mikymu

Well, my engine did not get violated by an exotic tropical insect but the engine mount got a major makeover instead

Our OEM engine mount utilize an enclosed hydraulic unit that damper engine vibration for driver/passenger comfort. The draw back of this design and with any street going cars is that it allows significant amount of movement of the engine under hard acceleration and high G changes under track condition. This translate to sloppy engine response, imprecise transmission shift and inconsistent turns. You can think of the function of an engine mount much like walking your dog. OEM engine mount is like an undisciplined dog, pulling on the leash on every corner trying to pee on light posts. A proper functioning engine mount is a well trained dog allowing you to walk with ease and even go for a jog because he follows where you want to go

Folks at WEVO explain it much better as follow:

"The WEVO 997 SS Engine Mount is designed to offer more precise control of the drivetrain mass. Our experience with the whole family of SS Mount products has illustrated that most drivers experience the sensation of the drivetrain unit moving relative to the chassis mass. The drivetrain in a Porsche is independently suspended from the sprung mass of the car via the compliance in the engine and transmission mounts. This drivetrain assembly represents approximately 25% of the sprung weight of the car. The opportunity for forces to move the drivetrain comes from many inputs, such as the torque reaction of vehicle acceleration loads, the bumps and variations in the road surface and the lateral forces created in cornering and braking. That degree of independent movement of the drivetrain is responsible for some of the “sloppy” feeling that is evident when the performance envelope of the vehicle is explored. The higher the forces, the higher the deflections in the hydro-elastic mounts, therefore the deflections and movement of the drivetrain mass begin to operate out of phase with the movement of the car as a whole. For Racing the factory eliminate the hydro elastic mounts and install solid engine mount positions – marrying together the mass of the drivetrain and the sprung mass of the car. While solid mounts might be considered a conventional wisdom for a race car, this practice has an enormous impact on NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) making it totally impractical for a street driven car.

The WEVO 997 SS Engine Mounts skew the performance intentions of the O.E. engine mounts and control movement by allowing smaller deflections under the same loads. Your drivetrain remains “independently suspended” but managed by a much stiffer suspension – much like stiffer dampers, anti-roll bars or springs could replace the original parts in your front and rear axle suspension configurations.

Unlike solid engine and transmission mount systems, the Semi Solid installation has no metal to metal contact and retains sufficient isolation from engine vibrations to protect your sensitive engine control electronics, sound system and instrumentation systems."

I learn the hard way about our OEM engine mount at Laguna Seca. I had some trouble going from 2nd to 3rd gear up the straight before turn two under high acceleration up a hill. Porsche now offer a variable electromagnetic engine mount for the 997.2 GT3/RS for $1300 but it's not available for 997.1 ... plus it will sure add weight. I decided to get the WEVO engine mount instead since it's reasonably priced at $198.75 each. Here is the full description link: 997 Semi-Solid Engine Mounts

OK, let's get started with this simple mod. First, the WEVO engine mount arrived in the box and looks almost good enough for display





Here is a look at the two OEM engine mounts. Kind of ugly and massive compare with WEVO





The engine mount is held on by two smaller M8 bolts (13 mm socket) up top and one large M12 nut on the bottom which require a deep 18 mm socket to gain access



OK, let's remove the OEM engine mount by first supporting the engine from below. I use my floor jack and place a piece of wood block under the crank case as not to damage the case. You need to jack up the engine enough where the body of the car is lift up by about 3-4 inches.
If you did not jack up the engine enough it will be very hard to loosen the M12 nut and there will not be room between the engine mount bracket and the nut since the engine is lowering while the nut is loosening.



Here is a view of the engine mount removed. Do this one side at a time and install the WEVO engine mount before removing the other OEM engine mount



Beauty and the beast contest LOL





OEM engine mount is not only ugly, it is heavy too. Both OEM mount weigh 5 lbs total compare with WEVO's feather light 2 lbs total. 3 lbs weight saving from the rear is always nice!





You may have to turn the WEVO engine mount center bolt slightly to fit. This can be easily done with a wrench at the base



WEVO engine mount installed. Tighten the top M8 bolts to 18 ft/lbs or 25 Nm and the bottom M12 nut to 60 ft/lbs or 83 Nm and move on to the other side. With the right socket and tools, you can knock this out in less than 30 minuets.



