• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

B230+T5 3k rpm shake

Harlard said:
As for the "damper", it's one of these. I welded on some extra tubing and tapped it to fit 7/16" rod ends to work with the STS brackets. Forgive the flux core ugliness. Not pictured is the left side of the arrangement. The rod has a "plunger", which is basically a washer fastened to the rod and is holding another donut captive against the end of the cylinder. The right rod end is threaded directly into the cylinder cap. It's a shock absorber that uses bushings instead of fluid, basically:
Click to expand...

How well does that thing actually work at absorbing vibration? I have the same sts brackets and I ordered one of these but apparently they can't be shipped to the US.

Months ago I ripped out the torque rod and put in an extra large driver's side mount, which has been holding up fine. I don't get any driveline vibrations ever while cruising down the road, but on takeoff from a stop (under 5mph or so) everything shudders and rattles.
 
I'm running a lightened flat flywheel at 17lbs I believe.

On my bench is another T5, need to tear it down, install the billet countershaft retainer and Fox body input, then see if it rattles in the same install setup as the one in the car. I seriously wonder if there's some flex in the stock countershaft retainer, allowing for some of this rattle.
 
gsellstr said:
I'm running a lightened flat flywheel at 17lbs I believe.

On my bench is another T5, need to tear it down, install the billet countershaft retainer and Fox body input, then see if it rattles in the same install setup as the one in the car. I seriously wonder if there's some flex in the stock countershaft retainer, allowing for some of this rattle.
Click to expand...

I installed Paul's billet counter shaft retainer on mine. When I had everything apart there was countershaft end play (My T5 was bought new!).

I was dam certain that this is where the rattling came from!

When I shimmed it I took out the end play and set a preload which resulted in the counter shaft having about 4 inlbs of drag.

Also my t5 has the conical bearing on the input shaft not the roller bearings on that can fall out when you remove the input shaft.

After all of this there was no discernable difference in NVH. :-(
 
go way back in TB time and look for posts by odinthewanderer regarding this issue, he was fighting it back in 2010. He had a very well thought out car with a brand new $2500 hopped up t5z from modern driveline. He went through and through and through that transmission chasing the rattle, I think ultimately he reached the conclusion that this is life with a lightened up buzzy b230.

It bugged him enough I bought that car, and I moved his entire drivetrain into my car which probably make 300hp more than his did. It's still going strong. I fixed a lot of my own vibrations with rear end changes, but sure there's still some decel noise. It really doesn't bother me, and I feel like I'm in a shrinking club of people who really enjoy their t5. Now my engine mount NVH, that does bug me.

Just offering this because a) it's certainly not a new revelation and there's been some pretty detailed discussion in the past b) I've seen smart and talented people try and fail to un-**** box their volvo and get pretty frustrated by it c) cars can be a lot more fun if you're able to broaden your range of acceptance of their inherent shortcomings.
 
Well, thanks for ruining my pipedream of getting rid of that noise. lol
Seriously though, good to know that wasn't it.

Having ridden in Ryan's 242, with a T5, that is nearly silent, I know it can be done, which makes it that much worse. I know Tyler bought a brand new T5z which was just as loud as his previous one as well though, so I don't know what to think. Given mine's on a B20, it's definitely not engine related either. I did also have a tiny bit of the noise between drive and coast on the Celica trans, but this T5, it sounds like it's going to grenade every time I decel.
 
This makes me want to go AW71 with my mild 250-300hp goal rather than spending a bunch of money on a noisy T5 or CD009 setup. I had a Getrag 265 in my 242 turbo and it had terrible decel noise too.
 
Stiggy Pop said:
go way back in TB time and look for posts by odinthewanderer regarding this issue, he was fighting it back in 2010. He had a very well thought out car with a brand new $2500 hopped up t5z from modern driveline. He went through and through and through that transmission chasing the rattle, I think ultimately he reached the conclusion that this is life with a lightened up buzzy b230.

