Engine mountings.

[sorbs]

The engine mounts on these cars are a bit crude when compared to the elaborate arrangements you get on modern cars but then it's smooth engine so there isn't a lot of vibration to start with.

I'd heard bad reports about the cheaper repro engine mounts so bought a pair of Chris Witor's more expensive repro items - interesting that he offers the cheaper ones too. That was three years ago, no problems so far.

My old engine mounts were the originals and had suffered after being soaked in oil for years, one was quite perished but still doing its job, it looked a lot worse than it actually was. The other turned out to be pretty good. I replaced them both anyway but it sounds like I should keep the better of the old ones as a spare.

[rusty pelican]

Nearly all remanufactured rubber stuff is practically useless. Why cant they make it like they could 50 years ago - I will never understand.

Ive found this , I think its an enviromental / ecological issue , early stuff was actually proper rubber that came from trees , this modern repro stuff as far as i know is a synthetic replacment and is quite frankly rubbish .

[Alec]

Hello all,

all the failed mounts that I have had have failed at the bond to the steel?

Alec

[Mike Stevens]

In 35+ years of big saloon motoring, I think I've only ever replaced 1 or 2 mountings, and that is when the rubber has come detached from the metal. These have always been the OE type. I do have at least 1 unused original mount and I have put a photo of it on here - somewhere! The originals do look different to the replacement parts so a photo of an unused original might be useful.

Here's a link....

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1274&hilit=mount&start=20

The 'new' blue PI came with replacement front mounts from CW - still in their boxes. It was one of these that I replaced an original with. Although similar to the OE type, they still look slightly different.

I quite agree about the quality of replacement parts. I think it's one of the biggest problems we have.

Converting the rear mount to Stag type would be interesting. There is a bracket on the overdrive that mates with the cotton reels and it would have to be sourced. Or made. I wonder why Triumph made the rear mount different for the Stag?

Cheers,
Mike.

[David Withers]

Ive found this , I think its an enviromental / ecological issue , early stuff was actually proper rubber that came from trees , this modern repro stuff as far as i know is a synthetic replacment and is quite frankly rubbish .

I couldn't disagree more. Natural rubber would be useless for almost all the applications of rubber in our cars and elsewhere. Synthetic rubber provides a huge choice to suit the job, such as butyl for long life and resistance to air leakage in tyres, nitrile for economic general duty and oil-resisting engine components, silicone likewise but where higher resistance to heat is needed, fluorocarbon (viton) for even higher high temps, plus lots of others for anti-freeze resistance, brake fluid resistance, etc, etc. On top of that, I reckon the population of the world would be a great deal higher without certain 'personal' items being made from synthetic rubber!

As others have said, it is poor metal/rubber bonding, plus perhaps incorrect stiffness (shore hardness) of the rubber itself, that is the problem with engine and gearbox mountings, all due to low quality manufacture.