I have an 83 Camaro prostreet that has been completely custom fabbed suspension wise, and I keep ripping up the rubber motor and trans mounts. The car does not have a torque arm any more. It is running a 12 bolt rear with ladder bars, track locater, th400 fairbanks transmission MASSIVE custom subframe connectors, and Mickey Thompson Sportsman pro tires. My question is with this combo could I safely run solid motor and trans mounts. The car has NO flex to it what so ever. Any info would be greatly appreciated

 

yea, thats the app they make them for... lol.. all out no comfort race cars....

if you're running RUBBER mounts though, and you were because you didnt want to run solids or a motor plate, then id just step up to Poly ones first.. they have a better chance of taking the beating....

what kind of power are you putting out?

 

run a motor plate and trash to motor mounts

 

What about poly mounts? They're pretty hard to break.

 

If the strength difference between poly trans mounts and rubber trans mounts is comparable to motor mounts, I would have to say the poly ones would be much stronger. However, in a car built like yours, I really doubt you're too worried about the extra vibration you'd get from running solids anyway. Just make sure if you do go to solids, that you do the motor and the trans at the same time. You're not supposed to run any flexible mounts in combination with solid mounts. Doing that is a good way to break a transmission case.

 

I have read in a chevy high mag a while ago that if you run solid motor mounts, you should run a poly transmission mount, not a solid trans mount. THat way it gets a little play to lessen the stress on the trans.

 

Hmmmm, that combination may work I guess. On my 69 Camaro I was running regular motor mounts with a solid tranny mount for a little while, and I was worried that it would end up cracking the trans case, so I switched the trans mount from a solid to a poly mount just to be on the safe side.

 

I know first hand a few guys who have broken their transmissions due to running all solid.

 

First hand account, soild motor mounts at a minimum poly trans mounts. Just helped swap out a TH400 that turned 90 degrees in the car-70 chevelle. Alot of places will recommend a rubber mount since they flex more than the poly's which are pretty close to solid mounts.

ANybody that's is going to run solid motor mounts, when bolting up your trans and find it does not line up with the hole in the crossmember, DO NOT force it over!!! Drill a new hole/s and call it a day. By locking the motor solid and then prying over the trans you are in essence preloading the thing and it will break, not even a matter of if, but when.

This was a footbraked car too, pretty stout 468cid, but still, how often do you hear of a TH400 literally shearing off the bellhousing. In fact the bellhousing was still bolted to the block, ripped the shifter out of his hand and rasied the drivers side seat 2" when it spun around and hit the floor pan.

Soild and solid=breakage at some time.
Solid and flex= less chance of breakage. stuff still happens when you push it though.

Bro-in-law, went through 2 tailshafts on his tranny with solid tranny mount, switched to poly and guess what, still running this latest tranny.

 

dont run solids, ive ripped open like 3 th700r4 bellhousings by doing it, not a good idea

 

on a side note:

its suppost to be a bad idea to run a poly trans mount, and stock engine mounts.

i see it written everywhere, and i do believe the logic behind it...

however, i am running a poly mount with the stock front mounts, and i know of several others doing the same thing.

a solid motor/poly trans mount could work, athough id probly just run a motor plate if i had a prostreet car.

 

Mrdude, I've heard that same thing from tranny guys too, they say even though the poly has some flex, it is still very stiff and may not be pliable enough to prevent bad things from happening.

Against all odds, I'll be reinstalling my poly mount behind this new combo going in shortly. Just hope to christ I dont ruin a $2500 tranny I also got conflicting reports on the ultrabell as well. Some guys reccomend them since they are much thicker and stronger than a factory bell, but they say once you install one it moves all the stress down into the front pump area and the material down there is kinda thin where the bolts go through the bell and the pump.

Just another lovely debate that'll have a split descion of for and against it. Seems everything with racing you can hardly ever get a definative answer for anything since the most unexpected things can happen to anything.

 

solid mounts and a poly tranny mount. DO NOT RUN ALL SOILD. you will kill your bellhousing.

or you could opt for the 2002 ugrade LS1 mount. its like an energy, steel reinforcements and all, but its rubber. all the strenght, without the noise.

good luck