Gearbox a bit too high

[Willem]

I have just finished decarbonising the head and put everything back together again, no problems there but in order to clear the wiring loom I had to lower the engine as the loom got snagged on a stud on the coolant manifold on the back of the head, no worries so far.
Now I have driven the car for a good few miles I have noticed a couple of things that were not happening before the operation, firstly the3rd gear occasionall jumps out and when in reverse one has to hold the gear lever and, secondly, the air filter now fouls the bonnet centre ridge. Having spent a while underneath the car I noticed that the gearbox seems to be not quite where it should be, it has been raised by a very small amount, 1/8 to 1/4 too high, this would explain the fouling of the air filter housing and possibly the jumping out of gear.
Could it be that the rubber gearbox suspension block has moved, I think that might the most likely culprit for my woes.
I am reluctant to use brute force to crank the nut and bolts as the result might not be what I want but just cause more problems..

Any suggestions welcome.
Will

[TonyG]

Hi Will,

This isn’t a problem that I have encountered, but I can picture the situation you are in. The engine and box are mounted at 3 points; the gearbox rubber block and the two engine mountings at the front, which you renewed. Any of them could result in the engine sitting differently if not in quite right. Did you try the car after doing the front rubbers? Obviously the old ones were worn so the engine will sit higher as a result of changing them. Also, how did you lower the engine? I assume by supporting on a jack and removing engine mounting bracket bolts. Did everything go back to the right place?
It might be that the box rubber mounting has moved a bit but my guess would be something to do with the front mountings. You could try slackening them all a bit and supporting on jacks to try and re-seat in case things aren’t quite square. Failing that, it might just be that the new mountings have established a slightly different position for the engine and box, which means slight adjustments are needed to the gear remote and the air filter, given that those bits were set up for the original mounting rubbers.
Finally, I’m assuming the new rubbers were fitted correctly and that the starting handle locates as before and rad hoses etc went back on with minimal adjustment. If not, these could be indicators that something is amiss there.
I hope my thoughts are of some help. Difficult to say what problem is without seeing it!

Tony.

[Willem]

Thank you for your thoughts Tony, you have given me some thing to check, the engine did go back to the correct height etc, the odd thing is that the starter handle now touches the radiator, again, it didn't do that before, the old girl is putting up a fight but I will win, (eventually)
All the parts went back in place without drama or undue stress, but I will double check everything again.
Will

[Willem]

You were right Tony,

When I replaced the rubber mountings there were no part numbers on the items and I put the thicker ones on the bottom, looking back at my video I and see that the new ones are significantly thicker and that is the cause of the air filter rubbing on the bonnet. The solution is to drain the radiator, support the engine, remove everything again and put back together again, this time with the thinner ones at the bottom, not something I was planning to do in the next 20 years, for now I have put some rubber on the airfilter to prevent rubbing and whill sort it sometime in the future or when I am bored, whatever comes first, now I know how it all goes together it shouldn't take that long to do it.

Thanks for your help

Will

[TonyG]

Will,

Glad I was able to be of some help. When I re-fitted the engines of both my cars I don’t recall the rubbers being different thicknesses for top and bottom, but my inclination would be to put the thicker at the bottom as that takes the most weight and I’m wondering now if mine are ‘correct’. Of course, it might be that the thicker one should be at the bottom and that it will compress anyway!

What I do remember when I removed my Tourer engine back in ‘82, was that there was only one rubber on each side at the front and that the top cups had been bolted inside of the other half. At the time I assumed this was right even though it looked like an odd arrangement. I suspect the lower one had perished earlier in its life - in 50s I should think - and this was a cheap way to fix, what was then, an old banger of a car. However, it worked fine like that for many years so don’t worry about yours if it seems to be working ok!

Tony.

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