I'm sorry Jimzcatz, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the manual about wrapping the motor. My whole intention in this posting was concerning the fore/aft movement that the motor could experience during launch and ejection. I'm not sure how much this "slamming" effect may have over the long term duration of the hook and motor mount. I fully understand how it would survive in the short term, however. I've been out of the hobby for over 3 decades and vaguely remember that it used to take some effort to squeeze the motor into the engine hook. Apparently, from what I've read on this thread, Estes has since lengthened the engine hooks, which now allows for that movement.
I was hoping that someone may offer advice, maybe wrap the motor and hook together with tape, insert a spacer in front of the motor, or something along those lines. This thread quickly diverted to the integrity of the Alpha III regarding putting a motor block ahead of the hook. Albeit, that is a great idea, and had I thought of it, I would have added one prior to final completion, but that honestly would have no effect on what's going on within the engine hook.
I googled every possible way about this situation of the motor sliding up and down within the hook and found nothing, so I joined this forum in order to ask such questions. I truly appreciate those that offered sound advice and constructive criticism and will take that knowledge forward with me.
I do find it odd that Estes no longer offers a motor block in the kits nor do they mention it in the instructions. If I ever build a similar model in the future, I will add one on my own if not supplied by Estes, so I thank you all for bringing that to my attention. And lastly, the decal sheet on my kit had the date of: 03/24/20