I am considering curtailing my drive season...

rocco79/138

rocco79/138

True Classic
A couple of things are pushing me in that direction. I would welcome anyone's take on my situation.
I got the car back on the road and sorted properly but... I have heard a noise, not all the time but on rare occasion. I either have fairy dust or really fine metal dust(glitter) in the engine bay. I think it is coming from a failed lower engine mount. The mount has been soaked with oil from a leaking rear main seal. This allows the drivetrain to settle just slightly which, in certain torque situations, allows the CV boot ring(1979 1500/5speed) to rub the crossmember. The crossmember is well oiled with the rear seal issue too so it really is not a giant scraping mess.
I have a new mount but really can't see changing it out to soak it with oil as well. So my way of thinking is not to drive much and since we are entering Fall I will just stop driving and dig into the little mess. Once I start I am not sure where I will stop. I will certainly have to drop the transmission so I can remove the clutch/flywheel for seal replacement. Going that far should I just install new clutch and pressure plate? I also have a lightened flywheel. Since everything is coming off I might as well renew everything. The slave and line appear fine and a failure there is easy to renew with everything in place.
I also have a euro head and Alquati cam on the shelf for my build project... The car runs great but I won't be driving all winter so should I set up the head and swap it out? I would not have the pistons with the small flycuts but the head does not have a decompression cut that the NA heads have...
I did a compression test while sorting it out originally and all cylinders were 145-150 psi and the engine does not smoke... Maybe a tiny bit on start up after a long sit but not usually.
I don't think I will build this engine in the next year or two as my schedule is pretty busy and I am not in the best shop situation...
So that is my quandary... What do you think you might do in my situation? Thanks for the input!
Regards
 
I voted for shimming or otherwise making the mount offer up sufficient clearance for the fall driving season which in NC should be considerable. We have been driving toy cars into November in Michigan so...

If you pull the transmission, change out what needs to be changed, the flywheel could go on with a new clutch assembly when you do the seal. This could be done with the engine in the car. Consider getting the beam Harbor Frieght sells to support the engine or use a built up wood beam with blocking to hold up the far side of transmission side of the engine

If you don't have a good shop situation I wouldn't attempt the engine tear down (as in new pistons etc). The head would make a significant difference for sure, it just gets down to how much do you really want to do and would you feel like you need to redo the head when you get new pistons etc.
 
Thanks guy!
I had not considered the shim... That gives me yet another direction... I have to crawl under to see if the mount is above the crossmember (easy shim) or bolts in from below (still shim able but in where the gooey rubber resides)...
Karl,
This X is already more fun than any other I have owned...with just a header, new '74 carb, and euro intake! Thanks to all who helped me acquire those parts! I also have the best alignment I can remember on any X1/9! Thanks Jonathan! And let's not forget those tiny little tires I love to run! I can do 70mph in a 35 and not get pulled! :) Not really... But it does feel a smidge more torquey, but only through my "butt Dyno" could be placebo torque but it seems to be there all the same. I also think the mechanical secondary plays a role as well.
Thanks for the input. Appreciate you guys!
Regards
 
I concur with the others, fall is one of the best times to drive so do whatever band aids are needed and take it apart in the winter.
I'm currently wrapping up a wonderful beach week at one of your state's many fine beaches (Kure) and then head home to Virginia where I'll wait out the 90 degree weather for fall driving in my heaterless X.

As to all those changes you are thinking about, now is a great time to figure it all out and don't get caught up in mission creep where you end up with your entire car in pieces....I've seen it happen many times.
 
Consider using the performance parts that you have now to build another engine. Start with a inexpensive used engine, and build it as time permits. That will make swapping it in "when you're in there" a lot faster and easier than re-building your current engine. By doing that you end up with a perfectly good used engine (once the leaks are sorted out), that you could sell to recover some of the costs of sourcing an engine to rebuild?
 
Like Rod said, shim the mount. I did just that to one of my Fiats cars. It was intended as a temporary fix but it worked so well that I drove it that way for several years. There are a couple of ways to do it. One is just shove some some rubber between the cross member and mount or take the mount out and pack solid rubber into the holes in the mount rubber. I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed to say this but I have shade treed a lot of stuff over the years. A lot of it worked as well and lasted longer that the original part.
 
Window weld (windshield adheesive) works great to firm up old deteriorating mounts. If you can, take the mount off the car (or jack the engine so it's not loaded) and fill the holes with window weld and apply a liberal coating on the outside surfaces as well. Cures in 24 hours.
 
I vote, fix what needs fixing, now. It should only take a weekend to do the mount, trans and clutch stuff. The rear main is accessible then too. Reassemble, cover the engine bay in foaming degreaser and spray it out at the car wash. BAM! DONE! Then you have all winter to swap heads and cams and fidle with timing. Parts are cheap, and a weekend of labor is trivial.
 
I vote for fixing the rear main, replace the mount & do the flywheel, clutch etc., if you have enough miles on it to warrant replacement. I'm not so much on the 'replace it while it's apart" unless it's definitely worn, since the quality of replacement parts is sometimes questionable - you may be better off with what's in there.

I doubt using any filler material is going to work on an oil soaked mount, I think that would be a waste of time as it is unlikely to bond. I tried stuffing (different) materials into the gaps in the rubber on two used mounts, and with all the back & forth that goes along with that, I'd have to say it's easier just to buy a new mount.....
 
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