Curing wobbly engine - head steady and goop.

[Carolyn]

My MR S has got soft motor mounts.  It's a pain when in stop-start traffic.  It feels like a bouncy clutch, but it's a new clutch and when we watch the engine with the car pulling away slowly, it's wobbling.

I checked into replacing the front and rear motor mounts and it's over £200 from MR T.  I could find used ones, but they're not likely to be much better as they will be just as old.  So we decided to try the old Mini solution, which is a head-steady.  We used 10 mm threaded rod and made the bracket for attaching to the head out of hefty aluminium angle.  The rubber bushes are Mini head steady bushes (readily available on the internet for very little money).  There's a pair of bushes at either end of the rod.  The other end of the rod goes though a hole drilled in the upper cross member (the one that has the roof-lid catch bolted to it.

There was a big improvement, but still some vibration when pulling away.


So I decided to find the worst engine mount and stiffen it up.  It turned out to be the one between the gearbox and rear subframe.  It was sagging and really soft.  I've injected it with PU adhesive sealant.  I used 'Tiger seal'.  I decided to just do one mount at a time as I didn't want to end up with harsh vibrations, as have been reported by those who have polybushed their mounts.  I had been warned by others on here that polybushing the lot was not a good idea.

So I filled the gaps between the rubber just on that one mount.  I jacked the engine slightly, just to centre the bolt in the bush (it was sagging the badly).  I then injected the sealant into the bush and left it like that for 24 hours to let everything cure (with the jack still in place).

It's like a different car. There's no annoying vibration and the gear change is silky smooth with no 'thump'.





The mount in the picture is not the one I did, I just show it to show where to inject the Tiger Seal.

[Ardent]

Nice one.

[Jock]

+1   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:  .

[Jay67]

Carolyn what symptoms you were getting, mine's fine until everything's got nice and warm then pulling away in 1st there's an almighty shake from the engine, doesn't happen in 2nd so I assumed it was weak mounts and the extra torque in 1st causing it, I've since fitted poly inserts on front and rear mounts but it's still happening!

[Carolyn]

It felt like a mild clutch judder - nothing 'almighty'.

If you can get a mate to pull forward in first, with the engine cover open, then you can see what it's doing.  'Almighty' sounds like something has given up -have you checked the gearbox top-mount?

[Jay67]

All mounts changed, not with new though but I'd have thought there would be some difference, mine's more than a bit of clutch judder, really shakes, perfectly fine when cold, if I'm careful and feed the clutch in slowly it's fine, been doing it for ages now, not got worse but I can't find the cause, annoys the hell out of me!

[Carolyn]

You really need to see what the engine is doing.  If the engine is steady... sounds like a clutch issue.  It's hard to advise without driving it and also seeing what's happening.

[Jay67]

I was hoping it wasn't clutch related, did start 8 weeks after having a clutch fitted though, got advised by the person that fitted it that it wouldn't be a clutch issue and didn't offer to check it for me, ah well.

[Carolyn]

Started after fitting a clutch... that's more than coincidence.  Take it back if it's a professional mechanic.  You can get a brand new pressure plate that doesn't behave.

[1979scotte]

This is a coincedence.
I have just fitted kirkosaurus urethene inserts on to my front and rear engine mounts.

 m http://kirkosaurus.com/Development.html m

Not as cheap as using tiger seal but maybe a bit neater.

[Carolyn]

Those are interesting. What do you think of them, harsh or OK?

[1979scotte]

They wont be for everyone.
The original rubber??? Is still there sandwiched between the two inserts so it will be softer than a solid poly mount.
I can notice more vibration at idle and my exhaust now sounds a bit more boomy.
On the plus side gear change has never been better (did change gearbox oil for mt90 at the same time) and because i am turbo charged think a little extra stiffness in the mounts is no bad thing.
The car felt reet good on the 50 mile journey home.  s;) s;)

[Jay67]

Those are interesting. What do you think of them, harsh or OK?

Bit more vibration than stock mounts but you soon get used to it.

[Carolyn]

The idea of leaving the rubber in there is precisely what I was after.  Seems like a good compromise. I wonder how it would feel if you only did one mount?  I consdidered doing the other, but I'm leaving it for now as I'm very happy with the result I got.

Mine car is just sweet now.  It feels like it just left the showroom.  I do think the head steady has made a major improvement.  Again, not for everybody as it has to be fabricated, although pretty simple fabrication.

That's two solutions for a problem that most owners have, or will have.  Rubber gets old and there must be loads of soft mounts out there.

Amazing what sorting this does for the gear change.  Who'd have thunk it?

[keljon]

i did mine at the weekend with PU while i was changing the clutch

[shnazzle]

Thread resurrection!

Got some m10 threaded rod off Karl (willis15) and just ordered m10 nyloc washers, m10 penny washers, m10 rubber anti-vibration bobbins, a drill stand, 1m of 3mm angled steel and a spare 10mm drill bit. Guess what I'm building soon haha

[jvanzyl]

Can you make more than one?

[shnazzle]

Perhaps...

[Carolyn]

I'm surprised you went for steel angle, but it won't make much difference.  You'll need some slightly longer machine screws to attach the bracket to the cam cover.  The ones I used are 6 mm x 45 mm with a nominal 15 mm plain section.  You need washers on those.
I just had a peek in the  6 mm cap-head drawer, I still have a few.
PM me your address and I'll pop a couple in the post.
The hole in the bracket for the threaded rod needs to be oversized to allow the rod to sit at an angle.  We bent the angle at that point to get the rod sitting right. (pics below).  The steel will be harder to bend than ally.
John - make your own!!.

[shnazzle]

Hmm... I thought yours was steel... Dammit.  s:) s:)  
Alu would have been much smarter

[Carolyn]

David and I are going to look at making a New Improved bracket later on. Let's see what we come up with?

[jvanzyl]

John has lots on his plate. And I thought Patrick might like the opportunity to establish a small side business to fund future upgrades ;-p

[Carolyn]

Sorry buddy - didn't intend to be strident..
Let's see what we come up with later.  We'll make three.

[shnazzle]

Well that's going to make my first bracket attempt look pitiful isn't it?  s:( s:(

[Carolyn]

Give it your best shot.  It might turn out really well.  Take a good look at the angles your dealing with, use your imagination and go from there.  One of the three is meant for you- oh we need four, one for the Boss too?