As soon as I did the 5spd swap I quickly found out how bad wheel hop can be. I took some advice from a friend that had done it and I gave it a try. Get a ratcheting tow strap and hook it from the front of the engine to the lower crossmember. This does not allow the engine to twist as much under hard acceleration which is what causes bad wheel hop. This mod actually works. It did not completely eliminate wheel hop, but neither do poly engine mounts which cause vibrations at idle inside the cabin. I would not believe it if I had not done it myself.
I hooked one hook to the front engine mount where it bolts to the block. Then I hooked the other hook to the large hole in the side of the lower engine crossmember and then tightened it up. It would be better if we had a frame and a solid place to hook the other end but the crossmember is good enough. Has anyone ever done this before?

 

Havent tried it, but I can see how it might help some. It apparently would help reduce the twisting of the engine... you have any pics? I'd like to see exactly where you hooked things up....

 

Cool. I hope to hear other who have heard of this or have done it.

 

I've heard about a lot of people with modded Grand Nationals and T-Types doing this.

 

Also, put the biggest zip ties you can find on your front spring coils. Home Depot has 175lb tensile strength. Put like 5 of them on each spring and wrap it around as many coils as you can as many times as you can. This will completely get rid of any front end rise during the launch. That's like $5 well spent for a day at the track.

For the rears, they make those coil spring dampers. They are rubber blocks that are inserted in the coils. And it keeps the rear from dropping during the launch. So for only a few bucks, you can have stiff motor mounts and the best FWD suspension you can get. Ghetto mods are the bomb!

 

I like the zip ties idea.... thats pretty smart! I was thinkin of how it would be good to get the front end low next time I drag, that might be the solution! good call.

 

It WILL work if you put enough strong zip ties evenly spaced on the coil. FWD cars have been doing this for ages. I got the idea from the FWD guys at www.DSMtalk.com

 

is the zip tie mod decrease wheel hop at all? is the "putting erasors" in the engine mounts work at all? if so how do you do this?

how much was the tow strap? where did you get it? any pics? I would like to see a video of you launching with and without this strap if at all possible....that would be awesome!

 

wow cool thanks for sharing the idea. Actually ideas plural.

Id really love to see a picture or two of how you set up the engine mod, because I dont know where I'd attach to the engine and well to be honest, I dont know what a ratcheting tow strap looks like (though I dont doubt I could find one)

PS my first time to the track was a humbling experience! I should do a quick thread about it- I need some vet advice!

-E

 

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/...0101&langId=-1

That is the coil spring stabilizer I am talking about. With this and zip ties and keeping your motor completely still, you'll have an awesome and cheap setup for good traction at the track. I have Eibachs and Konis and if traction is still a problem with 22" MT slicks and a 100+ shot, then I will definitely do this. But I thought I'd share my thoughts with everyone.

 

Cool!
I wonder if they could be used to good result at a track day...? Emulating Coilovers if you use, say, only 2 on each spring? Hmm..

 

http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showth...+spring+rubber

That is one of the billion threads where the DSM guys talk about the spring stabilizers and zip ties. For the zip ties, it seems like most of these guys drive agressively on the street with them on. And some have had them break, but they only had 3 big zip ties. I would have atleast 5 on each spring, wrapped as many times as possible. Some use 10 on each spring. They are like $5 at Home Depot, so no biggie if you go overboard.

As for the rear coil spring boosters, some only use 2 and some cram in 5 on each spring. I think you can get them at Pep Boys. I might look for those next time I'm there.

 

my other question regarding the zip ties is do you bother to compress the springs before putting them on? that would lower the front to begin with, but you'd need a spring compressor to do it. I can see that working very well.

 

I'm not sure. I would just tighten the zip ties as much as I can with the weight on the car. If you want someone to push down on that corner of the car while you tighten them, I'm sure that will be good. But to actually really compress the spring a lot, I dunno. Read that huge thread that I posted. I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

 

2 words "polyurethane mounts"

 

Not everybody wants PU mounts b/c sometimes it transmits more vibrations. Plus, not everybody has the money to do PU mounts.

For me, I simply filled my OEM mounts with PU resin and it was a very cheap and easy way to get PU mounts. But this strap is better than PU since you know the motor won't move at all.

 

I titled this thread easy cheap mod to reduce wheel hop... I did not title it expensive hard to install mod that will increase in-cabin vibration and may give a rough idle. I was merely giving a good idea to those people on a budget that would like to help reduce wheel hop. Thanks for your help though.

