who runs torque straps, limiters?

I don't have time to fabricate solid motor mounts or install elephant ears. I'd like to get by this year with a limiter on the driver side of the motor. I like to go from the head to the drivers side frame rail, but worry about adding a shear load to the head bolts. Where ya'll put yours?

I've used torque straps forever to save the left motor mount when foot braking and on stick shift cars, even used chains with a turn buckle for a little while
I used the power steering boss on the water pump to bolt to the 1/4x1 inch wide strap to the left front sub frames, my current street car, ex drag race car, has a piece of aluminum 1x1x.085 aluminum angle on it that worked well also

Yup, good location; accessory bolt locations on front of head are also good. I've used either one depending on engine for years without an issue.
If you use a rigid strut kind of strap, you'll probably notice a little added vibration transmitted, but it's never bothered me.

The torque strap that schumacher sells is a nice piece.

The old trick is to use a rubber mount on the left side and use what is essentially half of a motor plate and call it a strap.

I have a chain on mine but have thought about buying a set of Poly Locks, but man they are expensive!

I use the Schumacher piece as well.

Easy to install and very clean looking.

My Early B has a habit of tearing the drivers side in half!

I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this also. I have heard of some guys using a solid MM on the drivers side and a stock rubber on the passenger side.

I have also heard of using a regular MM but drilling and running a bolt through it. I think Mancini sells something called a mega mount which looks like the same thing. Seems like a simple cheap thing to do yourself but I haven't tried it yet.

Thanks,

Steve

This is what I made. 1/4” steel sandwiched between the isolator and mount

A big part of using a strap or motorplate is to remove the stress and shock from the left side of the block where the mount is bolted. This would make it worse.

Picture no work!

Just curious, but who has seen a block get damaged from a solid motor mount on the driver's side?
Our SB has the solid mount pushing about 650HP and still going strong.

A simple hardware store turn buckle will do just fine and not look too bad.

Another one...............

I made my own with a piece of threaded rod and two heim ends with a piece of plastic tubing over the threaded rod. It goes from the bolt on the front of the head to the motor mount boss on the K frame. I was worried when i went from the W2 head engine to the 408 with Indy 360-1 heads that it would`t fit but it did in almost exactly the same place. Whats nice is that it is adjustable up or down if need be

I just installed a Schumaker strap a few weeks ago. No drive time yet but I too was wondering if there can be any damage from bolting these onto the motor mount bracket hole. I assume the motor mount helps to support the block when mounting the strap at this location.

Has anyone used the Shumacher Poly-Locs?

I run a Moroso solid mount on the driver side, stock mount on the pass side. I’ve heard people say that this could be hard on the block, But I’ve never seen someone’s block fail at the motor mount. I don’t make a lot of power either, so I think I’m safe.

Yes the polylocs work good. The motor stays in place and does not shake like aftermarket junk. I have put them on several shaker hood cars to save the shaker, worth the money to stop damage. The strap is also nice, have one on my 340 4-speed, made shifting way better also.

One of my local street driver show car customers removed them after trying them in his 1963 Sport Fury Max wedge car He didn't like the vibrations
He is a little picky on a lot of things though

Had them for several years .
The one on right hand side did collapse , drivers side been fine . Just fitted a stock one to r/h side . No dramas since
Have thought about going solid on driver side only

Tex

Call me a hillbilly, but a 1” wide polyester ratchet strap will hold close to 4000 pounds of force, wont transfer vibration, is easily installed/ removed, and costs about $8.00.

I’m only guessing here, but I would assume that your engine makes under 500 lb/ft. Using 500 lb/ft as a base number, anything that will hold 500 lbs of force mounted 1 foot from the crankshaft centerline will do the job. Worrying about headbolt shear is a non issue. You could quite literally lift your entire car from one cylinder head with no ill effects(to the engine) with ease.

As far as block damage at the factory mount... It is very common to see the corners of the engine mounting bosses cracked off. This is a poorly designed and machined area from the factory. But it is almost always seen on the passenger side. The engine in my car was mounted by the factory mount bosses( broken pass side when I got it ) and it made over 900 lb/ft of torque. The car weight was 3700 lbs, had a 3.50 rear gear and ran high 8 sec 1/4s. Never had any issue with engine mounting.

Year of experience using engine stabilizers or torque straps dictates the use of 2 stabilizers, one on each side. There is nothing better than the schumaker design and the design works well. This set up does not transmit excess vibration to the car.
The old school thought of a right side solid mount and a left side regular mount is still old school and is a band-aid solution. The Schumaker design adapts very easily to the right side.

By only stabilizing one side an excessive amount of force is now applied against the right side motor mount. This compression on the right side mount the mount causes the drive line to twist in place and pushes the right side collector down and eventually tears the right rear muffler hanger. The mount will eventually fail. Using the high quality mounts available like mity mounts helps but they are not a substitute for 2 stabilizers. As this is the internet...and of course since i won't post a pic of said type failure I have no clue what i am talking about....

