Tom M'Guinn

As suspected, I confirmed this morning that my tranny-side CV cage broke on the driver side. You can see where the ball bearings hammered the cage hard. Fortunately, everything else seems fine. Obligatory picture below...

I'm inclined to pop new axles in for now, but am interested in options for longer-term reliability on higher-HP cars.

Would be interested to here experiences, pros/cons, good sources for:

--urethane reinforced tranny mount
--solid tranny mount
--other mount options?
--reinforcement bar/plate on tranny to chassis
--stronger axles (and which ones?)
--other options?

333pg333

I would think you do as much as you can from that list Tom. You may not know what saves you in the future by doing more than one mod at a time but what does it matter? Except for the expensive LR options ($1200+) everything there is cheap insurance. We went with the LR ones and V1.0 were no good. They since upgraded them and so far so good. No hard launches by us though. Not sure what cages XSChop offers? Price is a lot cheaper. Maybe contact him and/or The Driveshaft shop directly. I tried T.D.S. and had a poor experience but that was via email.

V2Rocket

The urethane mount trick makes a huge huge difference in how firmly mounted the trans is. Stock mount, you can grab the trans by hand and wiggle an inch or more to each side.

Urethane mount, no play.

There is no appreciable change in vibration or noise to the cabin.

You can find my walk through with pictures in an old thread if you search... Takes about 30 minutes of work and $35 of material.

ekoz

I put a LR ultra mount on mine because of clutch chatter (six puck). Made a huge difference. Just another option. not a bad compromise if you don't want solid mount cabin noise.

refresh951

I run similar power and I took the following approach based on Sid's drag experience. I have had great success and it is low cost:

1) Kelly Mount
2) EMPI Cages (EMPI 90-6805) with OEM shafts.

Tom M'Guinn

What was wrong with V1.0 and how did they fix it?

How is the noise with the ultra mount? That's the metal one with the rubber isolator mounts, right?

Do you believe the EMPI cages to be stronger or better built, or was is primarily the price that pushed you in that direction?

333pg333

It was a lesser quality cage, boot and possibly axle. Can't quite remember all the details. They had a few sets out there and as far as I'm aware, most were changed over when failures started to occur.

refresh951

The EMPI cages are stronger but the shafts are weaker. Thus the combo.

Tom M'Guinn

Re the Kelly Mount, I see that some guys remove the mount, wrap it in tape, and pour the urethane into the mount. Whereas other guys leave the mount in the cross-member, create dams on the sides, and fill the whole cross-member. The latter seems stronger, but curious if there are known pros and cons of doing it one way vs. the other?

Anyone here try these Pelican super mounts (with rubber isolators)?
http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...pg3.htm#item10

V2Rocket

Removing the mount from the crossbar makes the mount still removable later, and makes the job neater.
In the event you don't like it, you may have to replace your whole cross-bar or spend a lot of time digging out the urethane, if you do it in place.

chrenan

I run the lindsey ultra transmission mount. Definitely some more noise but nothing crazy. I'm not running near the power you guys are, but lots of track time. Tom what is the rest of your rear setup with? I've always wondered if having a stiffer transmission mount and removing any other rubber back there keeps the relationship between the shafts, the transmission and the trailing arms more "constant" and happy? The rear on my car is all elephant racing and racers edge bronze/spherical/solid.

Quickbeam

I run semisolid engine and trans mounts. Still managed to break a cage recently on a cardone remanufactured axle. The cardone lasted several years at 300+ hp with the semisolids. I recently replaced the joints with EMPI 98-5084. These have chromoly cages. I don't expect to have any more issues.

--
Rory Crane

Tom M'Guinn

That all makes sense. Does it seem to work and last equally as well with so much less material?

The ultra mount is the one with the rubber isolators, right? I noticed the LR version has 4 mounting bolts rather than just 2 on the pelican version. Interesting to hear it's a little louder, as I thought the point of the rubber was to avoid that. My rear suspension is bone stock '86 951...

chrenan

Yes the one with the rubber isolators. The rubber is very solid though, and there is much less of it when compared to the stock mount setup.

Techno Duck

Also running the Lindsey Ultra Mount, increased noise isnt too bad. Didnt even notice it with my 3", no cat 2.5L.

No issues now with V8 powerband either, just need to remember always roll on the throttle. Tires are 275 width Falken RT615's or Conti summer tires. Something more sticky may pose problems down the road.