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It seemed that last week, a problem I had about 3 months ago had come back. This problem is basically a noise; a metal on metal ticking that would increase as wheel speed increased.
Naturally, I thought this was somehow gearbox or diff related. However, 3 months ago, this was partially cured by replacing the transmission mount for a shiny new one (thanks GolfLoon). But, with the noise recurring my doubts about the strength of the gearbox resurfaced as did the nightmares of being without the VR and the hefty price for a recoed gearbox or something similar. Either way, I would have been up for over a grand.
However, driving the car up the drive way with the bonnet open, my dad noticed a lot of movement in the engine. I mean, you could rock a baby to sleep on that puppy!
So this was a great excuse to do a mod that I was planning on anyway. Thanks to Tim's great site, DubAddiction, I got a BFI stage 1 engine mount kit.
$199 had it delivered to my door in a couple of days, and sourcing the instructions for installation on the net, they went into my car on Saturday (sorry, no pics!) It basically involved getting the car on small ramps, or blocks of timber to get the jack under (too low otherwise
), removing the top bolts on the motor mounts, jacking the engine up carefully and I do say carefully as jacking up from the sump can cause oil pick up problems etc, then you undo more bolts scattered around the mounts and look in amazement at what shocking mounts you had in there before!
Mine actually did look like the one on the left. They were just so squishy. So the new mounts went in without a fuss.
But what a DIFFERENCE! Sure, there is noticeably more vibration at startup and when starting from first gear, around the 1000-2000rpm mark. But the gains far outweigh any negatives. No more shuddering on takeoff, smoother shifts, more linear power delivery, more urgency, improved throttle response, deeper engine note (inside the cabin at least) and audible gear whine in some gears on engine braking (not sure if this is a positive or negative, but I like it
). The car just feels like a race car, and compliments the coilovers and short shifter really well, as well as the VR's normal heavy brake pedal to give the car a solid feel.
The vibrations ARE definitely increased over stock, and someone wanting a more stock feel may want to go for the stage 0.5 mounts or it may not be something you want to change. But my experience over the past couple of day have made my car just feel that much better.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the vibrations may be more noticeable on a 2.0 since the VR6 engine is heavier, and the stage 1 could be a bit unbearable.
Mark
Naturally, I thought this was somehow gearbox or diff related. However, 3 months ago, this was partially cured by replacing the transmission mount for a shiny new one (thanks GolfLoon). But, with the noise recurring my doubts about the strength of the gearbox resurfaced as did the nightmares of being without the VR and the hefty price for a recoed gearbox or something similar. Either way, I would have been up for over a grand.
However, driving the car up the drive way with the bonnet open, my dad noticed a lot of movement in the engine. I mean, you could rock a baby to sleep on that puppy!
So this was a great excuse to do a mod that I was planning on anyway. Thanks to Tim's great site, DubAddiction, I got a BFI stage 1 engine mount kit.
$199 had it delivered to my door in a couple of days, and sourcing the instructions for installation on the net, they went into my car on Saturday (sorry, no pics!) It basically involved getting the car on small ramps, or blocks of timber to get the jack under (too low otherwise
), removing the top bolts on the motor mounts, jacking the engine up carefully and I do say carefully as jacking up from the sump can cause oil pick up problems etc, then you undo more bolts scattered around the mounts and look in amazement at what shocking mounts you had in there before!Mine actually did look like the one on the left. They were just so squishy. So the new mounts went in without a fuss.
But what a DIFFERENCE! Sure, there is noticeably more vibration at startup and when starting from first gear, around the 1000-2000rpm mark. But the gains far outweigh any negatives. No more shuddering on takeoff, smoother shifts, more linear power delivery, more urgency, improved throttle response, deeper engine note (inside the cabin at least) and audible gear whine in some gears on engine braking (not sure if this is a positive or negative, but I like it
). The car just feels like a race car, and compliments the coilovers and short shifter really well, as well as the VR's normal heavy brake pedal to give the car a solid feel.The vibrations ARE definitely increased over stock, and someone wanting a more stock feel may want to go for the stage 0.5 mounts or it may not be something you want to change. But my experience over the past couple of day have made my car just feel that much better.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the vibrations may be more noticeable on a 2.0 since the VR6 engine is heavier, and the stage 1 could be a bit unbearable.
Mark
But good to hear you're enjoying it! Pedro has Stage 0.5 mounts put into his ABF Mk3 and I can't wait to hear his review on it once it's running.
to Tim for getting BFI stuff locally!
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