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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Engine Steady Bar

Test fitted my Rover V8 this weekend...am putting it in the setback position (closest to firewall)...now, has anybody built engine steady bars for the front of the engine? If so, could I get drawings, etc.
anthony barnhill

Tony:
Martyn Harvey (Canadian V8 Register) has a very neat and simple looking steady bar on his conversion. From memory, I believe that it uses a long anti-sway bar link (long bolt, tube, bushings and washers, etc from a full size Chev car) attached to a bracket on the driver's side cylinder head and a corresponding bracket on the driver's side frame rail. He also used pretty red poly bushings that looked very nice.
This device would certainly limit torque and any contact between engine and body parts.
Regards
Phil O
Phil

or if you get stuck - David Vail at V8 Conversions at Farnborough.
Roger

The simplest steady bar I've seen was a piece of angle at the rear of the RHS head, at the "lifting point" of the engine. From this a bolt (all-thread, about 5 inches long) projects horrizontaly(& 90 deg.) through a hole in another piece of angle attached to the top of the bulkhead. The piece of angle on the bulkhead has a lump of rubber either side and the bolt has a nut and big washer either side of rubber.
Dead easy to do and very effective.
Peter

I have a very simple bracket connecting the 'ring'on the front left side of the block to the left front subframe bolt.

I bought it locally and just mounted it by undoing the nut on top of the subframe bolt and connecting to the lug I referred to above. It has poly bushing and may transmit some minor vibration to the car, but I also acts as a restrainer to stop the engine going foward to the radiator.

cheers

Ian G Buckley

They are not overly hard to have done. I have seen them in Summit racing for imports and good old american muscle.. all they are usually is a rod with a pair of Hiem joints. Hardest thing to get is the rod and then a machinist to thread the ends.. (one normal one reverse)..

Talk to your local machine shops, or better yet, find a local hydraulic repair shop. Talk to one of the machinists or maybe the foreman, they should have a recycle dumpster/dumptruck with bent or damaged cylinder rods in it.. those are good to many thousand lbs of pressure. You might even be able to bribe one of the machinists to cut, thin and thread it for you on his off time...
Larry Embrey

Anthony,

I fitted a steady bar from a Rover P5 or P6 ( the big saloon)
It mounted on the left hand ( in your case I suppose it would have to be right hand) rear of cylinder head,almost horizontally to a bracket bolted to the flat section where presumably your washer tank is.

The bar was threaded at each end with hard rubber collars to absorb movement and vibration.

I have to say it works very well, the engine hardlty moves at all.

Mike
Michael barnfather

You could just pick up a good quality turn buckle and use it. I have used these in race cars for years with great results.
G.P. Copes

Thanks, guys...Martyn sent me info on his...I'm gonna try to build a couple for both sides of the front of my engine....when I figure them out, I'll put info on my web site...
anthony barnhill

No need for having one on both sides Tony -- it'll just essentially give ya hard motor mounts. If you just put one on the driver side (assume LHD), as the motor revs the whole thing will want to roll over toward the passenger side. So the steady bar's only going to see tension. I even saw one done with a cable recently (running from the front of the driver-side cyl head down to the chassis rail) that seemed to work just great ... I now think that would be the best solution of all, as it would not transmit unnecessary vibes into the chassis. I think having a vibrating chassis is like having an overly loud exhaust -- it seems so cool for 15 minutes, but it gets really old on a long ride.
David

In the old days of amatuer drag racing, we even used chains to keep the motor from twisting off the mounts.

For the ongoing project, I welded a small angle bracket to the frame rail, bolted a similar bracket to the left hand cylinder head, & used a sway bar link with double poly bushings on each end to eliminate vibrations. You can buy links from performance shops including the bushings for around $10.00. By a long one, cut to fit, re-thread the cut end, or set up the brackets & measure. The links are available in several sizes, with lots of thread for adjustment.
Jim Stuart

Back in the mid to late sixties, we (at the garages where I worked) put on many cable assemblies that General Motors came up with to retrofit into their cars as a strain relief for the left-hand side motor mount. If it's good enough for Mr. Goodwrench, ...

Wayne
Wayne Pearson

Tony,
Yachting and marine supply places usually have a range of turnbuckles in high grade materials and various sizes which may be another source of supply.

Cheers, Pete.
Peter Thomas

Why do you need one at all? The factory V8 didn't have one!!!!!!!!
Kim Porter

Factory cars also weren't pushing 300hp to the flywheel!
Tony Barnhill

And I've pulled a left-hand mount apart even with a factory-spec engine.
Paul Hunt

Well Tony and Paul maybe I've been lucky??? On the rolling dyno mine mine only produces a mear 238hp at the rear wheels, and it's only covered 4000 miles so far, but a lot of those miles have been covered at competition sprint and hill climb events.......and I haven't been holding back. And Iwould venture to say that the majority of conversion are definitely not producing 300hp at the flywheel.
Kim Porter

*sounds* lucky. I've broken one or two, even with the fenderwell headers limiting engine movement. NOS BOP mounts can be of questionable quality though, so I've through-bolted them per Dan LaGrou's instructions.
Jim
Jim Blackwood

This thread was discussed between 03/09/2002 and 14/09/2002

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