My experience with motor mounts, from Jags to MGs and in between has
been terrible.
Apparently, the British like to use "natural" rubber, (instead of
synthetic compounds used by the Yanks, which break-down under the
following conditions:
exposure to oils, fuels, and other petro-chemicals (turns the rubber to
black mush)
vibrations and tourquing stresses (tears the rubber into chunks)
time (the rubber gets old and "breaks-down")
Now, I know this may come as a suprise (read much sarcasm here) but
what of these three conditions aren't found in the BMC world? NONE!
A solution is:
Religiously watch all mounts-- motor, tranny, axles, front-end,
(anywhere where the rubber meets the road or metal.)
Keep all greasy and oily parts as clean as possible (hard to do if you
have a BMC engine or trans but do your best).
If your car is more than 15+ (and who's isn't by now) replace major
parts such as trans and motor mouns.
Install a tourqe strap on your engine! (They work and you'll also note
a performance gain since that big four or six isn't rocking around in
the compartment!)
______
| |\Strap
Block | | \ | Body
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(a bad pic ) / \
/ \
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\ /
~~~~~
A tourqe strap (now called struts on some FWD cars) will prevent the
engine from doing what it will naturally do (wallow around on its
mounts like a pig in a poke) and work quite well in saving stress on
your engine and trans mounts. Take a strong piece of strap steel,
mount it to the head (carefully) and then mount the other piece to a
SOLID part on the inside of the engine compartment. Any questions?
call (916) 353-2400 (ext292)
or mail mws1@osi.com
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