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MG MGB Technical - Engine Mount

Help. My car is a 1979 MGB. IT suddenly became hard to shift. The reason: the passenger side engine mount broke (metal piece which attaches to engine cracked and separated.) Engine is now canted slightly toward the passenger side.

How difficult is it to replace this mount? Does the engine need to be removed? Do you need an engine hoist to maneuver the engine? Can you actually reach all the bolts with normal size fingers?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Terry

Terry,

I wrote a massive amount of text on the replacement of the passenger side mount only then to realise that your passenger side is our drivers side, so I scrapped that.

So, in a nutshell, engine hoist - yes (or maybe a trolley jack and sturdy piece of wood - but for health and safety reason ie engine slipping whilst your hands are in their a hoist!).

Lift and support weight of engine, may need to loosen other mount. You ought be able to replace the mount, not forgetting any shims (spacers/packers) that the factory installed also.

I'm sure someone will come along and elaborate further.

BTW I've only done a B engine once, but a midget engine countless times.

Hope that helps.

Andrew..
Andrew McGee

Terry - The wort part of that job is getting to all the bolts under the alternator when reattaching everything. The enine doesn't have to be removed, just jacked up sufficiently (a couple of inches) to provide clearance for installing a nw part. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

I would suggest removing the alternator, jacking the engine up with a trolley jack and a large block of wood to distribute the jacking force across a large area of the oil pan, and create yourself enough room to slip in another engine mount. In fact you may want to put a pair in while you are at it, but don't loosen both entirely at the same time, the engine will be quite tippy that way. Also, be very careful to avoid getting fingers in between the engine and the chassis during this process, that engine is pretty heavy if it were to shift.
Erick Vesterback

Terry,
The same happened to me. However, the broken bracket is not the mount. The brackets on both sides of my engine were broken, and probably were for some time, before the passenger side mount separated (I think I bought it that way). I used a floor jack to push the engine back in place (and even beyond, to help replace the part), and replaced the mount and bracket. Though the mount is difficult to replace, primarily because of fat fingers, you can do it. Go to the archives for a lot more discussion, that will give tips for making it a little easier.

The bracket on my driver's side is broken, too, but the mount is fine, so I'm leaving it that way. I'm told the mount on that side is 3 times as difficult to replace.

Someone can correct me, but I recall reading that the brackets keep the engine from moving forward in an emergency stop.
Fred Doyen

This thread was discussed on 15/09/2006

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