Engine mountings. making sure everything stays put.
The top engne torque rod is "solid" bushed with two urethane bushes
I use a superpro SPF020 bush.
While totally crap for their intended application as a suspension bush in a 124 / 131 (they are an EXACT copy of the rubber original, so when the OE steel sleeve is press thru the bush effectively locks solid) they work great as a replacement "dog-bone" bush for a 128 / X19
Take to the edges of the SPF020 with a hand held grinder (I mount mine in a vice, I don't like to use my bench grinder for plastics/alloys) a bit like this, it's not rocket science, just so it goes in a little easier.
To get the old bush out of the torque rod, press out the centre steel sleeve, make sure you clean the old sleeve p they are usually a bit rusty
simply by hand slip one end of the slightly modified SPF020 bush into the torque rod end, it should be a snug push thru the hole... I usually run a hand file around the inside of the steel bush ID to make sure there are no rough edges... and rubber grease is always a good thing.
next step I actually forgot to take a pic of, but it makes the job much much easier... slip the inner steel sleeve into the urethane bush...in this pic it would be in from the right hand side... but ONLY PUT IT IN ABOUT 1/3 OF THE WAY....then put the whole lot into the vice again with some appropriate sockets and give it a squeeze to push the bush home, and then to push the sleeve thru the bush
after a bit of jiggling, you'll get this....now the bush is actually a tiny bit too wide, so take to it again to trim it for length with the angle grinder...
I've done this a few times so it took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish including stopping and picking up my phone to take the pics to do each bush., with two urethane bushes installed
Front engine mount upgrade.
I use a bush from some Alfa romeo that I had a few of in a job lot of parts I bought. the other parts with it are needed for the "conversion" they are a cople of seat belt spacers, and an M12 bolt to replace the standard M10
You remove the old worn out rubber from the mount, there are two types too, one I think must be for late model air conditioned cars, it's just a minor relief to the casting for some extra clearance for something.
the alfa bush is a little smaller in OD, but if you leave the original outer steel sleeve in, it's a snug press in fit
I drill the seat belt bush to 12mm ID. on the smaller stepit's 14mm OD. I trim it down for length, I drill the centre steel sleeve on the rubber bush to 14mm but only do a depth of maybe 10mm, and then press the stepped bush into place which sits snugly in the standard engine cradle. You need to drill the body to M12 hole size
engine cross member modifications
Still a work in progress but my usual"go -to" mod for a 128 in the past has been to add additional fasteners and plates. Handy size is the captive nut / spacer plate from the shifter linkage on an X19/128. Lower cross member gets reinforced a little, jack lift poibt removed as I dont want it to be used for that, (I dont want someone putting a jack cradle thru some component.).
Lower engine mount for the monment is standard original Fiat part. I have some old OE parts that I've removed the rubber from and may cast in urethane. Twice as many fasteners, in two different planes makes for it never falling out or coming loose... can be a bit of a jiggle to get it all to line up to start with as well.
I thought I had a 128 cross member in my workshop to take pictures of and compare to this X19 one, but it's dark outside so I'll find it to show everyone the differences in the next few days.
SteveC
