[Guest]

I'm wondering if there are any polyurethane motor mount inserts for this car. Rather than making one myself and going through that mess, I was hoping someone had developed them.

And if no one has developed them, would people on here be interested in having them be developed? They would be kind of like this: http://home.comcast.net/~kirkosaurus2/MR2_urethane_inserts.html

I had a set on my MR2 and they were fantastic. Some of you may feel that it would be too stiff, but they definitely would hold up better than the factory mounts.

These mounts would be for the front and rear mounts. These 2 mounts are the ones that take most of the abuse as they are the ones that take all the torque.

As far as any problems with these mounts like people being upset about the increase in vibration, the increase is really only at idle. Aside from that, every other feel is pretty good. Using the Shore A scale, it would be 50-60A. That's enough to make strengthen up the original mount and not make your panels vibrate off.

 

[Eli]

I'm all for it. Especially the problematic rear engine mount. It seriously needs to be beefed up.

 

[Willie Williford]

There are threee mounts, front, rear, and transmission. I believe the rear one takes most of the punishment. I haven't heard of the front or trans one going out.
Correct me if i'm wrong.

Willie

 

[Eli]

That is correct Willie.

 

[Guest]

That's actually what's going on with me right now. My rear one is out and I plan on buffing it up.

There are 2 ways this can be done. I take a new one, make a mold, and make inserts that work with good mounts. Or I can refurb bad mounts and make them good. I'll probably go the first route. I've been looking online for being doing poly mounts on this car, but there hasn't been much activity.

I'm glad to see people are interested. If I can get at least 10 people wanting to buy them, I'll see if I can get some sourced. They will probably be 50-75 per mount. I'll make the rear mount first, and if people want the others, I can do them by how popular they are.

Be aware though, by replacing ALL of your mounts with poly mounts, a Lot of vibration gets transferred in. By doing one at 60A, it's not very noticeable. Doing one at 100A and yeah, you start feeling the rumble. Doing 4 at 100A and it you may as well be driving on a very high powered lawn motor by the amount of vibration that transfers in.

Some questions for people though. How much would you like to be spending, would you want inserts, or would you want full mounts? I can source inserts as well as full mounts. Obviously a full mount would cost a lot more, but they tend to perform better overall. Inserts are great because they get the job done, they last for a long while, and usually when it comes time to change them out, they go and not the mount.

 

[JoelR]

Count me in. I've been looking at refreshing the various rubber mounts but haven't found much besides OEM to do so. I've thought about buying a complete set of rubber bits from a junk yard & sending the whole set to someone like Energy Suspension to see what they can match up from their inventory.

Regarding your questions, I'm willing to spend up to $200 on engine mounts if they work well, have a nice balance between firmness, durability & vibration isolation. I'd sacrifice some isolation to cure the "engine mounted on bungee cords" feeling but I don't want to hard mount the thing either. I don't care if they're inserts or full mounts. To be clear, is an insert the same as a full mount that you have to assemble yourself using your old mount & a press or something?

Joel

 

[Guest]

It's funny you mentioned Energy Suspension. At first I was going to ask them to make me mounts, but I quickly remembered how rough their mounts are. They use the hardest rubber possible and it makes for a very uncomfortable ride.

In regards to durability, I really have no idea. What I plan to do is buy a new mount, make inserts with the teeth and everything, make Molds of those, then start handing those out for testing. I'm only concerned in terms of liability of something happens with them.

An insert is basically something you add onto an original mount. A full mount is a mount that's filled completely and sold like that. With the inserts, it's really easy. You have the 2 halves of the insert and your original mount. You take both pieces and push them in with your hands, they push into place like a 3D puzzle piece and you're done. put it back in the car, done deal.

One thing I've been wondering about is what to do in terms of the design. Currently how it works is the mount is attached in 2 places and has a bouncy bit at the top to allow for flex. Because it's only attached at 2 points, this causes premature failure, compared to the other mounts. It makes for a nice ride without having to go for the expensive hydraulic mounts, but again, durability isn't there. I'm wondering if I should leave that bit in there or just make it a complete seal. If it's a complete seal, it wouldn't break like the old one, but it would make the ride rougher. I don't know by how much rougher, but it's going to be better than a broken mount, but worse than a new mount.

