if you fit the above description, or know of somebody that does, I've got some information for you that you might find helpful

In case you didn't know it, from 1988 to 1992 GM decided to make our cars guinie pigs for one of the stupidist things imaginable, a Hydraulic filed transmission mount. not are these things prone to bust wide open, but they are freaking expensive (around $130 as I'm typing this)

That's the bad news, here's the good. all it takes to get rid of this engineering nightmare is to replace your failure of a crossmember with one from any other third gen. I was lucky eough the have a good buddy (1fas92) that had an extra crossmember lying around from his ls1 swap, but they are easily available from most salvage yards, ebay, or you can post up and ask for one here. they are cheap and plentyful.

cheap and plentyful may be not as comforting when your baby blows its mount and your car is stranded while you wait for the big brown truck to bring a replacement. I highly advise everybody who has a fluid mount to get a replacement crossmemer NOW, before you need it. Either put it on a shelf, or go ahead and install it. It's super easy and fast, and it's worth taking an hour of your time to do.

Here's some pics from my experience...

here's the blown mount in place, you can literally see the fluid dripping out of it, and how it got on the tranny



I jacked up the tranny a couple of inches, and thenremoved the crossmember by removing 4 15mm bolts, and 2 15mm nuts holding the crossmember to what was left of the mount

I don't think this is fixable... LOL



two more 13mm bolts later, and the mount is now forever removed from the car



using the same 13mm bolts I took off, here's the new polyurethane mount in place. I could have used a rubber mount, but I decided to go ahead and listen to the nearly universal advice of everybody who urged me to go poly




That's as far as I've gotten so far... in an hour my buddy will be here with the replacement crossover, and 5 bolts later I'll be back on the road. I'll post final pics tonight

seriously, I've done a lot of things to a car, and short of putting gas in it, this might be the easiest thing you can do to a car. Please don't wait until you have your blow out, upgrade now or at least get your hands on a replacement crossmember

 

just curious but did you just learn of this method....its been around forever now as have you

however good info for those who dont know.

 

nah, I've only had this car for less than two years... and never spent any real time in the tranny forum, which is why I put it here.. trying to get the word out to a targeted audience.

Seriously, I had never heard of these crazy mounts until I crawled under the car last night and went "WHAT THE HELL??"

some things you just don't think of until reality slaps you in the face

 

also, I thought a thread with lots of good pics would be helpful to somebody

 

yeah i had the same o crap moment when i looked up the price on those stupid mounts. i got on here and found the solution, good write up im sure itll be helpful to someone.

 

Heh, I didn't know that. I wonder if there's a difference in drive quality.... Really wondering wtf the engineers were thinking there.
Not that any of this affects me.

 

I got the crossmember on and took that car down before I thought to take pics... buy hey, we all know what a regular crossmember looks like... you don't need pics for that.

I'll drive it to work tomorrow and post if I notice a difference, or any new vibrations (what I'm worried about with the poly mount)

 

I remember when my mount broke on my 84, when you take off the shifter would grow like Pinocchio's nose. LOL!

 

went for test drive. there is without a doubt more vibration in the cabin. I guess that's going to happen when you remove the softest, weakest tranny mount GM ever made and replace it with a solid polurethane brick, LOL

I'll live with it for now, and if it gets too irritating I'll go back to a traditional mount

 

I noticed in the picture of the new poly mount, that you have installed the spacer plate between the mount and the tailshaft.

I hear people say that the "magic" spot is to have it at 90 degrees, or as close as possible to avoid the vibration. Some people take the spacer out to get there, some put it in.

Don't forget that your engine mounts also play a factor in that 90 degree position. If they're worn out, then it pitches your engine down and the tailshaft up.

Let us know how it works out after the test drive.

 

For the sake of information about mounts and cross members:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ison-pics.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ss-member.html

JamesC

 

My engine mounts are probably shot too...

I was really unsure about what to do with the spacer, and there were no instructions mentioning it. Do you think my vibration problem would be less if I just took it out?

 

I wish I'd seen that link before I bought the poly mount. I just wasted 30 dollars.

I'm going to buy a oem mount and put it on and compare the difference

 

Yea my car vibrates a lot as well. Gonna look for preload spacer. Or just some day realize poly engine mounts + poly trans mount in a cammed V8 = vibration.

