So today I got down to changing the transmission mounts – from the nightmare I had with my 77 and overdrive install I wasn’t looking forward to this.

I ended up removing the exhaust to make access easier and managed to get the cross member out quite quickly. Didn’t have to remove any bolts from the transmission, Doh!

I assembled the new mounts quite quickly and as this was not a OD transmission the bolts are much easier to access. I bolted in the new mounts and made them tight and also got one bolt into the Y piece but not the other. I am wondering if the Y piece got a little bent or twist at some point but since most people think this piece is unnecessary I didn’t worry too much.

I used my floor jack to keep the transmission in place and got the cross member bolted up slightly at the edges and then worked on the 4 bolts into the transmission. This wasn’t too bad but the rear ones were easier than the front ones. With some tries and re-tries I got all of these in and was able to snug these up. I then tightened the main cross member bolts and everything seemed fine. I tried a few more times to get a bolt into the other side of the Y piece but it just wouldn’t go so I really did give up at this point.

Putting the exhaust back went OK but I had a few issues because the centre section seemed to be touching the underside of the car. I tried making some adjustments and things seem to be OK. It was Ok enough to attempt a test drive and to check for oil again. I only did a short test drive and things didn’t seem too bad but after a return to the garage I could see a little oil. Getting back under the car I started looking for oil leaks and it does seem as though the oil really is coming from the rear tappet cover. There was clearly some oil on the under side of the seal. I guess checking while things were warm was the way to go but at least I found the transmission mount problem as well. Next step will be to get back in and look for the tappet cover leak.