I made a video of the engine deflection comparing OEM vs WEVO engine mount. Unfortunately the OEM engine mount video was made at 11PM with my garage door closed as not to scare the crap out of my neighbor (I scared the living day light out of my wife instead lol). I did not go aggressive on the gas with OEM engine mount due to the circumstance. The video is only good to show slightly more baseline vibration with WEVO engine mount

Here is a picture of my Jerry rigged engine deflection seismometer



OEM vs WEVO engine mount deflection test

Driving impression: Well, you can feel the ever so slight extra baseline vibration at start up. Not annoying enough to even mention and totally forgotten the next day. No difference as far as vibration goes once moving. On the track I noticed I can turn with ease and the car is not fighting with me. This is especially noticeable two days ago at Laguna Seca. I put my PCCB back on with Pagid RS29 pads. This brake combination was horrible. I overshoot many high speed braking zone like turn 11 and 2 and no brake modulation what so ever! Despite of lack of brakes, I made my previous best time of 1:47 with ease. I thought my traqmate was broken since I had terrible brakes. The car was just a delight on turns and go where ever I pointed which made up loss time at brake zones. Up the straight before turn 2 under hard acceleration only cause 2nd to 3rd gear shift difficulty once when I try to speed shift as a trial.

Overall I am very pleased with the improvement. WEVO engine mount delivered what it promised and more. Best of all it's super easy to install and very reasonably priced which is a rarity for Porsche related product

Land Jet

I've got to hand it to you for jumping in and doing these mods yourself, plus great write ups and pics. I've been thinking about this mod for my car.

gota911

Nice write up!

Jon70

I'd like to hear your thoughts after a few months. I've been considering them myself, but am concerned about excessive vibration.

Mike, your DIY posts are superb. I thank you for them all and hopefully there will be more to come.

Erik

Very nice and written in such a way that any idiot can just follow the pictures do it themselves. Since I just got RSR shift cables installed (some damage to stock ones) I want to see if it made a difference before I do the mounts. If still the same I will follow

bob_dallas

You get the award for the best DIY write-ups, hands down. Very nice.

85Gold

Installed them on the GT2 a month ago and there is a little more vibration but with the Moton's. monoballs, and loud exhaust it really isn't noticeable. We were @ Homestead last Sunday and the car felt good, but we also went with a new rear swaybar and the 1st time on NT01's so not able to quantify any handling improvements. The car shifted fine. This was the 1st time the GT2 handled like my old GT3, except on Steriods. in a straight line.

Peter

roberga

I had WEVO's on my 996GT3 with TRG bits.. all good. vibration just keeps pussies from asking for another ride.

mobonic

These are being installed on my 997S as we speak.... if I would of had this DIY a few days a go i would have done it myself.

996FLT6

Mikymu- ne thought of removing the rear fan? Cupcars don't have it so why we need it? I tried removing it and the damn fan lite came on- is there someway to bypass or trick ecu? That thing weighs 7lbs. Mike ps- nice writeup and pics. Only thought of removing fan since car is pretty much track only.

TeamDrugMoney

I just got them installed on my '10 GT3 and am looking forward to seeing what the difference feels like. It is interesting as to just how easy the process is. Thanks for making this effort for others.

mikymu

Thanks again for the kind works guys. I hope my post help make your life easier when you decide to upgrad to the WEVO engine mount. You can take the money you saved from labor and put it toward your next mod

No worry about the minute engine vibration. You really can not feel it unless you sit in your car butt naked LOL

7 lbs?? That is one heavy fan. It's useful on the street during stop and go traffic in summer. DME detect lack of fan by sensing resistance of the fan unit. You can always bypass it by sticking a resistor on the fan plug but it will get hot once juice start flowing. I have to give this some more thought. May be the next challenge

malmasri

Nice.

mooty

damn michael.
maybe i should get another RS so you can "sharpen" your skills by doing all the mods a second time!?

jshudson

Mike, Your DIYs are terific. Thanks for taking the extra time to document for the rest of us!