The Cal-look Lounge

solid mounts on the gearbox good or bad? just got a car from the states and its my pride and joy but the solid mount thing is a worry. ive read alot of cars stateside are running solid mounts just like to know peoples thoughts.

With slicks, yes...  With radials, no.  Who needs all the noise in a driver?  If your racing and driving streets on the weekend with a big motor, then go for solids but if your in a 1776 with Kads and commuting to work daily, forget it.  Solid mounts transfer loads of vibration into your car and will leave you with loosened fastners and broken intake manifolds at some point.  VW used to make two hardnesses of rubber mounts...the hard ones are obsolete through the factory but are worth checking swap meets for.  My $.02.

yeah what Sarge says.

I resorted to the solid Berg trans mount back in '90's when I was dumb and thought I wanted a "racecar." It was a weld in deal. Yeah it holds the transaxle in check, but it makes so much noise it drives me crazy now. Like Sarge says, you can still find good OE Volkswagen mounts, the only way to fly. A Berg traction bar (with rubber isolator pad under knob on case) makes a failsafe installation, you won't have a problem, unless you're doing wheelies and 9000rpm.

ive got the ideamans old car jade grenade.its got a 2276 with all the bits.gearbox is solid.thinking of swapping to rhino mounts an intermidiate mount and a berg traction bar.im probably going to leave it till the winter and do it then.wanna do some miles in it :)

I 3rd what they said ;)

I would use OE VW over those Rhino mounts. They are as loud as solid and probably transmit just as much vibration. I used those for a few months... scrapped them for OE VW in the early 90's

you say about the vw mounts but do they still make them?

Dave At Proformance can get you the OE Volkswagen mounts (HD version)

tell him you need 111 301 263C and that Jim Ratto sent you the part #.

thanks jim.proformance is in the states is it?

I HAVE SOLID MOUNTS ON MY STREET CAR . . .  :o

sorry was I shouting?  ;D  :D  ;)


I think I need to look into changing them to something a bit less hardcore race car!

What are the options??

Any one remember Doug Bergs take on solid mounts on the CLF a while back?

WHAT? :D ;D

As far as I know, VW Heritage are doing the Grey VW mounts, which I think are the harder ones that Jim was talking about, and Pete at Funkenblitz tends to recommend the yellow CB Performance ones.
I've used the urethane ones and hated them - they eventually squeezed up and then shattereed, so I replaced them with another set. When I swap the box this year I'll go for the grey VW ones I think, along with a Berg style rubber mid mount and a traction bar.

the yellow cb ones are the rhinos i mentioned earlier neil.seems to be a no no. i,ll try the grey ones i think.nice car cal-look.net! looked at your build up on many occasions ;)

Well, I'm about to install rhinos, I'll tell you whether they are no-no or OK. I'm old enough to know that constant noise and nuts and bolts getting loose are not a good thing in a daily driver.
I just wish I got so many answers when I asked the question if rhinos are ok and where to get HD VW mounts, some time ago, before I ordered those rhinos..... ;>

im gonna have to look and see if rear mount is welded in :-\

Never had problems with mine when i had one under my car but then again iran street and in the weekends i raced.
But on the road never had problems with it and drove it daily 8)

I have used a few sets of the CB Yellow Poly mounts , to great effect , no movement , not much more noise than rubbers . The CB mounts are well made , I am having some intermediate mount blocks made from some Poly the same sure-hardness as the CB ones , so they all match .

The most effective thing you can do to stop movement , is support the frame horns .

Andy's car runs this setup , and we haven't noticed any deterioration of the mounts , or movement , and we have given it some stick  ;) ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsTmDLshe8o

pete i think i,ll use it as is for the summer and redo the system in the winter.as much as im gonna use it over the summer shouldnt be a problem.just hope the rear mount aint welded cuz getting the chassis redone in powdercoat aint gonna be easy :'( although its going to need brackets welded for the intermidiate mount anyway ::)

Well, I have them on my car now. I have to admit that they are noisy. Not as noisy as solid mounts, but definitely noisier than stock rubber ones. You can live with that, but it can be annoying in the long run.

thanks for that qubek.ive found my mount isnt welded in which is good news.will have to do these mounts over the winter.