocks (289, 302, 351W and 351C) are generally carried under the same part number.

The question for this week is:

What is the difference that the motor mounts in the '73 have from its predecessors and why are they different?




Who will have the correct responses this week?

BT

Ok A wild guess here they are shorter on the conv.?

No, that is not the response I am looking for to this question.

The response actually covers all the '73 mustangs. Specifically, the motor mounts on the '73 mustangs is different from those on the 71s and 72s. The question has to do with what is the difference and why was the motor mounts changed on the 73s.

BT

Ok one more shot in 73 gov't mandated safety changes.Ford changed to captive motor mounts.

Nance,

You are "on it" as it was related to new safety mandates for 1973!!

Specifically, the earlier motor mounts were deemed to have a safety problem if they happened to completely fail in that they could allow the engine to lift out of the frame. To address this possibility, Ford changed the mounts in '73 to add an additional plate that would hit or lock the engine to the frame mount should an engine mount fail.

It has been said that mustang mounts rarely fail so the early style mounts are still safe to use on the '73. Good thing, because the after market parts folks are still not apparently making the engine mounts for the '73s.

You did "GOOD", Nance!

BT

I broke one on the drag strip back in the day on my 72. I chained it after that. If I would have known I would have put a 73 mount there.