[Ben]

I was driving home from my fiancee's college 40 miles away on the interstate with very little traffic and noticed how wussy the car sounded and felt in general accelerating at high speeds. I mean it was fast enough, but the engine noise and steering wheel/shifter feedback was not satisfying. I have the "open airbox" thing and the airbox turned upside down to expose the air filter (and make it even louder), but it still wasn't loud enough and the wheel and shifter didn't feedback enough.

It's just too damn smooth. I want it rougher to fit better with the car's spunky character. Would the full ES bushing kit satisfy me? Let me see if I can list all the bushings that come with the whole kit (if I miss any please add them)

-4 motor mounts
-front and rear swaybar mounts
-front and rear swaybar endlink bushings
-front control arm bushings
-shifter bushing?

Is that it? I know the motor mounts (and the shifter bushing if that's something I remember existing) should satisfy my need for feedback. I'm curious about what you guys think of the swaybar and control arm bushings. Like them? Worth the time/trouble? Do they squeak a lot? Can you keep them greased well enough to defeat the squeaking?

My "example" or "role model" for a fast, powerful car is a LS1 Camaro or Trans Am and God knows there's feedback with those things. I want my Sentra to imitate one as much as possible, and that means FEEDBACK through the wheel, shifter, pedals, and ears (engine music ).

Comments?

 

[Ben]

I remember now that folks said that one of the engine mount companies had the "hardest" bushings that supplied the "harshest vibrations at idle." Which one was that? I believe the three makers of the mount ar JWT, ES, and JUN.

Another memory- are the ES mounts merely inserts? Does ES make both inserts and full poly mounts? Somebody blab about the motor mounts cuz I can't remember who makes what exactly and the characteristics of each company's mount. I know JWT makes the solid mounts shown here:

I am confused on ES and JUN (and others if I can't remember them.

 

[Ben]

Doing a bit of se-r.net research it seems that I was getting confused with "JUN" mounts. I think I meant The Place Racing mounts. So everywhere I've said JUN so far replace with PR

 

[Guest]

I did all the bushings on my car. The ES MOTOR MOUNTS are the softest ones and less vib compared to JWT. They still vib the car though. I got use to it since it's not my daily driver. The bushings on the suspension really just helped the response to what I can tell. I never had good shocks when i did it orginally and put now eibach and kyb agx. So I can't tell you much there. Don't forget about the rear bushings too. The whole install took me a full saturday and driving down to a press to get alot of them pressed out. Had to torch a few out as well.

 

[Ben]

Can't replace the rear stuff (besides the swaybar) on the B14 since the rear bushings are specifically engineered for the proper flex to make the mutlilink axle stuff work right back there.

I will wait for the convention and try to learn as much as I can about EVERY part including each type of motor mount, like sit in the car and feel what it's like. So little time though. I'm probably going to seem like not a very personable guy since I'll just be concentrating on details and checking cars out so much as just shootin the ****. Ah, most people will probably be just like that anyways. "OOh, you've got ST swaybars whereas I don't. Can we go for a ride?" and "Ooh, you've got a Greddy exhaust. Can we hit the highway so I can see how it 'drones' or whatever?" and "Ooh, 15psi of boost huh? Mind if I have the keys for a minute?"

 

[jacen99SE]

The ES motor mounts are inserts (at least for the ones near the bumper (dogbone) and firewall). The do increase the 'engine noise' in the car, and eliminate the weight shift from the engine when you shift. The front sway bar bushings reduced body roll in the front, but led to a little understeer. I wish I coud stiffen up the back a little now. Guess I'll have to upgrade to the ST sway bars when I get the AGX
I will put the shifter bushing in this weekend. I have control arm bushings (supposed to prevent/reduce wheel hop in combo with motor mounts) but dont know how to remove and put back together the ball joint. I might pay a suspension shop to do this.

For a daily NA driver, I dont see any reason to get stiffer than the ES motor mounts. Any body else want to comment on this part?

 

[Ben]

So maybe I just want the firewall and the dogbone to save my tranny but not do all 4 to save the rattles? Does that sound like a common thing that is done?

 

[nitrous_50]

I also have the ES mounts. I just had the front and rear swapped out. Had them installed in February. No more erky-jerky when you get on and off the gas quickly, especially in first and second gear. It does get a little noisy from 4000-5000 rpm range. Steering wheel does vibrate, but not that bad. Makes the se-r that much more fun to tach on! And don't be scared when you first get them in, everything is noisy and vibrates more until broken in.

 

[nitrous_50]

Also just had the ES control arm bushings installed. One word...WOW! Ride quality is like 98% the same, but the steering, turn-in response, initial body lean, all way improved. I definitely recommend this upgrade to all 200sx or classic se-r owners.
I think I going to try out that new steering bushing next and see what happens.

 

[jacen99SE]

did you do the control arm bushings yourself or pay a shop? if so, what kind of shop and how much?

Ben, I would recommend the dogbone mount for even a stock sr20de, and a must for any modified one!
They are noisy at first, but quiet down a month later, and are even more quiet after 6 months. But still have the feel that I think you want. I dont know if we (new cars) have any need for the other ES mounts??

 

[Ben]

jacen, why do you recommend just the dogbone? Why not the firewall one as well to eliminate fore and aft rocking?

Again, ES makes inserts, correct? Do they make full poly mounts as well?

Where do you guy buy this stuff from? Courtesy should have this stuff right?

And I'm curious as well, nitrous, if you did this at home or had a shop do it

 

[nitrous_50]

I wish I could brag and say I did all the installation myself, and used a hydraulic lift in my shop to lift the car....but that would be lying! Actually Les Scwabb did the control arms. They charged me a total of $170.00 which includes the bushings, shipping charge, labor and alignment. I felt that was a heck of a deal. As for the front and rear ES inserts, I had my favorite shop do that, and I'm glad too because my mechanic said he had one hell of a time getting in the rear mount. I bought the inserts at Baxter's auto parts store here in Portland, they had them in stock surprisingly. They were like $26.00 and I paid like $90.00 for labor. I wish I had the tools and skill to do these mods myself, because I really enjoy working on my car. Next week my nismo brake upgrade comes in from courtesy nissan, I'm going to try really hard to do the installation on these myself. Hope this helps you out.

 

[NoVTECSER]

I have the ES motor mounts(dog bone and firewall) and the shifter bushing. The car fells pretty solid, especially after I drive my fiancee's stock '97 SE-R. The motor mounts are a little too much for me, so I'm going to try just the dog bone and see if that helps.

 

[brian]

ya, all you really need is the front and the back, that is all I have (motormountwise) and have no problems at all, and does not really shake the car to death either (the vibration grows on you)

 

[jacen99SE]

Ben,
When you take this apart to replace it, you'll see why the dogbone is necessary. I didn't mean to imply that I was recommending only the dogbone. For any modded car, the dogbone and firewall mounts should be used. Yes, they are inserts and I dont think ES makes full poly bushings.

I was able to do the front sway bar bushings and dogbone by myself, but I needed my dad's help to get the firewall inserts installed. You need some rubber-safe lube (hmm...?) to install the firewall inserts (its a tight fit )

I got mine from www.suspension.com and was cheaper than courtesy (now that I think about it, I dont remember if I got the 25% discount on that order from courtesy). This web site has everything from ES.

My shifter bushing goes in this weekend along with the Hotshot G3 header. i will eventually pay a suspension/alignment shop to do the control arm bushings.