[NOS2Go4Me]

As some of you might be aware, and at least Oscar and Stan have experienced, Subsonic had a serious vibration issue.

Now, to be fair, Stan said when I bought the car that it vibrated as it did because of the race "mount" dogbone that he had installed. I found out shortly thereafter that a lot of the roughness of the engine was the need for a complete tune-up - but the major vibrations remained.

Over time, I grew accustomed to the car's "cycles". In the dead of winter, it was a giant vibration amplifier "because of the mount". I'd have no real music or engine note enjoyment until the engine hit normal operating temps. To really remove the vibration, the car would need to be driven for an hour or more continually to "warm up" the dogbone. In the warmer months, a few minutes of driving was still required to alleviate some, but not all, of the vibration.

Honestly, I took the situation with a sense of pride: it had a race motor mount, and now a Spec Stage 3 clutch. It was approaching "go-kart" status quickly, with only the stock 50-series tires and SVT suspension to soften the blows in everyday driving.

This spring, as I drove the Focus more to save mileage on the Escape (which has yet to be sold, but that's another debacle in itself), I noticed a pronounced "clunk" or "whunk" every time I'd clutch in or out, adding or removing torque from the driveline. I took my buddy for a rip a couple of weeks ago (after the dual rear LCA issue) and he diagnosed it as the motor mount(s). A convo with Hardk0re confirmed our suspicions: rear mount.

So, I sourced a new mount, available only from Ford. Figures eh? We install the mount. A lot of the "clunk" was gone, but it still there - on either side of the engine, less pronounced that before. Also, a lot of the vibration remained. Hmm. We rocked the car, in gear, and noticed that the driver's side engine mount also appeared to be completely blown - the urethane part was moving back and forth visibly and it appeared tattered / wrecked.

So, we ordered the two front mounts. Installed them. Firing the car up after /that/ round of work was an epiphany: I can have performance WITHOUT vibration! Cue the singing angels and other paper miracles!

Then, disaster: I took Subsonic to the camp last Saturday. Then, we drove home Sunday morning. As we went through a Timmies drive-thru, the car felt a little "hesitant" to roll, almost as if it was pulling a loaded trailer. I pondered whether I was losing my mind. Also, as we edged out of the drive-thru and crawled through a parking lot, I started to smell burning rubber - in a bad way. Stopping the car and lifting the hood revealed... the passenger-side engine mount top half (including cast metal) had separated from the bottom, main portion of the mount in a fashion that would make most Quebec separatists proud. It had embedded itself in the accessory belt workings, under the alternator, and had destroyed the accessory belt in the process. Oddly enough, the engine still ran (if I had let it). I was unable to remove the belt completely, and thankfully Oscar was around to give us a lift home. We went back with Ironhide with the intent to tow it ourselves to the garage, but we couldn't source a tow dolly. So, off it went on a wrecker.

After a new mount and belt were installed (with promises of a new Ford mount if the second aftermarket mount died), off I went again.

This time, I managed about 30KMs until the new belt was eaten violently. Well, halfway eaten. I got the car home (from the office), and then my bud came and drove it to his shop. Prognosis: toasted tensioner that was pulling the acc belt over the pulleys' edges. So, now after a second new belt and a new tensioner it runs like a top - 100KMs and counting.

Link to the broken mount pic as it's too big for attaching here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9q88mibcyj08gs...0mount.jpg