Engine mount supports

[Basil Brush]

Is anyone using the engine mount supports that Power etc are selling now? I was thinking of trying them to limit the movement when the NS mount fails but I've read on some sites that there's not enough room on a Tuscan.

[Whitey]

I plan to have them fitted at my next service, but I have no idea if they fit or not, or are any good, I was going to give power a call for a chat before ordering them.

[Basil Brush]

For the sake of 30 quid or so per side they seem like a good idea. I've gone through NS mounts at an alarming rate over the last couple of years and it's not helping my chassis rails when the manifold ends up about 1mm away as the engine drops.

[yzf1070]

I purchased some aluminium heat shield from Nimbus Motorsport, I believe this is a similar mod to which the factory retro fitted to some cars. I also used it to protect the heater matrix.





Works well and the standard engine mount remains fine.

[Daston]

ohh will have to give that a go, I have just had both my mounts replaced.

[Whitey]

Interesting, I had this fitted when the engine was last out, but was more to protect the chassis than the engine mount. It does not seem to fully cover the engine mount. But now I think about it, I don't think I have had a broken mount in the last 5000 or so miles, but I will need to double check that. I sort of forget about them, as I consider them a consumable item!!

[Basil Brush]

Is that the 3mm Nimbus Lite heat shielding or the thicker one Graham? I tried to do a similar thing with some of the flexible thermo-tec sheet but it hasn´t lasted very well.

[GreenV8S]

Do you find that engine mounts fail that often? Any idea why?

I've never broken an engine mount so far but had to replace them recently when I set fire to one (just that little bit too hot to a white hot exhaust). I've used the enclosed poly bushes from Autodesign/SC Power. I assume these are the same ones you're talking about. They actually seem to be a bit softer than the original rubber mounts and will presumably get even softer with heat. But I like the fact that the enclosure should stop the engine moving far even if the mount does separate.

Colin mentioned that he was in the process of producing some super duper mounts made out of a material that would cope with the exhaust heat without softening or degrading. That would seem like a good idea for these cars where the exhaust runs past the mount. It didn't sounds as if they would be cheap, but having your engine thrashing around in the engine bay won't be cheap either.

[Whitey]

It's the heat that kills them from the exhaust, they are practically a consumable item on speed 6 cars.

[NCE 61]

Whitey said:

Interesting, I had this fitted when the engine was last out, but was more to protect the chassis than the engine mount. It does not seem to fully cover the engine mount. But now I think about it, I don't think I have had a broken mount in the last 5000 or so miles, but I will need to double check that. I sort of forget about them, as I consider them a consumable item!!

There was a topic on this some time ago ( Found it!)

Thre is another part to the heat shield that covers the mount:-

[Basil Brush]

GreenV8S said:

Do you find that engine mounts fail that often? Any idea why?

The replacement needed at the moment will be the third NS mount in the last 2 years. They are just not designed to be sited that close to manifolds/cats so the rubber gets cooked. I´m only on my second OS mount since new.

[Tuscanuwe]

Anyone already tried to insulate the exhaust pipes
with insulating (asbestos or equal) tape?

Is this possible or is there anything that speak against insulating the pipes???

Uwe

[VARLEYHYD]

Tuscanuwe said:

Anyone already tried to insulate the exhaust pipes
with insulating (asbestos or equal) tape?

Is this possible or is there anything that speak against insulating the pipes???

Uwe

Ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds & de-cats if fitted, this problem & cabin heat soak solved.

Aids exit of exhaust gases too.

Nothing agianst IMO

G

[yzf1070]

Basil Brush said:

Is that the 3mm Nimbus Lite heat shielding or the thicker one Graham? I tried to do a similar thing with some of the flexible thermo-tec sheet but it hasn´t lasted very well.

That's the stuff Marcus, 3mm. There is a requirement to make a rectangular piece which is slotted and slip it over the mount so that the rubber section of the mount is fully protected. (Unfortunately I dont have a photo from an angle which shows this). If you make this piece by doubling over the sheet afew times it is rigid enough and literally jams in place pretty solid between the shield and the engine bracket, but can be pulled out if required. My cars headers are also ceramic coated as are the bypass pipes, as Varley stated this helps a lot too.

Some one asked about wrapping the headers, I consulted on this and was advised it is not wise for a road going car thatwill see rain etc... the material soon breaks down and becomes a mess, plus the headers would really need to be removed to wrap them properly.

Good luck

[Challenger C4s]

Asbestos wrap the engine mount???

[m3jappa]

The threads so old i think asbestos was still in use

[dvs_dave]

Ha ha yes, '08 was a good vintage.

Anyway I think it's since been realised that even with the heat sheild fitted the NS mount is still short lived. Reason being that the main cause of failure is heat transfer into the mount from the bracket connecting it to the engine. This runs between the manifolds so gets extremely hot and transfers loads of heat into the rubber mount, so melting it.

Ceramic coating the manifolds is the best solution to this and also solves excessive heatsoak, and chassis scorching problems, as well as perhaps gaining you an extra couple of horses.

[jmd68]

Hi there,

after replacing 3 engine mounts in less than a year, I've tried to tackle the root cause by insulating the engine mount (using Thermo-Tech's Cool-it heat shield, but taking the plastic backing sheet off to avoid any risk of fire) and installing a "Heat-drain": a thick copper wire, bolted to the mount's engine-side bolt on one end, and to the chassis on the other end.
Indeed, insulation will only slow-down heat transfer, and with nowhere to go (rubber on one end, engine block at 90C on the other), heat will eventually build-up, unless it has an escape path.

I just tested the setup today, and temperature in the mount decreased by about 25C (60C vs. 85C previoulsy on a highway run).

After stopping the engine at the end of a quiet run, temperature still peaks at 80C though (I didn't measure that aspect in the standard config).

I will keep you updated on the mount's lifespan.

[jmd68]

Here's the insulated mount (I added a bolt with 2 wide washers trough the large mount hole, to hold it all together in hot condition)

[jmd68]

...and here it the other end bolted to the chassis (I had to drill the junction plate to let it through).