Early on in the project, I had been looking at the engine bay and with so many small tolerances and clearances I was getting concerned about how much the engine will move/rock back and forth when under heavy acceleration or braking, and whether this would translate into problems like the intake manifold hitting the bulkhead or the upper radiator hose rubbing against the thermofan, or the turbo wastegate actuator hitting the front panel etc. To prevent any excessive movement, I considered reusing the standard Mini engine steady/stabiliser bar for the Starlet engine as it just happened to fit perfectly! One end was mounted via a bell housing bolt and a starter motor bolt and the other was mounted to the rear of the subframe.
I initially considered having two plates welded to the subframe brace bar (between the subframe towers) but if I welded the two vertical plates directly on to the bar, the diff housing would not clear them when installing the engine.
I made a removable bracket which was designed to bolt to a steel plate (the plate was welded between the subframe brace bar and the subframe section below that) and has two captive nuts welded behind it.
Fast forward a few years and I went to fit the steady bar to figure out what length bolts I needed through the bushes. I don't know how I missed this detail but for engine end of the steady bar, there was no way to insert the entire length of a bolt through the steady bar bush without removing the coolant temperature sensor! You can see this in the top photo, where I used a very short bolt to hold the brace in place.
I had to scrap to the original brackets and remake them to move the steady bar ~12mm rearward and provide clearance to the vertical steady bar bolt.
I initially considered having two plates welded to the subframe brace bar (between the subframe towers) but if I welded the two vertical plates directly on to the bar, the diff housing would not clear them when installing the engine.
I made a removable bracket which was designed to bolt to a steel plate (the plate was welded between the subframe brace bar and the subframe section below that) and has two captive nuts welded behind it.
Fast forward a few years and I went to fit the steady bar to figure out what length bolts I needed through the bushes. I don't know how I missed this detail but for engine end of the steady bar, there was no way to insert the entire length of a bolt through the steady bar bush without removing the coolant temperature sensor! You can see this in the top photo, where I used a very short bolt to hold the brace in place.
I had to scrap to the original brackets and remake them to move the steady bar ~12mm rearward and provide clearance to the vertical steady bar bolt.
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