Engine mountings
Discussion
Hello all
For a while now I have thought that my engine feels a little coarse at +4000 revs, and there has been the odd other thing like it not pulling smoothly when crawling in traffic, and feeling lumpy at tickover.
Coming back from Chatsworth, I had to reverse at one point and noticed that the clutch was a little juddery. When I got home I had a bit of a look around and noticed that the starter motor was touching the chassis, and that the engine mountings looked a bit skewed. When I looked under the engine, I noticed that the sump was resting pretty solidly on the anti roll bar.
I decided to change the engine mounts, and got 2 new ones from rally designs ( top class fast service by the way) and set about fitting them.
To be honest, I don't struggle with many jobs on most cars but this has been a complete pig of a job. The nuts on the underside of the mountings are really difficult to get to, and one took me 4 hours to remove.
Anyway, the job is now done, and the car is sweeter than ever....revs all the way with no more harshness, smooth at tickover, no more clutch judder, and it seems to feel lighter handling as well...guess about 150kg of Cologne on the roll bar messed up the handling a bit.
Anyway, to the point...if anyone is thinking of doing theirs, I have a few handy hints and tips for what tools you'll need.
Cheers
Ant
For a while now I have thought that my engine feels a little coarse at +4000 revs, and there has been the odd other thing like it not pulling smoothly when crawling in traffic, and feeling lumpy at tickover.
Coming back from Chatsworth, I had to reverse at one point and noticed that the clutch was a little juddery. When I got home I had a bit of a look around and noticed that the starter motor was touching the chassis, and that the engine mountings looked a bit skewed. When I looked under the engine, I noticed that the sump was resting pretty solidly on the anti roll bar.
I decided to change the engine mounts, and got 2 new ones from rally designs ( top class fast service by the way) and set about fitting them.
To be honest, I don't struggle with many jobs on most cars but this has been a complete pig of a job. The nuts on the underside of the mountings are really difficult to get to, and one took me 4 hours to remove.
Anyway, the job is now done, and the car is sweeter than ever....revs all the way with no more harshness, smooth at tickover, no more clutch judder, and it seems to feel lighter handling as well...guess about 150kg of Cologne on the roll bar messed up the handling a bit.
Anyway, to the point...if anyone is thinking of doing theirs, I have a few handy hints and tips for what tools you'll need.
Cheers
Ant
Thanks Bil
I had read some of the links but not that one.....I thought it would be quite easy, but you live and learn
The trick to getting the bottom mount bolts off is to use a 17mm ratchet spanner, perferably one with a stepless ratchet. The tool I used was an halfords ratchet spanner with a flexible head which seemed to get in quite well but has a coarse ratchet...it pretty much is one click at a time...The nut stuck on the thread right at the end and I had to lower the engine back down onto the rubber with a small piece of sharp metal in to jam it and hold it from turning while I turned the nut 1 click at a time.
On the drivers side I left the manifold in place and disconnected the bracket from the block. Because the mounts were so much thicker, I struggled to get the bolts back into the block until I moved the jack from the front of the sump, and jacked the engine up on the drivers side of the sump. Bolts went in easily then.
I left the mount upper and lower nuts loose until the engine was lowered. You then need a short spanner to get to the top mount nut to tighten it as the manifold was in the way.
On the passenger side I removed the manifold (the bolt on the inside of the bracket is tricky otherwise) and this side was much easier...again, I had to unbolt the bracket from the block. The underside bolt was a bit easier on this side, maybe my joints had loosened up a bit.
The rally design mounts have left the sump about 20-25mm clear of the ARB which seems fine to me, and the starter is clear of the chassis.
