Bulkhead Engine Stabiliser Bar

[Candellara]

My attention turnt to this today. Although reasonably new, some rubber dust evident and the lower rubber bush is slightly "skew whiff". So it's obviously moving. What is the exact protocol for adjusting these correctly? Should I place a degree of tension from underneath (jack) and then tighten? Engine & gearbox mounts are all nearly new BTW

[abowie]

Really all this does is stop the engine wobbling. They don't need to be tight, nor should it take any of the engine's weight. Procedure is described in the manual.

[Candellara]

Thanks

Really need to get a manual i think :-)

[christopher storey]

The procedure is to slacken off the top nut so that there is no tension . As has already been said, the mounting MUST take no weight. Then screw upwards the bottom nut and cup until it ( the rubber ) is just making complete contact with the flange of the mounting. Then screw the top nut and cup down so that the top rubber is in good contact . If you start to lift the engine with this procedure, then the lower cup is not high enough

[Candellara]

Thanks Chris.

That's a big help. All refitted, but i did notice that the central bar does not arrive at the top rubber completely straight, so i have to put a very tiny amount of tension on it sideways to make sure that the lower cup meets the top rubber square on. I think previously - it was overtightened and the lower cap too low. Might suggest the rubber "dust" that was evident

[Moeregaard]

Christopher is correct. I've seen rear engine stabilizers pulled up so tightly that the welds holding the bracket to the firewall are cracked. What typically happens is that the rubber bobbin that resides within the transmission mount's spring perishes. The first symptom of this is often clutch chatter, and some ham-fisted mechanic decides that the stabilizer isn't tight enough. If all the engine and transmission mountings are fresh, the rear stabilizer only needs the tiniest amount of tension to keep the engine from moving around. Checking for the aforementioned cracks in the stabilizer mount should be part of any pre-purchase inspection, since it's rather a pain to reach with the engine installed.