DIY - The Other Custom Bracket NRG Engine Damper
 

I recently purchased the other guys NRG Engine Damper with Custom Bracket (from a GB). I still haven't driven the car but its installed.
Here a pic of the kit.

Attachment 89170

This kit can be used for All J series AT or MT. IT DOES NOT SIT IN THE SAME PLACE AS THE STOCK 3RD GEN.This kit sits on top of the motor mount and bolts to 2 holes in the rear head, 1 empty the other has a bracket which holds a wire loom. It is closer to the center of the motor for equal distribution

The kit comes assembled with the red stiffer poly bushings for PnP operation. I dont know if it was just my motor/motor mounts but i had to extend the damper to fit properly, took 5 minutes with testing fitting and readjusting...

Tools needed.
14mm, 12mm, 13mm, 17mm
small and long extension
Adjustable wrench
Flashlight.

Everything was done from the top

Step 1. ( for M/T)

Taking off the Stock Damper.

the stock damper sits on the driver side rear of the engine. 3 bolts hold it in place. All 14mm. very easy to see and get to once you get your hand through the wire looms.

Attachment 89171

Attachment 89172

Attachment 89173

Stock vs NRG extended
Attachment 89174

Stock vs NRG compressed
Attachment 89175

this is how the new one sits.
Attachment 89176

Attachment 89177


You can see it does not mount in the same location at the stock. This is the bracket which holds a set of wires.
Attachment 89178


STEP 2
Remove the bolt for the motor mount now that theres nothing hanging in the way and the 12mm that hold the bracket with the wire loom

STEP 3

Install the top of the torque damper assembly with the supplied 13mm screw and the 12mm that holds the bracket ( I moved the OEM bolt to the previously empty hole since it was shorter than the supplied 13mm). Leave hand tightened and dont install the wire bracket yet for room to work with.

Step 4

Test fit the Damper. See if the bottom bracket sits flush on top of the motor mount and the holes match up. If it does, install the bolt back in and the wire bracket then tighten everything and your done! You can bend the wire bracket for better positioning of the wire loom.

Step 5 if it does not sit flush

The reason why i didn't like it was because the bottom bracket wasn't sitting flush with the motor mount bracket and tightening the bolt would've caused the damper to always be under stress.

Now i have the Innovative mounts as well. I dont know if its cuz of the thickness of the base or just that it sits different compared to the j30 but like i said earlier, I had to extend the damper and moved the mounting bolt to the middle.

Attachment 89179


I used the 17mm and wrench for this. I did it with the bracket still installed on the car, but you can remove the whole thing and assemble outside the car.

Read Excelerates thread for more info on extending the damper. https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=764069

I extended the bottom to 6-7 threads showing.


Attachment 89180


Step 6.

Same as Step 4 now that everything is sitting flush! Test fit the Damper. See if the bottom bracket sits flush on top of the motor mount and the holes match up. If it does, install the bolt back in and the wire bracket then tighten everything and your done! You can bend the wire bracket for better positioning of the wire loom.

Nice DIY Alex.

Would one gain anything by rocking one in the stock rear position and this one in the front?

Where in the front would you mount?

And benefits??? probably... i dunno. engine moves back from acceleration and forward from Clutch operation but does it really move forward or just goes back in place?

Damn. I felt a huge improvement just coming out of my garage!!! Sitting in crazy traffic right now and going into first gear feels so planted and balanced.

No you're right, I'm just being an idiot. The pic with the engine out of the car made me think that was the front. My mistake.

I installed mine last weekend. I could feel a difference starting the car. Lol

Never had this problem before with any of the other TL guys that i personally installed on and sold to. Its compatible with 2nd, 3rd gens tl's ALL auto and 6spds, without the need of additional stock brackets. Hopefully the others will chime in with their installations. The way it was sent to you, was the say it should have been installed (like in pic)

If your innovative mounts are doughed and have alot of excessive play, that might be your problem right there. The rear of the engine is sagging and not letting the bottom bracket sit flush. If you would have tighten it down like that, it would have brought the rear of the engine back up to where it should be sitting. Guarantee if you had stock or new innovative mounts, it would have sit perfectly flush after installing the top bracket ;)

How bad are your bushings? And what grade? 65a? 75a?

