Rear Engine Mounting 11BL

Just take the four bolts and the box off. The engine isn’t going to go anywhere. It’s easy. Taking the top gearbox mount off is more work. The bonnet, grill, radiator and cross member must come out and then it’s right there. Not hard to do, just involved. It does give you the opportunity to check the inside of the gearbox if you take the top cover off.

Thanks all! I knew you’d know!

Bryan – loving the phraseology and the idea of driving my Traction ‘savagely’ conjures up pictures of ‘yumping’ it through the Kielder Forest on a wintry day!

My mount is definitely not central,it’s squashed up against the top of the box and showing its age with various small splits from perishing, does this mean that I have some slight age related wear somewhere further forward (like the diabolo g/box mounting)? One annoying thing I’ve found when stripping the floors back to bare metal inside, is that at some time in the past, someone has obviously started to jack it up just aft of the bulkhead behind the engine and consequently I have a floor which slopes gently off to either side from the middle. A friend who is a bodywork wizard is going to give me a hand to knock it back into shape. I have already treated the insides of my lovely rustfree monocoque to lashings of protectant and spent far too much money on new carpeting (as the original had worn right trough to the felt/straw mat underneath) and numerous other (especially rubber!) parts. One thing I am slightly intrigued by is that the car does not have keyed ignition – just another oval button switch at the top of the dash which you pull out to turn the electrics on – was keyed ignition an optional extra?

By the way, Bryan,as you see I managed to find more or less exactly what I wanted. It’s a lovely solid 1950 car(exactly the same age as me, possibly even to the month!) with patina – no rust that I can find and the engine seems sound with no knocks other that one or two tappets that need adjusting. It was still full of bits and bobs belonging to the previous owner who was obviously a fisherman. There was even a 50 franc note and some change in the glove compartment! He kindly left me some of his cheroot doofers, three knives, a small wood cased tape measure, several of his parking permits for central Toulouse and a letter from the Police about fire insurance. He mothballed it when he was 65 (in 1992) and it was found on Le Boncoin in the middle of last year. I bought it from the man who found it and was going to keep it but like me has several other classics and I managed to persuade him to let me buy it.

Thanks again!

[attachment=0:85bbbur7]IMG_2388.JPG[/attachment:85bbbur7]Hi Bryan

Yes,I worked that out once you pointed out that the mount should be central. It was easy to get in and I’ve centred it now. Out of interest I used a spirit level on it and the engine was originally canted up toward the back about 25 degrees and leaning slightly towards the exhaust side. I have a minor problenm in that both the lock nuts on the spring adjusters are seized but I don’t thnk it will take me long to free them off in the morning. Whoever put that mount in obviously didn’t bother to centre it nor did they bother to knock the tabs up on the lock washer so that one of the bolts was only finger tight.

Probably the same muppet who tried to jack the car up under the floor!

I think that I will probably end up replacing the springs. I can see that the biconical is perished where visible so I’m doing it – in fact I can see that i’ll be doing most of the rubber items on the car!

Amazons, yes I’ve had them quite a few years now – would actually have preferred a PV but at the time they were already out of my price range. My ‘favourite’ Amazon is prepared for a little classic rallying – nothing too silly.

Absolutely lovely Bryan – I am very envious. In fact I’d go as far as to say I’m in love!

I’ve actually fitted MGF seats in the Amazon – more for the headrest than anything else as Amazon seats are famously comfortable.The MGF seats are leather and have a pleated, slightly retro look that is not out of place. I gather it is fairly straightorward to graft the Amazon disc brakes onto the PV and the Girling calipers seem to have been used by numerous manufacturers (about £200 on exchange) – including Reliant on the early Scimitars. The expensive bit is the servo at nearly £350. I rebuilt mine this year after it failed in heavy rain and left me with 45 miles to drive home on the handbrake in the dark (but I do love an adventure; unlike my wife who gets angry if I appear to be enjoying myself in times of adversity!)

Having got fed up with viewing ‘over-advertised’ cars I ended up buying mine through a dealer in the west country but even then on a 250 mile drive home I had the fanbelt go after 30 miles and then one of the calipers siezed near Bedford. So it was – let it cool down a little, open the bleed nipple and screwdriver the pads back and then 60 miles on the handbrake.

Back to using the forum for what it is supposed to be used for. Still intrigued by my car’s lack of keyed ignition but I’ll ask at the meeting tonight. I’ve attached a couple of pictures of the old and new rear mounts. Like you I can’t understand why it would be screwed up tight against the top other than to stop engine movement, but having replaced it and centred it the engine is beautifully stable.