Wondered why my engine had dropped on the drivers side after a few starts ups- thought I would check levels- drivers side was down and exhasut banging on the chassis- so slackened engine mount bolts and jacked the sump up carefully with wooden block -it moved up to where it should be- great i thought so tried to tighten bolts again and threads on both are knacked. I had to open up the engine mount holes as (typical Luego) they didnt line up so both bolts are taking a lot of load trying to keep the engine tight.Double frustration as I had both helicolied by an engine shop before I put the engine in as the bolts where lose then- so what now? you can get at the bolts through hole in side panel as I have taken exhaust pipe off but realy dont want to take whole engine out- anyone can help?

Is it possible to drill and tap a larger size and loctite some studs in, in place of bolts? Or drill and tap larger and use stepped studs?

cant you modify the mount to pick up on some unused bolt holes in the block and fit new helicoils, two bolts only to hold the mount seem minimal especially for the weight my zetec has 3 or 4 bolts on each mount

If you have the same engine mounts as mine then this may help..

But you will have to sort new threads out in the block holes - engine out probably...

I found the mounts touched the sump and would not lie true on the mounting holes so I placed a large square washer between the mounts and the engine to avoid stressing the bolts.

Paul

[Edited on 27/9/09 by Paul (Notts)]

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[Edited on 27/9/09 by Paul (Notts)]
Rescued attachment sep06 032.jpg

Hi Phil

I reckon that with a 90 degree drill and a bit of swearing you could clear out and re-tap the holes in the block in-situ and just go bigger or re-helicoil. I would certainly try it before pulling the motor out. You need also at least to find out what's happened to the helicoils as they shouldn't strip out. I'm a buyer of the stud suggestion, but I think that the key thing will be to have the engine mounts out and have them welded up and re-drilled in the right place so that you don't have to pull them up so tight. Somebody once told me never to use a half inch ratchet on a Rover block - I use quarter or three eighth and with luck (much more than judgement) haven't stripped anything yet. An old friend tells the tale of his old Rover P6 that had 35 helicoils in the block by the time he scrapped it......

Cheers
Simon

Never had any problems with any of my old P6s stripping threads as Simon points out things may have been over tightened. Like the engine mounts Paul , perhaps a bit hard?

Mel

should I drain the oil before removing the cylinder heads or just keep a cloth handy to wipe the mess up when I remove them?

Paul

Don't bother wiping it up, Luego chassis's need all the help they can get to stop them rusting!

There will still be some oil in the heads even if you drain the sump. Drain the coolant before removing the heads but you still may get some in with the oil .Winter mods time?

[Edited on 3/10/09 by rusty nuts]

May i sugest you make an extra support that goes from one bracket to the other under the engine. Both darrens and i have done this.
The way the luego brackets are designed they act as a lever pulling on the bolts. In the rover an extra bolt hole was used about 4" above the others.
kenton

I made up some brackets like the Luego ones. After about a year they had sagged and caused about a 1" drop in the engine position (Exhaust header pipes knocked on the hole in the side of the body).
It was my fault as I only used 3mm steel, and should have used 4 or 5mm.

So I looked at them and also decided I didnt like the way they looked ie the forces on the bolt heads.

In the garage I had these mountings which I think are P6 mounting brackets.
With the usual Land Rover rubber mountings fitted they have worked well for the last two year with no sagging problems.
The sloping brackets I made myself, and they are nice and strong as well.
There are a lot of torquey turning forces at work when you are applying plenty of right foot with a V8, even where there are only 200 horses under the bonnet

There are also some later SDI brackets that use both the bottom holes, AND the top mounting point. However these have different mounting rubbers and are much bigger brackets. I would think about using these if you have more power available, as any extra fixing has to be a bonus. ie less stress on the block with multiple mounting points.

This is just to give you an idea of what else is out there and there are several different ways of mounting the RV8.

LH side

RV8 Engine mounting 3

RH side showing unused second bolt(holding the clutch pipe bracket)

RV8 Engine mounting 2

RH side again.

RV8 Engine mounting 1

Hope this is of some help.

Two years of hard driving and not had any problems with the mounts or mounting plates, BUT have noticed today that the rubbers are starting to look iffy so will replace them along with the other winter mods.

I think the two engine stays connected to the bulk heads help a lot( via bushes). They stop allmost any movement of the engine. And having the alternator down low also helps to reduce movement.

Paul

Geff - like the mounts.

I have the "head steadies" (Head to top chassis rails on both sides).
They stop a lot of the rocking movements due to torque reactions, and IMHO are a necessity.

I got my round engine mounts 3 years ago, and they have very minor marks on them,
as seen in the piccy that I took today. They came from Paddockspares.com (Landy parts people),
althought they are available at most places and relatively cheaply too.

Thanks Guys I have bought a metre of studding (8.8 steel- the helicoil they put in last time is M10 which was handy) and will see if I can get these to tighten this weekend. If not its a new oversize helicoil- I think I can get to it with the right drill.
I think its combo of having to drill the mounts massivley bigger to get the holes to line up and and tightening v hard to get grip on penny washers that hide the oversized holes thats done it. I will get the mounts welded up and redrill as well.

Wish me luck, I will keep you updated. If only life were simpler!

Phil.