I wasn't sure about what forum to post this in so I figured since the car/engine in question was an Accord that this would be the best place to start...? If this thread is better suited for another forum could the mods plz lmk where best to post it? Thx in advance.

Now as some of you may, or may not, know this car is boosted and a daily driver so plz try to keep this in mind while giving your opinions, thoughts, feedback, etc...
So basically the question is: What are your thoughts, opinions, or experiences with a TRULY SOLID Torque mount? Or truly solid motor mounts all around? And what I mean by that is, no bushings... Just a solid piece of steel, or aluminum, fabricated to connect the block directly to the front cross-member (or, in the case of the latter, the entire chassis), in order to diffuse any vertical (Y-axis?) rotation of the engine/trans while under acceleration. Now I personally am only really concerned with the front torque mount but maybe some of you have had experience with an entire solid-mount setup?... so I'd love to hear your experiences also! And again, I do mean SOLID; as in zero bushings, poly or otherwise. Tbh I don't even know if folks EVER mount their engines to the chassis in this fashion but if they do and you know anything about the advantages/disadvantages plz reply?... Thx in advance. And I wish all of you a great holiday and happy new year!

 

I'm going to be honest here. For a daily driver solid mounts can get annoying. Installing solid mounts will make your ride full of vibrations. You'll feel it in the steering wheel, your seats and even the peddles. You will start to hear things rattle that never rattled before. Not so bad if your engine runs really smooth.

They make a big difference in engine reaction. I love mine. I have solid mounts in my cammed 3.4L Grand Am. I can feel the lopey idle in my seat, peddles and the steering wheel. I feel the acceleration as I'm into the gas coming out of the corners. Combine that with 40 series tires and I feel every single thing that my car is doing. Wife hates it. I love the experience, however this is no longer my daily driver. So I guess I have to as that I love it in small batches. I'll drive it for a week or weekend and then switch up.

When I was first trying to get the engine back up and running I could feel that there was a slight misfire before the ECU even picked it up.

If you do it you are going to want to keep an eye out for cracks around the chassis mounts and also keep an eye on trans fluid and CV joints/Axle play. The stresses that the engine and tq mounts used to eat up, are now being put directly into your chassis and drive train.

 

Data point:
'95 EX B1 AT. Replaced front 'stopper' mount and rear vacuum controlled mount, both were shot. I can't stand slop in engine mounts. I always noted quite a bit of takeup in the drivetrain before the car would move, and the throttle on/off delay slop was annoying. Picked up a kit of front/rear mount inserts, Prothane IIRC, installed them on the front 'stopper' mount. Instant gratification. No more slop and as soon as I touch the gas the car goes, no more windup. During cruise no problems but being an AT the drivetrain is always loaded, so at extended stops the vibration from the engine can be annoying, placing the trans into Neutral or Park the vibration(no loading) goes away. On an MT car this would most likely be no problem when clutching in at a stop.I didn't bother installing the rear mount insert for two reasons, one I didn't want to transmit more vibration into the cabin and two I just spend some money and time installing a perfectly good rear vacuum controlled hydro mount.

IMO a front insert would be more than adequate for an AT street car. Use a front and rear insert on an MT for a tighter feel. Leave the engine and trans mounts stock rubber, insert on the front stopper mount and rear for MT.

 

Awesome!... You guys are the best. Thx for the replies. I'm gonna put my order in asap

 

Hey Mike, just to be clear is this: https://www.innovativemounts.com/Pro...ductCode=29741
the mount you got? Or did you just get the Prothane inserts the go into the OEM bracket? I know this isn't what I was talking about initially but after reading Ghost's reply regarding the obnoxious vibrations and possible chassis damage I really had to reconsider the whole "solid steel" mount idea? lol! And if I can find a very stiff torque mount that'll keep the engine in place while under load that would be excellent!?

Also, in regards to the rear mount with the vacuum line... How exactly does that mount work? And would it work in my instance with the intake (vacuum source) being pressurized under boost? I actually wound up leaving it "un-plugged" because of that; but I'm curious to hear from someone with some knowledge of these mounts, and their function, what your thoughts on that are? Should I attempt to find a vacuum source and plug it in to see if it works properly or would that just be a waste of time/effort because of the boost? Thx again man

 

Inserts. Found the rear one and looked at the front one. They are a hard plastic or very hard urethane. They fill in the voids on the factory mounts to prevent excessive movement.
IIRC, the mount itself has the same look as the MT mount. There is the rubber upper part under the 'U' strap and it sits on the massive cylinder base. With the AT under the rubber mount is a diaphragm, under that is a fluid filled chamber(hydro part) with a valve inside. This valve is controlled by a lever that is externally controlled by a vacuum diaphragm mounted to the side of the mount(the vacuum controlled part).
Under load the valve is switched to reduce the volume of the chamber, effectively stiffening the mount. When there is low load or at a stop the valve opens again and increases the volume the rubber mount 'sees' allowing the mount to 'float' reducing any engine vibrations to the cabin. Because in Drive the AT is always loaded and will transfer engine vibrations to the chassis, with the mount 'floating' the vibrations are greatly reduced. The diaphragm is controlled by a vacuum solenoid(fed from the intake) on the firewall that is controlled(switched) by the ECU.

As for a boosted application if the mount works the way I think it does under boost it should function the same as if the car was NA. I'll have to look it up in the FSM to be sure. The only concern I would have would be to make sure not to damage the firewall control solenoid from boost pressures. But if you're boosting the car you may want to talk to your tuner and see if they are even capable of maintaining the rear mount control. I can't recall if your car is AT or MT, if your running a different ECU than the Accord one, it may not even be possible to keep the hydro mount control. With Hondas it seems tuners(toonerz?) get weirded out and won't/can't tune an AT ECU, let alone the mount control(AFAIK an AT car only feature).

FWIW my original mount failed because the linkage between the diaphragm and mount became corroded and limited the valves movement. Mount was stuck in 'float' mode and would allow excessive engine movement(even with a new front stopper mount and insert) causing the exhaust to rattle under the center console. The original mount is probably still fine, after I exercised the linkage it became possible to fully open/close via the diaphragm and a vacuum pump.

 

Thank you Mike! This^^^ is excellent man!... I really appreciate the reply. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thx!