I'm trying right now to source a new mount and a bad mount. I'm waiting until I get some money for a new mount to make the fancy inserts. If I had a bad mount, I want to test filling it solid and seeing how that would go. I'm wondering how to handle the bulge on it without overfilling it. I would need to see it in person to really figure it out.

 

[vmirjamali]

I'm in, I need some for mine badly, my car shakes like mad in first which is due to a bad mounts :|

 

[Guest]

I'm in, I need some for mine badly, my car shakes like mad in first which is due to a bad mounts :|

New mounts would almost eliminate all clutch chatter as well. Especially clutch chatter when in reverse.

 

[vmirjamali]

Haha tell me about it, my insight suffers from that plus an idle vibration, plus some other random ones. Just wondering though, is there an advantage to inserts vs the full mounts?

 

[Guest]

Haha tell me about it, my insight suffers from that plus an idle vibration, plus some other random ones. Just wondering though, is there an advantage to inserts vs the full mounts?

1 Less step for an install.

If your mount was so bad that it's just a loose hole, then you would need to piece together enough of it to make the insert work. If it's so bad that the insert can't grip against it, then you would need a full mount. This is why I want to go inserts because they would be considerably cheaper and be just as effective.

Hey Eli, how are your mounts? You seem to be the Insight guinea pig.

 

[N2oExpresS2k]

How about just filling the mount with 3M Window Weld? I have a new tube in my toolbox just for that rear mount. It's amazing that Honda would only give this car 1 torque mount...

 

[Eli]

Mount on Insight #1 has been toast for the last 50,000 miles. I've got floppy engine syndrome to the max.

I do have a new one, just haven't had a chance to install it....... I could try to get around to it in the next month or so, and send you my old one? I know that's a long time, but I have too much on my plate right now.

The mount in Insight #2 must be fairly new. It is intact, though starting to show signs of fatigue.

 

[Guest]

How about just filling the mount with 3M Window Weld? I have a new tube in my toolbox just for that rear mount. It's amazing that Honda would only give this car 1 torque mount...

It's not filling it that's the problem. It's letting it properly cure. If you filled it and let it sufficiently dry, then it would work as a temp fix for about 5K miles and not much more than that. If you take it out of the car, youc ould really fill it, and as long as you make sure it doesn't bubble or anything, then that would work as well. It's just messy.

 

[jdstew]

I'm hoping you post a picture or two of your endeavor...

 

[Eli]

I used to make RTV rubber molds for a company I worked for. We used these large end table sized 1/2" thick steel enclosures with lid, hooked up to a vacuum pump to get the air out of the molds so they would cure properly.

Wouldn't need anything too heavy duty for small batches of engine mounts. I think I saw some vacuum pumps at the surplus store last time I was there. Maybe I'll pick one up if they're cheap, and that is the most important aspect of pouring your own engine mount? Then I would just need a small vacuum chamber... Hmm.

 

[Hugh-Falls]

Vacuum Pump

The frozen food vacuum pouches and pump system may be adequate for small parts like a motor mount. At the local food market the battery operated vacuum pumps were on sale recently for less than $10.00. They probably hope to make up for the low pump cost on the vacuum food bags they will sell to you. Also, there are more costly systems that use a bag sealer and a 120v pump.

If it doesn't work out for making the various mounts, you can always use it for your frozen food preparation.

 

[Eli]

Hugh, that is genius!

I actually have a Food Saver. Just would need a container big enough to fit the engine mount in,and a way to hook the container to the Food Saver's auxiliary port. Hmmm....

 

[Guest]

That's pretty clever using the food saver to remove bubbles. My method of removing bubbles was pouring it very well and letting the bubbles rise to the surface (which typically happens naturally). To me the most important part is letting it cure. Using it any time before that drastically shortens its life.

 

[Eli]

I don't think cure time is that big of a deal. If you HAVE to wait 3-4 days minimum, just give idiot proof instructions of "Do not even think about touching it for 7 days!". lol

It would really be pretty easy to pour a solid piece for the rear engine mount, I think. Just need a piece of steel plate, the bushing that goes through the center of the mount, a nut/bolt.. and the empty engine mount shell itself.

One solid plate on the bottom, bushing in center, perforated plate on top. Bolt through it, fill it up, vacuum chamber it, adjust level as necessary, and let it cure. Then just undo the bolt, and pop the end plates off?

Hell, I'll do it with the 3M stuff... lol