MG Sports Cars

Just found a cylinder,mount and line on e-bay for 40.00 plus 10.00 for shipping.
I called the guy up and its on the way. What luck!
Yes it was 3/16. I used a porta-band as much as I could,Die grinder and whatever I had that would cut or grind.
I had the bell housing blasted today and cut away the stock mount on that..
I welded in the support today Hope I did a good enough job as I`m not much of a welder.
I may just set the motor and tranny in tomorrow so I c`an get some mounts made up.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2009 06:40PM by mlieb.

Bill Is this about where the transmission should be sitting?
It makes things really tight up front by the steering rack/pulleys.
Hear are a couple of photos.
Where should I be on the height as far as the tranny goes?

That's about right Mike. Mine was a little further forward as I modified the lower pulley to a single V belt and it just barely clears the steering rack, just enough clearance to slip a 3/8" V belt through. At the rear it's looking pretty good, but I think I did notch the crossmember piece a bit to clear the transmission so I could get the tail shaft a bit lower. You can add the plate for the rear mount directly to the rear of the new crossmember and make a cut out in the pan for access to the bolts and you're in business.
When you start forming the sheet metal to cover the transmission for extra clearance you'll want to take your saw and trim off the mounting tabs on the side of the main case. Don't forget to weld in some end caps on the crossmember pieces to keep water out to prevent corrosion and to add a bit of strength as well. At this point the rest is going to be pretty much up to your design as it does differ slightly from my car so my actual designs aren't going to be a straight swap, but the basics are still the same. Remember to leave yourself some access holes in the tranny tunnel to check the fluid levels etc. as well as to reach some bolts if necessary for maintenance. Easy to make small sheet metal covers for those and screw them on to retain the strength in that area.
As far as setting the angle, that needs to be taken into consideration along with the pinion angle to make sure the U joints run in phase and you don't get any bad vibrations. There was a post on that subject just a few days ago on the forum I think.

Again many thanks bill.Yes I think I will try and bring everything down a bit if I can.I also may try to notch that support.If I can get about an inch more it would make a few more things (like the motor mounts) easier to deal with.
Just a note, for my pulley I took the stock one from the 2.8 and drilled out the spot welds and with a bit of careful tapping and prying I was able to separate the two pieces.If you look close at the pulley you can see where they can be taken apart.
Lastly do you think it would be wise to cut away some of the side compartment on the starter side for access?

Mike, you should be able to tap the edge of the foot well in about a half inch with a big hammer to clear the starter, I didn't have to cut anything there, but if you want to make a bit more clearance then go for it and cut a bit away. You might have to as your engine seems to be fitting a bit farther back than mine. I did the lower crank pully a bit differently, wound up using a single pulley from some old T Bird I found in the salvage yard and drilled to fit. I think the water pump pulley on my car came from a Fiero as it was a bit closer fitting than the Camaro one. I just mixed and matched to get the engine as far forward as I could to keep from cutting into the heater support any more than I had to while still having clearance for the steering rack. Not the easiest way to go I guess, but it worked out ok and I still have the heater and battery in the stock locations. Every swap winds up with some things different from others, just do what you have to do in order that things fit and work for you.
One note, make sure you install a good new starter before you install the engine. I know from experience that once the engine is in place you can't remove the starter mounting bolts so a bad starter either means an engine pull or rebuilding the starter with the nose housing still on the engine. That's doable, I've done it three times now, but I should have installed a new one from the start.

Bill when you cut your tunnel did you go back past the E-brake handle?I have the transmission sitting about where I think it should be Just seems a bit high.The u-joint is really close to the tunnel.
Think I got the mount figured out though, I`m just going to weld a plate on the floor and the back side of the new support and run the transmission mount bolt right threw the floor.

No, I didn't have to go back that far. I did cut an access hole in the top of the tunnel so I could get to the front U-joint and secured it with about a dozen sheet metal screws. The ashtray now mounts directly on the top of that panel so you can get an idea of it's position in the photos. The clearance is tight with the larger Chevy u-joint, but remember it really won't move around much if the motor mounts are in good condition. You actually removed a lot more of the original tunnel than I did, I left about a 2" section from the floor up all around and built up from there,

Made my motor mounts over the last couple days.I used transmission mounts from a 76 chevy pickup.I think they should work fine.