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Motor Mount question

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 2:07 am
by FIMotorMX-3
I have to either replace or repair my front tranny/motor mount. I have priced out the K8 mount at both mazda and autozone. 102 at mazda and 90 at autozone. I know you guys have been filling them with urethane but will that work for a mount that is almost completely ripped if not totally ripped. I'm not sure because I haven't inspected it in a while but I think it's pretty much shot. I can also go out to a cash and carry junk yard and try to source one out from another car. If so, which cars can I look into for that mount. I think I've seen people saying that a mount from a probe might work too? what about escorts? The car is a gs but I'm running a ze engine. I'm just trying every possible route because It's hard to find a reasonably priced mount, i'm not sure if filling the mount will work due to it's condition and finding an mx3 gs in a junkyard can be like finding a needle in a hay stack sometimes. Thanks for your help everyone.

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 2:19 am
by hgallegos915
hmmm I too have been curious about filling them. Cory a guy from here is trading them to me for a klde ecy and vaf... I would suggest autozone.. never go to dealers... also well theres places online where you can get them for less or same price but better. Junk yards well make sure they are soft. So far you can basically say I replaced all mounts.. front... top tranny, lower tranny...passenger side.. When the front mount is bad..your shifter whiggles whel rapidly press and release gas alot of times..it was wuite fun but bad for car lol

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 3:14 am
by PATDIESEL
Check the rear tranny mount. It is most likely worn out too. Buy the AutoZone one and fill it. You get the liquid urethane from MCMasters.com, 80A works very well. (you'll know what I mean by 80A when you see the page, but basically it is the hardness of the urethane after it dries)
I doubt Probe mounts will work, but if you find one for free or super cheap try it and post back to us. If so it would help b/c RR Racing has urethane inserts for the front and rear mounts. It would eliminate the need to fill them ourselves.

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 8:31 am
by lakersfan1
You cannot fill a busted mount. It'll eventually tear again. Get a new mount and fill it partially. Filling a mount all the way is too harsh a ride IMO. And a cheaper alternative to the McMaster urethane is go to Home Depot's paint section and find the caulk. Find 'PL' brand caulk and find the black urethane caulk for roofing. It sets in half the time of the McMaster stuff and you don't need to mix anything. It's thick enough you can even fill them right on the car and just push it in all the way with your finger.

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 12:44 pm
by hgallegos915
woah thanks lakersfan! I was all wondering where i could find an algternative :D

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 3:56 pm
by Gro Harlem
yeah, trash that mount & get another.

awr motorsports sells a urethane front mount that is beefy as hell.

it fits, but you have to drill slightly larger holes for its studs in your x-member, but otherwise it is a direct-fit.

Its also cheaper than buying one of those 100+ dollar POS oem replacements. I thijnk its like 80-90 shipped or so

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 4:36 pm
by lakersfan1
My front MX3 mount was torn this morning when I took the crossmember out to fill my mounts. They didn't have any more MX3's at the yard this time, so I was forced to pull a Probe front mount. It looks to have the same dimensions except the two down bolts are 17mm instead of 12mm, so Gro's assesment seems right for the AWR mounts. I'll have to break out the titanium drill bit and bore it out.

I had to replace my 626's front mount last month too. Why do I only break front mounts on the Mazdas? Is this the mount that gets the most abuse from acceleration?

Posted: August 28th, 2005, 9:40 pm
by Rick Johnson
When I did my swap a couple months ago, I noticed my front mount was busted, I could completely remove the metal bushing from the rubber... I went to the junkyard and my parts mx-3 was gone... so I really had no choice.

Anyhow, I filled all my mounts with a fairly soft urethane - 40A grade. Everyone uses 60A or 80A. 2 reasons; It was all I could get quickly and after feeling a thick sample of it about 1" thick I figured it would probably be just about right because the thicker urethane is the stiffer and our mounts are pretty wide.

Image

Image

And you can kinda see in the last pic I wired the broken mount so the bushing stayed in place..

So far so good, no wheelhop <except for super hard launches across a rutted road>, and the mount is still intact... Just make sure you degrease it and rough up the rubber so it will bond. I actually drilled some small holes to get some urethane in to help the bonding...

:werd:

Posted: August 29th, 2005, 10:16 pm
by FIMotorMX-3
Awesome info guys, thanks alot. Nice pics Rick. I'm going to check out gro's suggestion and see about the awr mount for the front. I'm sure i'll have to replace the rear crossmember mount as well just cause the engine has jumped around so much on hard launches and shifts that I'm pretty sure that is busted too. haven't had time to crawl under and inspect but I think just from the way it responds under acceleration I'm going to need atleast two. I'm pretty sure the sides are ok. Where did the mazdaspeed mounts go? They haven't been on corksport for a while. are they discontinued? or just too hard to get?

Posted: August 30th, 2005, 2:39 am
by PATDIESEL
The set I ordered, MS mounts, took about 3 months to get from CS. Filling them will be cheaper and just as easy. The rear is most likely broken also if you are having trouble shifting while running it hard. Also, Yes the front takes the most abuse, secondly the rear and the sides don't do too much so they are probably ok.

Posted: August 30th, 2005, 8:01 pm
by Slammed6
i filled all my mounts with the "PL polyurethane roofing sealant" The engine is nice and tight and there is no vinraation in the cab. Also as a front mount i upgraded to a Probe/Mx-6 front mount with a RR-Racing insert.

The only reason y i changed the front mount is cause i broke a stud on my OEM front mount.

Other than that, fill ur mounts and you will save money and you will be happier.

Posted: August 30th, 2005, 10:22 pm
by FIMotorMX-3
Yeah, I think once I have some money in the bank account by the end of the week, I'm going to try and get that awr mount for the front. Then I'm just going to fill the rest. Hopefully the rear mount isn't in too bad of shape cause I really don't wanna have to buy that one too. And once I find out exactly what's going on with Saturday, I'll send you an email Pat. I'm still interested in going up there to Roebling. Just had the car out at Statesboro tonight and the pulleys and everything seem to be working out well. Car's running good except for the engine flopping around.

Posted: August 31st, 2005, 10:00 am
by bigtime
would you be better off getting the mazdaspeed ones from corksport ?
Do them all while you are at it ?
They are $300 for all from corksport I think ?
By the time you buy 1 and then the urethane.....
what do you guys think ?

Posted: September 1st, 2005, 7:08 pm
by FIMotorMX-3
Well, I would love to spend three hundred on my car right now but until I get out of college in three months and get my real job back, I can't afford to spend that much money on parts when I have rent and other bills to worry about. The awr mount for the probe is 81.99 and I have the tools to do make the adjustments for the larger bolt holes, so that's not a problem, and if I can get by with just that, I will. Once I get out of school it's another story. I wish I could afford mazdaspeed right now, but the mounts are broken, and I need a quick fix. I've heard a consistent three months to receive the MS mounts and last time I was on Corksport's site, I didn't even see them listed anymore.

Posted: September 1st, 2005, 8:24 pm
by lakersfan1
FYI, I used a 3/4" drill bit. Seemed to be the right size for the Probe mount right off the bat.