AST 5200 + Corksport Camber Plates (no cut)

[grantmm]

So what I thought was a coolant leak was actually the passenger motormount exploding. Never knew that was filled with oil... go figure. So that's replaced with the CPE mount. Just a bit before replacing it I started getting a bad vibration in the throttle when under boost in first, second and third gears. The passenger mount took some of that vibration away but it was still making itself known. That lead to ordering the CPE transmission mount and performing a compression test. Compression test came out great at 162-161-162-171 (4500 ft above sea level), so my engine fears were somewhat alleviated.

Tonight I get the mount and go to install it and find this:





My guess is that the passenger mount being bad for so long just put a ton of extra stress on the transmission mount. That took what was probably an already bad mount to totally fucked. It was being held on by one small corner... that could have ended really bad!

Edit: After a quick trip around the block, the throttle vibes are totally gone. Fantastic, because I was about to go hunting to see if it was something like an injector going bad.

[justint5387]

I thought you were going to nationals.

[grantmm]

I had to drive up to Oregon for my best friend's wedding that week/weekend We're still shooting for next year's Pro Solo nationals. Should be able to get to the Farmington and Colorado events next year in order to ensure our eligibility for nationals.

It looks like the car will remain pretty much the same as this year minus two Sparco Evos.
@justint5387 Is it worth upgrading the downpipe and exhaust with the risk of fueling problems? Did you notice a big improvement in top end power?

[justint5387]

It does spools up faster with the downpipe. The top end is better, but nothing crazy. May as well do it since you are so far along.

[Constantin]

Originally Posted by grantmm @justint5387 Is it worth upgrading the downpipe and exhaust with the risk of fueling problems? Did you notice a big improvement in top end power?

First of all thx for great info. regarding suspension + tires. I am shopping for coilovers as well and this thread helped a lot

It seems like your goal is good handling and not necessary power output.
DP is great addition, since stock is quite restrictive. How ever you don't really need CBE. It seems like it only somewhat small gains "up-top".

I'm sure you know, but don't forget fuel pump internals if you are planning to install DP.

[grantmm]

Well this sucked. I was doing some last minute air leak checks before the Miller track day today. I got everything bolted back up and made a few re-tighten, make a 1 mile loop, re tighten and check other possible causes, 1 mile loop circuits. I had everything finished up and decided to do one more loop just to be sure. About 1 block from my place I shifted to second and then a very loud bang followed by many smaller bangs. Pulled off to the side of the road to find this:







Got it towed back home via a flatbed after they didn't listen to my request and sent regular tow truck. (Big thank you to the Officer Vicky Bolton who parked at an angle behind my car to help keep cars away from me due to the small shoulder! Note to self, don't say "Thank you, Sir" or "Yes, sir" to a lady.)













I think I found the cause of my boost leak

This was installed in July 2012 and it is the backing plate version. I know for a fact that I used at least blue loctite as that is the type of loctite that I own. The instructions called for red loctite, and I remember borrowing a tube of red from a neighbor a few times last year. I believe this was one of the installs I borrowed it for though.

Edit: I'm not calling out manufacturers or vendors out through this. If it really was a problem where it was the wrong loctite or not enough, then that's what it is. Just putting this up here to share my sucky situation.

[Tokay444]

That sucks. Hopefully the wiring harness is unscathed.

[bertrand_CX_7]

What is the part that failed again?

[Todd98SE]

Did the bolts all back out or pull out of the threads?

[grantmm]

The drivers side/transmission mount failed. All of the threads have some damage of varying deepness but it is clear that one side has more damage and stripped threads than the other. The bushing also has damage that I don't see as something that could have been caused by this event. I believe either the engine/trans vibrations caused the loctite to fail or I just didn't put enough on because I don't like to slather it on bolts (maybe I should be :-/ ) Wasn't the re-design of the part that included the backing plate done to prevent bolts from backing out in addition to the red loctite notice?

The new axle won't be in at Mazda until Wednesday, so once I got that part un-wedged between the cv joint housing and the hub, I headed inside to relax a little and watch F1.

[Celestspeed3]

Do you have the other mounts upgraded as well ?

[2k4_8]

Sorry to hear that happened Sure looks like it failed to me....

