Engine Mount Replacement:Solid?Club Sport?

I have a '87 Carrera. Use it for track event most of the time. I am thinking to replace the engine and transmission mounts since the car already has 130K miles on the clock. I wonder how does the solid mount compares to the club sport one? Also, how many do I need and where are the mounting points? I only see two in front of me every time I open the deck lid. How about the bridge-type mount below the transmission. Does it need to be replaced too?
Thank you for any input!
Andy

Andy:

By the way, Andras is Hungarian for Andrew. Anyway, you might try to invert (turn the washer upside down) your rear motor mounts to see if you like them. This "replicates" the solid motor mounts, and does, in fact, make the connection of the motor to the body less compliant. You might not like the additional vibration. But my experience is that, on the track, there is more vibration from the suspension as you traverse rought tracks, and thus very little difference with the motor mounts.

In fact, I doubt that there is very much to be gained by this modification, since there is no horsepower gain, no suspension gain, only a slight gain in less transferring the torque of the twisting engine to the body. In its normal position, that twist, and hence vibration, is damped out by the rubber of the motor mounts. By going to solid, or by reversing the washer, you have merely shortened the twist. But it will "theoretically" vibrate more.

Conversely, if the washer rubber is getting old, then it will also dampen less because it is getting more brittle, thus causing more vibration. Is this noticable? I doubt it.

Finally, I don't think there are any rubber washers at the transmission; they bolt directly in without any damping material.

You might try to reversing technique, and see if it makes a difference for you.....Andras

There are 4 mounts, the two engine mounts in the back that you can easily see, and two on the transmission cross brace, which you can also easily see once you get under the car.

All four are rubber mounts. They in fact look very similar (they may even be the same parts, but if not they look very close).

My friend had club sports in his 73S, and I thought they seemed fine, although he said he did notice additional vibration. I'm sure that you would feel a difference if you used solid mounts! The Club Sports main advantage over new, stock mounts is that the CSs are alot cheaper!

Truth be told, I don't think there is a lot of movement in even the factory rubber mounts, there just is not that much rubber there. I would think that the ones in your car are in very usable shape, and you probably don't need to change them at all. They are pretty durable.

That being said, if your car is primarily a track car, it certainly would not hurt to use solid or CS mounts, esp. if you are in competitive timed events where every tenth matters. On a street car, however, I'd stick with the factory mounts.

Brian