Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: jpane on Saturday,January 23, 2021, 07:10:07 AM
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I just had the engine/transmission put back in the car, and the mechanic tells me that part of the front cover is hitting the frame. I have the Bean cassette water pump front cover. I contacted Ken at Bean, and he asked whether the motor mounts might be upside down. Looking at a picture of the TCS mounts on RD's site, I want to know if the "ears" on the mounting flange go up or down.
Thanks for the help, John
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I think I may have answered my own question. It appears the "ears" go down from the RD picture. My confusion came from the Lotus West diagram comparing mounts 0374 with 6011, which shows the ears going up.
Can someone confirm that they go down. I'm about to go to the shop to check.
Thanks, John
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I’m not sure what you mean but the part of the mount with the rubber in it should be oriented such that if the rubber were to fail, the engine would be caught by the steel part of the mount. The fabricated mount part that bolts on the engine has an “ear” that bolts to the isolation (aforementioned mount with rubber) such that its “ear” is bent slight toward the front of the car.
Does that help?
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Thanks for the description. The mounts are properly oriented, with the steel part able to catch the engine in case of failure. So I still don't know why there is interference.
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Are you attaching the fabricated engine side mount on the back side of the isolation mounts?
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If I understand you correctly, you are asking if the rubber mounts are attached to the frame or the engine. Your post sounds like it should be on the engine, with the bracket then extending to the frame. If that is what you mean, then they did it wrong.
Thanks
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Sorry, I'll try to be more clear. The rubber mounts are bolted to the frame and the fabricated steel mounts are bolted to the block. The mounting "ear" on the steel mount could be bolted on the "front" side of the ear (toward the front of the car), or the back side of the ear (toward the rear of the car. Mine are bolted on the back side of the ear. That could make about a 1/2" difference.
The attached picture isn't not super clear on this but you can see that the back of the fabricated steel mount (the side with the nuts) is visible so it is behind the mounting ear of the isolation mount.
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Sorry to confuse things, I was referring to different ears. I meant on the flexible motor mount, the part that bolts to the frame has two curved ears, and they point down, which I think is correct.
I will have to go back and check how the steel fabricated bracket is attached to the flexible mount, but I cannot picture how that would change the height.
Thanks for giving me so much help,
John
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Height!!! Oh!!! I was thinking that something was making the motor go too far forward! My apologies! I couldn't find the page at r.d. but I found this at lotus-europa.com: http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcparts/e/tcea.pdf. You can see parts #33 and 27. Does this help?
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Hi John,
So where is the timing cover hitting the frame? I just checked mine, and the rubber mount's ears are forward of the metal mounts with the steel of the rubber mount able to catch it if the rubber fails. I also have a Bean front cover, but that shouldn't make a difference. I once saw a type 47 break the cover's chain adjustment boss when a motor mount failed, so its important to get it right 8).
Jerry Rude
4005R
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It is the tube sticking out the right side of the cover. I believe it is the timing chain adjuster, but I will check next time I am at the shop.
Thanks, John
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My car from underneath
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My car from underneath
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So its hitting the water inlet of the timing cover. The inlet is on the side for the Elan, and in the front for the Europa. That means the engine is a bit over to one side and possibly up too high. Is it possible the motor mount brackets have been swapped? They have different part numbers and are different lengths IIRC.
Jerry Rude
4005Ra
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Thanks Jerry, that sounds possible. I will check tomorrow.
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You might want to touch base with Rob Siegel,aka The Hack Mechanic. He talks about what I think is the same problem with his TCS and the Bean cartridge filter fitting. He spends some time discussing the issue in his book, "The Lotus Chronicles".
The suggestion to swap the mount brackets may solve the problem since they are not interchangeable from side to side.
Good luck!
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I will have to go into the shop today or tomorrow to measure the engine mount brackets. But, since the interference is on the right side, and that is the supposed to be the short bracket, reversing them would move it to the left, away from the frame on the right.
I will order The Lotus Chronicles, when you said to contact the author, did that mean he is accessible via the web to ask a question?
Thanks for your suggestions.
John
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He's a member of this forum but not a consistent poster. You might try sending him a PM or an email through the forum.
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Thanks, I have just ordered the book (can never have enough Europa or Lotus books). Interestingly, it was not available from my local independent bookstore, who I like to support, so had to get from Amazon. Since I was $0.05 short of free shipping, I ordered $75 of stuff I need for another project. Actually that is true, but I really will need those things once the weather warms up and I can work in my barn, it's gotten all the way up to
8 F, at noon, so that may be quite a while.
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Thanks, BDA. I may try and contact him once I have a better idea of what question to ask.
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I have his book here, and he mentions it on page 308. His timing cover was hitting the underside of the frame. Apparently he notched the motor mount holes enough to drop the motor down to clear the frame, while still maintaining clearance above the frame for the timing chain adjuster boss. I guess you split the difference?? I didn't have to do it on mine, but perhaps mine was an earlier casting? My original timing cover had no issues either.
Jerry Rude
4005R