Megan Racing short shifter rattle and metal shavings

You have no idea how happy I am to know that I'm not going crazy and imagining the vibration at 50-60. Mine does the exact same thing, and this is my second SS (admittedly, of the same design).

I also went back to the stock rubber bushing in the link directly under the shifter, and it did not fix the humming.

I truly love my P5, but the two worst parts about driving and owning it have hands down been this short shifter vibrations, and the absolutely horrible, jerky, constant-vibration engine mount situation I have going on. (Also my warped flywheel, but that's another issue.)

I am EXTREMELY interested to know if you're able to fix things or make them better. I wish I had more time/experience to experiment with these sorts of things, but thus far my experiments with motor mounts have ended in more drivetrain and cabin vibrations, and this is also my daily driver, so never enough time to have it on jackstands to work on it.

Keep me up to date for sure. I love learning about these things, and would be tickled if we could figure out how to improve these sorts of issues.

Yup - going to do some experimenting on the engine support crossmember this weekend (especially that rear single bolt/nut mounting point) while I have the car jacked up doing other front end stuff and will provide an update if I find something that helps (or not).

It's also possible that the motor mounts may have not been tightened and torqued per the service manual's sequence or some other engine/transmission/exhaust support system issue going on.
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Question - Along with the 50-60mph shifter vibration, does your vent system blower fan seem noisy to you? Not the leaves and trash getting in it kind of noisy, but the blower fan noise and the shifter vibration seem to harmonize and amplify each other at that speed.

There are times I will turn the blower fan off to listen/feel for the shifter vibration at 50-60mph and the shifter actually seems to be much quieter/ok with the blower fan turned off and the blower fan actually sounds to be more the culprit.
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Just wondering if all P5's blower fans are noisy with mediocre air output or maybe just dry/wore out shaft bearings from age in my (son's) P5?
 
Yup - going to do some experimenting on the engine support crossmember this weekend (especially that rear single bolt/nut mounting point) while I have the car jacked up doing other front end stuff and will provide an update if I find something that helps (or not).

It's also possible that the motor mounts may have not been tightened and torqued per the service manual's sequence or some other engine/transmission/exhaust support system issue going on.
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Question - Along with the 50-60mph shifter vibration, does your vent system blower fan seem noisy to you? Not the leaves and trash getting in it kind of noisy, but the blower fan noise and the shifter vibration seem to harmonize and amplify each other at that speed.

There are times I will turn the blower fan off to listen/feel for the shifter vibration at 50-60mph and the shifter actually seems to be much quieter/ok with the blower fan turned off and the blower fan actually sounds to be more the culprit.
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Just wondering if all P5's blower fans are noisy with mediocre air output or maybe just dry/wore out shaft bearings from age in my (son's) P5?
Great, I am excited to hear what you find! I wish I could contribute more but I am working a lot and this is my only car. I will be glad to try out anything that you find to work decently for you.

Motor mounts have been a huge pain point for me with this car, as I mentioned before. I think they are probably a part of both of our issues (or at least mine). I've read countless threads about people sharing their "magic combinations" for engine mount brand, durometer, condition, etc. I would love to take a week and experiment with all of the different types and combinations to find the definitive compromise between jerky drivetrain with wheel hop and horrible cabin vibrations. But alas...daily driver.

Also, it doesn't help that my flywheel is warped. With everything at temp, it makes an absolutely horrible and disconcerting thudding/juttering/shaking metal on metal noise whenever I have to slip the clutch a lot to really get into traffic. I've had passengers be concerned and ask if I was doing a burnout.

Regarding your question about the blower fan - I don't believe I've noticed that, but I will need to give it a closer listen. To be honest, my shifter vibration starts around 50 and continues on past 60 until it gets too high pitched to hear above the road and wind noise at around 80. I generally keep it at 70 on the highway, and that is when it is probably most pronounced for me.
 
I truly love my P5, but the two worst parts about driving and owning it have hands down been this short shifter vibrations, and the absolutely horrible, jerky, constant-vibration engine mount situation I have going on. (Also my warped flywheel, but that's another issue.)

Agree - sounds like the big issue with these cars is the PITA rear mount. There's no free lunch with doing motor mounts for cars though. On many European cars you have to remove the timing belt to get to the passenger mount. Just these Japanese cars that use a better design.

