Banzai-Racing's Transmission Crossmember review
 

Transmission Crossmember

Not too many products come along anymore that excite me or I feel like taking the effort to write a quick review on. However, Banzai Racing's transmission cross member brace is worth the time.

My personal FD is decently tame and still extremely streetable, I did not want this to change. After installing my Mazdatrix short shifter(thanks Fritz Flynn), I still was not happy with the shifter movement I had when letting off the gas. I was hesitant to purchase this because the Mazdatrix shifters are known to rattle with any drivetrain vibration and mine was not rattling at this time.

Either way, to keep this short, I ordered and installed the crossmember brace from Banzai and it installed in minutes without issue(I also removed the factory cat and installed a hi-flow cat). Absolutely no new vibrations from my shifter and it eliminated about 90% of the shifter movement I had letting off the throttle.

This is an excellent modification to really help solidify the car. Such a great mod in fact that you pretty much forget it is there and just want to believe Mazda made the car this way.:)

Great product, easy install and makes the FD just that much closer to perfection.

David

^ Cool story bro.....

/\ as much as i hate to say this... It actually works... I blew a tranny & diff after the big power i dynoed... Swapped a JDM tranny & decided to buy this..... So far holding 9700rpm shifts.... which is a suprise to me...

Two thumbs up from me as well. I have one installed on my 20B setup and it works great. No vibrations and smooth shifting. Love the design of the rubber isolator components. Buy it with confidence :)

I was first running Banzai's trans brace ( Transmission Brace ), it worked great no movement & very solid shifts. But it did transfer noise in to the car, great for the track not so great for taking the wife to dinner.
I switched to the cross member (Transmission Crossmember) as soon as it was available. WOW!! Just as solid ( at least to me) with no noise transfer. I am not the best driver in the world but I think this has helped a lot with my shifts and it just feels like more power is going to the wheels.
On the "Best bang for your buck" mod list, Banzai's trans cross member should be near the top.:icon_tup:

They state it clears a 4" exhaust fine. Just wondering how close it really is. My 4" downpipe, to 3.75" pipe is tucked kind of high. Just wondering if anyone had any clearance issues.

And yes, I've been eyeballing this for awhile. Thanks for the info!

Having a brace does make a huge difference, Im using one similar to their previous style with some added rubber washers at all the mounting points and its such an improvement.

David, David & Joe- We are happy to hear that you are enjoying our product, it is always nice to hear positive feedback.

We don't actually state an exhaust diameter. That being said, if you do not have a fitment issue with the stock tunnel brace, then you should not have any issues with exhaust clearance with our Crossmember.

http://www.banzai-racing.com/product...m_install2.JPG

http://www.banzai-racing.com/product...m_install6.JPG

Ah, I thought I read the size pipe supported. Thanks for the correction. :)

Looking at the angle, if definitely looks like I will have no clearance issues.

does someone know the weight of this? don't see it on the website

Shipping weight is 8 lbs.

Its on my banzai order list :)

Performance-wise, sound aside, how does the trans brace compare with the crossmember?

I was a little tight for budget and grabbed the brace rather than the crossmember but it will be a while before the car touches the ground again and I'm curious.

their products are so simple that i tell myself that i can fab that up on my own. then reality kicks in, so here i am with scrolling with my sweet-ass banzai racing mouse pad from ordering it lol

Banzai - any chance we can do a group buy on these and save a few bucks?

Believe it works the same, but the brace transmits noise and vibrations. The crossmember has some really nice anti-vibration mounts to prevent this.

I also have installed the Banzai differential brace which works great as well.

I think Joe sums it up pretty well:


This really is not a good group buy item, we already produce these in 100 pc batches and we have already done all the R&D. We are not trying to line up 10 or ?? individuals to make a new product. Typically group buys are run for low (or No) volume products where a company or individual does not want to absorb the costs of production. The other scenario is a private individual trying to reduce the price enough by buying at a volume from a company to get one for free for themselves.

Running the trans crossmember and love it. Highly recommend it, and Banzai. Probably THE BEST customer service currently in our community based in MY personal experience.

just ordered one yesterday... cannot wait to install :)

Banzai is the best I dealt with so far. Great products and timely shipping.

or a company could temporarily boost product sale by offering a special price. or close out your batch.

say because the price of cold roll steel has gone down. and your sitting on these which were made a few months ago from a higher cost raw material. so get rid of these, negotiate a new price. make a higher margin. ;)

Even in that scenario we would not have any need to offer a "group buy", we would just mark the price down on our site. There is no reason for an individual to have to wait for 10, 15, 20 other individuals to get money together. We have the product on the shelf at an exceeding fair price ready to ship.