A whole year?




Just kidding.

Schumacher strap made my 4 speed shift way easier and I noticed very little increase in vibrations.

I don’t doubt your point about the Schumacher system to be completely valid, and I’m going to stop short of saying you don’t have a clue; but....... I’ve been running the system you say causes all kinds of problems for 8 years, car gets raced regularly, has a full exhaust system with tailpipes and muffler hangers..... I’ve never seen one of the problems you mention. Same motor mounts and exhaust system for 8 years.

I ran the poly lock mounts for a few years with a Schumacher torque strap.

Over time the mounts sheared. The right side mount was real ugly. The engine would twist on the mounts, not lift on the left side.

I found this after my reaction times became erratic, and the drivers side header became the limiter.

I am not bashing the product. They lasted 500 or so passes on my smallblock.

I use what were sold as "Mighty Mounts" IIRC on both sides, along with a Competition Engineering torque strap they sell for 5.0 'stangs. It's not a bolt-on, but didn't take that much modification to work on my E-body. See link HERE.

I set up the strap with just a bit of free play to keep the vibration transfer down, but it "locks up" as soon as the engine tries to torque over. Works for me...

Thanks Brad, I just ordered one.

If I remember, I'll take some pics of how I modified & mounted it. It's bolted to the k-member and attached to the top hole of the front engine mount, since I didn't want to take a chance w/ it distorting the cylinder head if I'd mounted it on the accessory bolt holes. The nice thing is it's RIGID only under load w/o the constant engine vibration I felt through the car when using only a single solid mount on the driver's side.

Much appreciated. I actually ordered two in case I can used one as a fore-aft limiter.

Ok
Pulled my oil pan today , cracked on weld . Also shows sign of driver mount given up and pan hitting steeting box support
Who has seen a damaged block from solid driver side mount . I do use a transbrake . Vibration dont care

Tex

My suggestion that you need 2 torque limiters is from a data collection of 24+ years running high speed road course laps [130mph+], 4 days per year, 140 laps per year, 2.5 min per lap. 2.5 min is very respectable. How many 1/4 mile passes does that equal?

140 x 24 = 3360 laps x 2.47 miles per lap = 8,300 miles x 4 = 33,197 1/4 mile passes.

2 cars, 1 small block, one big block - same problem - compressed right side mount; right side TTI header collector pointing down under large throttle load, right side muffler straps at the muffler tear, the motor is not level side to side at rest.

Please note the right side collector in the attached picture for photographic evidence of the phenomena.

Maybe now the picture and math will help make sense of why 2 torque limiting devices are required not a luxury.
These devices cannot be a rigid mount, there has to be a degree of give to isolate the engine vibration. I promise never to come over here into your playground again.

I have been running a solid mount on just the drivers side for about 8 years. I had this chain for backup when I ran a stock mount so I leave it on for backup in case the solid mount would break a weld. But I don't run the car hard on the street and only race it once or twice a year. I have never had any problems from running a solid mount on the drivers side. Ron

https://www.alllifting.com.au/wp-content...ottle-screw.jpg

I just bought similar to this , make a coupke small brackets to connect motor mount bolt to k frame

Tex

As mentioned in my above thread, I installed the Schumaker limiter to the drivers side over the Winter and I just got back from my first test drive. I used to have a steering wheel vibration at idle in D, and my hood used to shake at highway speeds. Both issues are now gone. But I am now wondering if I had a bad mount even though both looked to be in good visual shape.
No additional vibrations with this install.

After running it for a number of years without, we put fore/aft limiters on our car with a small block on motor plates. Not big power, not real fast. It would go mid 1.20s in 60, but it was light. That was eye opening. Won't run one like that again without them.

This is what I did on my driver's side MM and the passenger side was left stock rubber.

Solid motor mounts here. Tried straps and turn buckels over the years. Got to the point that the driver side would not break, but the passenger side would. Got tired of dealing with it and went solid(both sides). I deal with the minor vibrations and after several years, it don't bother me much anymore. Rock solid when I hit the gears. NO flex or movement at all.. My car is a stick car. Auto's may have a different reaction

Torque straps and limiters are 2 different things..
a torque strap holds the engine DOWN on the driver..
side.. limiters... limit or eliminate the for and aft
movement of the engine.. limiters are used on engines
that are held in by a engine plate.. I run a engine
plate both front and mid plates and 2 limiters..
no vibrations at all and this is a street car(416ci)

Haven't seen anyone comment on the use of a motor plate.

When I raced a small block years ago, I went through all of the above issues and settled on a motor plate. I would have been even smarter to have used a mid plate as well ,but did not. Instead, I used solid motor mounts to limit fore and aft movement.

No question, the motor plate worked really well and stabilized everything. Super easy to install as well.

If you use any kind of solid mount for the motor, use a stock mount for the transmission.

Loren