20 replies to this topic

[mk=john]

Hi
I have a mk1 998 cooper. Today I replaced a leaking clutch seal, aiwh the engine in situ in the car.
The process I used was as the Haynes manual. I undone the drivers side engine mounting, jacked up that side of the engine in order to access the flywheel housing bolts.

After I successfully changed the seal, and replaced the clutch/flywheel, I then lowered the engine and discovered the engine mounting holes dont line up. The mount seems to be sitting too high above the holes in the subframe by about 8-10mm.

How can I now get them to line up? Please help!!

John

[Pooky]

Sit on the engine lol

[Sprocket]

jack the other side of the engine up a little

[The Matt]

As said above, it's one of those tricky little jobs that sometimes takes a little brute force (*Matt runs off to get the old bottle of Brut out of the bathrrom cabinet*)

Sometimes helps if you get the jack under the other side of the engine, sometimes helps if you have some hefty chuffer pushing from above.

[TOMMO0302]

indeed, just takes a bit (lot sometimes) of fiddling, some grease where the two parts contact may help as well, also jacking it about a cm above where they touch and then letting the jack down quickly may help line it up.

[Sprocket]

LOL

No fiddling what so ever.

Genuine mounts are the thing to use. That shouldnt be a problem this time as i presume the original mounts are still being used, genuine or not. They should still easily line up. Non genuine mounts seem to be a little fatter, doesnt need to be much for it to cause line up issues.

I fitted my engine on my own using a chain block and genuine mounts. Lowered the engine in level. loosely fitted the nears side bolts and then let the weight of the chain, lined up the off side bolts and with a little push they were in. Job done.

Now if you left the near side mount bolted and jacked up the off side to do the primary gear seal, its my guess that the nearside mount is taking more weight, thereby alowing the engine to sit just a little lower that side. in doing so the off side will naturally sit higher and be a bugger to get the bolts in.

Like i said, jack the near side of the engine up. Leave the bolts in the near side mount.

This is all assuming the engine mounts are not bolloxed to start with.

[TOMMO0302]

I did mine on my own with a piece of rope in the rafters of the garage

Thats what i meant by fiddling to be honest....how you getting on John?

[mk=john]

Hi
Thanks for the help, I am worried that I will be unable to get the engine to mount properly. A friend of mine advised me to slcken the neaside mount, so it can rotate when the offside end of the engine is jacked up. I didnt do this, and is it possible I might have damaged the near side mount? If so, can this be removed with the near side of the engine jacked up?

This is becoming my biggest nightmare. Fitting the clutch oil seal, refitting clutch, flywheel etc was not difficult, but this is!!

[TOMMO0302]

Im not sure about MK1 mounts, but certainly later ones are made largely out of rubber with obviously a lot of give so it depends how much you jacked it up i guess. New mounts are cheap and might be an idea to replace anyway dependant on condition.
To replace, you just need adequate clearance, a couple of inches or so.

[lew]

that happend with mine not long ago get a screw driver in the one hole and put on bolt in then do the same the other side and they will go in , but i tried jumpin ontop of my engine still didnt work but srew driver does

[mk=john]

Hi
Well the left engine mount is tightened up ok, the right is the one with the problem. You, mean, put a scredriver into one of those holes, and then the bolt in the other. I tried that and it didnt work. I looked and the engine mound wedged itself against the angle of the sub frame member and it woont go down any further.

[TOMMO0302]

You have said exactly why it won't line up and this is what you have to change, its the angle that is causing you the issue and therefore you will be better off undoing the left one, lifting the whole engine till its level and then dropping it..

..you'll get there. If you didnt understand about the screwdriver thing, this is for when you are close, as in, you can see daylight through both holes, they just aren't aligned, you use the screwdriver to prise the holes together.

[Sprocket]

I give up!

[mk=john]

Hi
yes, geometrically at the moment it seems impossible for the engine/mount to fit properly. I will slacken the left hand one, and then perhaps jacking the left side of the engine a little, so maybe then the right hand side will drop slightly allowing the holes to align.

What would have caused this misalignment? Could I have damaged the left hand mounting when i jacked the engine?

Also, it seems impossible to get at the rear nut on the left hand mounting as it is really tucked away. Any ideas?

Cheers
John

[TOMMO0302]

Are we talking left hand as you look from the front (OS) or NS?

Oh, and yeah, things are pretty tight in a mini engine bay..that's just the way it is.

If its NS that you can't get access to as i suspect it is you may have to take rad bottom hose off etc..