Reducing profit margin, just to "boost" sales figures is a good way to put a company out of business.

100% agree with this statement

Banzai has great customer service! I ordered quite a few things from and shipping was fast too.

Fully agree. If only they weren't in Indiana. Top notch business, shop, and rotary specialist. I didn't know you could have all three! :lol:

....and small attention to details.... like sending customers a Christmas card. Seriously! Just to say "thanks for your business." That my friends, combined with great products and service.... is how you build loyalty! Just say'in!

I hope your not trying to get them to move closer to you. I already have to drive almost four hours to get to them.
I think most everyone that has work or ordered from them,wishes they where in the same state as Banzai.:nod:

Very much agree.

I wish I had that kind of influence, but I can't complain with Mr. Kan's garage being <20 minutes from my house. Can't be too greedy with RP like 40 minutes away. Need a great shop in the midwest (where people can't drive for a third of the year). :lol:

We sit down every year after Turkey Day and start signing cards, the fact is we really do appreciate our customers.

Nothing to worry about Joe, we are happy where we are.

i just wanted to post in here that i've also gotten great customer service from Banzai.
Elaine is very fast responding to emails, any tech questions are answered quickly, and they've even gone out of their way for me to expedite shipping after the standard time.

Installed this a couple of weeks ago, great fitment and all, but I was wondering if low speed/rpm bucking back and forth and clunking noise is normal after installing? And/or if it might improve when I change the motor mounts and diff mounts

Other than that, shifting feels very solid and no more 2nd to 5th gear misses :)

Bucking has nothing to do with the product install, take it off and you will see that your engine is still bucking and your trans is bouncing around. If it were a side effect of installation I highly doubt djseven would have started this thread.

If you have broken motor and diff mounts you can't expect one product in the middle of the car to take all the force of your entire drivetrain.

I was just wondering if it might be a side effect when you have old soft OE motor and diff mounts (they are not broken) and then mount this. It never did this before. Don't get me wrong, I love the crossmember and the way it makes shifting feel now, and hadn't it been for this bucking and clunking it would be aces in my book.
I was just curious if this could play a role. Especially since the bucking and clunking noise and the minor back and forth trans movements are "synced" or what to call it.
Nothing is loose suspension wise or anything, and as soon as I come on the throttle and "tighten" the driveline it's gone.

It is a physical impossibility for the crossmember to cause "bucking", you have something worn/ broken or your car is not tuned properly. Most cars that come into my shop with "bucking" issues all have very bad low load drivability tuning. If you have a clunking then you have a mechanical issue, most "clunking" is worn bushings or pillow balls. Other clunking has been associated with cracked/broken PPFs. Most people have no idea they are driving around on a broken driver's side motor mount and that the only thing holding it together is a thin metal band.

Like I said take the crossmember off and whatever is causing the problem will be much worse. While you are under there use a prybar and lift up on your driver's side mount to see if has ripped apart from the bracket.

I install this crossmember on cars with good condition OEM motor and diff mounts every week, there has not been a single issue. This means that you have something else wrong that needs to be fixed.

I'm doing some investigations now, but I just had to ask, since the noise has not been there before I mounted the crossmember :) And I find it a bit strange since it happens with no throttle.
Anyhow, great product and your customer service and product fitment is something every vendor should look up to :)

The rotary does not produce enough torque to drive around with no throttle applied, it is not a Honda. I just had to have this conversation with an FC owner the other day, he was complaining that the car would stall when he let the clutch out, come to find out he was not touching the throttle, because he didn't need to on his daily driver Honda.

haha thats funny

I have only ordered from them once but I got what I ordered in a couple days and their customer service was top notch. Very few company's have that level of service anymore. I will order from them again. Thanks Banzai.

really? :scratch: i guess my idle must of been a little higher than normal because my car would go if i let out the clutch slowly until all the way out. Interesting

but hey get back to the topic on hand guys... my christmas gift to myself..... to bad it cant come fast enough lol

installed last week, very pleased it cleared my 4" exhaust (just barely!)

well done Banzai

Spend the day at the track Sunday, driving very hard all day never missed a shift. Trans stayed still and no extra noise. Its funny that when you have a helmet you hear noises you normally don't hear, gear noise was not one.

At the risk of raising the ire of Chris at Banzai, again, I wanted to share something I did with my Banzai cross member. If you have a 4" exhaust, solid motor mounts, or don't mind a few squeaks and rattles, or are perfectly happy with your Banzai Crossmember you can stop reading now. The info in this thread will be of no value to you.

