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"VWR 'Fast Road' Engine Mount + Powerflex Insert Bush - Review...." BY Johno

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john_o:
I did Robin, the key thing is that the BSH kit seems very much an odd compromise biased towards easy fitment rather than attacking the areas where most movement may be present.

BSH kit : the arm is very well made and potentially stronger than the OE arm (but does it need to be?) , the bush within the arm has however been replaced (a huge plus point) , BUT the kit includes a ECS type insert for the lower engine mount (a partial fix imho).
BSH seems to have done this to hit a large market and make it an easy DIY fitment.
For me the huge downside is you pay for a high quality arm , but your effort is somewhat negated by leaving the 'probably' knackered lower engine mount in place.

(note if you can get the BSH kit 2nd hand or at a high discount, I do feel its a quality product just for the arm. you would then ADD the VWR lower engine mount and NOT USE the insert provided by BSH  :wink:)

At the end of the day its personal opinion , but I wanted to attack the areas that I felt needed most improvement.
After fitting the ECS lower mount insert previously , buying the BSH kit alone was not going to sort my issue, it would merely of improved it by a small percentage (for a large cost).
Replacing the lower engine mount is costly but based on improvement/cost unit  terms its quite low.

(of note the ECS lower engine option also only addresses the bar improvement leaving the lower mount as is)


If you assume your original lower engine mount is fine then either the BSH or ECS lower kit is great.
That is however not in my opinion correct , and you inevitably will be needing more.

I would envisage an upgrade path such as this

Stage 1 : Try the ECS insert only : its low cost and worth a first shot.
Stage 2 : Lower VWR engine mount + ( either BSH bar OR OE bar with powerflex insert )  : ECS insert is of no use and is discarded
Stage 3 : add side VWR road mounts
Stage 4 : full VWR race mounts

in all honesty consider your requirements carefully , and just jump the stage that suits you best.  :happy2:

usual overly long john_o rant ends........

RedRobin:
^^^^
I think that's, as usual from you, very good advice and assessment of the various options.

With the second-hand (saving cost) BSH bar assembly with integral bush and VWR lower mount, and furthermore all three VWR 'Fast Road' mounts, I'd say that my particular car is now well sorted in this respect. Possibly more than it needs to be but I prefer it that way.

When I used to race bicycles, my custom-built Condor was capable of winning the Tour de France - But I wasn't!!   

:happy2:

john_o:
cheers Robin, I reckon you and Matt will have to fight it out for 'best restrained engine' award  :drinking:

RedRobin:

--- Quote from: john_o on August 31, 2009, 06:35:38 pm ---
cheers Robin, I reckon you and Matt will have to fight it out for 'best restrained engine' award  :drinking:


--- End quote ---

....Mat is a hard northerner though and has the solid 'Race' mounts. However, I was, believe it or not, born in Yorkshire.

Msportman:
Excellent write up John-O

I previously had all sorts of issues getting the right compromise of refinement v control on my APR Stage 3 kit on the MKIV.

I tried different brands from the US but in the end I choose Vibra technic FR items which were the best I could accept as a road car. There was still some vibration at tick over which went when the revs picked up but there was defiantely more noise in the cabin and some rougher spots on de-acceleration.

I don't have too many issues on mine yet on stage 2 but Awesome did fit an insert in to help reduce movement which thankfully it has. I still need a diff at some stage for ultimate power out of bends but I would have to say so far the KW's with the better camber adjustment gives better traction in any case.

Ian

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