So I am looking into smoothing out my vibrating engine and am looking at Dampers and Poly bushings. So, about the bushings, how hard is it to do yourself and not a ton of mechanical experience? Should I just have a shop do it? Is there any threads on here explaining how to do it? etc etc. I am just looking for some general info on them. I already know what effects they have and that they're awesome and worth every penny, so I know the who, and why, but I need to the 'how'?

Thanks for any info and help!

 

If you are trying to "smooth" out the vib's adding poly to the OEM mounts or a damper/dog bone kit is not going to reduce the vib it will add to the vib.

How many miles are on the MINI? Is your upper motor mount leaking?

 

I have 22K on mine and my mount is not leaking, but under heavier acceleration I feel quite a bit of vibration through the pedal and just in general. I can even hear it.

My understanding of the bushings (correct me if Iam wrong) is that they replace the stock one and do a much better job of vibration and keep the motor in place better and there in smoothing out the powertrain which results in more torque and power delivery.

My understanding of the damper is that you install it to the engine support and it also helps keep the the engine form rocking and vibrating.

So anyway, what would recommend for my symptoms?

Thanks

 

The poly mount inserts that fit the OEM lower motor mount and OEM trans mount will ADD vib to the MINI. Now some say the vib off the lower mount "goes away" I ran mine for weeks and it never did and I removed them on my R50.

The poly inserts will help reduce the motor movement and get the power you have to the ground better, but at the cost of more vib.

The TSW Damper Kit will not much if any vib and will reduce the motor rocking and make you feel like you added HP.

If you have the budget and if your MINI is out of warranty think about skipping the poly mounts, damper kit and just getting the new TSW motor mount. It replaces the OEM upper motor mount, the OEM will leak sooner then later, and it will give you the same performance gains of the damper kit with just a little more vib JUST at idle and none of the vib of the poly's.

I only encourage track drivers to use the IE poly inserts.

 

What about all three! The damper, the motor mount and the poly inserts?!
ahahha


Thanks for all the info!

 

LOL, I'm running the IE gearbox/tranny inserts, TSW Motor Mount and OEM lower motor mount. I think it's a great setup. Performance without too much if any extra vib on the road.

 

You know, now that I think of it... How dumb of idea would it be to do all of them? The lower and upper motor mounts, tranny mount, the bushings, and the damper?

 

I have the all 3 powerflex bushings on my car (its an '02 so I dont have the liquid filled upper mount) and it added a LOT of vibration to the steering wheel at idle. After about a year I dont even really notice it anymore, and I'm 22 years old so the added NVH doesnt really bother me lol. I think the mounts you use all come down to how much NVH you're willing to deal with.

 

I'd say start on the cheap side with just the Powerflex bushing inserts, they are the cheapest way to start and will work with the any of the other things you may want to do later, but you may like them and not need anything else.

Here is the set that is the lower and the gearbox bushing for you.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/product...0&cat=0&page=1

 

I have an '05 with inserts on the gearbox side, lower mount, and the TSW Liquid replacement mount. It vibrates a good amount but losing the ridiculous drivetrain lash during throttle lift is worth it. But I'm young and don't give cr*p about a little more vibration. Even though its better than my SVT focus with all the VF engineering mounts and my S2000 with Innovative mounts. Now those had vibrations.

 

I did the IE poly insert on the lower damper, and on the trans mount. I removed the trans mount after maybe a month or so, because it drove me nuts. Too bad, because it made the engine feel great.

 

Sorry that didn't work out for you, but maybe you should try the powerflex gearbox bushing. The IE ones are made from a harder durometer of poly, not much but just slightly. I'd be interested in seeing if it would be better for you.

 

Do people often have better luck with the Powerflex bushing? My car isn't that smooth to begin with. Noise I can handle, but the vibration was pretty obnoxious, especially when you consider how bad the dash rattles.

 

Hey Aeromax, I'd put the Tranny inserts back and take out the lower motor mount, that's what I did and it's much better. If the vib is still bad you may have a bad lower OEM motor mount too. We have seen a few of them of late.

 

I have Powerflex all the way around. Trans, Large and small Lower mount and a TSW damper on my 2005 MCS JCW. Yes. it does add some NHV at idle but it is something I can live with for the added benefits. If you get a custom tune you can have both the regular idle and the A/C idle speeds raised by 50-75 rpm and the idle vibration will go away.

 

When Jan tuned my car he raised the idle speed to 900rpms, and that definately made the vibration worse than it was before. But like I said, I'm used to it now so it doesnt bother me.

 

Well right now I have the trans mount poly insert taken off, and the lower engine poly bushing is still in, and NVH is pretty tolerable. My original idea was to solve some of the back and forth movement of my engine, and I had read that the lower mount was the one that takes most of the engine torque. However, without the trans mount in there, I'm still getting a little bit of movement, so I'm kind of on the fence about keeping it, or swapping it out for the powerflex.

 

IMHO on a 2002 R53 the TSW Damper with stock motor mounts and the tranny poly inserts is a great setup. Performance gains without to much if any extra vib.