75 and i dont know if they are doughed. Its not a problem where i mounted it nor am i saying anything about the modification i had to perform. Even on the one that Excelerate sells, some users extend their damper more than others. Dont know why but that how it was.

i dont know if im reading it right but you sound defensive when you dont have to be... Im just mad i didn't get one earlier!

Oh no not at all! ;)

Just puzzled me why it had to be installed on 2nd hole. Either way, it will still do the same job :) last TL we installed one of these dampers was on princlybugs TL-S and everything lined up perfectly, but he did have stock mounts. Might want to double check the bushings jic :)

This was great in my 2nd gen until they fell out. :sad:

Alright. I was checking to be certain.

i'll check the bushing sometime.

Driving the car around all day and it felt GREAT!!!

??????

hmm.. which one were you running? ingalls? or the other NRG kit? cause no way this kit will fall off on you ;)

I thought we already discussed what a joke these piece of shit LIMITERS are. There is nothing "damper" about it. It's just a rubber stopper inside. This limits the rotation of the engine and forces all the engine mounts to twist unnaturally.

Whatev'

This is the thread ^ is talking about. https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/engine-damper-721740/#post13413920

It was only 4 months ago and it still wasn't known if the OEM was hydraulic or not... The OEM is a hydaulic damper with alot of travel room. The OEM damper just "slowed" down engine movement unlike the the NRG which prevents it hence you call it a limiter. But it limits engine movement which is great. It sits right in the middle of the engine up top to limit rocking back and forth. I dont see that energy being transferred to any of the motor mounts. The OEM damper didn't do anything until called upon unlike this one that is always holding the motor "still". I think the OEM damper put more stress on the mounts than what this could do for the simple fact of its travel. Yes it dampens the movement but it still moved the engine.. theres like a 2 inch reach of travel if you look at pics 5 and 6 from the first post... the motor (hopefully not) wouldnt rock that much but i remember when i removed my OEM mounts... Each one came out in pieces. i think the rear was the only survivor that came out as a whole and thats because the damper sits "closed" so not alot of backwards movement there. The front was TOAST!!!

I dont know... Anyone have more thought or info into this??

Well said! Before we designed this damper 5years ago, I went though several front mounts myself. Engine oscillation from hard acceleration and decceleration pulled up on the stock rubber mounts whiched caused them to leak and eventually tear the top off the entire mount itself.. Keeping the engine planted will prevent this and prolong the life of the stock mounts considerably and in turn, help the weak side mount too :)

Wheel hop illimnation is key to vital drivetrain components, keeping the stress levels to a minimum. It works almost as well as expensive am engine mount, without the harsh vibrations for those that won't sacrifice the comfy feel your car.

Great DIY. The lower mounting spot on the rear mount doesn't sit flush with mine either. The shop said it was fine? After this and the Type S trans mount I can say the motor does feel more planted. However, my ride is still bouncy at times. I'm starting to think my struts are blown.

^ did you just tighten it the way it was or adjust the damper like i did? If you just tightened it, the damper is always under stress holding the motor up essentially and internally compressing the bushing... I dont think it was designed for that.. I'd doublecheck your damper just to make sure everything internally is good. How long has it been mounted?

Internals pic.

Attachment 89181

don't be so arrogant. At least its something. to stop the engine from ripping the crap out of the mounts.

Don't be so naive. That has yet to be seen. You can't trust the people selling it to you. There is also a reason you NEVER see this junk on real race cars.

I have it on my car. SO I can tell u it works. I don't know about you but there not a big marking for the TL or the Accord. all the tuner give a rats assssss about those car. So we make due with what we got.

I have this on my car for almost a year now. There are also members from that has this for almost 4 years and still going strong. There is a FAT ass thread about 13 pages long about this.

