Hey club. Some of you may remember the tubular motor mount that my brother made for my car (pictured below) and a few of you expressed interest. I was wondering if that interest still stands. My brother is thinking of producing a few for people who may want them, but I told him that I'd speak up and ask if this is something that people would buy before he spends his time and money to start producing them. Of course, your stock mount bar works just fine, but these are a few pounds lighter and give your super slammed autocross cars about a half inch more ground clearance, but more than anything, they look cool. There's just something unattractive about a beautifully cleaned engine and painted tranny sitting on an old, rusty, cast iron bar.
The design will differ somewhat from the one pictured below. The gussets around the hole for the shift linkage will extend out and be intigrated with the center mounts(what the rubber mounts sit on) for added strength, and will be water cut for precision. The tubing is 1 1/8" DOM steel (chromoly's pointlessly expensive) and the mount will also be powdercoated instead of my cheap flat black paint. He also tells me he's got an even lighter weight solid mount design in his head, but he hasn't clued me in to what it is.
So, is this something that anyone would be interested in? Is this a good, bad or horrible idea? Any and all input is appreciated.
Mark D.

I'm going to need some custom made motor and tranny mounts (probably around Spring) for my VR6 swap - is that something your brother would be willing to do? If so, any idea how much he charges for such work? Thanks.

Depending on price I would probably buy one. Looks nice.

Price is still TBA. It depends on how much the water cutting and powdercoating costs. After we make a prototype, he'll be able to figure out what would make it worth it with labor and paying for the powdercoating and water cutting. We'll come back to that.
As far as custom work, I'll talk to him and see what he wants to do. It gets very comlicated with a different motor, modified shift linkage ect. I'm not sure what all is involved in converting to a VR6, but I think it really depends on how well you can blueprint what he'd be working with. If he's willing, I can put you in contact with him. I'll talk to him.
Please keep any positive or critical comments coming.
Mark D.

You want some feed back? How 'bout this...

What is the benefit of this bar? Only the weight of it? Replacing the stock bar with a lighter one will only raise your center of gravity. Not a good thing. The stock bar is just about at the lowest location on the car. You change this and the center of the car's mass is now higher off the surface of the track.

So the stock bar is ugly? Who sees it? Paint the stock one if you don't like it.

Has it been tested? Are you willing to replace an engine/trany when that bar bends and the all hell brakes loose? Got insurance? Something to think about.

Does it provide any increase in a cars performace? I think the smart money should be spent on something that gives real live results. Low lap times or a/x times.

Yes, I did build my own lightweight engine bar but I would never build and sell one to anyone else. Building something for my car is one thing, building something for someone else is a big differance. I really built mine as something to do a Saturday afternoon rather than a real need for it.

You could go into production on a run of a dozen of these but I hope you have plenty of storage space. If someone wants to pay you to build one that is up to you.

Sorry to be so frank.

You lower the engine 1/2" you better be careful of that shift bar and are you gonna lower the rear tranny mounts the same 1/2"? How you doin' tat?

dang... you caught it before i deleted it....

yeah i thought of that too..... then deleted my post LOL

i want to drop the engine a half inch.... and yep, trans would have to come down a bit too...

You could lower the trans with some kind of spacer and longer bolts. On the cheap you could stack washers and get a long bolt lol

Aaron, you just want to rip your engine off on speedbumps, the car looks pretty low already

Would you be lowering the tranny or raising the car?

the car isnt low... the back end is gonna come down a half inch... or the front is going to come up a half inch... (i prefer dropping the rear a half)

im trying all i can without swapping manifolds or cutting the trunk bulkhead to fit the 6" filters on the IDF's....

they clear the engine lid... but the right carb tags the rear bulkhead.....

i thought it would be the easiest way of accomplishing this - lower the drivetrain half inch....

i get to realign and corner balance the car if i drop the back a bit....

A long time ago (3 yrs LOL) it was SLAMMED
Click to view attachment

now... it is too raked for me... did it for corner weighting... back is too high for me...

You ask some very good qustions...

ok, i understand. i always remember your car as it was in the first picture. i kinda liked it slammed hahahaha (seriously) . . . thats how mine looks now lol, except in primer/red

as far as the filters go . . . could you cut down the mainfolds the slightest bit? or too much work?

i would think dropping the entire drivetrain would be counterproductive, especially if you're lookng to lower it more.

why not just get longer bolts and space it all down with a 1/2in steel/al spacer and longer bolts . . . i don't think the extra tortional stress on the crossbar would hurt it (even in the long run)

didnt mean to hijcak this thread BTW LOL

im thinking of just modding the rear trunk bulkhead like this

TOP view
------\_______/-------

to fit around the air filter.....

havent painted the rear trunk yet anyway

ok, thats by far the simplest way (and KISS is usually the best principle)

sorry for hyjacking Mark