Motor and Transmission Mounts on a Chevy Prizm or 1998 to 2002 Toyota Corolla

I'm surprised to learn how many motor mount configurations there are for my 1999 Chevy Prizm.

What we have here is pictures of locally available motor mounts. I see that the 3 speed transmission (left picture) has a different motor mount than my 4 speed transmission. Then the center is the motor or transmission mount, which I should refer to to being over my transmission on the driver's side of the engine bay. I should inspect this one more closely for cracks or weakness.

The transmission mount on the right of the picture above is for manual transmissions.

On to the next set of mounts available for my car, and I'll get to my point:

On the left is the front motor mount (common name), but it literally is connected to my transmission. That is the correct one for either the 3 speed or 4 speed transmission like I have. The point is that the motor mount on the right is for the manual transmission. That's what I just pulled out of my 4 speed transmission car! I'm sure they bolt up the same or I wouldn't have been able to have the "wrong" one in, but now I'm relieved as it's broken that I'm getting the correct transmission mount installed.

The 2nd from the left motor mount is the only "true" motor mount on my Chevy Prizm. It's on the passenger side (in left hand drive cars) on the top/side of the engine.

2nd from the right is the motor mount (sorry, strong habit, it's literally a transmission mount), which I first noticed failed on my car. I've gotten a quality one from Toyota. Boy that was hard to get! Every sub part of that part is super high quality! Great steel, at least for how it looks and feels. Great rubber! Super good...then I looked closer at the welds. Those steel welds have something to be desired for strength, see my YouTube video below, "My New Motor Mount, long awaited, crappy welds!"

The locally available motor mounts have good welds at the moment, but the rubber is poor and I expect failure like before so I want to window weld them with 60 shore strength. Once drag racer of a Hyundai Elantra on the Jafromobile YouTube channel uses 80 shore strength, but seeing as how I can't find that and he has literally 4 times the acceleration that I have in my Chevy Prizm, I think 60 shore strength is plenty strong to plus up this lower quality locally obtainable part.

Sure, you may say, just get another one from Toyota (a Chevy Prizm is basically a Toyota Corolla), but that took a month, I'm not going 2 months without my car. The rear transmission mount is what is hours of work to get to the, the front one can be removed with much less subframe disassembly.

I'm working literally on uploading a video to show the Toyota, USA made motor or rather transmission mount as you read. :)

Here's my uninstallation of the front and rear motor mounts:

Source: Motor mounts front and back removal part 1 by DENichols

The next video I'm in the process of editing is a motor mount inspection video and half of the installation. What are different problems they can have? Failed welds, sure, most commonly the rubber gets cracks. Some cracking with age can be okay if the engine still is held firmly in place when you brake torque the engine. That's where you put the car in drive or reverse, hold the brake, and press the gas some. The engine should move some, but mine was flopping like a fish!

Motor Mounts Front & Back Installation Part 2:

Source: Motor Mounts Front & Back Installation Part 2 of 3 by DENichols

Motor Mounts Front and Back Installation part 3 Finishing End links mostly:

I'm embedding the part 2 video in my article when I last brought up replacing at least one of the same motor mounts! Shocks, Struts and the Steadiness of Your Car or Truck

By AutoBravado

Weapon R Dragon Intake Review

I recently purchased a Weapon R Dragon Intake for my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm. To give you some history, my choice for this upgrade was different than you might think. I didn't just go in to get a short ram intake because I wanted an upgrade. About 3 years ago my car got smashed and and I had to replace 1/2 of my headlights and signal lights...not to mention my bumper. ;) A had a large canister inside the bumper that was supposed to help get some cold air into the car that broke and could not be put back in. Seeing as how the whole system still looked sealed from the weather, I counted my lucky stars and left a gaping hole that could gulp cold air into my car rather than sip through 5 tiny holes that the canister breathed through.

A couple months ago, I noticed that my wheel well was getting less sealed to the bumper and I was risking Hydro-lock. Hydro-lock is where water goes into your air intake system, combines with the fuel/air mixture and doesn't compress - water doesn't compress - and "BAM!" Your engine is broken and will often need replacement. So, terrified, knowing I was coming up on a typically rainy drive soon I needed to fix this situation fast.

I didn't even want to figure out how to replace the air canister. I didn't really know what it was called and suspected a very high price at the dealer or no availability for a part since the dealers don't sell much past 10 years. So....I went for the fix and upgrade replacement Weapon R Dragon Intake.

The Weapon R Dragon Intake came in a record fast time, a day before my road trip so I didn't have to spend valuable driving time on installation. Quite excited, I was in my car clothes within minutes and I was installing it.

I immediately noticed the extra loud noise that was new to my car. Everyone said online that the Weapon R Dragon Intake was the loudest intake on the market. (Most seem excited about that.) This worried me because I love performance but I don't like things being too loud. Turns out, once it warms up, it's pretty quiet. Plus, I really only notice the sound of the Weapon R at low speeds.

I immediately noticed that my 2.5 inch opened exhaust was louder, and that was driving gentle, since I'm all about getting the best car mpg possible, I was excited that this was a sign that my car was getting more air moved through it, dragon style :). On my trip, I had to go over mountains and I quickly noticed that when I came out of overdrive for these mountains that instead of my car sounding like it was working hard, the hills sounded natural.

Two days before my trip, I lost valuable preparation for my traveling installing the Weapon R Dragon Intake, I made up for lost time and drove faster. I usually notice a drop in car mpg when I do this, but my car mpg stayed the same even though I was driving faster. I'm not much of a speeder, I just more frequently did 80 in the posted 80 mph zones when I more often go about 75 because I get better mpg that way.

The short of it? I notice some areas where I believe I have more acceleration. It's hard to tell when I just replaced the valve that makes my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm have it's year 2000 motor with VVT-i fully functional. This valve syncs up the oil flow in the valves based on the RPM of the engine based on what the Cam Shaft Position Sensor is telling the engine what to do. This already opened up a lot more power 2 weeks ago, so not being used to that I can't really tell you. I haven't seen enough car mpg numbers to report yet, but when I do, I'll do less of a story and more of an article on my main autobravado website.

Car mpg numbers included now! Weapon R Dragon Intake Review - final review?

*Note: 1999 Chevrolet Prizm is the same as a 2000 or 2001-02, except that my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm has a 2000 LSI engine with improvements not available in 1999. Except the one improvement of a variable valve timing (VVTi), it's the same engine and parts for anything you'd replace except in association with those valves. This was during a time that Chevrolet and Toyota were in a joint partnership and made the car together, so it really is a Chevy and a Toyota, a 1998, 1999, 2000. 2001, or 2002 Toyota Corolla are the same as well.

Add snow to the AutoBravado car for extra beauty. :)

Written and produced by AutoBravado.