Please don't bash the product if you never even tried it.

for less than $125, give it a shot... We all know $125 cant get us anything for our cars anyways... I'm sure you'll feel the difference as soon as you start your car..

I had a shop install it. They just tightened it in the position it was in. So you're saying it's always going to be compressed this way? If so I'd assume it's not doing much in terms of support.

you might have a slight arguement when it comes to the side mounted ingalls unit, but this is located directly in the middle/rear of the engine. i dont see how you think this will cause the engine mounts to twist unnatually when the postion of it helps keep the rear of the engine from squatting and inturn, prevents the front mount from being pulled up and inevittably tearing completely apart. why do you think honda installed the horseshoe strap on to the top of the stock mounts?? its to prevent the engine from litterally jumping out the engine bay incase something catastrophic like this happens :/

lol.. why cant he trust the people selling it?? gb price was only 115 shipped ;) also, theres a reason why you NEVER see real race cars used as dd's too. last i remember, 99% of them use solid mounts, so of course theres no need for it.

like thisaznboi said, theres a thread on this same kit starting back in 06 when it was first introduced. it has been a tested and proven product by many for the last 6 years. read for yourself, nothing but praise without a single incident or complaint. what more do you want? bashing on something you havent tried for yourself and basing your opinions soley on peculation is silly.. or maybe you just have a personal vendetta against NRG :tomato:

@infamous, one of these days i will remove mine and check it internally, that should tell us alot. i have never changed the bushings or opened it for that matter since the day i installed it 6 years ago. all i know is its still doing the job ;) yes, i agree theres alot more pressure on the damper and bushings just because of where its positioned, but lets just say even if the bushings had to be changed out in as little as 5-6 months, sacrificing their lifespan to help keep the stress off everything else vital is well worth the it.. not to mention the bushings themselves are readily available, inexpensive, and a snap to change when the time comes :)

Funny how one person thinks the product is useless...

And yet I think it's one of the best mods I've ever put on a car... Lol

Guess I'm being naive...

^ Dude stop being so naive.

I'm not gonna lie I didn't feel much in terms of support after this and the TL-s trans mount. But, if my struts are blown, would I notice any difference from these 2 mods? I've been riding on Tein S tech for almost 65k now....my point is my car is still jerky, could blown struts be the culprit?

This is more about your mounts then your shocks. Although I'm sure sloppy shocks would enhance what the damper is trying to deter here.

When you switch between first and second gear, don't you notice like a quick rock forward then like 2-3 bounces backward? This gets rid of that. Well not rid completely. The forward rock is a ton less, and then there is just a tiny SINGLE rock back.

He's being naive. It may restrict movement sure, but it's movement I couldn't stand. If I had known this mod does what it does I would have bought it when I bought my car. And if that restriction takes 5-10% life off my mounts then so be it. I don't think it does though.

Sonnick.

Both maha and I felt the change with this mod with just starting the car. felt it even more when on 1st and 2nd... Take a pic of yours when you get a chance... maybe the shop screwed up?

I dont see the harm in such a device since it's mounted in the same position as the rear engine mount, and the OEM dampener. This isn't some ghetto rig job mounted to the strut tower as i've seen on some. In that case I can see the engine being twisted unnaturally under load.

i think this will actually preserve at least the front and rear mounts.

Thanks for the info. I hope you didn't take my red font seriously, I was only teasing. :thumbsup:

I'm not 100% sure what you mean about the 2-3 rocks backward when shifting from 1st to 2nd. What I experience, is if I'm in 2nd gear around 10-15mph and tap the gas lightly the car seems to "bog" and bounce back and forth several times before catching and going. This isn't going to be a great description, but there is a choppy "wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh" (lol) and then it accelerates smoothly. Or if I let the clutch out a split second too soon when coming out of 1st, the car does the same bog and bounce. It's really frustrating and I was sure the trans mount and tq damper would eliminate it. Neither did.
I will definitely take a picture of it when I get a chance. It seemed right to me, although I do have that slight gap that you were referring to. It's not completely flush, and I went back to the shop afterwards to question them and they [sort of] reassured me that it was fine.

