Transmission Mount

i have a vintage speedster with a totally shattered red rubber/plastic transmission mount that i need some advice on. should i replace it with same? car only has 5K miles and its distroyed so probably not, unless its my only option. what would cause such failure? i was advised by a noligable member to replace with a STOCK VW part, but my trans has holes to accept the mount that run 45 degrees to the ground, not parallel to the ground, and i can't find such a lay out. does the engine/trans have to be moved to get new part in place?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
mick

Does anyone know how to make the picture a bit smaller? When I uploaded it the file seemed really large.

how did you upload such a high quality picture?

my opinion - replace the red one with an OEM rubber one.

here is a more reasonable size of your picture:
i can't see what you are talking about with it being angled 45 degrees.

i know there are a few types of front mounts and i don't think any of them angle at 45 degrees. has it been fabricated/welded or bent?

Here you go. That is shattered isn't it!

What year pan?
There are a number of different mounts here:
http://www2.cip1.com/searchresults.asp?cat=995

~WB

That was a Prothane mount C.B. Perf.

But the Cip-1 VWC-211-301265-1.. is ahevy duty part and should work for ya.

Prothane is more oil resstant. even a stock one cant handle abuse any better..

I have a diffeernt option for you but it means some work for you to convert it into my zero clearance type mount..

Its a 5 x 4 L.. 3/8 thick steel bracket 5x1/2 inches wide. On some pans you must cut off the stock mount. yours wouldnt need that extra work. and the bracket can be trimmed even smaller.

You use shock tower bushings Vw or prothane swaybar type readley avalable at autoparts stores and drill 2 holes through the tunnel bottom to bolt it to the bottom of the fork belly.and you spot weld the bolts inside the pan from above.

So it has 4 holes total on the bracket 2 to bolt up to the tranny and 2... 5/8 holes to sandwich it with bushings and spacers to level the tranny as needed.

Take note that the 2.. 5/8 holes are on the outward corners and if you have a rear swaybar have to be drilled closer to the tranny to clear the swaybar.

And IT CAN TAKE SOME SERIOUS ABUSE!!!..and can get or make replacement parts quickly But i dout you can tear it up unless you pushing 300 hp

That is pretty typical failure for the red plastic mounts. I tore up several before I went back to stock German black rubber mounts...please note I said GERMAN made, not Brazil, or Mexico, or China....I also used what I think are called Rhino mounts in a high HP car with good long term results....I do not remember if they came from Gene Berg or someone else, but they worked well. They were substantially more robust than even the OE German mounts. The red plastic stuff is pure and unadulterated crap, IMO.

Hey Mick,

You might look into the mid mount from Eyeball Engineering : http://eyeball-engineering.net/midmount.html

I used it because the transmission strap (to prevent broken transmission mount) transmitted way too much noise to the car and since I have a coupe, it was very noisy with the transmission strap.

Now I am using the mid mount and that should solve the transmission mount breakage and a whole quieter (not quiet, but quieter).

Eddy

I must be geting cranky in my old age, today I've seen posts for $1,000 Nardi $teering wheel and expensive trans mount$ ....Do a stock (OEM German) rubber mount and forget about it.

As Tmpusfugit said, those red mounts aren't worth anything. Gene Berg sells the heavy duty front mount and a mid mount very similar to the Eyeball Engineering piece (Berg actually made it first and the EE unit is a copy). If you're shredding stock front mounts then you'll eventually destroy the hd unit as well and a mid mount is the fix. The straps are for offroad cars that suffer the abuse of jumps and do nothing except transmit noise into the cabin of a street car.

he is still going to have to losen the shift tube the clutch and throttle cables and drop the engine . then losen the tranny saddle mounts to slide it rearward enough get the old one off and the new one in..

My zero clearance mount solves that problem. you'll have enough room to install it. with out disconnecting anything.

A sawsall will cut and allow you to remove the old mount. and a local welding shop can make it cheaply. I've made 4 so far 2 for trikes and 2 for me..

Just try to get a biker to take his shinny trike apart..I made him happy..

at drclock...$1,950.00 Nardi steering wheels.

thanks for all the quick replys, i'm so happy to have run into this sight. on this same topic, i have found that EMPI makes a solid mount---looks like it would be easy to install, what would be the draw backs to a soild mount?
thanks as always
mick

Solid mounts make the car a lot louder and transmit a lot more vibrations through the car. In VW off road race cars where the engine/transaxle are solid mounted everything on the car has to be checked and tightened before every race. I have known guys running solid mounts in their bugs on the street complaining about having to continually check just about every nut and bolt on the car.

If any of you ever need to do my mount trick? remenber! Measure everything for clearance and proper fit to your specic needs. and it will realy please you as how simple it is.

Oh and making a cardboard pattern. Is wise. My cars are the automatics so my pattern is a bit different.. Get your car on stands remove the mount and make your pattern and get it made Its alot faster than pulling a engine..

Might want to consider this. It's on my list.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=292359

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=292359

This is also the mount I use. It's similar to the Gene Berg Center mount except it doesn't need to welded in place.
It works! It's as quiet as stock and hold the tranny in place.
I use it in conjunction with stock front and rear mounts.

Greg

That is a drag racng mount system Its also very very tough.. but how much does it cost ya. when what i did cost less than $30.oo

I had a black rubber OEM mount that broke. Replacing that rear mount is a lot of work and so I ground out the welded bolts, drilled bolt holes and now need zero clearance to change the mount.

I also installed one of those mid tranny supports to take some of the stress off the mounts.

Mick made a mount as i discribed. I ws hoping he might post a pick of it for the club.

One picture is worth a 1,000 words.

I'm with Alan; if you are not drag racing or have too much power back there you shouldn't have any problems with good old stock OEM parts; and they just install without any mods.

But you will have to take everything apart. Engine out ...Clutch cable lose and tranny must move backward the length of the 2 mountstuds so they clear for the reinstall its a 2 day hassle in the shop . Worse if you don't have the spare time.

Now if you want to die grind off the studs on the new mount and spot in 2 nuts for bolts from the other side as some has suggested that could work if you dont melt the mount any .. You can try it but hatch the mig heatclosely..

I know as fact my trick works perfect. and it's 2 hr fix in the shop. if you have the stuff in house as i did.

Plus its tough