Given these small, air-cooled diesels’ notorious reputation for excessive vibration, rubber engine mounts are practically a necessity. Fortunately, the Benelli frame has existing rubber foot peg mounting points that I can re-purpose for the rear engine mount. I discovered when I attempted to bolt up the adapter plate I had made that the engine mounting bolts fouled the bosses on the frame. As a result, I had to move the engine back within the frame about an inch.
Looking at the rear mount without the engine installed reveals the original holes toward the front, and the second set I had to add further from the other mounting bolts. It’s all well and good, actually, since I mis-drilled the original holes slightly.
From underneath, you can see the lack of clearance for the original holes, and the original Benelli damper rubbers. While they look somewhat dry-rotted on the exposed edges, the rubber material is still very solid overall.
As for the overly long bolts and mismatched nuts, my excuse is that my local Ace Hardware keeps a disappointingly limited stock of metric fasteners on hand.
With the engine bolted in place, you can see the extra space between the engine and the frame downtube. Thankfully, there is still enough room behind the engine for the jackshaft and drive sprocket — but just barely. I’m now thinking about clearances in terms of millimeters, rather than centimeters.
On the plus side, the flywheel shroud screws will all be removable with the engine in situ, and the oil filler cap in the front is less precariously positioned.