Passenger Side Transmission Mount Small clearance

[Takophiliac]

I have a peculiar problem with my 2g DSM (Eagle Talon Tsi FWD 5spd) after i had it serviced at a dealer in Alabama.
The car was just past a major service point when i got it (120k) so i had them replace a lot of stuff as i wasn't allowed to work on it in the apartment i lived in.
One of the things that i had them replace were the worn out motor mounts. After i got the car back from them, as i was driving off the lot i gave it just a smidgen of gas (maybe an inch on the pedal) and this sort of groaning noise issued from the front of my car.
Upon investigation i find that the motor mount on the end of the transmission (behind the passenger front wheel well) was not centered in the mount.

Looking from a bigger perspective, the whole engine appears to be maybe 2-3 degrees rotated clockwise from what i would expect. Fender mounts are off center in their mounting areas, but due to the engine being twisted as a whole, only the transmission side mount rubs. WTF

Additionally, if the steering wheel is turned (pressure is applied) in the counter-clockwise direction (car turning left) while the engine is running, a vibration manifests under the passenger side floorboard. This problem got worse when the car was strapped to a trailer to be towed ~600 miles to Iowa.

Has anyone else had this problem, heard of this problem, or have any suggestions? Sorry if there was too much info >.>


Link for photos of problem area: Flickr: takophiliac's Photostream

Edit: One more thing, the dealer told me it was likely in an accident. Despite the car having very poor condition motor mounts, this problem did not exist before i took it to them. Also there are no obvious signs of any such contributing factor. There are no areas of crumpled or wrinkled metal or even metal with the paint missing in any parts of the car forward of the firewall.

 

[Takophiliac]

Not even any crazy ideas? My first instinct was that perhaps a bushing is missing or damaged on the main subframe allowing the bottom of the car to be slightly out of skew. I haven't yet had a chance to disassemble it.
I was wondering if the problem was more common as i test drove a 95 eclipse GST yesterday and the mount wasn't as far back as mine, tho still off center, and i goosed it after the clutch was engaged (no wheel spin) and between 4k and 4500 i got a little of the same noise.

I'm just hoping someone can give me a pointer in the right direction as to what may make the whole engine out of alignment with the body.

 

[ArticNemesis]

The uni-body is bent somewhere. You can't off-center the motor mounts in place. One hole, with no play, that the bolt slides through.

The destroyed motor mounts could be from the tension of the tweaked frame & engine/transmission, that the rubber mounts were the first things to give.

Accidents can be covered up with some crafty welding/sanding/painting.

 

[Takophiliac]

Is this typically something that can be repaired by a body shop? If so, should i expect to lose an arm and a leg getting it fixed?

 

[crimsondragon]

You sure they didn't give you the wrong mount? Auto and manual mounts are different.

 

[Takophiliac]

Yeah, im positive, i put the parts list together myself and saw all the parts before they were installed and after they threw them out. What i hadn't posted yet is that i did some more disassembly on the engine compartment last night.
They also failed to reconnect my speedometer, and i was looking for the port for it. To my great dismay, i find that the rear motor mount is very nearly touching the drivers side edge of the bracket. After getting under the car, i find that the front mount is fairly close to the passenger side of its bracket. So... in summary, it appears that all the brackets are misaligned as tho there were some all-over clockwise torque on the engine.
This seems wierd to me as i can't find anything that would be causing the torque, and they are all misaligned for a clockwise torque (as seen from above). I guess i'm going to call a body shop and see what they think about it.

 

[Takophiliac]

I contacted a local body shop, they got me scheduled for like next tuesday to put it up on their machine. Thanks for the info and second opinions.

 

[Takophiliac]

I hope this isn't frowned upon...
Update: Turns out ArticNemesis had it at least partially right. I took the car into the body shop, they measured it up and told me the front end was off by what they termed "a whole notch" in their body machine.
After they straightened it up, its still not right, but it's much better.

They suggested that i should replace the lower crossmember as well as the rear engine mount bracket (the piece that bolts to the back of the transmission) as both appear to be at least slightly, if not more, bent.

Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to remove the rear engine mount bracket (again the part that bolts to the back of the transmission) without removing the intake manifold or the front subframe? It looks like it will be doable, just not particularly fast, especially the bolt that i'm going to hope isn't too long or its going to come out far enough to hit the subframe.

Thanks for the input so far, especially ArticNemesis for the bodyshop prompting. (Thankfully they didn't charge me too much)