Transmission Stabilizing Tips?
 

I'm getting a lot of movement in my 5 speed under wot that is making it tough to find third and fourth gears. I'm currently using Mazda comp motor mounts and energy suspension diff mounts. Transmission runs flawless under normal driving, so I don't think the issue is internal.

Is there anything else I can do to help this? Would beefier engine mounts make a difference? I did a search but didn't see much except an an old thread on here saying transmission mounts aren't needed. Is this still the consensus?

Car is an 1999 NB donor Exocet with 255whp, but is a normal Miata for the sake of the drivetrain (still has ppf).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Motor mounts. AWR, Blackbird, V8Roadsters all make them and many vendors sell them. 949 Racing and Goodwin Racing sell them for sure, too.

The PPF will always flex some but the motor mounts made a big difference for me. Also refresh the shifter bushings if you never have.

You rock, thanks for the help!

Do you have a preference on which ones? I'd prefer to get the best and be done with it. Is it possible to do motor mounts without pulling the whole engine, just support it and do one side at a time?

Edit: Greg FTW!

One side at a time with a floor jack under the oil pan.

I think they are all good compared to Mazda comp. They are all pretty reliable and well-made.

Thanks man, much appreciated!

I installed the AWR mounts recently, yes stiffer engine mounts solve all your trans shifting issues. My shifter used to move .5"-1" upon stomping on it, it now doesn't move more than a quarter inch if that.
I used only a floor jack to support the engine, doing one side at a time. No issues like that but I did have a sturdy rope looped from the engine to my garage rafters to hold it if anything were to fail.
I also had issues lining up the third bolt on the drivers side with the AWR mount. And when I say "issues" I mean the hole in the mount was completely off, I had to break out the dremel and enlarge it to fit the bolt into the block. Is this an issue with AWR mounts? Was this a one off that snuck past QC? I have no idea.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8495df64c.jpg

Yikes! What year is your car? What durometer did you get?

Could it also be the transmission? I went from Mazdacomp rubber to the Goodwin 70 durometer and new shifter bushings. It made a huge difference, but on occasion my third gear is still hard to find. I chalk this up to my worn 5 speed and/or a sad 3rd gear syncro.
The poly mounts are a huge increase in vibration over the rubber, but as your profile is an Exocet, I don't think you'll notice or care ;)

I've go the 5X Racing bronze shifter bushing and the trans is pretty low miles. Yeah, in an Exocet the NVH really doesn't matter...

2000, 70D.

I have the "Low-NVH" Blackbird drop mounts. Same durometer as their "competition" mounts (which is the same as AWR if I remember correctly), but the bushing is larger. I'm pleased with them, little shifter movement.

Chatting with Tony from AWR over email and he had some questions about your mounts. Please email him at tony@awrracing.com and let him know you were the guy who posted about the issue.

I looked at these but was unsure if I had oil pan/header clearance, so decided not to risk it. Also unsure if drop mounts violate classing with any organizations.
Also have the bronze bushing, but I think my trans is pretty high mileage(and old, its a 95 trans that's not original to the car) as even with a full shifter rebuild it still had a good bit of slop while in gear. The shifting trans+sloppy shifter made it near impossible to hit 3rd, but now with the stiffer mounts it's like butter even shifting at 7K RPM.
Done, although I didn't buy directly from AWR(Fab9) and my stock mounts literally fell apart in my hands so reinstalling them and waiting for a new set wasn't viable.

Wingman, did you happen to get the wrong year mounts? Isnt one of the bolt locations in a different spot from NA to NB mounts.

All the 1.8's from 94-00 have the same blocks afaik. That was my first thought as well. If I was for some reason sent a 1.6 set I don't know how to check.

What about 2001+? Besides having an extra hole, are the rest of holes in same locations?

Both of my cars have BBF mounts. Couldn't be happier with them. I have lowered comp bushing in one and standard height street bushing in the other. Both are perfect fitting. I have used Mazda comp and solid mounts in the past. Not interested in either of those options again.

I have BBFW mounts in my car and they have felt great so far. Street drop mounts.

Wingman, check that you havent misinstalled Left to Right, as i noticed the bolt pattern is slightly different..

Great video put out by Blackbird Fabworx about their engine mounts on their Facebook page.

After chatting with the guys from AWR, we don't really know what happened. Using measurements from the rest of the mount, we confirmed that both the passenger and driver side are the correct period 94-00 mounts. Tony says they pulled their CNC files, checked their inventory, and everything matched up to spec.
They offered to replace the mount for free, but I declined at this point in time due to the hassle needed to replace the drivers side(pulling the header), and that I don't see any issues yet with my enlarged bolt hole.