Engine Steady or not?

tetlow · Post by **tetlow** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:30 pm

This is to you guys with all the power. You should know.

Should I fit an engine support bar/rod.

I don't have a bustin lot of power but I am looking to protect my Stainless headers/system as I believe stainless is a bit brittle.

Will the support cause more vibration through the body shell?

Regards

Dave

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:17 pm

I don't think so. As long as the gearbox and engine mounts are good, I can't see any need. When you think about it, in a Range Rover, the reaction torque on the engine / box whilst off-roading will far exceed that in a road car, and they don't have anything but 2 engine mounts and 2 gearbox mounts.

Chris.

JC. · Post by **JC.** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:51 pm

Sorry but you're wrong on this one, ChrisJC.

An engine steady fitted to an MGB will make the car rock like buggery.
Stops the manifolds clouting the inner wings and steering shaft though.

The before and after difference is quite noticable.
Mine is only a little 3.5 litre ex P6 engine and the car rocks noticably even at idle.

Suggest you go for the steady bar made by clive wheatley. Its brilliant. http://mgv8.homestead.com/

Here's a pic of mine fitted. Its the only shiny thing in the engine bay!

davemgb · Post by **davemgb** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:56 pm

Chris said that Range Rovers manage with out a steady and I read that to mean he would not fit one.

Personally I don't have a steady bar and don't intend to fit one, although I do have MG RV8 engine mounts which are considerable harder than BV8 ones.

Dave

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:28 pm

Dave,

In my opinion a steady bar is absolutely essential, my first set of engine mounts without a steady bar only lasted 500 miles. I fitted one from V8 conversions which does the job very well and is less money than Clive Wheatley's.

As far as I can tell there is no additional vibration transmitted through the shell, and unless you have a very lumpy cam or badly tuned engine the car should not rock on tickover. I know several people with it fitted and none have reported any problems, a bonus is that it makes the drive line better located.

Kevin.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:08 pm

The main benefit of mine is that it stops the scoop hitting the bonnet when I get the power down. My scoop comes through a cutout in the bonnet.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:33 am

The other point is that the exhaust system should be able to move with the engine, so a steady shouldn't make any difference to exhaust lifetime.

I still say that if your mounts are adequate you shouldn't need one, but that's your call...

But if the bodyshell flexes enough, that's a different story.

Chris.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:50 pm

I just bolted mine my engine in solid....

I never had any complaints about vibrations or harshness. In fact, I was amazed how smooth it remained !!!!

Do it...you wont regret it.

My LSx is bolted in solid too.

chodjinn · Post by **chodjinn** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:56 pm

Bolted in solid as in without e.g. rubber engine mounts etc?!?

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:29 pm

Funny you should say that Stevie. My man at the machine shop said I should bolt it in solid. He said he could make some mounts out of metal to copy the originals. I bottled out as I thought there would be too much noise transmission. I will probably bolt the Fiesta engine in solid though.

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:00 pm

Make sure you use all three bolts on the mounts, as I was using only 2 of the three, and have got a bolt broken off in the block

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:28 pm

chodjinn wrote:Bolted in solid as in without e.g. rubber engine mounts etc?!?

Solid means one thing

I was using the rover style mounts, with a Ford rubber bobbin/mount previously.

I simply got a 2" diam bit of steel, circa 40-50mm think, drilled a hole up the middle and replaced the rubber with the steel and stuck a bolt through it.

I did leave rubber at the transmission though. Although obviously with the engine being mounted solid, there will be far far less movement available at the trans too.

For my LS1, I simply made new mounts, with no provision for rubber at all....except the transmission again.

So basically Ive been solid for about 4 years now.

AND...the front crossmember which normally bolts into my chassis legs via rubber mounts....is also bolted in solid too, with the rubber replaced with welded in steel inserts.

So If anyone is going to feel vibrations....its me. But it honestly is fine.

davemgb · Post by **davemgb** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:20 pm

I realise this might be going off topic slightly but the gearbox mounts are just as important as the engine mounts, most of us only think the engine is moving because the gearstick waggles about.

Can you guys with steady bars tell us where you've fitted them.

I can see JC has gone at the front of the engine onto the inner wing, and having seen a number of bent MGB's over the years it's the last place I'd connect the steady bar!

From a structural engineering viewpoint I'd try and fit something across the rear of the engine into the bulkhead above the passenger footwell. Remember that when Rover designed the RV8 with the exhaust through the inner wing they felt it necessary to fit a stiffener to the hole.

Ian raised a good point about using all three points on the block to carry the mount, factory BV8 mount carriers use one upper and one lower bolt while a number of conversion brackets use only the lower two.

Dave

JC. · Post by **JC.** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:39 pm

Solid mounts eh?

I might make some up for the V8 Mk2!

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:58 pm

I made one for my Morris rod, using two poly bush 'housings', like you have on a four bar rear. It's only five inches long and runs from the back of the left head to the chassis. I actually put rubber bushes in instead of poly, so it won't transmit vibration so much.