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MG MGA - Engine mounts

My car has what I think is still its original radiator and I don't think it is working too well so I have decided to change it for a modern repro and see what happens.

Seeing I had the radiator out I thought it would be a good time to change the sagging engine mount on the carb side of the engine. I have had the replacement one on the shelf for some time. After a mighty struggle I got the old one out but absolutely failed to get the new one in and yes, I had released all the bolts on the mount on the other side so I could jack the engine up.

Not knowing what else to do I compared the new and old mounts and discovered that the studs on the new one were about 1/4 inch longer. After sawing off the bottom stud to the old length it slipped in easily and there was still plenty of thread to fully engage the nut.

The new radiator is not yet in as I have had enough for one day.

Malcolm
Malcolm Asquith

Malcolm, if the old rad is not leaking, then it probably could do with a chemical flush. A lot of new rads are not as good in that the fins are not properly connected to the tubes, That's my experience.
Art Pearse

Malcolm

I’m with Art. Get your old rad flushed and give it a try.

If you decide to go with your new rad be sure not to chuck your old one.
Bolney Coupe

Just to add, my old rad was leaking, and I bought a new one. Previously the car ran on the TS setting even at 35C weather. Now it runs up to 205F depending on the weather! Sometimes I use the heater to help.
Art Pearse

Don't worry, I won't be throwing the old one away.

It still has its Morris Motors Radiator Branch badge with serial number 812 ARH0120 01181.

I suspect the water passages are quite heavily blocked. I tried a standard flush with no results. Any reccomendatiosn for something more aggressive?
Malcolm Asquith

Back in the day I used a product Holt's "Radflush" which did the trick on an old Prefect. But its useful to have it in the car so you can run it hot for a while.
Most of these flushes contain organic acids such as citric. Hot strong vinegar should work.
CLR is a modern product over here.
Art Pearse

Malcolm
Changing the subject to engine mountings as there are/have been major problems. About 4 years ago I fitted new ones for my newly rebuilt and balanced engine and it got significant vibrations mainly felt in steering. I tried various things and spoke to the engine shop hence became suspicious of the new Moss mountings, and they were as hard as bricks. Then I rang Bob West as I assumed he would have good ones being a leading restorer and he told me no there weren’t any reasonable mountings on the market and best option was to re use decent second hand ones which was what I did. A couple of years later I rechecked with Bob and he said no change.
But then Moss released an alternative mounting that has HQ on the end of the part number and these are certainly better, that is there is some flexibility in the rubber not as hard as bricks. In summary keep your old mountings just in case and only use the supposed HQ ones from Moss or equivalent from elsewhere but not the so called standard ones.

Paul
Paul Dean

Thanks Paul,
I fitted new engine mountings about 4 years ago when I installed the 1950 cc engine.
I fitted new Moss engine mountings during the installation because the original mountings were cracked.

The new ones are rock-hard and transmit most of the engine vibration through into the chassis, which is particularly obvious at tick over speeds, which is most likely due to the Weber DCOE carb and a high-lift cam.
You can really feel this through the steering wheel at tick-over and slow engine speeds, but fortunately my engine becomes turbine smooth at over 3000 rpm, which is my excuse for always maxing out the UK speed limits :^)

So, I will send for some of the HQ mountings and fit them as my next Winter project.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

If all classic owners bought the "HQ" stuff the suppliers wouldn't sell the now standard quality crap parts they do but the cheap crap parts continue to appeal to the vast majority of owners.
Nigel Atkins

Thanks for the warning Paul.

I kept the dynamo side mount as it was in reasonable condition but the carb/exhaust side one had dropped qute badly and once out of the car it was obvious the rubber was failing. Could it have been finally got at by the heat of the exhaust? The real problem with the "new" one which I have had for years on the shelf is that the studs were too long for an easy fit.

Incidentally, now I have had a chance to use the car with the new radiator it seesm to be running a good 10-15 deg F cooler so I think the old original radiator was well and truly blocked.

Malcolm
Malcolm Asquith

This thread was discussed between 15/06/2021 and 25/06/2021

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