I started working on this, yesterday, and stopped after about one/two hours. Long story but I fell very ill and one bolt refused to come out, and I tried to get away with not removing the battery, still did not remove the tray (but will do it if I have to do it again).
Anyway for anybody out there planning to do this, I will write a how to when I am done. Car is on jack stand now. 1996 V6 Duratec Automatic.
1. Disconnect battery (10 mm), remove battery (10 mm), remove battery tray (I think 10 mm).
2. Remove air filter housing (top and bottom) by removing worm clamp near the MAF. Disconnect MAF connector and IAT connector.
3. At this point you can see the driver side engine/transaxle mount. Spray bolts with "Power Lube" or "WD-40". Remove air filter housing to tranny mount bracket (2 bolts, 10 mm). Note that the Ford CD says to remove the 4 nuts on the tranny bracket. This is not necessary and if you do remove them, you need to get new ones as Ford says they are self-locking nuts.
4. Remove rectangular wiring box on right of air filter housing near the strut tower by unscrewing bolt on left of box (can't remember size of bolt). Remove the wiring box. Note that this is not the Power Distribution Box next to the battery. This black box is the one closest to the driver side strut tower and cruise control. You need remove it so that you can unscrew the horizontal bolt on the fender closest the firewall. An Electric Ratchet at $200 would solve this problem in a heartbeat.
4. Place a 18 to 24 inch length, 2 by 4 under the engine/tranny and jack up to lift weight off the engine/mounts.
5. Remove the "through bolt" (15mm). (having a breaker bar helps. I used a 15 inch length 3/4 inch inner diameter PVC pipe on the ratchet). This is the horizontal bolt on the tranny mount going from the radiator side to the firewall side. If you did not remove the battery tray, this will take you half an hour. I'm sure it will be less than 5 minutes if I had removed the tray.
6. Remove top vertical bolt (15 mm) on top of driver fender.
7. Remove first of two "horizontal bolts" (15 mm) going into the fender. I am stuck on the second one, the one closest to the firewall, managed to remove about 1/3 inch before I became very ill yesterday. It was suppose to rain today plus I was recovering. Will continue tomorrow and try from below the car. The bolt must have been cross threaded as it is taking a lot to turn 1/8 turn each time. This bolts have about one and one half thread lengths in them.
I have taken some pictures and will do a how to when I am done. Just in case someone wants to continue on before I am done. This my plan for the rest.
8. Remove horizontal bolt closest to firewall. And then remove battery tray and set aside Power Distribution Box (should have done this much earlier).
Reinstall.
1. Place new mount on tranny and fender. Push screwdriver from firewall side through horizontal hole (for "through bolt) from firewall side to radiator side on the mount side near the tranny.
2. Screw vertical bolt and horizontal bolts on fender but don't tighten to specs yet. Need freeplay for horizontal "through bolt".
3. Make sure screw driver is still loose, if not, adjust the jack underneath.
4. Remove screw driver halfway. Start threading horizontal "through bolt" from radiator side towards firewall side. This should slowly push screw driver out. The inner diameter thread for the bottom bracket of the tranny mount is only on the side closest to the firewall. So it should be easy until you push or screw all the way until the screwdriver is on the verge of dropping out. Tighten to 52 - 70 lb-ft.
5. Tighten fender bolts (vertical bolt, and two horizontal bolts). Do the horizontal bolt closest to the firewall side first as this is the hardest one. Tighten to 52 - 70 lb-ft.
6. Reinstall air filter housing to tranny mount bracket. Tighten retaining bolts to 15-22 lb-ft.
7. Reinstall air filter housing.
8. Reinstall wiring box next to strut tower/cruise control.
9. Reinstall all electical connectors (MAF, IAT, wiring box).
10. Reinstall battery tray and Power Distribution Box.
11. When you reinstall the battery, remember to have your keys in your pocket (outside the car), as the locks will lock by themselves as you tighten the battery clamps.
Good luck.
Edit. Anchor Mount 2873 for 1996 V6 ATX. You can purchase from
www.Autozone or
www.rockauto.com. Get the correct mount for your year, engine and transaxle by checking on
www.anchor-online.com. The transmission mounts (tranny to driver fender known as "[Transmission Mount] Att To fender apron; Ford, Trans Code: CD4E", and tranny to rear subframe known as "[Transmission Mount] Att To crossmember (Insert); Ford, Trans Code: CD4E") are under "transmission"
and the engine mounts are under "engine mounts" (engine to front subframe, and engine to passenger fender).
Battery tray removal instructions from 1996 Ford CD.
1. Remove battery from vehicle.
2. Remove battery insulation from battery tray.
3. Remove power distribution box retaining bolt from battery tray and position power distribution box aside.
4. Remove battery tray retaining bolts from LH front fender apron.
5. Remove battery tray from vehicle.
Installation
1. Position battery tray to front fender apron in engine compartment.
2. Install retaining bolts. Tighten each to 8-12 N-m (6-8 lb-ft).
3. Install power distribution and retaining bolt to battery tray. Tighten retaining bolt to 8-12 N-m (6-8 lb-ft).
4. Install battery.
5. Tighten hold-down bracket nuts to 3-5 N-m (27-44 lb-in).
. Civil Engineer with a MBA, I presume.