[Mgs] mgb engine mounting

Paul Hunt paul.hunt1 at blueyonder.co.uk
Wed Oct 12 09:51:30 MDT 2011


It's quite complicated.  From what I have been able to find out:

 Mk1 roadsters had a restraint rod between the gearbox and its cross-member to
control fore and aft movement in particular, preventing the engine moving
forwards far enough for the fan to destroy the radiator. Mk1 GTs didn't have
this rod, but had a different arrangement between the gearbox and crossmember
primarily to control vertical movement of the gearbox. This has little or no
effect on of fore and aft movement so control brackets were added to both
front mounts limiting how far the engine could move forwards. Mk2 cars had the
same arrangement for both roadster and GT - dropping the restraint rod, having
a similar arrangement to control vertical movement of the gearbox as the Mk1
GT (but using different components), and having control brackets on both front
mounts. For non-North American cars the right-hand bracket was deleted for the
1972 model year to save a few coppers (in reality one is probably enough),
North American cars continued with two. Another change is that when the carbs
were changed from HS to HIF (18v export engines during 1971, not until
November 1973 for UK cars) the left hand control bracket gained a threaded
stud for mounting the clip that held the carb vent/overflow pipes. In Feb 74 a
new restraint rod using different components to the Mk1 roadster was added to
North American roadsters and GTs. But despite this very positive restraint to
fore and aft movement being used again, the front mount control brackets were
also apparently still provided. Other markets only got this restraint rod at
the start of rubber bumpers production in September 1974, when the engine
mounts changed from rectangular to round, and the restraint brackets were no
longer provided.

I assume you have a roadster, so being a Mk1 there should be a restraint rod
and not the engine mount control brackets.

PaulH.

----- Original Message -----
> I'm putting a '66 MGB together that I got as a huge box of parts.  I've only
> worked on a couple of MGs but have lots of TR and AH experience.  I'm
> installing the front engine mounts and am trying to figure out if I need to
> install a control bracket for the engine mount.


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