I think I'm going to check my motor mounts as well. I've looked at them before, but really couldn't tell whether they were worn or not. I do have almost 95K on the car as of now, but I really don't experience wheelhop when launching the car like I did before. It's really minimal. That's one thing the combination of TL-s trans mount/damper did help with. I was just hoping for some more support during daily driving/shifting.

Thanks for the help guys. Hope I didn't jack the thread too much :(

I know you're teasing. :)

No that's exactly what we are talking about. Those back and forth type bounces/rocking. For me, instead of those being like 1,2,3,4, it's like .5,.25 then perfection. Lol. If that makes any sense and I'm sure it doesn't. :annoyed:

It's completely possible that yours became unthreaded like a lot of the guys reported after some driving with the XLR8 (NRG) product. I put lock-tite anywhere I could before I installed it.

I'd say if you couldn't immediately tell a difference then something has to of been installed wrong or is loose. Like I said, so far this is the best mod I've ever done to a car. Lol. It made me want to drive my car again.

Ahh I DO understand your rocking description lol! It still does it and I hate it. I will definitely have to check it out because I know for a fact it does NOT sit flush. I was told it was fine, but obviously not. And btw the shop who installed it bent me over, spanked me, lubed me, and then raped me. I paid way too much for the install and it's wrong! WTF!

Infamous I'm coming over LOL.

Shit you guys in the big cities I don't know why you all don't go in on a garage and continually help each other out. Lol

It took longer for me to get the front end up on jacks then it did to install the ETD. 10 minute install. Everyone talked about making sure it was set to the right length and that took time.. it took me like 2 minutes.

Sean,
Ignore my IM and email. Found this thread. Just installed mine.
A lot more work than I thought, as I am crouching on top of the engine to figure this thing out.

FWIW, I had similar issues as infamouslink installing mine.

I too have virtually new Innovative Mounts 65a, but they ain't dought yet. They're like new. I think the Inno mounts design specs are slightly shorter/front and/or longer/rear causing the motor to carry a few degrees rotated forward. I had to jack up the rear of the motor to get the rear mount in.

When I test fit the NRG damper, I found with the length of the damper was too long relative to the mount points (causing the motor mount point to be lower than the mount by about the thickness of the bracket)... and this was with the eye bolt all the way in as shipped. The only way to "shorten" the damper a bit more was to move the mount point to another hole on the bracket, changing the geometry. slinks must have been more "in the middle" than mine, where he shortened the mount point by moving to the other hole- then lengthened the damper a few mm by turning the eye bolt to ge tit right. Mine sits perfect in the other hole, although I noted the other hole was larger than the original.

2 other issues, -
the heater hoses are resting on top of the black bracket, that could be concerning over time. Trying to figure out what to do about that.

and lastly, getting that metal wiring bracket installed after you install this is impossible. Not your how slink bent it to get it back on, but right now I have my 02 sensor connector flopping around.

Any feedback from others installing this damper is welcomed...

So here's a video of how my tq damper currently sits. It wiggles and wiggles and wiggles. :whyme: Very upset about this.

* This has NOTHING to do with the product itself. It was installed incorrectly.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4...h_TQdamper.jpg

I've had this before, I'd personally invest in motor mounts over this product. This product would be great for street use. Shifting is more precise. Try a 5th to 2nd gear downshifting or hard launch and you'll hear a knock coming from the engine. But then, this is a better product over stock.

so to buy or not to buy is the question....

great DIY thow Alex :clap:

Wow!!!! get that fixed bro.

This compliments the motor mounts and is 100X better than the stock..

Anil: Buy. Plus there may be minor weight saving here. The mount for the stock unit was heavy as shit (if I remember correctly).

:ugh:

I am supposed to be the person who makes other people spend that $$$, not the other way around !!!

Karmas a b1tch! LOL jp bro. :tongue: