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Stay rod

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hloomis_7_1_1

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I got conflicting answers on another forum concerning the stay rod, so here again is the question I posted there. I have a 1974 GT and a 1973 GT parts car that do not have stay rods, the 73 parts car had an upper and lower bracket mounted on the trans. mount the 74 did not neither had any type of rod attached from the bell housing to the crossmember so do I need a rod and do I need the extra bracket that the 73 has?
 
Look at the diagram below....it shows the later stay rod setups....that setup is for 1974-1/2 and later....between 1967 & then, there were no stay rods....so, your cars didn't have stay rods from the factory.

However, both your cars should have the upper & lower brackets if you're talking about parts #5 & 6 in the diagram.

Your car could be retrofitted with a stay rod if you want....its purpose, supposedly, was to keep the engine from moving rearward in a head-on collision.

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What makes you think you'll only get one answer here? LOL

If you mean the engine restraint rod as listed as Moss part # 413-135 you only "need" it if your GT s/n is 341730 or above.
Parts picture only shows one central rod and shows it applicable from 1968-1980 for both B and BGT. Different rod used on earlier non-synchro cars and this rod is centrally mounted from back of engine to gearbox mount. Any other brackets and rods are probably either aftermarket or applicable to RHD.
Tony, appears to be a similar rod just of different style for synchro trans cars.
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An easy way to tell if your transmission crossmembers ever had a stay rod attached is if they have the mount for one....the diagram I posted shows it in dotted lines....the 2nd diagram posted by MGZT260 shows both types of transmission cross members - later with stay rod bracket (bottom member) and early without stayrod bracket (top member) that accepted 1962-1967 type stay rods.
 
Tony, yes #5 and #6 were the pieces on the 73 but not with my 74 and neither crossmember have the mounted bracket on the front but my 74 did have the bracket mounted to the bell housing and a piece of the rod still attached to the bolt. The crossmember on my 74 looks to have been replaced at some time because it did not have much grease or rust and was shiny black. I'm not going to worry about replacing the rod or put #5 and #6 in my car if they are not really needed. This is what was conflicting on the other forum do I need them or not?
 
IMO, you don't need them...like I said, the only reason they were put on the cars was to stop the engine from moving rearward in an accident (though I don't know what the stayrod could do to prevent that).

Without knowing the history of the car, I don't know if the engine's been changed out.....whether it had a stayrod & everything was removed when the bushings wore out, etc.

But, the portion on the transmission crossmember to which the stayrod attaches was welded to the crossmember. So, if your crossmembers don't have the stayrod bracket, that crossmember never had a stayrod.

How are the bushings attached to the transmission & its crossmember without #'s 5 & 6?
 
Previous owner one of three prior to me had the engine and trans out I suspect because it was just to clean also rods have been scribed 1-4. I have new mounts for the trans and purchased bushings for that bracket.
 
Wait awhile & somebody will come on with opposite or different opinions....after all, the BCF is fair & balanced...hehehe
 
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