1st Gen R53 Cooper S Can someone explain motor mounts to me

If you are looking for a solution that will be minimal vibration the BSH is not for you.
Same story for the Powerflex, Poly that they are made out of will change durometer with temp. the colder it gets the harder the material becomes.
The Vibratechnics mounts are made from engineered rubber, it truly is the best solution for mini engine mounts, If you cant stand the idea of any more vibration than stock it might not be for you, the added vibration is however minimal and often times once it breaks in and you get acclimated to it you wont notice it.
Yes its expensive but it will not need replaced or spew brown oil everywhere.

If you plan on adding a cam and a head you would be best served adding the upper and lower motor mount at the same time, the added power will twist the motor in the chassis even more, and break the exhaust flex joint.
really the power plan should be Head/Cam/Header
Without the header the combo really wont work.

If you want/need the Vibratechnics mounts I have them in stock and ready to ship at
Greene Performance

 

Colin's answer is spot on. I had the BSH lower for a very short time. The transmitted vibes to the cabin were annoying as hades for a daily driver. Having replaced all 3 of the OEM mounts for VibraTechnics mounts, it truly isn't a noticeable difference over the OEM ones. It really is worth considering the extra $$ up front.

 

I think it will be up to your own personal needs. How hard do you drive your car or how long do you want to keep your car as it ages and needs other repairs.

My car has about 140,000 miles on it. I have replaced my top mount once. Given that, I might have to replace it one more time before I need to do some major work on the engine. But the second mount is still fine. For myself, I can't cost justify the price of the Vibratech mount.

I had a BSH lower mount on my car but after about a year of it, I decided the vibration and noise inside the passenger compartment was just too much for me in day to day situations. I went back to the stock mount. So if you are reasonably gentle with your car, the stock mounts should be fine from a cost effective point of view. But that Vibratech mount sure looks nice and probably worth the upgrade just for the quality and workmanship of the piece.

 

I had the Powerflex mounts in my '03 JCW for one week and took them out again and went back to stock......hated them.

Once I had the stock mounts back in it was heavenly quiet!

I think how you drive your car has as much to do with how long the mounts will last as anything else. Some people have the original mounts on their cars well over 100K, others can't make them last a year.

 

Listen to Colin and Savvy. Good advice from both of them. If your worried about vibration and harshness, save your money and don't buy any poly inserts or the BSH.

The stock mount is cheaper than the VT, but it will fail again. It may last 10k or 100K miles, it a crap shoot. My top mount failed with 18k miles on the car. I installed a VT mount so I would never have to replace it again. That was worth the extra money to me.

 

If you have a header, I STRONGLY SUGGEST a stiffer motor mount...
Of the ones available, vibratecs is the best for least added NVH...
If you use the stock mounts, keep them fresh...dare I say yearly?!
An engine moving around lots with a header will cause it wear or crack...the flex joints or "baskets" can fail...
Imo if you have a header..just suck it up, and put in a better mount. I got about 30-35,000 miles each for the OEM mounts, but they tear and leak...longer term if you don't catch a failure, it causes other issues...like clutch and exaust issues from excess engine movement....
Going cheap here might cost you more, both in parts and a welding bill...

 

Zippy makes a good point engine movement can and will destroy a headers flex joint or beat the rest of the exhaust mounts.

 

I have been running the Powerflex yellow poly mount inserts (top and bottom) on my S for years now and have no issue with NVH other than at a low idle. I have the tranny mount sitting on my shelf with the intention of installing it when I get the chanc.

 

You can install the early parts, they are not actually any better they fail as well. they just dont spew oil.
Scott you are likely the lone exception who has no real complaint about vibration.

 

I know.......folks ride in my car and when I tell them all of the poly bushings I have they all say the same thing. I even have the "dreaded" Alta PSRS solid LCA system and continue to love it.

 

As much as it pained me to spend the $ on the Vibra-Technics, it broke in nicely within ~1000 miles and the increase in vibration has been minimal since.

 

Bite the bullet, buy the Vibra-technics, and be done. I did all three of mine when I changed to a JCW head and added a Milltek header and exhaust....minimized motor flex and provided peace of mind regarding cracking of my Milltek.

Colin is a straight up guy...easy to deal with and he'll have the Vibra-technics out to you in a jiffy...

 

Thanks Cliff!

 

We have all the Powerflex bushings in my wife's car and she is fine with it all. They've been in there for over 8 years. We have had to replace both of the upper passenger mounts (it's an 02 so no leaks) though. If I hadn't got the new OEM before I knew about the Vibra-Technics and ours weren't polished and chromed, we would have gone with them. Since the RMW motor has gone in the NVH has gotten a lot better though. Gotta love a quality blueprint and balance.

 

I just did the poly inserts on OE mounts. Had the WMW/TSW PS mount, that transmitted a little too much vibration, went back to stock.

There was minimal vibration increase from the powerflex inserts on new OE lower and transmission mounts when using the stock PS upper mount. Note that, at 105kmiles, my transmission-side mount had sagged over 3/4"... that can chew up some inner CV's... so went new trans mount with poly inserts, no change in vibe.

 

I tried the inserts at the bottom recently (because they came free with my car), and just like you experienced, there is a low idle issue. To be exact, my engine was held in place by a brand new OEM top mount, original transmission mount with 92k miles on it, brand new lower mount with yellow Powerflex inserts.

The yellow Powerflex inserts lasted about 100 miles in my car. The vibration transfer to other parts in the rear of the car was unbearable. So bad, the exhaust kept hitting the lower rear valance. I took out the inserts and all is well again.

With closed windows, it was unbearable inside the cabin whenever you dropped to idle rpm. The benefits of alleged better shifting and more responsive throttle may have been there, but so marginal, there's no way I will ever put those bushings back into the mount.

The question I have: will other mounts (those that cost $$$) have the same negative impact? If not, what exactly is the magic that would stabilize the engine and dissipate all that energy in the mounts, and not transfer any of it to the same mounting locations that upset other parts in the car?

 

I like the VibraTechnic mounts that Colin sells. I have the top and bottom mounts on my car. They do a great job of holding the engine in place and damping the vibration. No harshness like the poly inserts.