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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Mounts for Rover 5-speed gearbox?

My Rover 5-speed gear lever thrashes about loudly and perceptably at high rpms or under hard acceleration. Not just talking about rattling; this is a very powerful vibration that shakes your hand. It occurs to me that this could be due to either (i) an unbalanced driveshaft, or (ii) the tail of the gearbox thrashing about. As to (i), I guess I'll take it in to be balanced; I imagine it's OK, though. But as to (ii), I have those rubber "cotton reel" mounts on the gearbox x-member -- like I imagine most of you do -- and I have a suspicion they aren't up to the task of holding the gearbox in place. Does anyone know if you can get urethane, rather than rubber, mounts? If so, where?
Harry

Yes, I found those big cotton reel mounts too soft.

Solution, use the standard MGB gearbox mounts, reversed so that the single stud screws into the gearbox and the plate with two holes mates up to a modified crossmember.

Alternatively you can get a single flat mounting which screws into the bottom thread of the gearbox and bolts down to a plate welded across the crossmember in place of the angled supports. Clive Wheatley has the details 01902 330489 - he's not on the web or e-mail.
Chris Betson

Harry,

I also have these soft mountings. Initially i just fitted the old ones (very soft) which came with the box but never had vibration problems. i replaced these because when accelerating, the engine "rotated" too much. Had to fit a staboliser later. As you assume it is a balancing issue and i tend to agree and i woud get the shaft balanced because harder mounts may help but are not causing the problem.
Good luck
Peter
Peter van de Velde

Follow-up: it's not the mounts, it appears to be that the driveshaft that is totally, totally shot. The front U-joint had almost no flexibility at all, and that extension/compression thing a few inches behind the tranny was bone dry. Almost surely the cause of the bad vibes. Really wierd, given the fine condition of the rest of the car. Driveshaft's been aboard for maybe 7K miles over 5 years; it looks like it has seen 100K+!

Is there any trick to this other than to bring it to a driveshaft place with the edict 'Fix; Balance'? Are there any places that sell pre-made driveshafts for the BV8? I can't imagine there are, but I thought I'd ask.
Harry

Harry,

I also have the Rover box and a B rear axle with "C" gear ratio. For this set up the "V8 Conversion compagny" sold me a shaft. It was balanced and had no problems with it . Have drive the car for approx. 20000km now.
Regards
Peter
Peter van de Velde

Further follow-up: today they called me and told me that the driveshaft is BENT! How the heck can you bend a 2-1/2" thick piece of metal??? Now I am really looking forward to driving the car again!
Harry

This thread was discussed between 09/02/2001 and 13/02/2001

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