Engine Mount Strengthening

The offside engine mounting plate is fixed to the chassis spanning two chassis rails, where they come together in a vee shape.  This is strong enough to take the loads transmitted from the engine.  On the nearside however, it is a very different story.  The flat plate is welded on top of just one chassis rail.  Over time the loads from the engine cause this to droop and eventually this puts an abnormal loading on the engine mount itself, which then fails.

I'd kept an eye on my nearside mounting plate over the months and it had always been fine.  Recently though, I noticed that the non-welded side had drooped around 10mm.  It was on its way to causing the engine mount to fail.

So, I fabricated two triangular fillets from 6mm mild steel and got a local garage to weld these in place, after 'jacking' the plate back into its original horizontal position.  The welds are not the neatest in the world, but they seem to be good enough to be strong.