I'm thinking of testing out one of those short shifters (since I'll be attempting to replace the rear mount anyway), so I'll look at your recommendation. Usually any non-insulated shifter lever will vibrate like mad, so I'm not too concerned yet.

I'm in Beaverton, where are you located?
 
Agree - sounds like the big issue with these cars is the PITA rear mount... Just these Japanese cars that use a better design.

I'm thinking of testing out one of those short shifters (since I'll be attempting to replace the rear mount anyway),...


A bunch of guys have done the rear mount with a few extentions and a 6 point socket from the top down.

You don't quite fit squarely on to the nuts/bolts with a long extention, so you need a few wobble sockets/extentions to fit the nut squarely.

You will need to break off the little stud coming from the firewall that is in the way right near the nut, and then seal up the hole.

Push down HARD from the top while breaking it free to keep the socket firmly squared.
It's on a bit of an angle and those nuts be F-in tight...

You can do it in two hours.
Unless you strip the nut/bolt.
Then you're FUBAR'ed.
 
My guess is to not go too hard of a durometer on the rear mount.

If it's too hard, it's too much trouble to replace.

Go hard on the other three because they are easy to replace.


I remember one guy that had no rear mount at all.
He went turbo and broke his studs off in the transmission.

The three front and side mounts support the engine and can be easily changed out if you don't like the ride..
 
A bunch of guys have done the rear mount with a few extentions and a 6 point socket from the top down.
Sounds like you know a thing or two about this. Here's a related question; what if a person fuckered up the bracket on the engine that holds the front motor mount AND the bolt that goes through the front motor mount - where would that guy find the part numbers or order those things? Dealer only probably?
 
Mega post here....:p

Agree - sounds like the big issue with these cars is the PITA rear mount. There's no free lunch with doing motor mounts for cars though. On many European cars you have to remove the timing belt to get to the passenger mount. Just these Japanese cars that use a better design.

I'm thinking of testing out one of those short shifters (since I'll be attempting to replace the rear mount anyway), so I'll look at your recommendation. Usually any non-insulated shifter lever will vibrate like mad, so I'm not too concerned yet.

I'm in Beaverton, where are you located?
Hey cool! I'm in Eugene. Glad to know there are other P5 enthusiasts around. I only know of one other person from Oregon on here in recent times. Seems like there were a lot more of us back in the day when these cars were newer (and before I had mine).

I would definitely recommend the short shifter, but maybe don't go with the design that I did (the Megan Racing design) which has it's own bushing thing that replaces the stock one. I would recommend something like the OBX-style that mimics the stock shifter, having a pivot ball in the middle that fits into the stock plastic bushing. That's just my thought on it. These are the shifters I have saved in my eBay watchlist that you could take a look at for reference of such a design:


Thoughts on the rear mount below \/

A bunch of guys have done the rear mount with a few extentions and a 6 point socket from the top down.

You don't quite fit squarely on to the nuts/bolts with a long extention, so you need a few wobble sockets/extentions to fit the nut squarely.

You will need to break off the little stud coming from the firewall that is in the way right near the nut, and then seal up the hole.

Push down HARD from the top while breaking it free to keep the socket firmly squared.
It's on a bit of an angle and those nuts be F-in tight...

You can do it in two hours.
Unless you strip the nut/bolt.
Then you're FUBAR'ed.

I replaced my old (stock, and I think original) rear mount with a new stock one last year. Did not remove the intake manifold or throttlebody (TB), though would probably remove the TB next time. I used a few cheapo sets of Harbor Freight impact extensions and u-joints, and the only casualty was my ratchet, where I shouldn't have been using at such torque anyways.

I used a Dremel to cut the stud off at the firewall. The nuts were tight, but not hard to break loose with a 3-4ft breaker bar. Just sounded like I broke something every time.

Alas, my results, or lack thereof, were not impressive. The car is still very jerky to drive. My current mount setup is described below.

My guess is to not go too hard of a durometer on the rear mount.

If it's too hard, it's too much trouble to replace.

Go hard on the other three because they are easy to replace.


I remember one guy that had no rear mount at all.
He went turbo and broke his studs off in the transmission.

