2011 - May - Engine Mounts

The engine mounts were installed 1984, and during the writing of this blog I decided to check their condition.

Originally thinking it was going to be a minor tidy up, it soon became a big job, taking 2 days and after removing the bonnet and radiator consisted of the following:

Front Engine Mount
I noticed this was a bit softer than it should be. Probably from being continually coated in oil for  26 years. Not a bad run all the same.. When I removed the mount it was completely shot. I reinstalled the original full steel engine mount on the front of the engine, and later supplemented this with a 4 mm strip of neoprene rubber between the mount and the chassis, as engine noise increased with the metal to metal contact. After this he car was a lot smoother. As smooth as 1928 Chev can be that is.

My conclusion is that the front mount had been soft for several years.

Rear Engine Mounts
These are still in good condition, but I will replace them next time the engine or transmission is removed. All I did to these mounts was to insert a 2 mm washer to level off the engine and to match the thickness of the rubber pad under the front mount.

Transmission Mount
The 2  bolts on either side required tightening and I then discovered the rubber pads had been compressed to where they were no longer effective.

The only solution was to replace them, which I did over 2 days. This time I used neoprene 6 mm rubber instead of Goodyear Tyre side wall for the outer pads, and 4mm neoprene rubber instead of 2 mm rubber sheet for the inner pad.

The end result is a smoother engine during acceleration, cruising, and most noticeably when backing off.

The engine is still bolted directly to the chassis as per original and still rock solid with no movement as per original. What is not original is I have inserted a highly compressed rubber pad between all fixing points that were previously metal to metal.

Lets hope I get another 20 odd years out of these mountings.


The only other comment of note is how times and things change, and how with modern tools at your disposal, jobs are so much easier. If only in the seventies my garage had of contained the following:
Pedestal Drill
Variable Speed Power Drill
Bench Grinder
Angle Grinder
Dremmel
Bench Press
Sand Blast Cabinet
Punches
Nut Splitters
Cutting Disks
Grinding Disks
High Speed Wire Brushes
Butane Torch
Etc
Etc
Etc.

Progress is a wonderful thing, tool wise anyway.