Reply to "Trans mount problems"

Hi Brooke...

Been kind of laying low...I opened a shop that restores Pantera's, NSX's and builds NSX's for racing. Just staying busy and racing my NSX as much as I can.

Working on personally getting another Pantera, but for now, working on others :-)

The first Picture shows no washers at all. Whoever put the ZF in the car didn't put the washers back in. They are important since the take up the space between the ZF ears and the frame mounts to keep the ZF centered and solid. By not putting them in and balancing the ZF from front to rear, no doubt it moved around and twisted under torq. Which is why the bushing squeezed out of the ears. There not enough heat there to melt the bushings like yours appear to be, so it had to be pressure & friction from movement.

If you have the ears off the car and still need new one's, call Dennis Q, I believe he has them. Put the washers in this time and take up any space with them front and rear of the ears and frame mounts.

Another thing to check is to be sure the motor mounts have been put on the correct sides. I learned the hard way that it is possible to reverse them and still mount the motor. Look at your motor mounts, the center holes are not centered on the mounts. There is about 1/4" difference front to back. So if the were installed the wrong way, it will push the whole motor/ZF assemble about 1/4" out of position. This may be why your motor popped forward when you released the pressure at the motor mounts. It appears someone forced the ZF ears into the frame mounts to make it go in place, not good.

Sounds like you have already repositioned the frame mounts if I understand you correctly, so this will probably take care of the problem. However, I would be sure to check the alignment of the 1/2 shafts to the hubs to be sure your angle hasn't changed to much. Otherwise you could be starting a whole new set of problems. Also check for any bulkhead clearance problems as things get pretty tight up there.

Call me if you like and we can discuss it more.
480.264.9250
Here a picture of the shop and my boys smiling faces :-)