Finally got it installed (a week ago :P) here are the pics!

the mount

 

other side

 

stock cross bar, notice it is not connected to annything but the transmission tunnel.

 

stock bar removed

 

installed pic

 

This might sound dumb, but does that help handling or is there another reason to upgrade it? Sorry for not knowing..

 

installation was easy after you remove the cat/midpipe, just had to pry the trans a little to line up the bolts.

First impression was a very noticable difference in the shifter feel, it was ROCK solid! and the first time firing it up was quite a shock because it was loud! a low rumble/transmission chatter and a high pitch whine when you punch it. I'm used to the noise now, and for those with the n1/GT spec you probably won't hear it anyways.

I think you won't mishift anymore with this since the transmission won't be moving due to it torquing to the passenger side when the engine winds up.

David

 

sorry this mod has nothing to do with handling to keep mis-shifts from happening(although I never had that problem), might save the passenger side engine mount a little too.

David

 

Oh I see... I've never had a problem with mis-shifts either but I kinda understand how you think it will help, one more question.. where'd you get it??

 

I got it in Japan, I was bored and just wanted to see how well it works. I guess this is better when you are the track, straight or curvy, doesn't really do anything for you on the street.

David

 

Somehow I knew you were going to say that. I kinda figured it was a JDM part since I've never seen one, and seeing how most of the parts you tend to have are...

 

our cars are JDM! haha...almost... weren't you the one doing the 20b n/a?

David

 

My honda friends are way into using the term "JDM" and suprisingly they don't "rice" out their cars. A friend of mine is in pretty good with Kevin from IPNindustries.com so he gets alot of hookups on parts through him. Yeah, I thought of doing the 20b N/A because after seeing the Option Rx7 special I fell in love with RE's race car. But after thinking it through I decided it would be rather costly still to set up, and after being laid off last october, I definately don't have the money to go all out like that, so I am just upgrading my 13b slowly but surely for now. Maybe one of these days. My FD is down at moment and I am hoping to have a new streetported motor in it soon. Mines not bad, it's just got high miles. Hopefully I will get the chance to go single turbo soon still though. Hey While I have you on here, ever hear of "Rocket" cat-back exhaust?? jspec.com has a catback for sale and at only 450.00 w/silencer I was thinking of looking into getting it with my tax return money....

 

Hi A-spec,

If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you? And can you get anymore ? Thanks -- Tommy

 

hahah my friend, tangkai is way into that stuff too, I call his car JDM Rice hahah but his car is nice though 240 with SR20, power FC and etc etc...very very nice/drift style.

Jspec.com? heheh we call Sam at Jspec.com the JDM s!ut. he's really cool, his prices are very good. That exhaust is nice~ I like the polished welding spots so the whole can/tip look one piece. as for sound/performance, I have no idea.

good luck with your project, hopefully you get another job and be the first 20b n/a

the mount was custom made at Japan, I already got another forum member, Roan, another one. It is getting shipped to him as we speak. Too bad I'm not in Japan anymore or I could've got you one also.

David

 

OH ok great! I didn't realize you had already shipped the brace David. Did you ship the engine torque brace with it?

when you get a chance, can you e-mail me the tracking #?

Thanx!

BTW, any word on the t-shirts?? ssssssshhhhhhhhhh...... (e-mail me about that, i still want the shirt to have some bit of exclusivity)

Thanx Dave!!

 

A-spec,

Thanks for keeping us posted, I'm interested to hear how the brace ends up working for you.
If anyone can get these I know I'd be interested in purchasing one.

 

yeah A-spec
go for some "spirit" driving so u can tell ppl on forum how the mount is working...hehhee

 

That brace really doesnt look THAT difficult to produce......

 

So let me get this right, you installed this bracket to bolt the transmission and PPF to the body of the car because you wanted to see what it did?

Think about it... The [3] is designed WITHOUT transmission mounts for a reason - it has a powerplant frame (PPF) which ties the drivetrain together allowing them to move and flex independent of the body of the car. By adding this bracket, you will add (added) MORE stress to the engine mounts and transmission because under hard acceleration and cornering the drivetrain will pivot around this bracket transferring more movement to the engine mounts. Bad move...

 

Well since we're talking about hypotheticals, isn't the stock drivetrain/ppf designed for ~255 hp??? So anyone with more power is already stressing the ppf (hence the introduction of the Mazdaspeed PPF). Why would any more bracing be that bad of an idea? The motor mounts have already proven to be needed to upgrade. Even Mazda has a TSB on the motor mounts. Also didn't Mazdaspeed just introduce a new bracing system for the thransmission/ppf/diff? If bracing the tranny is such a bad idea, why would Mazda themselves produce these parts? I'm just curious.

eric

 

Hapa -
I don't disagree that stronger bracing may be required between the transmission and diff especially for highly modded cars. But, I do NOT think that bolting the PPF to the body of the car will achieve the goal of stiffening the drivetrain and reducing the wear on motor mounts as A-Spec has theorized. The drivetrain was intentionally designed without any transmission mount and with the PPF so the drivetrain could move and flex independent of the car body. Read Yamaguchi's book on the [3], he explains the drivetrain design in there.