DIY Polyurethane Mounts for less than €15 (Tigerseal)

[DieselMonte]

The mounts on my fabia didn't seem to be stiff enough for my needs. Everytime you set of from a set of lights I could feel the car "kick" even with new engine mounts and a powerflex dogbone bush. Shifting wasn't quite as nice as I'd like even though the linkages were reset and everything was working as it should. Just before christmas I started to hear a clunk when I was accelerating and I found the source of it to be the engine side mount, even though its only on the car a few months. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get a mount with christmas a few days away, and not wanting to drive around with a dodgy mount I did something I've wanted to do for a while now and filled the original engine mount with tigerseal.

All I did was squeeze the original mount down in a vice, clean out where I intended to put the tigerseal and pumped as much of the stuff in as I physically could. Then I let it set for about a week in the vice before installing it.

This mount worked well,stopped the clunk I experienced and stiffened things up a little bit. However, I thought I could do better so I set about making some improved mounts out of more spare mounts I had.

But why?

I wanted stiffer mounts as I figured they would make the engine feel more responsive, as well as make changing gears smoother as the engine and gearbox couldn't move around as much.

Why tigerseal? 

Tigerseal is a polyurethane sealant that sets hard and sticks to just about anything. I got a tube of it in halfords for just under 15 euro and so far its done 2 engine mounts and a gearbox mount and theres still some left in the tube. I had considered using a proper polyurethane resin but that is slightly more expensive (still only around 30 euros) and would be a lot more finicky to pour into the mounts. Tigerseal needing to be dispensed from a caulk gun, and having a much thicker consistency is a lot easier to work with. Of course there is the option of vibratechnic engine mounts, but given the cost of them they weren't an option for me. 

How I did my new mounts:

First make sure they're as clean as possible, free of grease and other dirt that could interfere in the tigerseal sticking.

Also, wear gloves. I didnt and it took an age to get the tigerseal off my hands. Tigerseal even comes with a pair of gloves on the bottom of the tube so don't be like me and use them.

Gearbox mount:

I decided this time to find stuff to fill in the larger gaps of the mounts before putting the tigerseal in. For the gearbox mount I found a strip of metal to cut and wedge into the top of the mount, then I inserted a nylon nut into the lower portion of the mount. For the smaller gaps around the sides I used some bolts I had lying around to push through the gaps and firm up the mount (not pictured)

More than anything, I did this to lessen the amount of tigerseal in the mount as this stuff takes a long time to dry and if put on thick enough might not dry completely on the inside.

 

When you're putting the tigerseal in make sure to push the tigerseal into the mount, otherwise you'll leave voids inside the mount and it wont be as stiff.

Doesn't need to be pretty, if you wanted to you could use your finger or something else to smooth the tigerseal. It won't change how the mount performs and purely  makes the mount look nicer.

Pic of the tigerseal mount next to the gearbox mount that was on the car. The tigerseal mount is the original one off the car and ironically its replacing a mount that is only on the car a few months. Looks to be cracking up around the edges already and felt very easy to move around by hand.

Engine Mount:

Similar to the other engine mount I squished it down in the vice to allow me to put more tigerseal into the gap on top.

Like the gearbox mount, I filled the gap that was made with stuff. In this case, I used the lower portion of one of the original strut top mounts cut up to fit into the gap. I also found a perfectly sized brass nut with a washer to go over the middle portion of the mount and fill it up before putting in the tigerseal.

I put in some tigerseal at this point to fill the mount slightly before pushing in the chunks of the old top mount. The beauty of me putting something solid into the mount is that it allowed me to remove the mount from the vice afterwards, otherwise the tigerseal would push itself out if it wasnt left in the vice to set.

The finished product, at this point the shed got very cold so I ended up taking the mounts home to cure. I also ended up putting them in the oven for a while on a low enough heat to help them cure faster.

Leave them for atleast a few days to cure but the longer you can leave them the better. A downside to tigerseal is that its air cured so it takes a long time to cure.

Nothing special about how they go on, same as any other mount.

 

The result:

There is more vibration throughout the car, I noticed the difference most from the gearbox mount, likely because that was the only completely standard mount on the car.

Worth noting that it has settled somewhat after a few miles. Just to visualise the vibrations I put a cup of water on the dash.

You can see the water ripples a bit. For me, I don't mind it and its only really noticeable at idle (~800rpm). When its cold out and the car idles a bit higher (~1000rpm) I couldn't tell any difference from before. While there certainly is more vibrations its not nearly as teeth rattling, boneshakingly bad as I was led to believe.

However, I have noticed its a lot more responsive as the engine isnt twisting and pulling against the mounts as much. There is definately less drama when you put your foot down it just goes. 

Changing gear it is significantly better too, much easier to change gear and it feels much more positive doing so.

 

Overall I think this is a nice compromise between the standard mounts which weren't doing the job for me, and some expensive ultra stiff mounts such as those offered by vibra-technics. Considering I've done 3 mounts now with the one tube of tiger seal its certainly a cost effective solution. Its something I'll be doing again for my mk1 fabia