Engine mounts

[Ralf]

With the new engine mount rule out for 2012, what are your plans? What available options have you looked at or already bought and why?

[S2_ITBVW]

Well, the mounts have to be in the stock position and maintain the stock orientation of the engine and can't be rigid . . .

So, we are going to use stock mounts with Delrin bushings. That's about as close to rigid as you can get and keeps everything where it belongs.

Thoughts on this simple, not very innovative, but legal solution . . .?

DE

[Knestis]

I'm going to continue to use my stay rod.

But those of you who do go for new mounts, what are you going to do with your stayrod allowance? Seems like an interesting opportunity to build an additional chassis reinforcement into the front end.

K

[GTIspirit]

Are the VW mounts really that fragile and prone to self-destruction under racing as some people said in their support for this allowance?

For the Mk2 vehicles there is a poly insert available which is similar to this:
http://www.rapidparts.com/prod/22502...ns-Mount-A1/49
I have the original style horizontal bolt front engine mount, which is NLA, but maybe I can find a poly insert, or make my own urethane mount now that this is legal.

[Knestis]

The "my engine mounts break all the time" argument was a red herring from the outset. This was a typical "racing cars have cool aftermarket parts" deals from start to finish.

K

[shwah]

I plan to make new mounts, with a goal of dropping 5 pounds off the front axle. Basically exactly what we built for my buddies FProd car.

Once that and other projects are taken care of, I like the idea of using the stay rod allowance to stiffen the K-frame.

I still don't get the rule, and I lobbied against it because it does not solve any issue that was not already correctable before. However, if the allowance is there to drop front axle weight and stiffen the chassis, I'll try to take advantage of it.

[S2_ITBVW]

Everytime I begin to think I'm starting to understand what I'm doing I realize that I have no idea what's going on . . .

Sigh.

[Knestis]

Everytime I begin to think I'm starting to understand what I'm doing I realize that I have no idea what's going on . . .

Sigh.

How come...?

K

[JeffYoung]

I disagree with that. I think a large portion of the support for the rule came from folks who were routinely replacing engine mounts (count me among them) and saw allowing aftermarket mounts or Window Weld as a much simpler solution than a fabricated stay rod.

Dave, your delrin mounts are legal.

The "my engine mounts break all the time" argument was a red herring from the outset. This was a typical "racing cars have cool aftermarket parts" deals from start to finish.

K

[Ralf]

Delrin is also something I have been looking at.
So since engine relocation can't be done, does anybody know if the stock front (early style) and passenger rear mounts are centered or offset?

[jimbbski]

My solution was to just fill the voids in a new set of mounts with shore 80 liquid urethane. Stock location and still flexible so vibration to the body is not excessive.

[Ralf]

My solution was to just fill the voids in a new set of mounts with shore 80 liquid urethane. Stock location and still flexible so vibration to the body is not excessive.

I remember seeing a post on VWVortex about doing something like that but have not been able to find it using the search. The article even mentioned the material used and where to buy it.

[jimbbski]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#urethane-ca...pounds/=ffb61m

http://www.eagerplastics.com/

Both of these are local to me namely Chicago, IL.

[S2_ITBVW]

There are not a lot of aftermarket options for MkII front motor mounts. I'm sure you all have seen the solid billet aluminum mounts that are available from Black Forest Industries. I'm thinking about puchasing this then drilling out a portion of the mount and adding a delrin "sleeve" to make it "not solid." What do you all think of this idea? I seems to me that this is a fairly inexpensive solution that matches the letter of the law.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Sandro]

The "my engine mounts break all the time" argument was a red herring from the outset. This was a typical "racing cars have cool aftermarket parts" deals from start to finish.

K

Ask anyone with a MkI how many times they have replaced the lower/rear tranny mount. I used to buy them a couple at a time. Glad those days are over.

[Knestis]

Ask anyone with a [whatever] how many times they have replaced [whatever breaks or wears out too fast on that whatever].

Some cars DO have weaknesses but "it breaks a lot" is *not* sufficient argument for a new allowance in the ITCS.

K

[callard]

I for one am happy with the new allowance. Mercedes Benz mounts are about the size of large softballs, half solid rubber and half air bag. When the air bag pops, the engine can move about 2 1/4 inches in all directions. A stayrod doesn't solve my problem. Radiator is 1 inch away from the front pully. I've put in 5 radiators over the years. A mount can pop at any time even though I've been changing them. New ones are NLA and old ones supplies have dried up. I will be filling the air bag with urethane and my problem is finally solved.
Thanks ITAC and CRB for the rule change.
Chuck

[shwah]

For an A2 VW, the easy button would be to get the early style front motor mount, and buy the less than $20 polyurethane insert that firms it up.

I would imagine someone could take that billet one, and add some bushing material to one or both mounting points (think sway bar end bushing), to create some isolation.

[GTIspirit]

For an A2 VW, the easy button would be to get the early style front motor mount, and buy the less than $20 polyurethane insert that firms it up.

I thought the early style Mk2 front engine mounts, the horizontal bolt style, were NLA? A few years ago I saw a poly insert for the early style horizontal bolt mount, but I forget where. There is a HD front mount for the Mk2, not the fluid filled one, so that's an option. The other trick that some people on the Vortex do is use hockey pucks ILO the vertical bolt style front mount. Personally, I think some amount of compliance here is good, I'd rather have a mount break than the front crossmember break from vibration induced fractures.....

[shwah]

There are a bunch of early style front motor mounts in junk yards across the country. The hockey puck thing is another one I have seen, and would probably work fine.