166 Engine Stabilizer

[shane1750]

Hi
   The engine mount stabilizer bushes on my 166 have worn out again. Alfa will only supply the complete unit and
The Spare Place hasn't any stock of the bush.
Has anyone fitted the Powerflex bush ? 

[bazzbazz]

Yes, I use them to replace all the upper mounts in the 156/147/166 series. They work very well and being in 1/2 sections make assembly SOOOO much easier.

[johnl]

My 147 isn't a 166, but I'll bet the engine stay bushes are similar...

The engine end bush of my cars' engine stay sheared through the rubber, so that the inner part of the bush seperated from the outer part. The inner metal crush tube had rubber still vulcanised to it, and so did the outer tube (of course this caused more movement in the bush, but they are prety soft anyway by design).

I 'repaired' this bush by forcing the inner seperated section tightly into a short piece of thick walled steel tube (pushed in using a vice as a press and some rubber grease). This compressed the rubber still attached to the inner tube.

This 'assembly' was then similarly forced into the inside of the outer part of the broken bush. This also compresses the rubber still attached to the outer part of the broken bush (how much depending on how thick the wall in the added tube is). All this compressing of rubber results in a 'repaired' bushing that is significantly radially stiffer than when it was new and unbroken.

Rubber grease works to ease assembly, as I assume would detergent. Sharp edges on metal tubes being forced into rubber will cause problems, so round of sharp edges first.

I also replaced the rubber bush at the chassis end of the engine stay with a teflon lined spherical rod end (as commonly found in racing car suspensions). The rod end was 'male', so fitting it to the stay involved cutting off the original bush by hacksawing the tube, then cutting a suitable internal thread into the stay tube, then inserting the rod end (using a lock nut of course).

The resulting stiffer engine stay means that the engine moves (rocks back and forth) less with acceleration and engine braking. This helps in creating an impression that throttle response is improved. It does transmit a bit more vibration to the chassis, which includes engine sound as well as what you can feel.

Regards,
John.

[johnl]

If the 166 stay bushes are like the 147 stay bushes, then they are more or less designed for early failure. This is because within the rubber there are two deep annular grooves, one on each side of the bush, the intended purpose of which is similar to 'voiding' a bush in order to make it softer (lessen NVH).

The other side of this coin is that the bush rubber is weaker and more prone to early failure, whereby the relatively small amount of rubber that exists between the annular grooves shears through.

Regards,
John.