The three front and side mounts support the engine and can be easily changed out if you don't like the ride..
I've heard people say that filling the rear mount with a 30 to 40-ish durometer polyurethane sealant is a good balance between something crazy firm and stock. Unfortunately, when I did it I didn't let the sealant dry for long enough (only 2-3 weeks), and it squished out quickly after some driving. I filled the old mount I removed with the same PU and it has been drying since, but I can't bring myself to install it.

For all intents and purposes, I am running a stock and fairly new rear mount.
My passenger mount is stock and older, but not torn and has AWR poly inserts (which have not made much of a difference).
I had AWR poly inserts in my (stock, older) trans mount and they made the car pretty bad to drive. Tons of vibrations and clunking/creaking noises, less jerky though. Took them out.
My front mount is 100% stock and fairly new (I have another stock one filled with 40-duro PU and it made the car more jerky and very hard to drive smoothly, lots of vibrations.)

PCB, I've heard that if you beef up everything but your rear mount, it'll wear out your rear mount more quickly, which scares me.
 
PCB, I've heard that if you beef up everything but your rear mount, it'll wear out your rear mount more quickly, which scares me.


I don't know too much about it, but that makes sense to me.

I figure that if you were to install a sturdy low durometer AWR mount, it will be durable enough to last.

If it's too stiff, you may want/need to replace it.

That mount is the closest to the stick shift.



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I don't know too much about it, but that makes sense to me.

I figure that if you were to install a sturdy low durometer AWR mount, it will be durable enough to last.

If it's too stiff, you may want/need to replace it.

That mount is the closest to the stick shift.



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Good thoughts. When I removed my old rear mount, it was definitely worn but not completely cracked or in pieces like I've seen from other members around here. I filled it with some of that 30-duro polyurethane and It's been sitting now for probably 9 months, so it's definitely hardened. I am considering installing it again.

Here is a pic with it next to the front mount that is fully filled with the same stuff. I might have filled it a bit too much. I want the engine to still have at least a bit of room to move back and forth, otherwise the jerkiness transfers to the rest of the car like what happened with the front mount.
IMG_20210727_190428879.jpg
 
Good thoughts. When I removed my old rear mount, it was definitely worn but not completely cracked or in pieces like I've seen from other members around here. I filled it with some of that 30-duro polyurethane ...

I went to the beach and found a piece of rubber washed up.

I noticed that it was completely intact, so I brought it home.

I lifted my engine and stuffed a piece of it in my engine mount.

It's been there for 5-10 years now.


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I should check and see if it's still there.
 
I remember removing a bolt through a mount and the end of the bolt was a square head.

The square head was stopped from rotating by a little welded tab.

That metal tab let go and the bolt just spun around.

I ended up clamping a vice-grip to the square to keep it from rotating...
 
Sounds like you know a thing or two about this. Here's a related question; what if a person fuckered up the bracket on the engine that holds the front motor mount AND the bolt that goes through the front motor mount - where would that guy find the part numbers or order those things? Dealer only probably?

This is a link to the service manual and parts catalog.

I'm sure those parts are in the catalog somewhere.





I remember a few guys that installed hard engine mounts and it drove them nuts.
It was rattling their fillings out of their teeth. Lol
They couldn't see out of the rear view mirror because it wouldn't stop vibrating.

They grew tired of it quickly.
 
... what if a person fuckered up the bracket on the engine that holds the front motor mount AND the bolt that goes through the front motor mount ...


Found it.

The parts manual is really difficult to navigate, and the pictures are kinda blurry.

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You may be able to get a bolt and bracket from a local pick and pull, if you can manage to remove it without damaging it.
 
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Mega post here....:p


Hey cool! I'm in Eugene. Glad to know there are other P5 enthusiasts around. I only know of one other person from Oregon on here in recent times. Seems like there were a lot more of us back in the day when these cars were newer (and before I had mine).

I would definitely recommend the short shifter,...


I don't know what your winters are like in Oregon, but when it's close to 0°F out, a solid metal shifter knob is nasty cold.
It stings your hand.

My OEM plastic one is bad enough.
I remember one guy that stole a sock from his baby to put on his short shifter knob. Lol

A heated, weighted shifter knob for winter driving.
That would be cool !!! (I mean warm.) Lol
 
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