slartibartfast

iTrader: (7)

I'm tempted. Simple, inexpensive and easily reversible. Just waiting to hear more from furlow to decide which to buy.

Been researcing valve bodies upgrades. Am I correct to surmise Level10 is the only game in town now? Oh heck, that's a tangent threat.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

You mean PG-v36_6MT, and the Vibra-Technics mount that he found out of the UK, right? I'm looking forward to reading about that, too.

Furlow

Glad to know the sound I'm hearing is normal, and cement mixer is a hilariously perfect description. I was hoping it was something fixable, but it is what is, I can live with it.

I tried taking a video but as Rochester said it doesn't do it justice. It would be like trying to take a video of a new subwoofer that you got, telling everyone how good it "sounds." Some sound isn't as much of something you hear as it is something you feel. That's the best way to describe this.

If before the purr of the engine and transmission was a 2-3, it's now a 7-8. It's not like you're suddenly in a '67 Camaro with a 4 barrel carburetor, but it's now closer to that than a Prius with zero engine purr/rumble.

I also agree that it makes everything more pronounced, so some sounds make me nervous and others give me a huge smile. Regardless, it made the car really come to life, and it's now more sports sedan than luxury sedan (if it ever was truly "luxury").

My apologies for the rushed post yesterday, I realized after Rochester's response that it wasn't 100% apparent that I was talking about the transmission mount, and not the short shifter. I'm still considering the short shifter, but may wait until there is a remedy for the reduced height of the shift ****. Mine is already lower since I swapped it for a titanium ****, and I don't think I'd like it any lower than it is now.

Anyway, off for another drive for no reason, other than to just shift through the gear. Yes, I'm serious, it's THAT much of a difference.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

For me... as a 1-10 scale, where zero is a typical car, and in year-over-year sequence for installation, I would rate the noise as follows:

Year - level - mod
---- ------ ----
2012 - 2 - OEM
2013 - 3 - Intake and hood-liner delete
2014 - 4 - Resonated Cats
2015 - 6 - Resonated Catback
2016 - 8 - Transmission Mount

Naturally, these numbers come out of thin air. (no pun)


Working on it... waiting on the custom stand-off from LatheWerks.

Furlow

Hmm, so you only think the tranny mount added 2 "points" on your scale? Interesting. I don't have resonated cats, so I can't comment there. I was giving a 2 to what I had prior (intake, cat-back exhaust) versus adding the tranny mount. I like where you're going with this though.

Using your scale, for me:

OEM - 0 to 1 (felt very much like a typical car to me)
Cat-back exhaust - 2 (not a huge difference unless WOT)
Intake - 2.5 to 3 (negligible difference unless WOT)
Tranny mount - 8

Maybe I'm weighting the mount too heavily, as it's my most recent mod? It's possible. I'll give it a couple days and weeks and continue to comment. Perhaps I'll get used to it more, and perhaps it will "settle" in as well.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Different cars, different components and probably a different schedule. But yeah, I would say the mount was a 2-pt tick on this arbitrary scale. The 2.5" FI cat-back was really the loudest mod on my car... possibly because I also have FI cats, I don't know. But like you're starting to experience, I think it's settling in for me. As I look at future plans, I keep moving motor mounts up and back down the list.

Trying to figure out how to take a reasonable in-cabin video that showcases what it sounds like. It's a tough thing, with so many factors: windows open or closed, ambient noise, traffic, speed, RPM, etc. And then there's the biggest hurdle: I don't have a GoPro.

This morning, I had a short meet-up with another 6MT Sedan owner here in town (there are two of us! LOL), and I got to witness two entertaining WTF moments. One when he ran through the gears on this STS, and the other was when I started the car.

Furlow

Perhaps the FI cats and FI cat-back is significantly more "purr" than my stock cats and 2.5" piping into Tanabe mufflers. Either way, we agree that inside the cabin, the Z1 transmission mount makes a noticeable difference.

So the "WTF moments" both came from him, from the engine start and gear shifts? Man, I REALLY like how short the throws are from your video, but I agree with you that it looks like a loss of .5" or more in overall height. Just not sure I'd enjoy that.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

You can change the height a lot by the shift **** you use and how far down the threads go.

Another option is to place a washer just large enough that it will slide over the threads (but no further down) so that the shift **** will not thread down as far and gain you quite a bit of height without having to do anything as crazy as custom thread extensions.

This is what I did with my B&M kit and it is the perfect height for me and an awesome shifter to boot.

Furlow

But if you sacrifice .5" of threads, doesn't that compromise the strength of the **** and it's connection to the shaft? Not that I'm slamming my shifts or pushing with tremendous weight on it, but it just seems like the threads are there for a reason...

Here's my current setup, for reference.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

You can raise your **** (approx) 1/2" if you're willing to sacrifice 1/2" of threaded contact, either by using washers at the base as 4DRZ said, or by only threading the **** half way becauce of obsrtruction inside the ****, like I did.

Guys... you know that I'll review this custom standoff when it arrives, probably next week sometime. Have faith. Be patient.

Furlow, that cylindrical **** looks fantastic. I forgot that you had that.

PG-v36_6MT

iTrader: (1)

F*ck patience. I already bought an M10x1.25 extension off ebay lol

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

What the heck? How did you find that?

PG-v36_6MT

iTrader: (1)

Uhh, it's called "search". There's dozens of these extensions for sale on eBay. Most of them are from China, of course. The one I bought was from a seller in Cali, so it cost a bit more, but I wanted one soon so I could experiment.

It's 3" which is probably too long, but that's the shortest extension I could find and I just wanted to test it out. $25 shipped is a small price to pay to experiment imo.







So it looks to add 2" of total height. Would it be possible to shorten the female end and then re-tap the opening?

slartibartfast

iTrader: (7)

Duh. Hey, if anyone finds my memory lying around, please send me a PM.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I hope it works out for you. You're pretty good at this stuff, Liam.