Engine mounting brackets. S3

[ericbushby]

good morning Gents.
I know that the subject of engine mounts has been covered many times before but I have just hit a difficulty.
I have searched the archives and the photo sections for evidence and I think I have found the problem.
When fitting the mounts I thought I knew well enough which went where and which way up.
I have been following Brian Buckland `s book avidly to reduce the number of mistakes along the way so I did it his way.
The engine is now too low on the carburettor side. The mounts are in good condition.
It appears to me that Brian`s instructions are incorrect.
In his book, page 348 there is a picture of a mount described as a standard Ford mounting to be fitted on the left side. The same photo and text is in the recently published `supplement engine section` page 351.
I am now thinking that the photo is of the special Lotus bracket and should be fitted on the right hand
(carburettor) side.
Will someone please check this for me as it seems odd for the likes of me to suggest that Brian is wrong.
I am now going to change them over, putting what I think is the the Ford one with the wavy edges on the left, exhaust, side and the Lotus straight sided one on the carburettor side.
Eric in Burnley
S3 DHC

[gherlt]

Brian says, page 348"
the right hand side resilient engine mounting bracket is not the same as the left. It is higher mounted lifting the engine on this right hand side so the unit is slightly canted over. It is a specially made mounting therefore
not as economic as the mass produced standard Ford bracket fitted on the left hand side.

RH = carburettor side
LH = exhaust side

RH/LH is usually towards driving direction/ as ffrom looking from drivers seats, not from front of the car.

[ericbushby]

Good morning Gherit, and thankyou for responding.
I understand all that and I am not confusing sides.
After fitting the engine the carburettor side was low and I could not get the carbs on.
Suspecting a failed mounting I ordered a replacement RHS, carburettor side, mount from Sue Miller and she sent me the one illustrated on page 348.
Brian describes this as a standard Ford part to be fitted on the left side.
I have just fitted this to the carb side and the wavy sided one to the exhaust side.
RHS side is now higher and the carbs fit correctly.
I am suggesting that the illustration is of the Lotus special mount. I am quite prepared to be wrong but I can`t see how.
What I am hoping for is for someone to look at their engine and tell us which side is which as confirmation.
Regards
Eric in Burnley

[gherlt]

Ah. Ok. Will take a look at engine bay and try to make a picture.

[ericbushby]

Hi Gherit
I am confident that I have it right now.
Page 348
The heading is Resilient Ford Mounting (left).
I took that to mean (as illustrated left), which it is not. That one is the special higher lotus one.
If it means (fits on the left side), that is also wrong, as the mount illustrated fits on the right, carburettor side.
That is where I got confused.
It all seems OK now that I have changed them over
Thanks for your help.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[Tmac897]

I hope this topic is not too old to get some info.

Coming along in my rebuild, but when I went to install the carbs the rear carb hits the top of the footwell fiberglass. I don’t have the Bucklands manual and the one I have didn’t mention any difference in the mounts, other than the spacer to allow for the steering column.

I have a 67 S3 SE left hand drive US, and using the original engine mounts. Could someone please add a picture or explanation of how to tell the mounts apart and the proper orientation please?

Thanks,
Tony

[gjz30075]

To me, the 'special' Lotus mount looks like an arrow, which should point downward, mounted on
the carb side.

[ElanDNA]

Could someone please add a picture or explanation of how to tell the mounts apart and the proper orientation please?

Thanks,
Tony

I hope it helps:

Greetings
Urs

[Tmac897]

It took a few times looking at the pics you sent and my engine mounts, but I see it now. Mine are definitely reversed.

A bit of a setback, but I was wondering why the distributor was tucked so far under everything. Didn’t remember it that way, and now I know why. Everything just seemed a little too tight.

Thank you for your help to this point.

Since my “manual” doesn’t have any info on this, other than “support the engine with a jack,” anything I need to be aware of before I start this exercise?

[Tmac897]

I was able to get this done today. Not as difficult as I imagined it would be. Took about 4 hours, working pretty carefully.

For anyone who has to do this in the future, I used a hydraulic jack with wheels to support the engine. That made things quite a bit easier, when I was positioning the engine to frame mounts. Also, there are a couple of bolts that were difficult to get at. For example there is one bolt underneath the headers, and two rear bolts on the engine mount on the other side. I took those out before I jacked up the engine, because the jack reduces the room the maneuver under the car once in place.