Engine mounts
Photos of the engine and transmission mounts taken right after the engine was removed.
The tubes running forward are anchored at the upper suspension pickups.
These are photos of the engine mounts after they’d been cleaned up.
This is the full structure as removed from the engine compartment.
These are the separated components. The left hand mount and the cross-compartment lower brace (top) have been nicely fabricated from structural tubing with nickle-bronze welding. The right hand mount and the fore/aft stabilizer rods were made from solid steel rod and arc-welded.
The right hand mount incorporates parts of an earlier mount made using the same materials and techniques as the left hand mount. Was it accident damage repair? Was the engine inadequately stabilized in the fore/aft direction? Could the original right hand mount have fractured?
2/5/17: A recent discovery by Jim Goodman appears in an article from “Lotus The Creative Edge, Russell Hayes, Haynes Classic Makes Series, 2007”
“After experimenting with a tuned Ford Consul engine in an Elite, Chapman initially opted to design a bespoke, twin-overhead camshaft cylinder head for the 997cc Ford 105E block.”
This may explain the two iterations of engine mounts.
Steering shaft
The steering was modified to clear the TC engine mounts.
Triple-jointed steering linkage with a mid-shaft support.
Transmission mount
Transmission support, exhaust pipe, and mouse nests.
The transmission support after some preliminary cleaning.