 

yes, ghetto mods are the only way i do it while in college! keep the "cheap and easy" stuff comin this way!

 

Ghetto mods are the ONLY way to go I think. If something cheap and easy works better than expensive mods, then why ever buy the expensive name brand stuff? The whole purpose of modding is to make your car perform better. That's the way I look at it. I will always do ghetto mods if they prove to be better than anything out there. Trust me, I have a lot of ghetto mods on my car.

 

lol, actually yeah, but I used a metal bolt. It was on a friends 71 Duster 340ci 4spd with X heads and a bigarse cam. The motor went from moving 2" just idling to 1.5", brand new motor mounts too . (I dont understand how it can move that much with the bolt but it does).

 

i looked briefly under the hood yesterday and didnt see where to hook the strap. granted it was getting dark out and i looked for all of 10 seconds, but if anyone feels inspired to post a pic, that'd be cool.

 

This really helps on Turbo Buicks. I busted a motor mount and a tranny mount before I ran the "torque strap". I could totally see this working as it would help take stress off of the mounts. If you look close my strap goes from the alternator to the frame.



Dave
02 Maxima SE
85 El Camino w/Turbo V6 swap

 

Got my ratcheting tow strap. Gotta love a $5 mod!!!

Now the tough part- how do I use it? Anyone got a few moments to describe the connection points? Even better if you have a picture or two...

Thanks in advance-

 

I will try to take some pics when the weather clears up. It is best to see from underneath the car. There may be other mounting points better than what I used as well.

 

so how much does this mod really reduce wheel hop? is the tow strap supposed to be as tight as possible? has anyone tried that putting erasors in their engine mounts trick that they talked about on the forum a while back? does it work at all? is it hard to do?

 

I guess erasers can work. But I've heard that heater hose works. You flatten it and try your best to hammer it in. For me, I got spare mounts and filled them with poly resin. Then I waited 2 weeks and then installed them. I had broken mounts, so the gain in throttle response and motor stiffness is unbelievable!! But this tow strap needs to be as tight as possible so your know the motor doesn't move AT ALL. If the motor moves, then your chances of wheel hop is much greater. And wheel hop can cause things to break that normally shouldn't break... like a tranny casing. But I personally haven't tried it. I don't have wheel hop on my automatic. When it spins, it spins very smooth.

 

why is it that you don't get wheel hop on your auto?
I thought it was a universal thing for Maximas.

 

I'm not sure why. But on 5 speeds in general, wheel hop is a normal thing I guess. I've always owned an auto and it's always been a smooth spin off the line on every automatic I've owned. But, wheel hop, in my experience, has always been with 5 speeds.

 

To me, I would conclude that it is the clutch then. I guess you get some clutch chatter, even if you cannot feel it, that translates into wheel hop when you are manual?

 

anyone with aftermarket flywheel or clutches experience more or less chatter/wheel hop when you upgraded from stock?

 

automatics almost never get wheel hop unless they are on high powered car with high grip. since autos are not directly mechanically connected to the engine, they dont 'wind up' the drivetrain as much when they are loaded up suddenly.. they just slip a little more. personally, the only time ive ever got wheelhop in an automatic car was spinning in the rain.. after some spin it turns into wheelhop before it finally just catches.. why that is i dont know.

 

I get wheel hop from time to time. Recently when I ran my friend in his GTP I got wheel hop on a dry surface but it was kind of a crappy low traction surface. Other times have been in the rain. I've never got wheel hop at the track.

Dave
02 Maxima SE
85 El Camino w/Turbo V6 swap

 

I have gotten wheel hop at the track 2 times when I was an automatic. One one run it was because of the killer 60 ft time (2.18). The whole dash was shaking. The other time it was because the tires were cold and they just spun and it turned into wheel hop. It is very easy to cause wheel hop in the 5spd though.

 

yeah, pretty much, if mine every spins at all, it has wheel hop.
In the rain is the only time that I can really keep it from doing it.
I take that back, at the track last week, if I got on it really hard, slipping the clutch very badly, it would spin evenly. I just did this to try to spin any junk off of my wheels.

 

Did anyone ever get any pics of the tow strap attachment locations?

 

i've also gotten wheel hop on many occasions in my auto. happened at the track a couple times as well as numerous times on dry and wet roads.

 

You are about the only one who has really had any problem with wheel hop in an auto that I know of.
I guess this mod is not restricted to only manuals.

 

I still don't have any pics, but here is a link for one on a 350z. Same concept, except our engine moves front to back, not side to side.

http://www.performancenissanparts.co...roducts_id=446
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...threadid=76543