 

Do what do you guys think? Remove the spacer, or just go with the rubber mounts?

 

Well if I was not into performance or was rocking a stock V6 I would probably go rubber. If it bothers you go get rubber. If you are modded or going after a V6 turbo or something keep it.

 

You can experiment and hope for the best or simply purchase an OE rubber mount and be done with the whole annoying business.

JanesC

 

Oem mount is bought....I wish I had not listened to the advice a dozen people gave me yesterday to get the poly mounts

 

I think poly mounts really are great; no more torn in half rubber pieces with the transmission slapping the trans tunnel...

BUT, sometimes you DO have to take some measurements and take your time to make sure the height is correct.

I'm sorry if you feel like you were misled. Lots of us really do like the poly mounts, including me.

 

I could be wrong but I don't think my car has enough torque to tear a piece of paper in half. That's why I called it overkill. If it adds vibration but I don't need the strength, it's pointless
I'll post up after I put the oem mount on.

 

Great post Mark, thanks for the heads up. Going to get the car on a lift next week will look to see if I have the original. If so I will be looking to buy a crossmember.

 

I think one's driving habits (and age of the rubber mount) have a lot to do with their destruction. My IROC has plenty of power, for example, but I don't apply it enough to worry about destroying the OE mount. That said, led-footed members may experience issues on a regular basis.

If you can live with the vibration (or are one of those members who doesn't experience it), then poly's the way to go. Unfortunately, poly, in this application, simply doesn't work for me.

JamesC

 

it looks like you've got an automatic tranny. if that's the car, you're good to go with the good crossmember already

lucky you!

 

got the new mount on this morning... started the car and revved it up to 2K rpm (where the car shook the most yesterday) and didn't feel any vibration. Haven' driven it yet, but so far I'm happier with the rubber mount

 

yep, went for a drive, and it's smooth as silk now. Much happier with the rubber mount

 

Where did you find that mount? I've been using auto mounts since the trans swap in 06 and I've split 2 now (of course, the lower end oil leak didn't help much, I'm sure, but still)... That looks nothing like what I have.

You think that hydraulic mount is a pain, look at the price of an early T5 mount with dual rubber bushings. From what I remember, that wasn't cheap either... Glad I took that thing back to the J/Y it came from when I discovered I could use my 700R4 mount.

 

I just asked for the mount for the 305, and that's what they gave me...

 

I don't recall there being any difference between the auto and manual mounts.

JamesC

 

I don't think there is, i only said the 305 because the mount for the 350 is different, and it wasn't available with the t5. Better safe than sorry

 

okay so I know this is an older thread but it's still relevant and I really don't feel like starting a new one.
So I bought my 92 rs about a year or so ago, it became my daily driver a couple months ago and I noticed some problems. Dropped the transmission and found out that my crossmember mount had been ripped in half for quite some time and that the idiot that had had the car before me replaced one of the rubber pieces in the torque arm insulator with a block of wood. I managed to find the torque arm insulator from jegs but I can't afford $212 for the fluid filled mount. What's the cheapest way to fix this properly? Cause I really don't wanna have to ask for a loan.

 

Buy a crossmember for less than $30
Buy a $7 rubber mount

Put them on....

You're done!

Seriously, it's that easy

 

i mean really man....did you not read any of this thread before you posted?

 

my old 86 iroc i had a stroked 305 ( yeah i know why stroke a 305 ) with a t5 i got so tierd of changing the trans mounts in that thing id always bust the mount in like 3-4 days.

but everytime u got on it the shifter would rise then soon as u steped on the clutch to shift it would drop.

i lost more races from that cause it caused me to miss the 1-2 shift so many times,surprisingly the 3-4 shift wasnt that bad though

 

Lol, I was thinking the same thing.... but maybe he doesn't think of the thread's fix as being "proper" like it's a hack or something

If you insist on originality over function in your v6 camaro, pony up the money for the fluid mount

 

thats why no one bothers to do write ups...no one reads them lol and this thread coudlnt be more to the point for his question

 

I lol'ed when he called it an older thread....

 

isnt the fluid mount stronger though mark? i know a few members have problems ripping them apart from all the power the put out so if the fluid monts are stronger wouldnt that make them more desirable?

