Dr Pooface

Let me start by saying that there is now nothing I hate more than the left upper motor mount. Also, although I am mechanicly inclined, I had no real knowledge about motor mounts and how they are put together. Please don't laugh too hard.

I started the install like I always do, at 4:00 pm in the rain. The kit comes complete with the inserts for the left and right upper and rear mount. I have the energy suspension left and right lower and rear in already, so I didn't put the prothane rear one in.

I started with the left upper because it looked like the hardest to do. Unlike all the other mounts, to put the inserts into this one you have to remove the old rubber from the aluminum mount casing. I highly recommend you find a press to do this job. Do not make the mistake I made.

I beat on the mount for a while, but it wouldn't budge. I think that just made it mad. Then I decided I would hack all the rubber out, maybe that would help. Imagine my suprise when the mount retaliated by puking black fluid all over my face. That stuff, for the record, does NOT taste good. After thoroughly butchering the "meat" I discovered the skeleton. The rubber is bonded to two bands of steel, one on either side of the mount. The two bands are connected to each other in two places by steel strips. Its kind of hard to explain without actually seeing it.

Now that I had exposed the bones, it was time to start hackin away. I cut the steel bands in four places with a jigsaw and a tile cutting blade. The bands are under compression, so when the blade bound and the saw hit me in the face I knew I was all the way through. A little cold chisle work later the mount was finally appart. The easy part was over.

Now the Prothane insert comes in three pieces. Two outer caps and one inner part. I had the choice of the street or race inner insert, kit comes with both, of course I went with the race one. The instructions say to just "hand press" the inserts into the casing. There must be a tool called the hand press, cause unless your a god, there is no way you could ever press the inserts in by hand. I ended up using a c clamp and two small pieces of plywood. That worked fine for the first one. Then you gota press in the middle insert. I got it about half an inch in and then it wouldn't budge. I was stumped. I added more pressure with the clamp and it just snapped like a twig. 7:30 at night in the rain and my only clamp was dead. fuc.

I figured out that the air trapped between the two inserts was not being allowed to escape and was preventing the second insert from going all the way in. So I drilled a hole in the insert to allow the air to escape. Boy did I ever feel smart. Now what would I use to press the insert in...? I suddenly remembered I had a 2600 pound type r in the driveway. One jack and a big socket later the mount was in. Then the other outer insert went in. It was very hard to get the inserts started, the edges kept getting caught on the casing. I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy. All in all it took me four hours just to get that one mount done.

The right mount was done in about 10 minutes.

How does the prothane inserts sound/feel with the ES kit in as well? It is ****** loud. On start up and initial warm up (1500 rpm) it sounds and feels like your inside a drum. Everything shakes and rattles. The steering wheel, the dash, my head, everything. The mirror vibrates. I had to take all the junk out of my ashtray. The door pannels hum. It is ridiculous. I love it (for now, anyways).

At warmed up idle it's not that bad. Kind of feels like sitting in my buddys big block 68 Chevy, but a faster less severe vibration. Through my race bucket it feels like I'm sitting on a back massager on its lowest settin. On the freeway cruising at 4500 in 5th it feels like I have a vibrator up my ***. Kind of pleasent, actually.

The firewall is now a giant speaker. I can't help but hear what the engine is doing. I can no longer drown out the engine with my stereo. Oh well. Also, I have my air box removed, so now vtec sounds like a trombone is being blasted at my face.

Wheel hop is reduce a bit. The car has an even more direct feel to it, like it is an extension of my body. It feels like I'm wearing it, not driving it.

I don't know if I'll be able to stand how loud it is. I think the novelty might wear out with day to day driving. Time will tell. This is definetly not for everyone. If I had to do it again I'd probably pay someone else with the proper tools to fight with it.

Cliff notes:
-installed prothane inserts
-lots of vibration
-very loud

prothane and ES together= (for now)

WhoNeedsBoost

hahaha

mugenintegra16

Yup my friend just did the same setup on his integra. Hahahahah he was complaining about all the things you did to the goo inside the way it was designed (not to be taken out). But he got it in to a few hard hours later. He took me for a ride after too he loves the setup. But it's a little to harsh for me, maybe cause he has a full gutted interior and no dash just an aluminum thing with some gauges on it. And your right the vibrations are loud in there. But i guess it's all a mater of prefrence if you can handle the vibrations.

98TypeR896

one of the must funny lines i have heard:

RagingAngel

Ddub!!!

Oh man, I wish you were gonna post up about this beforehand cuz I coulda told you that you were gonna eat GOO....

thas the main reason why I still haven't put in my driveside mount!!

604 owners..... c'mon now!!

You get the thumbs up for soldiering on..... two infact!

Dr Pooface

Thanks for the props Pat. You coming out to the track (laps) in Mission this year?

underrated99si

for winning the battle of the mounts. Also go drink some on me.

RagingAngel

Most likely, my tranny is due for some moderate work and I believe after all is healthy once again....(OH PLEASE DEAR LORD....)

I'll have to consult with you since you and Lotus had your way with the final drive and such....



two thumbs to the DIY'ers

Isaac

That's too familar. That's a very detailed/good explanation though and I don't know what to say about your 5th gear "rattle" comment.