[grantmm]

I have the CP-E passenger mount and the SURE RMM. The passenger mount went in at the same time as the transmission mount last July. The RMM went in 2 or 3 years ago and when I checked it last year, everything was still good on that bushing.

[2k4_8]

Originally Posted by grantmm I have the CP-E passenger mount and the SURE RMM. The passenger mount went in at the same time as the transmission mount last July. The RMM went in 2 or 3 years ago and when I checked it last year, everything was still good on that bushing.

I dunno man, we don't hang out all the time or anything but if there's anything I can say about you and your car the word would be meticulous. Everyone makes mistakes but even blue loctite should have kept things from backing out. Hopefully you get it back on the road quick if I wasn't three hours away I'd come give you a hand.

[grantmm]

Robert, I appreciate the good words and the offer for assistance The Idaho group is awesome, and you specifically were more than hospitable when we raced together. It's going to be an exciting year for you now that you've had another year learning how your car handles.

[grantmm]

I should add that the trans falling like it did put a significant amount of side twisting torque and stress on the RMM until the car got home to put a jack under the motor as a load bearing support. I will have that off for inspection when the new trans mount gets here.

[Snyeed]

You should replace that SURE Mount anyways, it's the cool thing to do.

[Nliiitend1]

This sucks.

I really wish cp-e would re-design that mount (and the their passenger mount) to have a "vertical" bushing rather than a "longitudinal/horizontal" bushing orientation.

I like their use of EPDM, but they're working against themselves when they design the mounts to "twist" so much in normal movement. They obviously addressed this with their Stage 2 RMM vs their Stage 1, but haven't put the effort into these side mounts. It's a shame.

[Celestspeed3]

I don't think its the orientation of the bushing so much as the fact that the bushing and mounting plate are two separate pieces. I would have liked to see the two pieces welded together or made out of one piece of aluminum. That would probably cost to much though.

I would like to see a better rmm. I would be open to welding a new support to the subframe and have it configured like the Speed6 one. Or weld two parts to the subframe and support it from the transmission and again from the motor if possible.


I have the full CP-e setup on my car, with stage 2 rmm. I've had mine installed just as long. I guess it's time to take a look at it.

[Tokay444]

Sucks "upgrading" to a mount that's had more fail than the oem unit.

[LittleredMPS]

Christ......

I have the cpe tranny mount in my car. I will admit I red loctited the shit out of it lol.

Looks like periodic inspection is going to be called for....

[2k4_8]

Originally Posted by Tokay444 Sucks "upgrading" to a mount that's had more fail than the oem unit.

I don't know if I'd go that far, it def needs looked at but grant tracks the HELL out of that car

[Tokay444]

I will definitely go that far.

[2k4_8]

Originally Posted by Tokay444 I will definitely go that far.

Had to go back and re read lol it has infact had more fail. /bows out

[grantmm]

Some updates on the suspension. I think my left front strut is leaking as there was a small pool of clear oily liquid on the ground under my brake rotor and it certainly was not brake fluid. Also, the same strut and the left rear's compression canister adjustment knobs are frozen. The pass side can adjust on the rebound and compression just fine. The Porsche 911 who ordered AST 5100s at the same time I did had a blown seal on his a few weeks ago and AST warrantied the work for him. So the suspension is going into RaceCo for a rebuild/inspection while I'm in Austin TX for V8 Supercars in May.

No autoX or track days until then I guess :-/

[justint5387]

Damn ASTs

[grantmm]

Well this is awesome. Notice how one half of the holes will not line up with the bushing part of the mount.



You can clearly see that the manufacturing process was off by 2 or 3 mm.



This shows that the other side lines up perfectly



@801MS3 suggested trying to see if the plate is the problem and using the plate from my trans mount that failed. A few of the bolts on the old mount snapped off or stripped which caused the holes on the plate to become ovals instead of circles. Surprise, surprise, this gave enough room for the bolts to go in. Only problem is that the bolts are completely rubbing against the side of the inset part of the plate.





I refuse to use the damaged mount's plate, so the only thing I can do is post up and bring the terrible quality control to CP-Es attention.

Edit: I had already read @Erich's thread and took the bushing side apart/cleaned and reassembled... it was still the same distance apart.

