Body Mounts

[claudiolambert]

At the current stage of the restoration project of my '51 Jupiter I faced the dilemma of what to do with the Body Mounts. I've been trying to find new or refurbished ones to replace the originals that I have. So far I haven't had success. The ones I have are iron (or steel?) made and have rubber within. This rubber has resected and no longer fulfill the function it was originally designed for.

I was told that the Jowett Factory later recommended to replace the rubber with wood or aluminum blocks.

Does anyone have some knowledge on how to address this issue?

Cheers
Claudio Lambert

[Keith Clements]

Hi Claudio,
The factory recommended changing the front and middle rubber body mounts to hard wooden blocks . This was to reduce a perceived movement of the steering column during heavy cornering. Since by now the rubber in those mounts would be very hard I see little reason to change them. I have retained my old rubber ones at the rear on the recent restoration and replaced the four wooden ones as they had worn after 20 years of hard rallying. The thickness is about 2 cm but you should adjust to get a good door fit. I make about 8 cm square. You will need a couple of large thick washers to cover the large diameter hole and a 3 inch X1/2 inch BSF bolt or similar metric to hold. Wood is better than aluminium as it has some shock absorbency. I use a softer wood under my sump guard for the same reason.

There is an argument for having some flex between the chassis and the body subframe as the chassis does twist and vibrate. If this is transmitted to the aluminium panelling it will cause cracking. This particularly occurs at the narrow part at the top just in front of the rear wheel where the hood attaches. The rear sub frame body mounts also corrode and crack causing the rear to sag.

view TOPIC this Gallery Album for other pictures.

[claudiolambert]

Thank you so much for your valuable help, Keith! I have no others to thank you enough!!!