CXRacing E36 LS1 swap kit- buyer beware!

[squashman702]

I have approximately 3400 miles on my LS1 swap. The car has a CXRacing LS1 swap kit including headers, engine mounts, and transmission crossmember. The car has never seen anything other than daily driving since the swap has been completed. I recently noticed a new odd vibration at different engine speeds, which led me to check engine mounts. I found that the poly bushings in the CX kit had degraded to the point where they crumbled once the engine plates were removed from the subframe portion of the mounts. The subframe side of the mounts were supporting the engine as it was wedged against them.

After multiple attempts/being placed on hold, etc to reach someone in tech support at CX, I was told that I could purchase new bushings for $20 each. I explained the situation and the low mileage on the swap, and there was no effort made to make the bushing failure right. Furthermore, their tech support had no idea what type of poly the bushing was so I could seek a similar replacement.

I understand- you get what you pay for. This failure in such short order, however, seems above and beyond, especially considering that the kit still pushes $1,000 in the form I bought it.

Any CX owners- probably worth taking a look at your mounts!

20180910_185419 by David B, on Flickr

20180910_164703 by David B, on Flickr

20180910_164538 by David B, on Flickr

20180910_164123 by David B, on Flickr

[Tim Mc]

Aftermarket parts...some good, some not. Bummer for the issue. I'd expect free bushings to be shipped to you.

[squashman702]

Aftermarket parts...some good, some not. Bummer for the issue. I'd expect free bushings to be shipped to you.

They said my purchase date was too long ago (I think it was the end of 2016- I didn't get the car on the road until last June, then had issues afterwards that prevented me from actually driving it regularly until April or so of this year). I'd fully understand where they were coming from if I had asked for a more substantial part/parts of the kit to be replaced, but a couple of bushings? I would've been willing to buy them had there been an updated part.

[Tim Mc]

Ah...long ago purchase date - the boone of a lengthy project. We've got several new parts that are not returnable due to the same issue. I didn't plan for that element in the budget!

[RulyLSX]

sucks to hear, I have this kit as well, I do plan on getting other mounts later.

Like Tim said I would expect some free bushings, why not just send those out for a customer to keep people happy? Oh well


Either way thanks for posting this, I am going to have to keep an eye on mine. Only 500 miles in on mine though

[bimerok]

You making it more problem than it really is. You bought your kit two years ago, they are not your huge big box store to give you multi-year warranty on part that they're not even making. Just go to summit racing and look for a replacement by Energy Suspension. This is an inexpensive generic bushing type. You just need to pick the right size and be done with it.

[pbonsalb]

I would try to heat shield the next set. I would also buy from a different company. You may not know the name of this one but you recognize the blue bushings and can avoid those in your search.

[squashman702]

You making it more problem than it really is. You bought your kit two years ago, they are not your huge big box store to give you multi-year warranty on part that they're not even making. Just go to summit racing and look for a replacement by Energy Suspension. This is an inexpensive generic bushing type. You just need to pick the right size and be done with it.

You're saying that you'd be happy with a motor mount that lasted an oil change interval? Don't know if you missed it in the first post, but they lasted 3400 street miles. I get that they're inexpensive, but a failure in this timeframe is inexcusable.

The bushings that are in there are something I had laying around. Currently working on sourcing a different bushing to use.

I would try to heat shield the next set. I would also buy from a different company. You may not know the name of this one but you recognize the blue bushings and can avoid those in your search.

I looked into heat shielding and am trying to figure out a way to do that. The CX kit relies on those plates bolting straight to the block, and there's a lot of heat in that area between the direct contact, and radiant heat off the block and off the headers. I see why the factory goes with mounts that move the bushing 6" or so away from the block for those reasons. I think this was a design compromise to make it easy to fit other components without relocating anything (like the ABS pump). I definitely will be avoiding these bushings in the future.

[pbonsalb]

I was wondering how that worked. Seemed like an odd motor mount design—almost more like a suspension bushing.

[bimerok]

I wasn't saying that the failure wasn't a big deal. I'm saying that CR Racing not giving free replacement wasn't a big deal on part that they don't make. And plus would you even want the same crap put in second time around?