 

let me put it this way... if you hot rod a v6 hard enough to tear up a rubber mount, then get a urethane one. It's 3 times the money, but 10 times as strong

I have a feeling GM used the fluid mount not because it was tough, but because it reduced vibrations, making the V6 cars seem more luxurious.

that being said, I don't notice any more vibrations with the rubber mount than I did with the fluid one

 

The fluid filled mount is supposed to dampen vibrations and noise. The two piece crossmember was an earlier attempt, and apparently was sufficient for the auto, but the 5spd got the fluid filled mount. Many T5 cars also have a huge counterweight bolted to the tail shaft to help control vibrations. The one off my 84 2.8 5spd had to weigh 20lbs. It went in the scrap pile, and I didn't notice much in the way of increased vibrations.

 

Yeah, seems that the early T5 cars got the 2 piece crossmember with the dual rubber bushings and that stupid weight (the weight was also used on the 4 cylinder, IIRC). I took that POS back to the junkyard where it came from as well with the other crossmember, bushings, spare torque arm (don't know why the guy got that thing out anyways even though he didn't give me the insulator for it like he did the cat hanger) and the driveshaft that would have needed a new u-joint on the axle end.

58mark, what store did you buy your 305 mount at? All the stores I've been to only list the stinking rubber one I've replaced twice now. It's either going to be that one or a poly mount when everything goes back in the shell as I don't want to be replacing the thing again for a while (not that I'll mind looking at the nice clean underside, but still ).

 

I bought the rubber mount and the poly mount at oreilly, but autozone had them too.

there is a different looking mount for the 350, it might be stronger than the 305 one, I really don't know

 

Very helpful thread... I fabed up a bracket to use my old crossmember with the new rubber mount.. But I've broke two already... I might try this with a stock cross member to help... Either that or go with the poly mount.

 

glad it was a help to you! Stock crossmembers are easy to find, and easier to install

 

This post really helped!
I, too, experienced the "Pinocchio's nose growing shifter" syndrome on my 91 RS. Not only that, but a very unsafe clunking sound was heard while taking off from first gear, and I don't mean like a bat out of hell!

When I removed the center hydraulic piece, to my surprise, no mustard colored fluid was present; just a rusted out area where the fluid once was. No wonder I was having issues.

New (older model) crossmember and $4 rubber mount work great!

I didn't want to state the obvious, but to anyone out there - if you're going to do this, an impact air gun really helps as those crossmember bolts are really tight and mine were rusted shut. There was no way I could have removed those by hand.

 

Thank you very much for this thread.
I just bought a 92 firebird that had a bad mount no big deal I thought, then I looked underneath and saw that monstrosity attached to the tranny. That is not the best part though, the guy I bought the car off of decided that he was going to fix the transmission mount the best way that he knew how. So after I swap out that crossmember I'll have a fairly new ratchet strap at least.

 

Ok, looks like i have to do this swap to. Finding a 2nd hand crossmember may proove to be a little difficult here. Are all other (pre 88 V6's and all V8's) 3thgen crossmembers the same?
Thanks for the great info.

 

pretty sure the crossmembers are pretty universal. with all the guys ditching their crrssmembers to put in ls engines, I bet it won't be difficult to find. You could put a "parts needed" post here on TGO

That's also the kind of part you couldn't probably get from a junk yard too. easy to remove, and not likely to be all busted up

if those fail, contact hawks or thirdgen ranch. I bet they have them

 

No. Check the following link for info/pics:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ss-member.html

JamesC

 

Third Gen Ranch has a UMI for $119.00 and Ebay has a used one up for bid ($16.99 bid so far) that you could probably get for a lot less than new. Here are the links:

http://www.thirdgenranch.com/catalog...a7308e45e503ff

http://www.ebay.com/itm/83-92-FIREBIRD-CAMARO-TRANSMISSION-CROSSMEMBER-BRACE-BRACKET-AUTOMATIC-5-SPEED-/181128989232?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a2c210a30&vxp=mtr

 

i recently got a camaro with the same mount issue. can anyone tell me how i can get the cross member and the mount and/or what year and model i can pull the crossmember off of?
thanks