G'day,
Once I get my steering rack sorted and bolted back in, I'm going to re-fit the front and rear subframes and then put the motor back in. I have a question about whether or not I can put the motor in with the engine steady already bolted to the firewall or will it get in the way? Car is a 1963 850.

The re-assembly process I'm thinking of doing is:
1/. I've assembled the front subframe with upper and lower control arms in place. I've got the hubs and drive shafts all assembled and will put these in after the subframe is bolted up and I'll leave the top ball joint disconnected at this stage to allow the hub to move out from the top to allow a bit more clearance for the yolks on the end of the driveshafts to the diff end joints when I put the motor in.
2/. Once I install the hubs, I'm going to connect the flexible brake lines to the fittings on the front subframe. Driver's side where the brake switch is and the passenger side where the metal pipe goes that runs across the front of the subframe. When I pulled the motor out, these fittings where near impossible to get to so I thought I'd reconnect these before the motor goes back in.
3/. Next I was going to install the brake and clutch master cyls and connect up all the brake lines and bleed the brakes. The clutch lines would be connected but the slave cyl would not be on the motor but tied up out of the way. My thinking here is that by bleeding the brakes, I'll be able to make sure there's no leaks anywhere in the connections on the front subframe. Clutch would be bleed once the motor's in and slave cyl bolted up.
4/. If I do this though, I'll have to have the engine steady in place as the bracket that holds this goes under the master cyls.

If I rotate the engine steady so that it sits with the end that goes onto the motor pointing towards the driver's side mudguard as much as possible (not sure how far it will go as it will most likely foul against the brake line T piece), will I be able to slip the motor in or will the steady be in the way?

When I pulled the motor out, I had already removed the master cyls, bracket and steady so it wasn't an issue then.
All my workshop manuals only cover engine and subframe removal as a combined unit.

As for the motor itself, it's the complete unit with radiator in place, extractors and inlet manifold bolted on, distributor housing and starter motor in place.
Carby, distributor cap and alternator are not on it. This is the same setup as when i pulled it out.

Thanks Rocky

You've kept the thick centre, double ended bolt that goes through the steady rubber haven't you... It makes life a lot easier if you replace that with a sleeve and a bolt, when you do that you just take the bolt out and pull the steady off..

You probably can get the motor past the steady with it installed but it'll just take a bit more wiggling

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Thanks Simon. Yes - I was going to use the original double ended bolt which means that the steady would be in place.

Didn't think of using a bolt instead - thanks for the tip and that will solve any problems. I've spent hours taking the engine bay back to bare metal and then painting it so trying to minimise risk of damage when I drop the motor in.

Cheers, Rocky

When you fit the steady bar, face the 'C' shape towards the radiator, this lets you push the bar a bit further out of the way during engine removal or refit.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Hey Doc, not sure I'm understanding you correctly.

If I fit the steady and hinge it towards the radiator end, won't it foul against the extractors when I try to position it on the motor?

I've attached a pic of the type of steady I've got. This was taken before I pulled the motor out.

Rocky

Ah that's the early straight one. Later ones have a C shaped stress raiser in the middle, designed to break in a collision.
Ignore my post above unless you want to change it.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.