[Modified by Waxing "The Carrot", 3:27 AM 5/6/2002]

Rhetoric

iTrader: (3)

[quote]The instructions say to just "hand press" the inserts into the casing. There must be a tool called the hand press, cause unless your a god, there is no way you could ever press the inserts in by hand.[quote]

I had to bring this one back from the dead. I just installed the ES and the Prothanes and it is loud. I used this post as a reference so I knew exactly what 'not' to do. for the cliff notes and warnings, I sent my mount to the machine shop got it press and prothanes on in about 5 minutes.

geometro

My two cents on this engine mount business was my recent install of the ES engine mount inserts.

Duped into the "low cost" mod feature, inspired by D and guided by B18CxR's tips from some time ago(I'm not sure if he meant 20 minutes to do it or 20minutes to get to it): it took me 2 days to do it. Now, I did install a new header, exhaust and oil pan at the same time, but those items only occupied a little bit of the time.

The rear mount took me the better part of a day and was the most knuckle bashing teeth gnashing experience I have ever done. From what you have to take off to get to it, it must be one of the first things to go into the DC2 on the assembly line. I got all the bolts off easily, but the brace itself was like the sofa in the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency taht was stuck in the hall way: It could rotate in every single direction but could not be removed nor finessed enough to the point I could get a clear shot of putting in the inserts. After a few hours of laying under my car, wigginling that brace every single which way I finally got one side in...to my complete suprise. Then it came time to do the other. It would be really handy if you could find somebody with an extra double jointed elbow in their arm to help get the sucker in. After wrestling with that mount, I saved the other two for the following day because I thought they would be "easier" to get to.

I think D had a easier time with his driver side mount because he's got no AC (not sure how he got around the powersteering thing). After getting all the bolts out, the mount was stuck between the chassis and the engine. I wasn't about to go screw with taking off all the belts and bracket so after a lot of forceful twisting and pulling it finally popped out. Ooops. Now if it popped out, and it was that hard to get a soft mount to get out how hard was it going to be to get the "hard" mounts in? Awwww chit. This s a spatial assembly puzzle that will be left as an exercise to the reader. My recommendation for this engine mount is to: 1) Get rid of your AC. 2) Get rid of your Power Steering. 3) Get the JDM Aluminum AC bracket. 4) Then install the mount inserts. Your life will be much better.

The passenger side mount was a breeze.

After reading this install, maybe I'll skip the upper mounts for the time being.

-Geo

Dr Pooface

[pout] [whimper]

Black R

.....I just gotta say that this is the funniest thing I've ever read here on honda-tech.

LOL

sneakychaos

Amen....

AssPenny

D has ac. All you needed to do was loosen the top driver side mount and that allows the motor to drop down far enought to slide the mount on and off

rolow

That gave me a good laugh!


I learned the meaning of vibration when I instaled these

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=213624

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

You said you had the choice of Race or Street Prothane inserts, and you went with the Race inserts. I want to get motor mounts too to eliminate that annoying engine flex but I could do without the teeth ratteling vibration. Does anyone think the race inserts were too extreme? I wonder how big of a difference there is between the two.

Big Phat R

I have now had the distinct pleasure of driving Ddub's car. The vibrator up the *** feeling is no joke - whether or not it is pleasureable is debateable. I would not opt for the race ones myself given my brief experience. Now Ddub's C's shifter is a worthy mod IMO.

PB - who needs a new clutch now

RagingAngel

Interested in buying a lightly used Super single?

To keep it On-Topic....I'd settle for ES mounts instead of the brutal Prothane mts I had before....

RA who's running ONLY the Prothane rear mount now cuz it's a BITCH to remove again!

Rhetoric

iTrader: (3)

To tell you the truth, the Street insert is pretty stiff as well. Like RA said, its brutal. I am thinking of just using them on the track since I have an extra upper driver mount. Everything rattles, initial warm up is like 8.0 on the ricter scale.

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

So if I went with the ES Motor Mount Inserts (3) how extreme would that be?

AW

I had the Prothane street mount in for about a year and then had them removed. I could not stand the shaking and rattling they were causing to the car. It felt like my dash and windshield were going to fall apart. Still the direct deel of the car is nice but since my car does double duty as track and street car I had to remove the 2 of the moutns. The only one left is the rear one and that is bitch to remove so I left it in but it seems like this is the worse of the three.

AW

Rhetoric

iTrader: (3)

ES ones are fine. They are very soft compared to Prothane, you cant even bend the Prothane ones, ES are flexible.

ragejed

Wish me luck guys, I am about to take aprart the drivers side mount for the prothane! Of course I am going race too. As for the passenger side.. WHen acura replaced my tranny, they put the stripped studs back in , so a while ago when i re-did the studs, i didnt have a torque wrench ( I do now ) so i stripped the threads in the tranny, which I am not using JB weld to hold in the stud. I will let you know in 24 hours how good that stuff is When that is done, then in go the inserts for that side as well. I also have the ES inserts for the bottom
So ya....Ill be downstairs for a bit

ragejed

I give you mad props, i am using a vice, ive had to tapper the endges of the mounts, and the metal thing just to get them in!, its rediculous!!!!