Copied and pasted from the thread I set up in the CP-E section so I can have it as part of this thread too where it really belongs.

[Celestspeed3]

Did they bind when you first installed them?

Seems odd that they would have shifted, were there any marks on the backing plate? the thin metal one?

[grantmm]

This is a new mount that has not yet been installed. I was assembling it today in order to do the install tonight. I go corner to corner and then work my way inwards when I assemble parts like this. I was able to get one corner bolt in but not the other. I went though a few different approaches to try and see if it was my issue, but the bolt holes simply do not line up.

Frustrating for sure. It looks like my only car will be a few more days away from being drivable depending on how fast CPE can act and get me a new part. The truly frustrating part is that other people have experienced this but CPE hasn't done anything to prevent more customers from having this issue.

[Celestspeed3]

To be honest I have all the CPE mounts and I didn't have any issues. That being said I would not hesitate to get any of the JBR mounts.


What ended up being the issues with the AST's? I contacted Cole about them before the winter. Had I not had to get all new wheels for the BBK I would have ordered them already. Sadly they will have to wait.

[Tomas]

You can stiffen up the OEM mount by limiting the amount of flex it has front to back. Take out inner insert and squeeze rubber duck or other suitable elastomere in that shit.
Same goes for the P mount.

[Celestspeed3]

I wonder how expanding foam would work in there. After it dries just trim off the extra.

[grantmm]

New Trans mount showed up today after Edge went way above and beyond their responsibility to get it to me ASAP (relatively). Got out to the car and I was greeted by a nice puddle under the passenger side front. Started to investigate and I found this:



Ohh shit



When the trans mount broke, the motor tilted and the line was caught between the alternator pulley and the frame. The coil is going out to RaceCo in the morning for a rebuild and new line. Looking on AST's site, the part looks to be around $125, but I don't think that price is for the longer line.

It looks like it will be another week before the car's drivable

[2k4_8]

Balls man, just when things were looking up...

[Nliiitend1]

Shitty.

[grantmm]

All I have to say is that I am very lucky that this happened when, where and how it did. I could be purchasing a new motor, or the axle could have caught on something on the track causing a bad crash.

I'll take a few lumps considering what could have been and what didn't happen.

Pete the suspension expert at RaceCo said he's never seen a compression canister adjustment knob freeze up either. When he's doing the rebuild he will be talking to AST to see what may have caused this and if a warranty will either replace the shock or if it will cover the rebuild. The can on the passenger side was also frozen from adjustment when it was working just fine 3 weeks ago. Interesting that now 3 of my 4 shocks have this problem.

[Mr_Bill]

Sucks to see you joined the family of cp-e tranny mount fails...I suffered the same issue shortly after install when no loctite was used. Was really lucky that the part failed close to home (and at a Quaker Stake so I could drink beer until the tow truck arrived) instead of a few hours away as I had competed in a few events right beforehand. Also got lucky with the only damage being the CV boot and throwing some grease around...after receiving the backing plate fix from cp-e and re-installing the bolts with red loctite I haven't had any problems since. This was actually part of the reason I installed the 15 lb Braille battery this winter...with the removed OE battery box I now have more room and access to check the trans mount & tighten the main bolt that connects the 2 pieces. I've also removed it a couple of since just to check the 8 bolts but haven't had any issues.

[grantmm]

The coil was rebuild Friday morning and I had it back in the car that night. That appears to be the only other bit of damage from the failure. Drove the car around for a couple hundred miles yesterday after getting everything sorted Friday night. No extra creaks or groans that I can find and alignment feels pretty good but it will need to be updated because the lower lock nut on the front right came loose.

The part was only 150 and the full rebuild only cost $125 which is MUCH cheaper than I expected and included oil change and new seals/o-rings. AST said the compression canister adjustment being stuck is because it got dirty. I don't see how that is possible due to the canister being inside the car, but if that is what their answer is... whatever. They also said that there is an allen head adjuster on the knob and if I loosen it just a tiny amount then it should be able to turn again. It worked on the passenger side, so I'll take a look at the other 3 later today.

[grantmm]

Originally Posted by Snyeed You should replace that SURE Mount anyways, it's the cool thing to do.

I think I found the cause of the knocking in the engine bay.