For reference, no one on the C Forum seems to have much more of an idea about the tubular manifold than Nick. Hey ho, that'll be a voyage of discovery.
This evening has been a touch surreal. T'other half was out on netball practice (or Deathball as it might more accurately be known - non-contact sport, my arse), so I was in on childcare duties until gone 21:30. When she got in we talked around how clonky/vibey the car is at the moment (she used it for Deathball transport, to take other
witches players to the session). We talked about how it seemed to be rattling more since the dash ate a pair of her earrings last week (
) and so, in a fit of lunacy (anyone else see the full moon tonight?) I said 'I'll go see if I can find them' and went off out to poke about with it.
Now, the issue isn't so much the earrings, it's more that something, somewhere isn't sitting right, since I fitted the G3 subframe, so things aren't 100% happy. The subframe also didn't have the vibration damping weight on it, so I was wondering if that was the issue. Also I hadn't been able to release the front mount to replace it when I replaced the rear mounts on the subframe, so maybe that was the issue......
So, to avoid the thorny problem of probably not being able to find the earrings from the depths of the dash - (
I'm going to have to have it apart later this month, when Nick sends the Alpine microphone, across so I can get the handfree hooked back up, no pressure, Nick 
) I took the car up to an unbroken section of concrete in the farm yard here and set about sorting the engine mounts.... in the moonlight..... in a yard full of buses and coaches owned by the local bus company (they have space in our disused yard), with a tree-trimming lorry, a bobcat and an engineless Polizei T25 too, all bathed in moonlight.
Sometimes I think LED head torches are possibly the best thing in the whole world ever. Tonight was one of those occasions. If you don't have one, go get one, you WILL love it when working on your car.
So, rad cowling off - only 4 bolts - EASY!
Tough nut on the front engine mount released! Hurrah!
Then jack under one side of car, then jack under the engine, then ease jack on sill down, to lift engine, sit on front of car and pull out old (and properly shagged) front engine mount, swap in the new mount and jack the car back up, lowering the engine on to the new mount - sorted. I also loosened the other two mounts and hercked the motor about a bit, to try and get it to sit nice on top of the mounts.
Now, while it was in the air I figured I should address the subframe weight issue, so I went to the container where my kit is and rummaged about until I found the right one (they are excellent blocks to use in the press!). A quick scratch about in the misc bolts tub yielded the right bolts to bolt it up (and a replacement nut for the front engine mount), so that went on the car. I also figured that the pair of jubilee clips on the o/s driveshaft probably weren't doing much, so I stripped them off.
After I'd put the tools back in the container I took the car out for a drive. It is still vibrating things up a bit, but it's subsided a touch. Replacing that final mount has also firmed things up a touch more, so the car feels tighter, too - not all bad.
I should have struts and other bits coming later this week and hopefully Saturday should see them fitted up (among other things) which might alleviate the vibes. I did also notice one of the 'fingers' on the rear mount was on top of the casting it's supposed to be alongside of, so I'll sort that this weekend. I suspect there's something somewhere which is just touching around the engine-exhaust-shell area. If I can find it I should be able to resolve this problem with the vibes.
I've also now brimmed the tank, ready for an economy reading on the car, while it's running KE-Jet. I don't think it'll be pretty, but we need it for comparison purposes.
I will make it better, I will make it whole once more!
