Minor-ish B15 Upgrades

[Jon Pennington]

I went to Rick ?Goose? Warkentien?s house yesterday to do three things:

 - Install ES B15/SR motor mount inserts (7.1110G, $21).
 - Install ES shifter stabilizer bushing (7-1109G, $8).
 - Drain and fill transmission with Red Line MT-90 ($8/qt).

The motor mount inserts were about 45 minutes? work.  All of the mounts on
a B15 are round, so it?s just a matter of dropping the engine cross
member, inserting the mounts (with a little synthetic assembly lube), and
lifting the cradle back into place.  Contrary to B13s and B14s, the rear
mount was a snap, but the front mount was moderately distorted.  With
finagling, the through bolt eventually went into place.

I felt like a real dork with the shifter stabilizer bushing, once I saw
how simple it was.  It took all of three minutes, maybe 7 if the car
wasn?t already in the air on jack stands.

We didn?t get to do the MT-90 yesterday, and here?s why:  B15s are
DIFFERENT.  The fill plug is a 10mm hex, which is easy enough; any tool
department has 10mm and smaller hex drive bits on-hand.  The drain plug is
a 14mm hex drive, and those are apparently rare as rocking horse sh!t.
Snap-On has one for $23; S&K sells theirs for $18.  We called every S&K
dealer in the city, but none of them had one on hand.  The only Snap-On
dealer in town (which is a somewhat remote suburb) wasn?t answering his
phone.  We actually spotted the Mac dealer in a parking lot on a sales
stop, but he didn?t have any, either.  We tried to make several tools, but
with no progress (mostly breaking stuff).  The bottom line is that you
NEED the right tool.

The bottom line is that I?m very satisfied with my enhancements, and still
disappointed with our ?failure.?  The motor mounts are great!  The engine
doesn?t tip 6? forward upon starter engagement, the throttle response is
vastly improved, and I?m quickly getting used to the difference in clutch
take-up.  The engine does thump a little bit at startup, but I'm okay with
that.  The cabin is louder, with a particularly loud resonance at part
throttle around 4000 RPM.  Again, I don't care.  The shifter stabilizer
bushing is ROCK hard, and was worth every penny/second spent; it really
does feel close to a German car.  Close enough for this poor kid from the
suburbs, anyway. ;-)  Big thanks to Rick and everyone else who was
supportive and offered advice.  I wait with baited breath for the
synthetic gear oil; the temperature is tipping downward in Kansas City
these days, and I want to continue to enjoy shifting as it does get
colder.

Perhaps next week:  Qualitee Int?l Performance+Plus brake pads (upscale
from VGX) and a synthetic brake fluid flush.  Pray that I don?t need new
front rotors at the same time. :-\

--
-=|JP|=-        "Stays Fresh Longer!"

'01 B15 SE/PP  |   http://members.cardomain.com/cowboydren/   |  <//><
'95 SL2 Auto   |         cowboydren @ b15sentra . net         |