JTSO is da man

 

in relation to # 4... looks like an ETD would also solve my problem of the jdm cat banging on the cusco type II lower arm bar. I have .75" clearence but as it is they will still touch due to engine movement. Please make a cusco compatible one jtso!

 

Hello to all,

I read this with interest and first of all, a way to go to do a DIY for the enigine absorber. Nice and the material needed needs to be much harder so that the vibrations do not bend the flanges.

Now, since so many interested, let me share an idea with all of you. There are 4 engine mounts. Change the front and rear (not the 2 sides) with Polyurethane type, and this allows some flexing but it takes away the massive up and roll and pitch of the engine considerably. Thus, it works better than an engine damper!!!!! It should also remove some steering vibration (engine dampers are known to give more direct vibrations to the steering)

Hope this helps and as for me, I am looking for front and rear polyurethane engines mounts and anybody can get, help me!!! My car JDM Euro R and engine mounst should be similar.!!

 

I guess this will fix unknown comptech header rattling issue also.

 

Comptech rattling issue? I heard market rumours that this header is made in taiwan and sold for US$180??? It seems the mounting to the engine with the gasket is also not flat. Thus, could give this rattling. Next likely source of rattling could be the cat cover hitting any under arm bar. My cusco under carriage 4 pt brace just clears the cat cover about 5mm and at times, it is rattling now. Makes me really upset.

Can anyone get polyurethane TSX engine mounts for front and back? Please send me a message and tell me how much including shipping to Singapore and I prepared to pay.

Cheers

 

I'd say that is incorrect information about the comptech header. It has some of the nicest bends and welds of them all. As for the header meeting with the block, it is perfect.

 

i have a complete CL7 exhaust system inlcuding header, cat and exhaust and I now have the same rattling on the cusco 4 point lower arm bar.

I'm not sure if polyurethane engine mounts are going to fix our problem with the rattle or if they are even avaialbe for sale/

 

If you were to decouple the mounting bracket from the chasis would that not reduce the shocks ability to compress? Since you can generate enough force to bend the bracket, you'd likely be able to deform the bushing, no?

 

maybe we should all be looking into stronger/stiffer engine mounts...

But damn i want that wheel hop and rattle gone!

 

If you have the Cusco bar and willing to remove the stock strut bar (why would you need two?), I think it's very possible to create a ETD setup for that configuration. You would need a shorter version of the univeral ETD and a new custom shock tower bracket. The engine mount bracket would be the same as the existing design. You can contact the ebay seller for availability and color. Once I can get my hands on the shorter ETD and a local TSX (CJams?) for some measurements, I will try to make one for you guys.

Basically, one version of the engine mount bracket and 2 versions of the shock tower bracket should cover most of the popular strut bars out there.

 

The poly bushing should behave the same way a swaybar bushing would. The harder the force, the firmer it gets, but not as firm as solid metal. Poly bushings don't deform much. That's why they are being used to replace many stock rubber bushings on suspension parts and engine mount inserts. The biggest problem is finding the suitable size to experiment.

 

Im sure removing hte stock strut bar wouldn't be a problem for people, the CL9 in Australia doesn't even come withe one.

If you're confident this can work with the cusco strut I'd be very interested... the thought of no wheel hop and no rattle with the cat and cusco bar... just wow. Jtso - you're the man!

be sure to let us know when you can give a rough estimate on the pricing

 

yay~

 

Opps, apologies, I heard it is DC spXrts and not comptech. Anyway, it is a rumour that someone read it off a forum somewhere and just wanted you guys to offer some feedback. Moreover, we understand that we cannot use the US headers as they are a little longer for the 2.4 block compared to the K20 Euro R blocks....

I assume comptech does not do a K20 header for JDM ?

 

Yea, i have the same problem as the CUSCO design must have been done in the dark!! What some did was to remove the cat cover but leaving the cat in the open is not good when water splashes a hot cat!!!

I bought some polyurethane exhaust mounts and will replace the stock rubber ones tomorrow. I have the fujisurbo and the stiffer polyrethane mounts will prevent the swaying as well if I could raise the whole exhaust up more to prevent the knocking.

One of the things I have to do is to raise the car, use a crow bar and bend the CUSCO 4 point brace back to prevent the rattling. I am keeping my fingers cross that the polyurethane exhause mounts could solve this problem for me.

As for the polyurethane engine mounts, I think they are available somewhere. My friends have a CL1 (first JDM version of Euro R) and they did the front and rear for the engine on the H22A. Another replaced all 4 mounts with polyurethane and his car virbrates like a disel cab now. So, repalcing 2 out of 4 could be the balance that we are looking for.....

 

Hie JTso,

Nice design and this DIY certainly scores high! I noted your comments about the bend and just offering some ideas :

1. The flange that is mounted on the strut, you could actually weld 2 pieces of the vertical piece (that holds the damper) down to the C-shape piece. this will give it the "shearing" strength to take the damper compression when the engine moves backs...

2. I think if you mount to the strut bar, you will not get the strength needed. The alternative is to see if you can actually make another one on the other side of the engine so that 2 dampers to take the loading when the engine moves. Could also possibly reduce the damping rate and could solve this issue...

 

Yes, we've seen some issues too with the DC Sports header here. I'm not aware of any US manufacturers making a K20 header for the Euro R.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Have you seen headers in the US with a welded plate "Super Dynamics" on it? Stainless steel. Configuration is 4-2-1. Do you have a pic of the DC headers?

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I know what you are saying but due to the limited space available, there just isn't any room for the extra vertical piece. Keep in mind all pieces and the ETD must clear all brake lines, AC lines, PS hose, strut bar, Accelerator position sensor, ABS motor, and hood. It also needs to be a direct bolt-on and easy installation. I'm talking about clearance in the millimeter range. Also, adding one on the other side is actually more difficult due to the lack of good solid mounting point.

