Changing steering rack rubber mountings - Vitesse mk2

[Paul H]

Hi changing the steering rack rubber blocks to Poly . Off side done easily. Having trouble with near side as have to jack up the engine to give clearance to remove the u bolts . I have placed the jack with loadbearing piece of plywood under the sump . I have removed the 4 bolts holding the mounting rubbers so the engine should jack up giving the clearance I need. Jacking up the engine the whole car is lifting so looks like there are more bolts to remove. What have I done wrong ?

Paul 

[Paul H]

Sorted the issue . When you jack the engine the springs release so ride up until they settle then the engine will rise without the body , Simples !

Paul 

[Colin Lindsay]

Have you removed the earth lead at the front of the block? Been there, done that....

[Paul H]

14 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Have you removed the earth lead at the front of the block? Been there, done that....

Hi Colin , earth lead is quite long so ok . Jacking up the sump has given some clearance but not enough to remove the U bolt. Jacking further starts to take up the body which won’t do the sump any good

Paul 

[Paul H]

Removed the whole mounting bracket on offside and I’m within a few mm from removing the u bolt . The nearest rubber mounting is now catching and pretty sure it’s lifting the whole front end , so need to remove the whole bracket to see if I can get the final few mm clearance. Why did I start this simple job on a sunny afternoon 😎

 

The whole bracket is off now 

 

The bracket is catching the engine mount

Paul 

[Colin Lindsay]

Be careful at the other end - you're lifting the front of the engine whilst the rear and bellhousing is also raising up, denting and crushing the edges of the bulkhead. Keep an eye on that end too!

[trigolf]

And keep an eye on the heater hoses too !

Gav

[Paul H]

Update  :  managed to raise the engine high enough to pull out the U bolt . Old rubber block removed and replaced with blue polybush. I think this  exercise  was made much more difficult due to the length of the ubolt . A normal 1/2 in socket is too short and had to use a long reach socket to tighten up. On reflection I should have shortened them by a few mm to make the job easier next time . The pic shows how long the ubolt studs are , is this standard ? Pic taken from underneath the steering rack 

When I changed the offside to polybush the difference was very noticeable and the steering “tightened” up significantly , so should now see further improvement 

 

Paul