First and foremost the crossmember fits and functions great. It's easy to install and does exactly what it's supposed to do, limit transmission movement. No complaints in those departments. No complaints at all really.

I am however extremely picky about Noise, Vibration, and Harshness in my cars. I cant stand rattles, clanks, pops, droning, squeaks etc...etc.... I run a CAT full time and the quietest exhaust I could find that flowed well. I have sampled three different types of motor mounts (all poly) and went back to stock because I didn't like the vibes and additional noise however slight above stock. I am probably in the minority here but I like what I like.
In an effort to reduce my perceived level of NVH when I reinstalled the motor and tranny in my car I started looking for an alternative to the poly mount supplied in the Banzai kit. Having rubber motor and tranny mounts seemed like a good idea. I thought I had seen a similar mount in my previous life as a drag racer and it turned out I was right. After being warned not to run solid motor and tranny mounts in my Camaro for fear of breaking a tranny case I ran an over the counter rubber tranny mount based on a Chevy Truck configuration. Turns out it matches the Banzai mount. Armed with that knowledge I swapped out the supplied mount with the rubber one to see what happened.

The fit was spot on and everything bolted up just like before. Initial reviews are that my perceived levels of NVH have reduced. It's not a huge difference but I noticed. Less noise and most of the tranny movement eliminated is a win in my mind.

I'm not encouraging anyone to copy what I've done just sharing some info. If your Banzai crossmember makes you my hats off to you. If you want to give this a try It'll cost you no more than $10 and 30 mins time.

YMMV,

David

Disclaimer: The rubber mount is an inferior mount from a performance stand point as Chris will point out if you ask him. He will also point out the rubber mount does not have any shear protection as the poly mount does. He's correct on both counts.

It looks like this will be another product that I will be purchasing from Banzai.

<track>7,

Do you have a part number for the "over the counter rubber tranny mount based on a Chevy Truck configuration"? I'd like to try running a rubber damper with my Bonzai brace as well and would like
to make sure I get the correct part, etc. :)

Cheers,

Demia

Autozone PN is 2378.

$8

Awesome! Thanks for the part number.

Cheers,

Demia

I have this on my FD by itself as a tranny mount. I have a 8.8 rear end and dont have a crossmember anymore. I leave the line at about 7500rpm and 18psi of boost and 25~27 psi on a 75mm turbo after that shifts very good.

Bumping up an old thread, but this seemed like the place to post this...

I just installed a Banzai trans mount, and there definitely is an increased amount of transmitted gear noise into the cabin on hard acceleration and some vibration. I don't know if my gearbox is louder than it should be since I don't have anything to compare it to, but the noise is louder than before the brace.

On the plus side, the brace fit well and it seems to have reduced the tendency of my short shifter to rattle under the same hard accell driving. I also like that the PPF has an extra layer of support.

I think I will try out the GM trans mount that is identified in the earlier post and see if that helps.

Update with Autozone rubber mount
 

Following up on this some more;

I replaced the original poly mount with the Autozone 2378 rubber mount recommended by <track>7, this noticeably improved NVH.

Compared to how it was before adding the Banzai-Racing trans mount there is still some added vibration, mostly noticed at idle with the AC on and at engine speeds above 6,000RPM but it is minimal. Most importantly, the raw gear whine at WOT that was being transmitted through the poly mount is almost completely gone.

I think this setup of the Banzai-Racing trans mount bracket and replacement rubber mount is probably the best compromise for increased driveline stiffness and NVH. The poly mount is surely better from a stiffness point of view, but the NVH trade-off was too severe for me.

On the Autozone mount: It was not a 100% bolt in, the mounting points for the upper side were too close together to work with the Banzai-Racing bracket and the mount needed to be notched for the bolts to fit through. Normally I would never do this as it likely compromises the rubber mount strength somewhat, but since the Banzai-Racing mount is just an addition to an existing system that does not necessarily require the extra bracket I rationalized it - for me, the alternative was removing the Banzai-Racing trans bracket and even with the notched replacement rubber mount there is still a very noticeable improvement in shifter stability (and, likely, reduced stress on the PPF).

So my vote on the Banzai-Racing trans brace/mount (with replacement rubber mount): :icon_tup:

I have the brace installed in my car and it made the shifter and transmission shake (less). It feels more sturdy unit. I like it and i would recomend it. If you have bucking issues its not the brace.
Thanks Banzai..