How to: Urethane ST162 engine mounts in Adelaide

[mikie_121]

Hey

After reading BeRad's "how to : polyurethane engine mounts" I went to every auto shop I could find, but not one of them could help me with a nissan patrol (or any other mount) that would fit into the Celica mount.

I finally gave up and decided to make my own, so i went to SA Urethanes in Hackham and bought a rod (40cm long X 80mm diam) of premade 90 hardness urethane. It wasn't cheap at $60, but I have enough to make about 7 mounts now. I then tried lots of steel tube dealers to find some pipe that would fit into the outer ring of the mount. I finally found some 80mm aluminium (steel doesn't come in that size, or anything close to it) pipe that I could sand/linish/turn down to fit. The blokes at Surman Metals, Green Fields (near Mawson Lakes) sold me some 3mm aluminium tube for around $20. It was slightly too big but that meant I could turn it down and get a really tight fit.



So basically:
I cut through the shitty rubber. Sawing away at it with a stanley knife.


I kept the middle tube that the bolt goes through and cleaned off most of the rubber on a lathe. I left some rubber there so that it would hold onto the urethane


I cut the inner ring with a hacksaw. I tried for hours to punch it out but that bastard wouldn't budge. The bottom right of the inner ring has been cut and pulled inwards.


Then I just drilled out a hole in the urethane 1mm smaller than the small tube and sweezed it through. I also cut a piece of the aluminium tube and sanded it down to fit snugly into the original mount. I had to turn the urethane mount down about 2mm to get it into the aluminium ring.
Here it is in the car:


I did the rear mount too, but I couldn't find a piece of pipe that would fit inside the mount, so I just made the urethane fit.


I hope this helps anyone looking to make their own mounts.
Oh and it tightened up the engine really well. It just feels better coz now the engine doesn't twist when you plant your foot.
SA Urethanes can pour liquid polyurethane into an empty mount if you don't have a lathe, but I didn't get a price. It just takes effort to get the mould right and all that.

Mikie

[jezza323]

nice work mate

for the qlders - QLD rollers & liners in rocklea also sell this gear and can pour new material into existing mounts for you, in either rubber or urethane

[Dale]

sweet write up dude

... would you be interested in selling off a couple of bits of urethane and aluminum ready to fit into mounts?

[Andrew162]

awesome work there. let's just hope that the urethane mounts last as long as the rubber mounts. I have heard some horror stories about urethane mounts and that some people won't sell them because they're prone to failure, but that could also be because of the grade of urethane hardness used too.

hope they do you and the 162 well.

[horse]

sweet write up dude

... would you be interested in selling off a couple of bits of urethane and aluminum ready to fit into mounts?

ditto that.

[HAVABEER]

whats the story with the legality of using mounts like this. to do it by the book would you have to go get a engineering cert, and do you think they would pass?

i'd hate to see an insurance claim get knocked back because of something like this.


good write up though

[mikie_121]

I never considered the legality of them. But looking at the old ones that came off they would have to be better.

After driving with them for two days I have noticed that I'm getting a little more vibration than before but I get instant response when I plant my foot so it's well worth it. I could drill one or two holes above and below the middle tube to cut down on vibration, but that would give the engine a little more play. We'll see
When I was making the mounts on the lathe I noticed that urethane dissolves when you spray WD-40 on it! So be aware of that little problem.

To all the people asking me to make them some mounts: Have a go at it yourself. You don't need a lathe if you cut away all the rubber and get a plastics place to pour it in for you. I could start making up inserts and selling them, but it really wasn't that hard - it just takes a little time.

Oh and I didn't do all four mounts, Only the front and rear (torque) mounts.

Cheers
Mikie

[88FOUR]

Ive got the gtfour model, and have just brought the poly mount kit from speed source, .. this wd-40 'happening' seems a problem, everytime you clean or work on the car it would carrode it?.... would thins be the type of poly you used as a opposed to what you get from speed source, or is all poly the same?

[mikie_121]

I think polyurethane is all the same (correct me if I'm wrong...) so WD-40 will probably dissolve them all.
But it didn't happen quickly. Like if you spray it on and wipe it off it will be fine, just don't let it soak in.

I sold the car earlier this year, so after 4 years the mounts are still working perfectly. No sagging or warping out of shape. I'd call that a success...