Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

John A Roby

Chi-Mou Ni

Steven K Mackenzie

Frederick P Hohnstadt

Ferdous M Ghazi

Eric N Jacobson

Blaine A Heavener

An engine mount assembly includes a vehicle frame bracket supporting an engine mounted bracket through an isolator. The frame includes three triangularly positioned tubes extending through a frame rail and defining openings for bolts that secure the frame bracket to the frame. Two longitudinally spaced upper tubes engage V recesses formed by a lip on the frame bracket that guides the bracket into longitudinal alignment with the frame openings during assembly. An inclined ramp on the face of the frame bracket helps position the engine laterally during assembly. Optional flanges on the upper tubes engage slots in the V recesses to prevent lateral movement of the assembly prior to installation of the mounting bolts through the frame tubes. A laterally elongated opening in an isolator support on the frame bracket allows final adjustment of the engine lateral position, if needed.

Engine mount assembly

A vehicle frame has side rails which support the suspension system and body of the vehicle. The side rails have a rectangular cross-section with the end sections thereof having predetermined wall thicknesses and rectangular size, and a center section having a thinner wall thickness and a larger height dimension of the rectangular cross-section. A transition section connects respective end sections with the center section. The transition section has rectangular cross-sections and wall thickness at the respective junctures which matches the adjoining section. The frame side rail is manufactured by prebending a cylindrical tube of constant wall thickness into a shape consistent with the desired final shape; then hydroforming an intermediate work piece in a first die to provide wall thickness and perimeter characteristics commensurate with the final product; and then further hydroforming the intermediate work piece in a second die to provide the finished product or to provide two components which are joined to form the final frame side rail. When two intermediate work pieces are processed, each is formed with an end section and a part of the center section.

Hydroformed side rail for a vehicle frame and method of manufacture

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Northville, MI, United States of America

John A Roby