Morris Minor Owners Club

Welded the broken off bit of the engine steady back onto the bulkhead today. Now the car judders at low revs. Could I have made the steady too tight?

Let the engine take up its natural position, the steady should be adjusted to hold it there. Not sure what you mean by 'not ready'.

The rubber grommets at either end of the steady bar should take up any vibration. As Les says, do not over tighten the bar.

Pop up a photo so we can have a look.

Is it common for the engine steady to have broken off the bulkhead? Mine definitely needs re-welding

Well its not uncommon but can be a real pian to sort out properly thats why some use the alternative style of steady that mounts to the spare holes by the shocker, this was a Grumpies design (no longer exsist) but I believe one of the specialist still sell them.

They were available from a supplier in Eastern Sussex as part no. MNT146A but seem to be sold out at the moment. The kit comprises of a sturdy bracket which bolts into the two unused threaded holes on the bulkhead adjacent to the damper and a linkage via a threaded rod, (missing on my order) to the cylinder head. I used stainless steel piping between the nuts (which I replaced with stainless steel nylock nuts) to hide the threaded rod-it looks a lot neater. I had to add a stay to prevent the heater hose contacting the steady bar. The threaded rod would have acted as a hacksaw blade. Otherwise a nice piece of kit. It could be easily made up if the supplier has discontinued it.

Declan<br><br>

I see that the bracket on the cylinder head is flipped over. It looks like this steady is anchored much higher than the bottom of the battery box, which would necessitate flipping it over.

Here's a photo of the steady bar before I had to replace it. I don't know if it was mounted correctly but that is the way it as when I bought the car.
Declan<br><br>

Smart looking engine bay, but I hope you're not still using that pancake air filter - it looks horribly restrictive!

Sorry getting off topic.

Yes, the engine bay is beginnig to take shape. I'm not finished yet. Waiting on better weather. Regarding the pancake filter, it's definitely in for the chop. I have a HIF38 with the K&N replica filter to go on but I'm still collecting a few bits and pieces.
Declan

Controversial probably, but I have run all my Minors without one.There is less vibration transferred to the bulkhead and I have never cracked an exhaust/joint.So long as the engine mounts are kept in good condition I don't see any problem.No judder in reverse either.

Well thats interesting Longdog as you have countered some of the reasons for having one.
Just one thing how much does the engine move forward because my only thinking is that under heavy braking would the fan hit the radiator as I thought it needed both the engine steady and the gearbox steady cable to avoid this happening.

The engine steady bar was introduced solely to counter clutch judder which was an issue on early cars and reported by Autocar in their initial road tests.....

Good point about engine movement however as the mounting is almost transverse I would say it has little or no bearing on forward motion of the engine.Admittedly my current minor has a Kenlowe on the front of the rad so clearance is not an issue, however previous ones have not suffered a sliced and diced rad.I also currently run a sierra gearbox conversion so there is no steady cable either and I have had to do the odd emergency stop.I think the only horror stories have arisen from rotten engine mounts contaminated with oil.

Back when they were still being sold I worked at
a dealer that sold ,M G .A/h.Morris etc.I never saw
an engine steady on Morrises.The people who had them
drove the hell out of them,the only problem sometimes
the gearbox cable broke,and you got jerky takeoff.
remember,chips are crisps and french fries are chips.
Best of British luck you all.
kenny.

Jaekl,
What do you mean when you say the bracket should be flipped over?
I have just had a closer look at it. The engine steady bar is perfectly horizontal. The bracket supplied with the (ex-Grumpy) kit has the hole for the steady bar higher than the old bracket that was originally on the battery box-('till it rusted off). Perhaps the photo is deceiving. I am quite happy with it and I think it was designed to be horizontal but I stand to be corrected. Perhaps this is a better photo.

Declan<br><br>

The replacement steady bar looks fine! I like it - will make myself one first chance I have time. Better design than the original I think. For me - it should be fixed to the engine using a longer head stud - with a head nut under the bracket, and a securing nut on top. Thus it can be fitted/removed without disturbing the head nut torque regime.

When using the ORIGINAL mounting under the battery, turning the cyl head bracket the other way to that shown in the photo gave a much straighter run for the rod and less distortion of the rubber mounts.

Would it not be easier to fabricate and bolt a bracket under the battery tray as the original, see photo<br><br>

Thanks Millerman for the photo. Mine was obviously mounted upside down in the first place. Jaekl was right. I didn't want to do any welding and especially in that area. There was no way, in my case, of fitting a bracket to the battery box without welding. I agree with BMC saying the Grumpy design is probably better than the original. It is certainly much much stronger.

Declan