200: Torque Arm - Engine Knocking

[RossWoods93]

Morning All,

I’ve recently swapped out the engine mounts for the uprated KTEC mounts (upper engine / low stabiliser and gearbox) to stop the play on the new flexi’s that have been welded in!

Ran a dream for a week until yesterday where there’s a noticeable knocking sound when raising the clutch / coming on & off the accelerator in low gears.

The only thing I can think of is that the extra vibrations caused by the KTEC mounts has caused the torque arm bush to perish? There’s quite a lot of play in the torque arm itself if you give it a wiggle!

Looking to swap the bush out for Powerflex ones I’ve seen in other threads!

 

[Gus]

First thing to check is the dog bone mount under the car.
There are 2 bolts and the bigger one has a tendancy to work its way loose. over time it can even fall off the car.

Open the bonnet and rock the engine back and forth to see where the sound is coming from.

 

[RossWoods93]

First thing to check is the dog bone mount under the car.
There are 2 bolts and the bigger one has a tendancy to work its way loose. over time it can even fall off the car.

Open the bonnet and rock the engine back and forth to see where the sound is coming from.

The engine sits pretty snug, barely any movement when rocking it back and forth, the only thing I could pick up on was the torque arm.

Will get the dog bone mount checked to see if there’s any play in that!

 

[RossWoods93]

Apologies for being a complete simpleton but would the dogbone mount be the “gearbox mount”? Or is would that be located elsewhere! I’m wondering if there’s a possibility of the new gearbox mount being loose! Should be able to have the car on a ramp tomorrow

 

[DS197]

Apologies for being a complete simpleton but would the dogbone mount be the “gearbox mount”? Or is would that be located elsewhere! I’m wondering if there’s a possibility of the new gearbox mount being loose! Should be able to have the car on a ramp tomorrow

The gearbox mount is under the battery box and the dogbone mount under the car.

 

[RossWoods93]

The gearbox mount is under the battery box and the dogbone mount under the car.

Thank you! I can get under the car tomorrow to take a look!

I’m just hoping it’s not a case of one of the new mounts coming lose, but it would make sense that the extra vibrations to cause something to loosen elsewhere!

(If anyone has a picture of where I need to locate the dogbone mount feel free to throw it in here!)

 

[DS197]

Thank you! I can get under the car tomorrow to take a look!

I’m just hoping it’s not a case of one of the new mounts coming lose, but it would make sense that the extra vibrations to cause something to loosen elsewhere!

(If anyone has a picture of where I need to locate the dogbone mount feel free to throw it in here!)

No worries fingers crossed it's a quick and cheap fix!

 

[Gus]

Car up on stands.

Look at the back of the subframe and you will see the below: (one bolt has been removed in this pic.)


Big bolt is 21mm socket and the small one 18mm.

Check both the 21 and 18 are really tight.

 

[Gus]

Would also add that it takes 5 minutes to unbolt both the bolts to remove the dogbone to check its condition. If you do need to replace it then look for a EVOL black dogbone - this will rattle the car for a few weeks but it does settle.

 

[RossWoods93]

Thanks for highlighting where I need to be looking! Checked the dogbone mount and all seems to be ok from there, all nice and tight!

The knocks still present, and between myself and my dad we reckon it’s the loose torque arm mount, which is causing the new engine mount below it to flex/knock.

Hopefully once I’ve got a the powerflex torque arm mount in this will tighten things up and stop the knock!

 

[RossWoods93]

Just to put some closure to this thread! I finally managed to get the chance to fit the Powerflex bush to the torque arm!

Wasn’t too bad of a job but took some time getting the old rubber Bush out (ended up angle grinding it out!)



Done approx 50 miles since fitted, and the knocking was definitely being caused by the torque arm bush! No knocking at all now when coming off the clutch, engine is solid as a rock in the engine bay!