Super-cheap engine mounts!

[handpaper]

I don't like buying things; I much prefer to make my own.
That way, I have the pleasure of knowing 'I made that' and usually learn something, too.

But sometimes it's just because I'm tight and have nothing better to do

I've been plagued by broken engine mounts lately, I did one at Llandow in early April and another at the 'Ring later that month.
It seems that the OE mounts just aren't up to trackday levels of cornering and braking.
So, an upgrade. But what to do? Bolt-through polyurethane mounts work, but the prices are IMHO, silly. Especially since what you get is basically a steel bolt with a very thick washer. The poly can't provide any compliance unless the stress on it is enough to unload the steel bolt - which isn't going to happen because the assembly would then become loose. So you might as well use a steel washer - or a steel mount..........

So here it is.
Taking a broken OE engine mount, I first stripped off all the rubber. The threaded sections that come out of the mount are actually the ends of coach bolts pressed into the steel end-plates. Probably overkill, but I welded around the edge of each bolt-head, securing it to the plate.
I then welded the plates to the ends of a 50mm steel tube to form the mount. Lining everything up properly is a little awkward, but not particularly difficult. Cutting the steel tube with a chop saw to give perfect faces would make it easy (I used an angle grinder ).

Here it is, welded, cleaned up and ready to paint :



Painted and ready to install :



Cost? Half an hour and a slice of gatepost. Bargain

[handpaper]

The mount posted above was fitted today, giving me another broken mount to work with

Here it is :



Removing all the rubber (hacksaw for the big bits, cup brush on the angle grinder for the rest) leaves these :



Almost certainly overkill, but it makes me feel a little safer :



40mm of 50mm OD steel tube welded centrally (by eye) to one plate :



Then the other :



Painted, will fit tomorrow

[midnight]

my engine moutns ripped out last week and i fitted vibra technics fiesta rs turbo gearbox monts as engine mont and the fit absolutely prefect, and are strong as fcuk, and just fit them sideways and can endure maximum lateral force by spreading force over a larger rebound earlier, and dont cause any extra engine vibration, but they are £100 for 2 available from burton power

[ed325i]

I was going to make soild mounts but was worried it would just snap the mounting arms instead.

[UweM3]

handpaper, what are you going to do with the gearbox mounts?

[Dunx]

Just fitted the poly ones from ebay to mine... seem ok so far....

Fiesta gearbox mounts are usually packed as a backup though now lol

[DaveD]

I seem to remember (but i can't find the link) that someone made them out of ice hockey pucks and it worked quite well

[handpaper]

Uwe, gearbox mounts are staying OE for now. As I see it, most of the stress (90%+) is on the engine mounts; it's only if one of those fails that the gearbox mounts see any real load (and usually fail very quickly!). Also, having some flexibility left makes lining things up a lot easier.

Having used the car with solid mounts for a couple of days now, the only difference is a little vibration at idle - anywhere above 1000 rpm it's just as it was on rubber mounts.

[kevo]

another option would be to go for a world cup cross member like mk1 and 2 escorts use, heres my effort using their wcxm bushes

[UweM3]

Kevo, that looks the part! But guess the 6 Cylinder would not have enough room around the manifold?

@ DaveD the ice hockey mounts are on my car. I wouldn't like to run the S14 on solid mounts

[handpaper]

Plenty of room around the standard exhaust manifold; on that side the mount is very accessible. On the inlet side there's even more room, but the inlet elbow and brake master cylinder make it awkward to get at.

Kevo, that's a much better design - you're only ever compressing rubber (unlikely to fail, can't break away if it does) as opposed to straining a rubber/steel bond in the standard mounts. Very strong and won't shake your teeth out! Wish I had the time to fab one myself