Brand New Engine/Trans Mounts and HARDLY Any Vibrations
- Thread starter Eric Smit
- Start date
$ub$onic
The Sticker Guy
This
rdss
Junior Member
TurboTechRacing
Supporting Vendor
More ready to ship... Both upper mounts and lower tranny mounts!
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
Installed upper and lower, I parked my Sonic up on Rhino ramps, then blocked and jacked up the tranny, swapped in the lower mount, blocked and jacked the crankcase, moved the intake out of the way, swapped in the upper mount, replaced the intake, jacked both sides down, rolled back off the ramps, done.
One note, following Preloader's lead, I picked up some nylon spacers for the two upper sides of the upper mount. It's a long way down to mount level if you don't do that, but I think an alternative would be to get deep sockets... I sort of needed one for the third upper mount anyway, but I made do.
The instructions that came with the upper mount said to tighten to the specs in the manual, which would be great if I had a manual; I just tightened to snug, then went back and did it again, and then the third time around, went a bit tighter.
Initial report... thread title is a complete lie. Lots of vibration, dashboard rattle, K9 bobblehead broke free of its velcro mount, madness ensued. But after a mile it settled down to merely intense, after another 20 miles I wasn't afraid to let my girlfriend get in the car.
She said it wasn't bad, but she wouldn't want to drive down to Texas with it like this. I'm hoping as others have posted in the thread that it will break in a good deal more.
After dropping her off, I did a little onramp bingo, and there's a big difference in launch; there's a radical increase in power reaching the wheels. Unfortunately, this exposes my current weak point, which is now back to the tires; lots more spin!
Overall, the effect is smaller, I feel more solid and there's more response and feedback, but in WOT it's a different car.
One note, following Preloader's lead, I picked up some nylon spacers for the two upper sides of the upper mount. It's a long way down to mount level if you don't do that, but I think an alternative would be to get deep sockets... I sort of needed one for the third upper mount anyway, but I made do.
The instructions that came with the upper mount said to tighten to the specs in the manual, which would be great if I had a manual; I just tightened to snug, then went back and did it again, and then the third time around, went a bit tighter.
Initial report... thread title is a complete lie. Lots of vibration, dashboard rattle, K9 bobblehead broke free of its velcro mount, madness ensued. But after a mile it settled down to merely intense, after another 20 miles I wasn't afraid to let my girlfriend get in the car.
She said it wasn't bad, but she wouldn't want to drive down to Texas with it like this. I'm hoping as others have posted in the thread that it will break in a good deal more.
After dropping her off, I did a little onramp bingo, and there's a big difference in launch; there's a radical increase in power reaching the wheels. Unfortunately, this exposes my current weak point, which is now back to the tires; lots more spin!
Overall, the effect is smaller, I feel more solid and there's more response and feedback, but in WOT it's a different car.
Preloader
The M32 Martyr
With any increase in performance comes one of 2 drawbacks.
1. Faster wear. i.e. better brake pads, stickier tires
2. Harsher Ride. i.e. stiffer springs, tighter mounts
Obviously saying there will be no vibrations isn't an accurate statement, however for the amount of performance gained, its level of drawback (#2) is worth the compromise.
And on top of that, after 3-5k miles of break in, it gets A LOT less harsh, without any noticeable loss in the gained performance.
And if you've ever ran just the upper by itself, you'll realize that TTRs development of the trans mount made this upgrade 100 times more reasonable for the average Sonic enthusiast.
Thanks again TTR, for doing us a solid.
1. Faster wear. i.e. better brake pads, stickier tires
2. Harsher Ride. i.e. stiffer springs, tighter mounts
Obviously saying there will be no vibrations isn't an accurate statement, however for the amount of performance gained, its level of drawback (#2) is worth the compromise.
And on top of that, after 3-5k miles of break in, it gets A LOT less harsh, without any noticeable loss in the gained performance.
And if you've ever ran just the upper by itself, you'll realize that TTRs development of the trans mount made this upgrade 100 times more reasonable for the average Sonic enthusiast.
Thanks again TTR, for doing us a solid.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
I'm not too concerned, I mean, if it stayed like it was for the first mile, I'd be taking the things back off and selling them on the black market... but the initial break in happened very fast and now it's just intense during cold start, and very present the rest of the time. I'm guessing with upper only that it was like cold start rough all the time?
Did anyone look up the official tightness specs in the Sonic Manual? I have a torque wrench but no target number to shoot for. Pretty sure I overdid it a little, didn't want the engine to leap thru the hood.
Did anyone look up the official tightness specs in the Sonic Manual? I have a torque wrench but no target number to shoot for. Pretty sure I overdid it a little, didn't want the engine to leap thru the hood.
Preloader
The M32 Martyr
I rarely use mfg spec torque values unless I'm doing engine or drivetrain work.
Just pay attention to how much elbow grease it takes to crack bolts and try to emulate when you re-install.
Since you did the nylon spacers, check all the upper bolts every week until your are satisfied that they haven't moved. Mine haven't loosened yet, and now I check them less often.
Just pay attention to how much elbow grease it takes to crack bolts and try to emulate when you re-install.
Since you did the nylon spacers, check all the upper bolts every week until your are satisfied that they haven't moved. Mine haven't loosened yet, and now I check them less often.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
So after a slight detour into the land of Wrong, I now have properly installed the upper and lower mounts. "No vibrations" is still wrong, but they are nice and low level thru most of the band, only really noticeable in the 1000 to 1200 RPM segment. Meanwhile, the solid "connected" feel I got from my initial incorrect install is even more present. I was happy with this purchase initially but twice as happy now.