I was wondering if anyone has had any issues with swapping a b16 into a 4th gen and using place racing's motor mounts? I doubt this is what's causing my problem, but I'd like to at least see what experience others have had with them. The problem is this: stock 90-93 integra axles don't work with my car. I'm using the 90-93 int. shaft, so that's not the issue. I have to have custom axles fabbed up from other axles in order to get the shorter length units that I need. Even place racing's own axles specifically made for this swap wouldn't work. This has been an ongoing issue with my car since it was swapped three years ago.

The car was wrecked a few days after the swap. I had originally thought that maybe the frame was still bent from that wreck, but after putting it on the frame machine we realized that it's as straight as an arrow. Actually, there's maybe a 1/16" difference when measuring diagonally across the engine bay from corner to corner, but that's not enough to cause such a big axle fitment problem. Like I said, everything else on the car is as straight as it was when it came from the factory.

I really have no idea why I can't use stock axles. I have the place racing front x-member and the front motor mount lines up perfectly, so nothing is off regarding engine alignment. I honestly can't think of anything else that could be f'ed up, so maybe the motor mounts incorrectly position the motor in the first place? I don't see how this could be true, but... This is why I'm asking people who've used the place racing mounts what their experiences are with them.

I could use help from anybody who can offer some experience/advice on this.

Josh

 

You really should run a nice custom axle setup. Gator, driveshaftshop and there are more companies that make axle setups. I like the driveshaftshop axles myself.

The mounts bushing could be torn or the welds on the mounts could be fubar. Or your car may not be straight. I have seen where a place passenger side mount did fold over, but this was a autoX and hillclimb hatch.

 

what kind of car and motor do you have?

 

That is very odd. Interested in knowing what kinda car you have as well.

 

Sorry, should have given more specs earlier. It's a 90 LX (yes, it's a sedan ). I'll probably go with gator's at some point, but for now the axles I'm having built for me hold up to the power. I had them built about 1.5 years ago and they're just now going out. Of course, I autocross nearly every weekend and do a little bit of drag racing, so that explains why they're going out on me. The car is prepped for SM in SCCA.

I've broken a mount before at a race (it was chassis-side, not the PR mount), but it was welded back in place. This happened well after I determined it had axle issues so it's not a contributing factor. As I mentioned before, I know the car is straight b/c I took it to the frame shop and watched/helped the tech check everything out...straight as an arrow, except for the small 1/16" misalignment I mentioned earlier. I've been racing the hell out of the for the past few years and it handles like a dream. I've had no issues with parts not bolting up b/c of something being twisted or not in alignment. Everything works except the axles that are supposed to go in it

If I could rebuild axles myself, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'll just have to have the guy who's building them fill me in on what he's using and then figure out how to rebuild them one day. Still, custom aftermarket units (like gator, or dss) will always cost more than regular aftermarket units that they sell to everyone else so it would be nice to figure out what the deal is so I can fix it.


Modified by kappa12 at 4:43 PM 4/14/2004

 

ttt

 

your probably gonna have to do some measuring to make sure you get the correct axles if you got some custom stuff goin on..i would look for an expert in your area to help you out..

 

It's all good, it's already worked out. I've got an axle guy who builds them for me. I was just wondering why my car would be such an odd ball and not accept regular ol' integra axles. Iwas thinking maybe it was the positioning of the motor b/c of the PR motor mounts.

I guess I was looking for an easy answer, but we all know there are no easy answers when it comes to **** like this. Oh well...

Hmm, have you guys been getting your e-mail updates for topic replies? Mine don't seem to be working...

 

When you say they dont work with your car, what exactly isnt working? too long? wearing out fast? binding?

 

Too long. See, this is the strange part. When the swap was done initially, we used 90-93 integra axles. They worked fine. Then, I wrecked the car. Within 6 months, the axles went bad and were vibrating A LOT under acceleration. From then on out, when I put inegra axles in the car, they immediately vibrate like crazy. I don't have to wait for them to go bad, they simply don't work.

Now, I know what it sounds like. It sounds like everything was kosher up until the wreck, and that something happened in the wreck that threw things off. As for the wreck, it was a very low speed impact. A Dodge Ram hit me on the front left, directly above the wheel on the upper frame rail. But like I said, I put the car on the frame machine just last week and it was out by only 1/16", if that. So based on that I can rule out a bent frame as part of the cause.

I know blaming it on the motor mounts is a shot in the dark. I don't honestly think that's what it is, but I'm still at a loss here. Everything was replaced and/or straightened up after the wreck, or at least everything that I know of. The motor mounts line up fine, even the front mount on the crossmember. The crossmember was added only about a year ago, a while after the wreck, so if the geometry in the front end had been screwed up, it wouldn't have lined up. But it does... Also, the suspension is not out of whack. Everything lines up perfectly.

I've basically just accepted it as an issue with the car that will be with it as long as it's around, but having to replace the worn out axles this week made me think about it all over again. That's why I'm posting about it right now, hoping that a fresh look at it again and some advice from you guys might shed some light on what might be going on.

Sorry these replies are so long...it takes me a while to explain things sometimes

 

Try running an 86-89 integra axle on the drivers side only.

If you have an autozone near you, they sell axles for $69 with a lifetime
warranty. Cant beat that.

 

There are two different axle/half shaft combos for that year b16. If you happen to have a long half shaft with a long axle....this may be the problem. If you have the long half shaft it requires a shorter axle. You may have had the combo right.....then the accident occured and you changed axles(you may have got the long one by accident) You can identify the halfshaft by a number letter combo on it. I dont remember the exact numbers right now....something like SH3 I believe is the long shaft. This is a common problem after people replace their axles with rebuilds/exchanges after they go bad. If not a custom one may be needed....but after doing a 100 of these I havent seen a custom axle needed ever. Inspect the halfshaft and it will probally be the reason.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rioninja &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try running an 86-89 integra axle on the drivers side only.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll give that a try, see if it works. Thanks for the advice.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IMALLSLO &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There are two different axle/half shaft combos for that year b16. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's my understanding that you can use either the JDM SiR halfshaft, which would require the use of the JDM SiR axle. Or there's the USDM 90-93 Integra halfshaft, which would require the use of the USDM teg axles. I'm using the teg halfshaft. I actually replaced it a long time ago thinking it was part of the vibration problem, but it wasn't. Are you saying that there are two different lengths of USDM 90-93 teg axles out there? I've never heard of that... That'd be pretty cool if that were the problem. Maybe you could get an exact letter/number combo for each halfshaft so I can identify what I have?

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I'll actually be able to figure out what's wrong my car!

 

The halfshats differences only lie in the Japanese b16a's(like there is an American one). One is from the crx which I believe is the shorter style axle with the longer halfshaft and the integra which uses the shorter halfshaft and longer axle. I believe the halfshaft that causes the problem is the SH3. It is stamped directly next to the bearing on the top side of the halfshaft. If you have another question on the halfshafts give Kevin at Autolink a call (626) 279-7122.