Engine position

[59Elva]

I welded up and redrilled the clutch linkage arms, made up a new flat link and rod link, and turned a ball bushing for the socket in the transmission. ( My welding and machining skills aren’t as good as I remember them being) but It all fits together except not as freely as I would like. The problem seems that the transmission socket is set too far back relative to the frame mounted bushing so the bell crank is rotated clockwise viewed to above. The steady cable is broken so it’s not pulling the transmission. The left side trans mount looks upside down??? The right side mount is open side up which looks correct. I probably have the Sprite crossmember around somewhere for reference but Im in the same situation as the others in the “Too Much” post. Got it but can’t find it.
Besides reversing the left gearbox mount what else can I do to move the engine forward?

Thanks,
Bill B

[Bill_qaz]

Just thought if yours is a pick-up the diagrams maybe not the same?

Does the manual illustration help to show mounting orientation?

Screenshot_20260808-231401_M365 Copilot.jpg (229.14 KiB) Viewed 454 times

Or earlier model

Screenshot_20260808-231931_M365 Copilot.jpg (307.65 KiB) Viewed 452 times

[59Elva]

Thanks Bill Q. The illustration I was looking for. That means the right side is upside down. I think reversing that one may exacerbate the problem with the engine being too far back. I could try loosening all the fasteners and see if there’s any slack to be found before slotting holes. Oddly there’s already quite a bit of the driveshaft exposed?
Feels like every step forward results in two steps back.
Bill B

[Bill_qaz]

What year is your truck. It looks like a ribcage gearbox so 1098 version.

[59Elva]

It’s a’59 but it has a 1275 of unknown origin fed thru the original 948 single SU HS2 carb/exhaust manifold. Im at least the fourth caretaker in the past 10 years. The story is a woman put it together from parts in the late’90s. Her daughter sold it around 2020 about 7 years after her mother could no longer drive it. I very little other history.
I bought it from Bringatrailer.com online auction at the end of May. The pictures looked nice.

[Keith]

I suspect that the reason why your 1275 is set back is to do with the fact that the 1275 block is higher than the 948/1098 so the cooling fan hits the underside of the radiator header tank. So owners move the engine back to give clearance at the front.

There are a few fixes without moving the engine back, bend the fan, shorten the fan, fit an electric fan etc. I'm sure others will provide more detail.

Your prop shaft is missing the sleeve, I found an old picture of the 61 948 van pre restoration, shows the position of the prop with the sleeve. The sleeve is approx 57mm (2 1/4") long.

[philthehill]

You have the correct gearbox support cross member.
The offset to the metal gearbox mount bracket (No: 41 & 42) in the diagram above is to the rear.
The reason you have a lot of the sliding joint exposed is because you are missing the sleeve that hides the sliding joint. The exposed length is acceptable.
The gearbox rubber mounts are perished and need to be replaced.
You can swop over the front engine mount towers to get the engine in the right place. The 1275cc engine block is slightly longer so adjustments have to be made to suit the application.

[59Elva]

Keith,
I have 7/8” minimum clearance between the fan and radiator tank seam. Taking out half of that should put the clutch bell crank in good alignment. My previous Morris was killed back in November ‘19 and it was around 2004 when I finished putting it together so I’ve forgotten about the driveshaft sleeve and many other details. That’s why the exposed shaft looked wrong.

Phil,
Do you mean exchange the right to left engine mount towers. They are handed, not symmetrical?

20 -30 years ago there were a number of Morris/Mini parts suppliers over here. Now it’s primarily just Moss. Their online catalog doesn’t even show the items I asked about.
Thank you both,
Bill B

[philthehill]

The engine mount towers are handed. So yes swop right to left and left to right.
There is enough wiggle room on the gearbox mounts and the cross member mount bolts to allow the engine to move rearwards a little. May be just enough for your needs.

[59Elva]

The engine and trans need to move forward for the transmission bush to align with the frame bush. I assume the misalignment was the reason that both the rubber frame bushing and phenolic transmission ball bushing were so worn on one side.
Contrary to advice here I ditched the pins and used 5/16-24 bolts threaded into a thicker flat link with jam nuts and made a clevis to replace the bent end of the rod. Everything is covered with thick, gooey, black, moly open gear lube. Very difficult to get off the skin and anything else it contacts.
It’s already noon here. I’ve had my coffee and watched the Sunday morning news so I should get out there and start spraying PB Blaster on those mounting bolts. There’s always one that doesn’t want to come off. Usually the last one.