Hope that helps a little bit more
cheers
Ant
I had read some of the links but not that one.....I thought it would be quite easy, but you live and learn
The trick to getting the bottom mount bolts off is to use a 17mm ratchet spanner, perferably one with a stepless ratchet. The tool I used was an halfords ratchet spanner with a flexible head which seemed to get in quite well but has a coarse ratchet...it pretty much is one click at a time...The nut stuck on the thread right at the end and I had to lower the engine back down onto the rubber with a small piece of sharp metal in to jam it and hold it from turning while I turned the nut 1 click at a time.
On the drivers side I left the manifold in place and disconnected the bracket from the block. Because the mounts were so much thicker, I struggled to get the bolts back into the block until I moved the jack from the front of the sump, and jacked the engine up on the drivers side of the sump. Bolts went in easily then.
I left the mount upper and lower nuts loose until the engine was lowered. You then need a short spanner to get to the top mount nut to tighten it as the manifold was in the way.
On the passenger side I removed the manifold (the bolt on the inside of the bracket is tricky otherwise) and this side was much easier...again, I had to unbolt the bracket from the block. The underside bolt was a bit easier on this side, maybe my joints had loosened up a bit.
The rally design mounts have left the sump about 20-25mm clear of the ARB which seems fine to me, and the starter is clear of the chassis.
Hope that helps a little bit more
cheers
Ant
Tant said:
Thanks Bil
I had read some of the links but not that one.....I thought it would be quite easy, but you live and learn
The trick to getting the bottom mount bolts off is to use a 17mm ratchet spanner, perferably one with a stepless ratchet. The tool I used was an halfords ratchet spanner with a flexible head which seemed to get in quite well but has a coarse ratchet...it pretty much is one click at a time...The nut stuck on the thread right at the end and I had to lower the engine back down onto the rubber with a small piece of sharp metal in to jam it and hold it from turning while I turned the nut 1 click at a time.
On the drivers side I left the manifold in place and disconnected the bracket from the block. Because the mounts were so much thicker, I struggled to get the bolts back into the block until I moved the jack from the front of the sump, and jacked the engine up on the drivers side of the sump. Bolts went in easily then.
I left the mount upper and lower nuts loose until the engine was lowered. You then need a short spanner to get to the top mount nut to tighten it as the manifold was in the way.
On the passenger side I removed the manifold (the bolt on the inside of the bracket is tricky otherwise) and this side was much easier...again, I had to unbolt the bracket from the block. The underside bolt was a bit easier on this side, maybe my joints had loosened up a bit.
The rally design mounts have left the sump about 20-25mm clear of the ARB which seems fine to me, and the starter is clear of the chassis.
Hope that helps a little bit more
cheers
Ant
This is quite a lot more clearence than i have at present, about 5mm on the roll bar and about 3mm between the sump and the exhaust. I had read some of the links but not that one.....I thought it would be quite easy, but you live and learn
The trick to getting the bottom mount bolts off is to use a 17mm ratchet spanner, perferably one with a stepless ratchet. The tool I used was an halfords ratchet spanner with a flexible head which seemed to get in quite well but has a coarse ratchet...it pretty much is one click at a time...The nut stuck on the thread right at the end and I had to lower the engine back down onto the rubber with a small piece of sharp metal in to jam it and hold it from turning while I turned the nut 1 click at a time.
On the drivers side I left the manifold in place and disconnected the bracket from the block. Because the mounts were so much thicker, I struggled to get the bolts back into the block until I moved the jack from the front of the sump, and jacked the engine up on the drivers side of the sump. Bolts went in easily then.
I left the mount upper and lower nuts loose until the engine was lowered. You then need a short spanner to get to the top mount nut to tighten it as the manifold was in the way.
On the passenger side I removed the manifold (the bolt on the inside of the bracket is tricky otherwise) and this side was much easier...again, I had to unbolt the bracket from the block. The underside bolt was a bit easier on this side, maybe my joints had loosened up a bit.
The rally design mounts have left the sump about 20-25mm clear of the ARB which seems fine to me, and the starter is clear of the chassis.
Hope that helps a little bit more
cheers
Ant
Is there a standard height?
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