Since day one of owning the car the passenger side mirror housing has been cracked. It has always bothered me but has been a low priority fix. Well I finally found a good deal on a used one on ebay so I went ahead and replaced it. Once nice thing is that no matter what color the car is, the mirror housing was always black plastic, no worries about color matching. Also the mirror didnt change from 1989 to 1997. No worries about getting a non motorized, non defrosting mirror.

Another thing I have always known I needed to do was replace some of the motor mounts. They were obviously cracked and basicly shot. I went ahead and ordered mounts from AbbottRacing in the UK. These mounts are polyurethane rather than rubber like the factory ones. This means they should last considerable longer and will provide a more rigid mount. This second point may or may not be a positive depending on how you like to drive the car.

So far I have only installed the new bushings on the upper engine torque arm. It was a bear getting the old rubber mounts out but using patience, a vast selection of pnuematic and standard power tools, they came out.

I even took this opportunity to clean up the aluminum mounting brackets and coat them in a clear coat to prevent future oxidation.

I have only had the mounts installed for 1 day but I can say this mod is easily worth the time and money!

Cons

• There is more vibration in the cabin when idling. Its very noticable but not obnoxious.

Pros

• The shifter is easier to engage. I never realized it but it felt sloppy and forced before.
• The engine feels much better when engine braking. It feels more controlled and predictable
• Overall the car just feels "newer"
• Less movement by the engine *should* reduce the likely hood of having to replace my exhaust due to engine movement causing stress fractures.

I also purchased the bushing for the transmission mount. I plan to have a new clutch installed by a shop and will also have them install this mount. I cant wait to see what that does to the feel of the shifter!

Preview Image Size Thumbnail Small Medium Large

Smll Med Lrg old busted miror. even though housing is broken, the mirror works fine and the glaze is fine	Smll Med Lrg	Smll Med Lrg removed door panel to get access to wiring	Smll Med Lrg
Smll Med Lrg	Smll Med Lrg new mirror installed, it went pretty quickly	Smll Med Lrg no more crack	Smll Med Lrg hold engine rorque arm bushing
Smll Med Lrg front bushing is clearly cracked	Smll Med Lrg rear bushing is not much better	Smll Med Lrg front bushing from the other side, yup it needs to be replaced	Smll Med Lrg arm removed. front bushing holder would be a pain in the ass to remove, it stays attached to engine
Smll Med Lrg new torque arm and transmission bushings	Smll Med Lrg just note, the 2 thin lipped bushings go together, as do the 2 fat lip bushings	Smll Med Lrg hammer, reciprocating saw, and fine sander with metal cutter used to remove old bushing	Smll Med Lrg cleaned up and sanded torque arm, very shiny in comparison to unsanded mount
Smll Med Lrg sprayed cleaned up torque arm with clear coat to prevent future oxidation	Smll Med Lrg didnt spray this one with clear coat, I want to see what difference the clearcoat makes longterm	Smll Med Lrg new bushings in place	Smll Med Lrg I do wish they came in some other color than yellow, oh well, my engine looks like a circus :)