Half of those darlin bushings a total crap to begin with, that's why I recommended to go on summit website and look for the ones made by Energy Suspenssion. They are red in color. I had them on my car for quite a few years and quite a few track driven miles without any issues.

You can see the one I'm talking about in this thread. https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...2#post23655192

[squashman702]

I was wondering how that worked. Seemed like an odd motor mount design—almost more like a suspension bushing.

I think heat played a factor, but I also think the bushings were low quality at best.

I wasn't saying that the failure wasn't a big deal. I'm saying that CR Racing not giving free replacement wasn't a big deal on part that they don't make. And plus would you even want the same crap put in second time around?

Half of those darlin bushings a total crap to begin with, that's why I recommended to go on summit website and look for the ones made by Energy Suspenssion. They are red in color. I had them on my car for quite a few years and quite a few track driven miles without any issues.

You can see the one I'm talking about in this thread. https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...2#post23655192

Okay- what you're saying makes more sense. I honestly wasn't expecting anything for free- I was moreso hoping there was an updated part I could use instead of this bushing that CX might have offered as a discount. I would've also appreciated them pointing me in a direction of an alternate part, but they couldn't even tell me what they used initially. Because they're still using the same junk, I didn't purchase anything else. Just showed a strong lack of customer service. They had my purchase logged in their system- I bought the kit new and full price from them, and went back to them as well for the correct V bands (not included in the kit) and for some reducer flanges for my exhaust. Considering I've spent over $1k with them at this point, a little help on $40 worth of bushings would have been nice.

I ended up using some sort of suspension bushing as a fix, will probably end up making new mounts over the winter once I take the car off the road for the season.

[pMak26]

Just go to summit racing and look for a replacement by Energy Suspension. This is an inexpensive generic bushing type. You just need to pick the right size and be done with it.

Bimerok, can you provide the part number that worked for you in these mounts? ty

[bimerok]

Bimerok, can you provide the part number that worked for you in these mounts? ty

I don't have the part number handy that worked for my mounts. It should be somewhere in my thread on the same or next page using the lnk I posted.

[pMak26]

I think I found it:
https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspen.../dp/B004ALEVFU

Energy Suspension 9.9483G

[Racerhoze]

I built some heat shields for my mounts after a very similar failure mode. My mounts are in a similar location. I also went with delrin instead of poly. (my swap did not use this kit because nobody makes swap kits for the e34 because nobody likes the e34)

[Liquidity]

I understand- you get what you pay for. This failure in such short order, however, seems above and beyond, especially considering that the kit still pushes $1,000 in the form I bought it.

You keep going on about this "$1,000" you've spent - you do realize that the headers alone from the "other" company cost almost twice as much as the entire CX swap kit, right? How can people like you really expect to get top notch OEM quality parts but only pay rock bottom china prices? My god man. $1,000 ain't sh!+. You gotta pay to play.

[1000hp]

CX Racing seems to be becoming one of those cheap Chinese companies that is now well-known enough that people think it's good (*cough* Mishimoto *cough*). It's still cheap Chinese garbage.
Sucks they wouldn't warranty a $20 part but, like someone else said, do you really want another one of their shit bushings?

[squashman702]

You keep going on about this "$1,000" you've spent - you do realize that the headers alone from the "other" company cost almost twice as much as the entire CX swap kit, right? How can people like you really expect to get top notch OEM quality parts but only pay rock bottom china prices? My god man. $1,000 ain't sh!+. You gotta pay to play.

I'd argue that the other guys don't have OEM quality stuff either. Having owned a set of NAHR mounts and headers as well, I'd say they're wildly overpriced for what you get. I've heard about plenty of fitment issues with companies that are supposed to be the best as well.

CX Racing seems to be becoming one of those cheap Chinese companies that is now well-known enough that people think it's good (*cough* Mishimoto *cough*). It's still cheap Chinese garbage.
Sucks they wouldn't warranty a $20 part but, like someone else said, do you really want another one of their shit bushings?

It's true, and I knew that when I bought it. I'm not doing anything more than airing my experience, and hopefully preventing a serious problem for someone else who may be running this kit. I was hoping that there would be an updated bushing, and didn't opt to purchase the identical part.