Replacing motor mounts?!

The_Great_Tonge · Post by **The_Great_Tonge** » January 3rd, 2005, 12:33 pm

How hard is it, what should i get to replace them, is it something i can do by myself or do i need an engine lift. these are the questions im askin, if someone could lend some info and point in the area where i could buy some good motor mounts let me know cause my engine about to hop outta my damn car!

LongJohn · Post by **LongJohn** » January 3rd, 2005, 1:12 pm

There were some previous posts regarding this that should show up with a search. You have some choices. First off, are your current mounts broken? Are you just wanting to replace them or do you have a problem you are trying to fix?

The standard mounts are a bit soft. There was a post here somewhere about filling them with urethane, and another post about making them with hockey pucks and urethane.

If you put the engine on a lift you can take the mounts off and replace them reasonably easily, but make sure you put something underneath the engine in case the lift fails.

The_Great_Tonge · Post by **The_Great_Tonge** » January 4th, 2005, 1:01 pm

I need to know where i can get a pair and what kind to get, my motor mounts are cracked/broken. i have an aftermakret clutch so the new motor mounts need to be able to take some abuse because of the jerkin....help!!

LongJohn · Post by **LongJohn** » January 4th, 2005, 8:12 pm

If it is just the rubber that is cracked/broken, I would suggest filling them. Someone posted here in another thread where to buy some urethane. They also showed how to use some old CDs to make the mould for the fill.

The standard mounts are quieter, but they are suseptible to wheel hop which will quickly wreck your tranny.

I just reused my old ones when I swapped in my BP, but I'm not trying to launch off the line -- it is my daily driver, so quiet is good. Mine were still in good shape though.

I think it cost around $30 in material to fill all of the mounts, and that is a lot cheaper than trying to replace them.

tw1st3d_cl0wn · Post by **tw1st3d_cl0wn** » January 5th, 2005, 9:02 am

LongJohn, when you say they are suseptible to wheel hop, what exactly does that mean? I don't know too much about cars, but recently had engine mounts replaced, and was wondering what you meant. Thanks!

LongJohn · Post by **LongJohn** » January 5th, 2005, 12:54 pm

I don't have much personal experience with wheel hop, but I've seen this posted many times on this forum.

With wheel hop, the torque from the engine is applied to the wheel, but it also causes the engine to twist a bit in the mounts. When the torque exceeds the traction, the tire spins and the engine unwinds back towards its normal position and the tire gains traction again. This process repeats itself, and the forces at work hammer the insides of your tranny like an impact hammer.

The reason this is called wheel "hop" is because when the wheel first torques, the suspension loads up, and when the tire lets go the suspension also lets go, and this produces an up-and-down motion of the wheel which adds to the grip-then-let-go cycle the tire goes through.

Its actually a pretty complex feedback loop, but stiff motor mounts help a lot to eliminate it.

I didn't mean to imply that the MX-3 has a worse problem than other cars. I have seen many people post that in particular with a BP and a high-performance clutch they have required stiffer motor mounts to prevent wheel hop.

tw1st3d_cl0wn · Post by **tw1st3d_cl0wn** » January 5th, 2005, 1:35 pm

Thanks LongJohn. Learned something new. Just wanted to know incase it ever happened to me.