Here is an in-depth how to on doing the Motor Mount install on a Spec V.
Jack up car
jack up motor a little bit using a hydraulic jack and a block of wood, placed on the flat spot of the transmission bellhousing.
Remove front MM bolt (14mm)
remove front 2 subframe bolts (17mm)
remove exhaust hanger bracket on midpipe, near the rear mount (trust me, if you dont, you better have small hands and a LOT of patience).
get a small (3 inch) extension and remove rear MM bolt from passenger side (theres a good gap). get a small breaker bar for leverage, unless youre super jacked and like having your hand crushed when it comes loose, and even with a breaker bar this is still in there tight.
remove 2 rear subframe bolts (17mm)
carefully lower entire subframe assembly
install rear inserts, and coat both sides with some vaseline or KY jelly (ky is water soluble, so it will come off when it rains, although either works fine)
slide rear section of subframe up, and position rear mount inside of bracket (this can be a pain in the ass… dont give up.
despite included instructions, FIRST you must start to thread the rear MM bolt in, to hold its position.
install 2 rear subframe bolts.
DO NOT TORQUE ANYTHING DOWN YET
pull down front of subframe and install one insert at a time. you can also put them in place while the subframe is out, but mine fell out.
put front mount inside of bracket and thread bolt inside a bit (this may be tricky, as it may be too far forward. if thats how it ends up, push subframe back and lower the motor/jack it some more until its ready to thread). I would recommend also putting 1 large washer on each side of the front inserts to ensure that they do not pop out when you decide to launch you bish hard.
install 2 front subframe bolts.
go back to rear, and torue the MM bolt (app. 70 ft. lbs.)
torque rear subframe bolts (app. 55-60 ft. lbs.)
return to front of car and torque front MM bolt (same torque as rear bolt)
torque down front 2 subframe bolts (app. 55-60 ft. lbs.)
re-install exhaust hanger braket (bolts are one 13mm and one 12mm i think)
Now Lower the Car and get out there and rip some shit!
Did this make a significant difference to the overal drive of the car? I know it does for a lot of cars like the STI. Just wondering what differences you noticed with the new mounts.
I had mine done for me, instead of doing it myself.
The main thing I noticed was the vibrations. They aren’t all that bad, but compared to stock it feels like the motor is trying to escape for the first few minutes. There is a HUGE reduction in wheelhop though, so much so that this mod is really worth it. I also found the car a little bit easier to launch softly as the motor wasn’t moving so much so less throttle was required to get the car moving.
The place you really notice the mounts is on the launch though, and possibly the shift into second gear. You can still wheelhop the car if you get the revs too high, but nowhere near as bad as stock.
And Flavio - we don’t have to work on our cars AS MUCH, since our shit doesn’t break down as often as you RWD guys! :E
First off welcome to NECC, you should post a New Thread in Introduce Yourself, and tell us a little about yourself, ie. Where your from, what you have done to your car, what colour, how you found out about the club, anyhow I look forward to seeing yet another Spec out among the ranks next summer :E
The motor mounts are AMAZING, I bought them because I had read somewhere along the way of my modding quest that massive wheel hop can cause the axle to actually bend, but the Axle on the Specs is rated (correct me if I’m wrong guys) up to 450hp so I read some mis-leading information. Anyhow the motor mounts virtually eliminated all of my wheel hop, I love them and recommend them to anyone, especially with regards to Spec V owners. You should check out www.powertechimports.com they have motor mounts for the Spec that are even harder than the Energy Suspension ones.
Here’s my review from 2 years ago. Taken from b15sentra.net.
So, how are they? If you idle around in traffic alot with the AC on you might want to think twice about this. It does vibrate quite a bit with AC on at idle. It’s not bad enough to shake and rattle the bumper as some people have experienced with other MM mods. That being said, it’s not as bad as I expected. I actually like it, the car feels more bad ***. When the car is moving, the only time you notice any vibes is through the brake pedal when you downshift and brake. NO vibes at all through the steering wheel, even at 70mph+.
The car feels way more connected to the road, the shift action is far better than before, and NO WHEELHOP! I dumped it all over the tach, and not one single hop! Mission accomplished There’s a feel to this mod that I can’t describe, driving feels more serious, more race car like. Perfect for me.
My favorite part about this(after the wheelhop issue) is easy reversability. Come winter I will take these out as easily as I put them in. I don’t like interior plastic rattles in the winter, which I’m sure will show up when the cold does.
My rating, two thumbs up!
Kirs I don’t know how you got any wheelhop at all with the ES inserts. Maybe they are a lower durometer insert, but my cwepruk mounts (eventually sold as PTI mounts) never gave me any wheelhop at all. Even in the rain.
The cwepruk mounts were solid filled though, the ES mounts are a little softer to at least dampen SOME of the engine movement, but really what you end up with is the potential for wheelhop to still happen. It seems the only time it’s really prone to doing it is when you try launching the car hard on loose/dirty surfaces.
I wasn’t really willing to go with the solid mount route because I wanted to be somewhat comfortable without vibrations, so now I get to reap the “benefits” of my choice.
Rob, the mounts are solid nylon pieces that go around the front and rear motor mount, 4 pieces in all.
The Powertech imports inserts are a higher grade nylon insert with less flexibility in them than the ES mounts, apparently they’re a very good option between solid mounts and stock!
They are poly mounts. And if you have the ES MMI and you get wheel hop that means one of or both of you fronts inserts has popped out, this happened to me at the track and after that for the rest of the day trying to launch my car was horrible. I just put the 2 largest washers I could find on both sides of the front mounts to hold them in, works like a dream.
Oh and if the vibrations drive you nuts raise your idle to 850 or 900, I had to do that after my Camshafts were installed, but honestly it made the car idle like stock again, and this was with Camshafts, ESMMI, & the JWT BSR, and Kris has been in my car so he knows it idles nice.
Yep, it sure does. I had my idle raised to 980 RPM, and you can really feel the difference in smoothness - it doesn’t eliminate the vibrations, but it does reduce them quite a bit.
Allright guys, i have had these motor mounts for to long, I jacked my car up as per #1. and then got scared, honestly lol i dotn trust myself doing this. I thought i might have a chance at attempting this but who am I kidding, haha so who wants to help? Nick you’ve helped me way to much so dont feel obligated, but yah i figure i should really get these in so anyone who wants to help me, and by help i mean show me how, let me know and i woudl greatly appreciate it and will buy some beer or whatever payment is fair.
Don’t be a pussy Rob Just do it :finga: , but in all seriousness print this “How To” off and get your buddy with the Vdub to come over and just get 'er done, just pick a day to do it, when you don’t work and just tackle it. I have tomorrow/today off, but my day is pretty packed. I do have this Tuesday and Wednesday off sooo if you don’t work or could get someone to cover a shift on either Tue.orWed. we could do it on either one of those days(Yes I enjoy helping out mod cars and yes this mod is going to be a bitch, but whatever), just be prepared (as always) to run into small issues that “should” be very straight forward. But yeah lets get’er done. :E
haha allright thanks. well im going to work out my shifts when i get to work so i will let you know when will work, and yah this should be fun as always, and of course theres gunna be a canadian tire run as always! haha thanks again and i’ll let ya know
I bought mine from Mossy Nissan but, Powertech Imports is where I would buy mine from, theirs are even stiffer than Energy Suspensions, call them and ask them what they can do for you.
Wow even stiffer, doesn’t that mean even more NVH? I’m all for increasing performance etc., but I know I’m gonna miss the quiet, smooth idle of a new car.
If I only I could experience the difference between stock and aftermarket inserts…