 

Check Spoon Engine Torque Damper Setup: http://www.spoon.jp/jp/products/line...php?category=5

How much?

 

About $182.00 according to xe.com

 

Have you considered welding one piece at the far end where the bend is and put it on the outside? Just a triangle like piece and stay within the height of the L-bend will do the trick.

 

Just the thing I was hoping to hear!. Now I need one so I hopefully won't have to anticipate a 3rd flex pipe replacement!

 

Thanks!

 

If my understanding is correct (a qualifier that should be applied to the entirety of this long post), an ETD will not solve your problem. The lack of vibration JTso is noting is relative to a poly motor mount insert setup.

In most cars including ours, the engine is normally mounted with a relatively free-moving mount that transfers virtually no force to the cabin at all; this results in the least possible engine-related cabin vibration, but has the downside (for racing purposes) that the engine can rock back quite a bit when putting out a lot of torque. This results in tremendous backwards weight transfer during a launch which is responsible for "wheel hop" -- that dreaded suspension-destroying bounce you get when the backward weight transfer is actually enough to lift your front wheels off the ground.

The classic solution to wheel hop is a more solid motor mount or insert. Energy Suspensions sells polyurethane MM inserts that are much less flexible than typical motor mounts. When you put them in, the engine is firmly attached to the chassis and cannot rock back under acceleration, so wheel hop is eliminated. Unfortunately, this means that the engine is firmly attached to the chassis, so the 10-to-120Hz vibration of the engine is directly transmitted through the frame to the entire car and your teeth. That's bad, but a good launch is so important to some people that they choose to live with it. Sane people just left their engine mounts alone, until engine torque dampers were invented.

An engine torque damper is a damper (i.e. shock absorber, implemented as either a gas-filled cylinder with a piston in it or a high-tension spring setup, though I suspect the former) that goes between the engine and chassis. The beauty of shock abosrbers is that, unlike normal springs, the resistance they present is directly related to how hard you push on them. In your suspension, that means they are comparatively soft when riding over normal or rough ground, but when you hit a big bump they firm up to prevent bottoming out and damaging your car. In an ETD, it means that they will not transmit the vibrations (relatively weak) of your engine to the chassis, but will provide a firm link when the engine tries to rock back with extreme force when you mash the pedal. The other nice thing about them is that they are energy-inefficient -- that is, the energy that goes into moving them up and down is largely lost to heating up the fluid inside them, rather than being stored as in a spring (and hence eventually being put back into your car as unwanted movement).

However, what I think an ETD will not do is absorb vibrations that are already making it to your cabin through some other route, like the soft motor mounts or the road (via your suspension). At best, it will not increase engine-related vibration.

 

If ETD eliminates the Comptech header's rattling noises, you should try selling this kit to Comptech and make them to include ETD as a part of header kit.

 

Thanks jpt. I knew the purpose of this wasn't to soften the engine-to-cabin vibration, but I thought that it might be a sought-after side effect. I do get the purpose of the ETD a lot better now, thanks.

Still, a design that is working and helps prevent wheel hop sounds very, very worthwhile! I have hopped occasionally and chirped often, even with vsa on. Any future mods for me that help the torque of this car (like pulleys) would make this even more worth it then. I look forward to reading the progress here.

 

JTso,
Looking good, I would probably buy one

 

On Ingalls' web site, their ETD is described as an elastomeric shock, but without further elaboration as to what they mean by that. To me that implies the use of some sort of synthetic rubber, maybe the compression thereof. Any ideas?

 

JTSO have you found that your ETD smooths out engine vibrations at all when idling?

 

Well, my car didn't have vibrations to begin with so there is no difference during idle. However, you know the engine is more "connected" to the chassis as soon as you press the gas pedal. It's similar to how a larger swaybar makes the car more "connected" feeling.

When the ETD is set to a firmer setting, I can feel a very slight vibration from the steering wheel but no cabin vibration or noise during idle. However, the vibration increases slightly when I switch on AC. After the car has been driven around for awhile, the vibration during AC on has reduced a little but not gone. That's the reason I'm keeping the setting to the softer side for the time being. It is still effective enough to control wheel hops and keeps my flex pipe from banging on the Cusco brace.

 

I would imagine this would involve a long series of soft-ish rubber rings or discs being compressed by a piston, with the damping coming from the hysteresis of the rubber -- presumably this results in a shock that is better tuned (in terms of stiffness, amount of damping, total travel, and diameter of the damper body) to the situation of connecting the engine to the chassis, rather than the car to the ground (or hood to body, screen door to your house, or the various other purposes for which various types of shock absorbers are used). There are many different mechanisms by which shock absorbers operate, ranging from the gas tubes in your screen door to the giant concrete blocks on springs that damp the vibration of entire buildings in earthquake zones; which kind you use depends on the details of the situation.

 

Sorry! Been slackin on this thread. When can we get'er done? How long ya need Nikki for? Just a few measurements? Dismantle anything?

 

Jtso put me down as your first customer for the cusco strut compatable etd

 

I may work from home and never drive my car anymore, but I still want this part.

 

an ETD and some sort of motor mounts would be awesome. Hopefully some sort of mounts can be made

 

Going to be in seattle next week, would like to check this part out JTSO, maybe next saturday? 8 days from now?

 

So are there any plans to make this for sale and available to forum members?

 

The first step is to find a source to duplicate the bracket pieces, and I'm working on it. I'm been very busy lately working 6 - 7 days a week.

The good news is the reinforced shock tower bracket is holding up fine, and I already have a design in mind for the Cusco strut bar.

 

excellent news JTSO, does this mod smooth out gear changes even more?