Engine mounts

[ghostlymoron]

I'm just exploring the contents of my new boat and have come across a (small) box of spares including some annular rubber blocks which I suspect and hope are replacement engine mounts for the MD1. They are about 40mm long, 40mm O/D and 20mm I/D marked OSCILLITH 608717 and elsewhere 49=32. Are my suspicions correct? Unfortunately I have only found three so far but have not finished exploring yet.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Assuming it is not actually a NEW boat but is one that is new to you, I suggest that they are not "replacement" mountings but replaced mountings, kept in case they should ever become needed. The reason here are only three is that the fourth was so knackered that even a boat owner would concede that it could never be useful for anything.

It is the lot of owners of "new" boats to spend a fair bit of time removing stuff from lockers and agonising over what it is and whether it is worth keeping. You then spend time finding places to store the "useful" stuff and throwing the rest into a wheelbarrow. About two days after you have trundled the "useless" stuff over to the skip, you will find out that you need something that you threw out. Or maybe you put it in one of the lockers.

 

[Halo]

Are they spare rubbers for the drive shaft coupling ?

 

[ghostlymoron]

On closer inspection one is obviously deformed but the other two appear to be mint. If they are engine mounts, they are worth having because VP sell them at 30 quipped a pop.

Assuming it is not actually a NEW boat but is one that is new to you, I suggest that they are not "replacement" mountings but replaced mountings, kept in case they should ever become needed. The reason here are only three is that the fourth was so knackered that even a boat owner would concede that it could never be useful for anything.

It is the lot of owners of "new" boats to spend a fair bit of time removing stuff from lockers and agonising over what it is and whether it is worth keeping. You then spend time finding places to store the "useful" stuff and throwing the rest into a wheelbarrow. About two days after you have trundled the "useless" stuff over to the skip, you will find out that you need something that you threw out. Or maybe you put it in one of the lockers.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Unlikely because my boat doesn't have a flexible coupling as far as i know.

Are they spare rubbers for the drive shaft coupling ?

 

[vyv_cox]

Unlikely because my boat doesn't have a flexible coupling as far as i know.

Out of interest I Googled OSCILLITH, which maybe Halo did also. Not many hits but those that were found seemed to suggest a flexible coupling of some sort.

 

[Halo]

On my MD1 (Westerly 25) there was a round plate on the output shaft and a similar one facing it on the prop shaft. The distance between was about 25mm and the gap was bridged by 4 rubber elements which were about 40mm dia with a steel plate on each end followed by a threaded section. The drive went through this arangement. The rubber elements were sold as exhaust hangers and used on a range of cars. After the rubbers sheared whilst I was off St Monans I wombled spares from Kwik Fit and started a routine of changing them once a year - no problems after that. I am pretty sure the previous owner had engineeered this arangement and thought yours may be similar - or the original layout

 

[ghostlymoron]

I'll crawl round the back and see if there is a flexible coupling. I didn't think there was as the Mirror is quite an unsophisticated vessel. Vyv I Google it as well any only got a couple of PDFs..

Unlikely because my boat doesn't have a flexible coupling as far as i know.

 

[vyv_cox]

A patents site - ... themselves which are made as cylindrical, metal reinforced, hollow rubber bulbs similar to the commercially available "Oscillith" bush construction.

Flightglobal - Known as the "Oscillith," it is a cushion made of a casing of rubber (which may be distorted, but not compressed) ...

NCORPORATION of rubber bushes is •*• now accepted engineering practice; more and more use being made of them in bearings where only a limited range of movement is required. The "Oscillith" bush differs from other types by having a spiral spring incorporated in a casing of rubber, the effect of which is to control the deformation when the end plates are tightened. When axial pressure is applied volute flanges, both internally and externally, are formed without any variation of its
.volume and, also, without any trace of permanent deformation. , Various qualities of rubber, allied to springs of varying rigidity, enable joints to be produced, giving differing degrees of flexibility suitable for numerous applications By using a hard rubber higher mechanical resistances are obtained, but at the expense of radial flexibility. With a very soft rubber, on the other hand, the mechanical resistance is less, but the amount of torsional flexibility is increased. A total angle of oscillation of 120 deg. has been obtained by the use of extra soft rubber. Obviously the life of any bearing is dependent on the working conditions. With "Oscillith" bushes working through an angle of 60 deg. the frequency may be in the region of 200 oscillations a minute; with smaller angles it can be a great deal higher. For instance, at 30 degrees as many as 600 oscillations per minute is a safe load, and this figure rises to 1,000 if the movement does not exceed 15 degrees. Among the many applications of these bushes are its use in flexible couplings, bearings of joints, anti-vibration mountings for instrument panels and engine mountings. The sole agents in this country are Wilmot-Breeden, Ltd., Eastern Works, Camden Street, Birmingham, 1, and their technical department will supply all the necessary information.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I don't think I'll be able to get any replacements from Wilmot-Breedon, they went bust in 1979! I seem to remember their name on my Morris Minor car keys.
How do I tell if my engine is MD1 or MD1B? Is there an ID plate on it somewhere?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Just browsing old threads. These rubber things were indeed out of the flexible coupling which I have now discovered. And the engine is an MD1 (identifiable by the absence of a canister type oil filter).