Engine mountings

[Howard81]

*Could someone confirm what the rimmer supplied mounts are made from?

Judging the fact that my Sprint ones have started to peel away from the metal after two years, and my Spitfire ones have actually snapped in half, I suspect it's some kind of cheese..

The mounts Cheesey posted are two years old and can't have done more than 1,500 miles since being fitted.

Seriously though, I know RB's read this Forum, please could they not be made of something better? I would happily pay a bit extra for poly ones for example. A life expectancy of 2-3 years really isn't acceptable.

[JPB]

You're right Justyn, I did misunderstand. Still, at least I misunderstood completely and didn't make a half-arsed job of it.

[1300dolly]

Maybe this is something the TDC comercial officer could look into?

[Cheesy]

This has certainly sparked a debate!

I think my next step forward is to order some from Mick Dolphin (he lists "hard" mountings for the 1500) and see if there's an improvement. I'll let you know how I get on.

[JPB]

"Hard" should be the ones with a red paint mark on them, make sure they're real Metalastic which they probably will be from Mr Dolphin. If you get stuck, I have two red ones left.

[1300dolly]

This has certainly sparked a debate!

.

Such an innocents question and three pages later I blame JPB he just can't let it drop can he
Mick items will be quality mounts he doesn't sell cheap crap.

[sprint95m]

I have not read all the posts, but I have an observation to make......



It is supply and demand, for example

Gearbox mounts are available for about £15 on ebay.
T2000 specialist Chris Witor only sells original quality not inferior. These are about £40 each.


Before harping on about Rimmers, please ask yourself a question.....
are you willing to pay three or four times the cheapest price?

[Sprint East]

are you willing to pay three or four times the cheapest price?

Yes, foolish not to if you are planning to keep the car.

[Howard81]

Before harping on about Rimmers, please ask yourself a question.....
are you willing to pay three or four times the cheapest price?

Yes!

I need a set of Sprint mounts and Spitfire ones..

[1300dolly]

are you willing to pay three or four times the cheapest price?

Yes, foolish not to if you are planning to keep the car.

The problem here seems to be that the expnsive mounts and the poorer quality ones and because 1850 mounts are being sold as suitable for 1500s which they are not.

[JPB]

Then why do the genuine, n/o/s Express ones, which carry the part number 158016, mention both OHVs and 1850s on the applications list? Given that all three available grades have that same number, surely the only difference is in the hardness code; pink for an 1850 and.... Would it be softer (green) or harder (red) for OHVs?

This mistake has clearly been perpetuated by Rimmers, or has it? Perhaps they simply didn't realise that three grades are available? Mind you; why would they when the actual part number comes up the same on the o/e supplier's own list.

This is all quite confusing.

[1300dolly]

I would guess, and it is just a guess that the Express ones are 1500 and therefore the harder of the two and the Rimmer supplied are the 1850 and therefore softer or are just made out of inferior material which doesnt last as long and listed to fit all as the physical shape is the same.
The Rimmer ones almost certainly will not be metalastic or any well known brand of quality rubber.

Stanpart list two different part numbers
149934 for the 13/500 and 158016 for the 1850 but as the part numbers are only on a box it is possible that some have printed the number for what they think will be the most popular one and list 13/5000 as 'use 158016' when the boxed 158016 are really a 149934.
Does that make sense?

[Cheesy]

Managed to get some NOS mountings from eBay! They were listed as 158016, but they were original Metalstik parts with the red paint spot.

Now fitted and they seem to locate the engine more securely, and the vibrations are much better. Might have to look at the rear mounting too, but as Nugget is an auto I believe all I can use there is a big saloon subframe mounting? In that case, order going in to LD Parts.

[tinweevil]

I spoke to Mick Dolphin about these and got his last one, it has a brown splodge of paint. His advice was that if a mount is virtually impossible to twist then its a 1500 one, the faces of 1850 mounts can be rotated comparatively easily.

What we need to do is devise a test using simple tools everyone has access to in order to measure the twist for a given load. Foot long screwdriver/spanner as lever and a can of beans as load for example.

[JPB]

Managed to get some NOS mountings from eBay! They were listed as 158016, but they were original Metalstik parts with the red paint spot.

Now fitted and they seem to locate the engine more securely, and the vibrations are much better. Might have to look at the rear mounting too, but as Nugget is an auto I believe all I can use there is a big saloon subframe mounting? In that case, order going in to LD Parts.

Stag rear subframe mounting is longer, so needs a longer bolt to go with it.
I used one as LD only want £14 for these and the original, auto transmission mount is NLA. Be aware that to avoid the vibration you'll experience after fitting the much longer mount (which does match the PCD of the holes in the cross member), you'll need, ideally, to fit the propshaft centre carrier without the two spacers under the o/s/r floor pan which are normally meant to be there on autos. Eliminating those will set the propshaft angles almost back to where they'd be with the original mount.

The longer bolt I used came from James Paddock and is actually cheaper than the matching one from LD, but as its native application involves being fitted through more than one layer of steel and a spacer, it's much too long.
I spun up an aluminium bush to save using a stack of washers (pictured below) but should simply have cut the thread deeper instead, no excuse when the lathe does screw cutting! The Stag subframe mount used on Dolomite auto trans rear: