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Finished up a 5th gear synchro, and clutch/flywheel replacement from a few weeks ago, surprisingly everything went well, no extra bolts left over! Filled up with MotorCraft XT-M5-QS trans fluid!
After being off jack stands for a bit, next task is to replace motor mounts, oil pan, and fit a brace. I purchased earlier (before doing much research) two sets of mounts:
IRP with the add-on steel drivers arm
Elite Rotary puck style with billet arms.
Now that I'm ready to install, I'm searching the forums for motor mount opinions, according to many threads such as:
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/best-motor-mounts-1148668/
The Elite mounts are not viewed very favorably: "...buy a different set from literally anywhere else." The thread above mentions the Elite Motor mounts were the 'old style' (maybe mine is new style?)
Looking at my Elite mounts with blue billet arms, they don't look too bad, actually they remind me of FFE billet motor mounts - which had I searched previously would've picked up instead.
Question: are the elites that bad, don't even give them a try? What about retaining the Elite billet arms, but using the IRP mounts? IRPs are taller by 2mm. I understand it's possible that 'motor mounts and arms designed as a system, no interchange between vendors recommended.'
Probably an 'its up to you / goals for the car'. In that case, the bar is low, just want to replace stock mounts; so to answer my question, go with anything. Heh, I could delete this post now before it's been submitted, but for possible benefit of forum discourse, any other thoughts out there? Thanks!
-Ed
Garage Alpha subframe collars already ordered, should be in this week - recently read they may help aligning subframe.(?) Banzai diff brace and trans cross member installed with clutch job.
Himni or banzai mounts are your options. Theres not much more to discuss that hasn't been already. Everyone has a preference and some want their pure blooded sports car to drive and be as comfortable as a luxury sedan. So yea lol its up to you. Just don't spend an obscene amount of money on stock mounts 😑😑
Sounds like you’ve already made some choices. Otherwise I’d suggest looking at the different designs and materials used.
I’m proudly in the luxury sedan category when it comes to needlessly adding NVH from the drivetrain. FFE and previously Noltec…and probably others, isolated the engine but still controlled movement better than OEM.
Noltecs for reference….
edit: since you’re installing a pan brace, consider having the steel arms milled 3/16” to compensate for the brace’s thickness.
I just got a set of steel arms, and bought these off Yahoo. MazdaSpeed FC mounts machined to fit the FD.
Seems to be legit, as the rubber has FBY1 moulded to them (MS mount part no). ヤフオク! - 流用 RX-7(FD3S)用 後期 強化エンジンマウント ... (yahoo.co.jp)
Seems to be the same as the caps lock aussie offers, but slightly cheaper (wonder why, lol).
Haven't tried them out yet, but I am confident it's not the worst option out there.
I just got a set of steel arms, and bought these off Yahoo. MazdaSpeed FC mounts machined to fit the FD.
Seems to be legit, as the rubber has FBY1 moulded to them (MS mount part no). ヤフオク! - 流用 RX-7(FD3S)用 後期 強化エンジンマウント ... (yahoo.co.jp)
Seems to be the same as the caps lock aussie offers, but slightly cheaper (wonder why, lol).
Haven't tried them out yet, but I am confident it's not the worst option out there.
Did you buy directly on yahoo or using a shipping agent?
A few years ago I bought Banzai Racing's "street" motor mounts. They have been on the car for some time and I am very happy with them. Vibration is minimal and they have held up perfectly after a full season of autocross.
Too much vibration and interior rattling for me for anything else but brand new stock mounts. It drives me nuts. I do drive and own a lot of newer cars though, so even the stock FD mounts vibrate a lot compared to how smooth and isolated newer cars can be.
Hardened motor mounts on anything other than a pure track car seems like a bad tradeoff to me. Are fresh stock mounts that bad? Why add NVH for so little benefit?
Hardened motor mounts on anything other than a pure track car seems like a bad tradeoff to me. Are fresh stock mounts that bad? Why add NVH for so little benefit?
maybe drag yes, in a road racing car you actually want the vibrations isolated. this one time we put solid mounts in the honda, and when it got over 5000rpm the driver couldn't see and then the gas tank fell out....
I put the Banzai street mounts on my FD too. It's not bad at all. I've been in a couple FDs that'll knock your fillings out when you run over a bot dot. I'm in the Bay Area though, and there are plenty of people Hella Flush-ing their car's drivability down the toilet. How much 'Racecar' do you want out of your FD? If you plan on street driving, you probably want to steer clear of super hard motor mounts..
FYI: The numbers for the mount's hardness are similar to skateboard wheels. The higher the number, the harder the polyurethane.
I'm happy with the new(ish) OEM mounts on my FD. Like mentioned by others, I'm not sure of the benefit to changing to a harder mount for a street car. But I'm also very averse to anything that increases NHV harshness too.
Our mounts are design sit the motor in the correct position with the stock arms (steel or aluminum) and oil oil pan brace. While it may be possible to swap in the puck portion from another vendor, I cannot guarantee it will work correctly. In my opinion there is zero reason to run a solid mount in anything but a dedicated drag car. https://www.irperformance.com/produc...-motor-mounts/
I think there was a bit of fear mongering or just personal biases towards some vendors in that thread.
Most poly mounts are more similar than they are different.
I'd personally run of what you have already. Unless you want to switch back to stock or Mazda Competition mounts.
If IRP’s mounts are designed to accommodate the brace I’d choose his all day from the ones you already have. But I AM biased toward a reputable company and forum sponsor.
Does anyone else have some input on the vibra-technic or xcessive engineering mounts?
I'd like to try something different than the "puck" style poly mounts. I just noticed my IRP street mounts are destroyed and I have under 2k miles on them and this will be my second set of poly mounts that have failed. I do have the factory heat shield installed and downpipe ceramic coated/wrapped.
I do have an oil pan leak so that mix of oil and heat is surely contributing to the mount failure.
Does anyone else have some input on the vibra-technic or xcessive engineering mounts?
I'd like to try something different than the "puck" style poly mounts. I just noticed my IRP street mounts are destroyed and I have under 2k miles on them and this will be my second set of poly mounts that have failed. I do have the factory heat shield installed and downpipe ceramic coated/wrapped.
I do have an oil pan leak so that mix of oil and heat is surely contributing to the mount failure.
Can't answer your question about those other mounts, but looking at your picture, it appears to me that the nut is threaded further down the bolt than I'm used to seeing on these mounts - indicating they may have been over-tightened, which would also contribute to an early failure.
i have the excessive mounts. The overall ride is very tight, but not sure if that's attributed to the mounts, or the banzai transmission brace, or all the poly bushings
I went from poly-puck to Vibra-Technics. My poly-puck flattened out in under 10K miles. Didn't have an OEM heat-shield, but did fabricate a similar one out of aluminum. The Vibra-Technics fit great. Hard to say how much NVH over stock because I have a Banzai transmission mount, but they're not bad.