It bugged him enough I bought that car, and I moved his entire drivetrain into my car which probably make 300hp more than his did. It's still going strong. I fixed a lot of my own vibrations with rear end changes, but sure there's still some decel noise. It really doesn't bother me, and I feel like I'm in a shrinking club of people who really enjoy their t5. Now my engine mount NVH, that does bug me.

Just offering this because a) it's certainly not a new revelation and there's been some pretty detailed discussion in the past b) I've seen smart and talented people try and fail to un-**** box their volvo and get pretty frustrated by it c) cars can be a lot more fun if you're able to broaden your range of acceptance of their inherent shortcomings.
Click to expand...

I have time this winter to swap in and modify the trans tunnel for the big EffN slip yoke. After that I am calling it quits! . . . . . maybe.

As for enjoying it I can tell you without I doubt I enjoy the rawness of driving my 242.

I just bought a new 2019 golf R and that thing is out of the box superior to this car in almost every way.

But the driving experience of my 242 is so much more visceral. It may be raw, noisy with rattles and buzzing decel but the feel is more connecting.
 
If you really desire to limit vibrations, I got a few recommendations with a t5

Use a stock dog dish wheel,
Use a dampened heavy slip yoke,
Make sure you have a two piece Drive shaft.

all of those will help.
 
I've got the damned driveline, definitely helped a little, but the damned yoke made a bigger difference. Have you found a yoke with a bigger damper than the V6 yoke? The I4 is the wrong size but it's got a good sized balancer on it.
 
Update to my setup but I was finally able to shoehorn in the big effn slip yoke into my setup the other day and I gotta say this made the biggest improvement to date.

No more coast down resonance. No vibration during hard acceleration. All noise that I have now is engine related which as a fearless leader once said "it is what it is."

I was able to adjust my trans such that I did not need to cut the floor to get this think to slide in. However the drive shaft cannot be removed without lowering the transmission crossmember from the body.

I was pretty blown away by the improvement and I currently have all of my carpet and foam out of the car so there were "noises" but once I install sound insulation to the floor the car it should be a little quieter.

I think it may be time for the mission accomplished banner!
 
smoothdurban said:
Update to my setup but I was finally able to shoehorn in the big effn slip yoke into my setup the other day and I gotta say this made the biggest improvement to date.

No more coast down resonance. No vibration during hard acceleration. All noise that I have now is engine related which as a fearless leader once said "it is what it is."

I was able to adjust my trans such that I did not need to cut the floor to get this think to slide in. However the drive shaft cannot be removed without lowering the transmission crossmember from the body.

I was pretty blown away by the improvement and I currently have all of my carpet and foam out of the car so there were "noises" but once I install sound insulation to the floor the car it should be a little quieter.

I think it may be time for the mission accomplished banner!
Click to expand...

This was pretty much my experience with that big damper, too. Glad it helped.
 
oldschoolvolvo said:
cool! do you have a pic of your final setup?
Click to expand...

Admittedly not the best photos but my car is on the hoist with another parked under it. First world problems.

50716697202_72f5bd7da5.jpg


50716618291_a9176a68eb.jpg


50716694522_e8518fd671.jpg


The photos don't show it but it does not rub on the body at all but I am maxed out low on crossmember.


Tfrasca said:
This was pretty much my experience with that big damper, too. Glad it helped.
Click to expand...

It did! Thanks for all of the links and PN's to make this possible.
 
I just put some poly motor mounts from Retro Turbo and they helped a bunch. Much more civilized than the solid torque mount with stock rubber motor moubts and BMW trans mount.

Next step will be a heavier ATF and tighter bearing preloads in the trans.
 
Last edited:
@smoothdurban
Thanks for the pics. It is encouraging to know that you didn’t need to cut the tunnel...this may be added to my winter project list.
 
Harlard said:
As for the "damper", it's one of these. I welded on some extra tubing and tapped it to fit 7/16" rod ends to work with the STS brackets. Forgive the flux core ugliness. Not pictured is the left side of the arrangement. The rod has a "plunger", which is basically a washer fastened to the rod and is holding another donut captive against the end of the cylinder. The right rod end is threaded directly into the cylinder cap. It's a shock absorber that uses bushings instead of fluid, basically:

Click to expand...

I did a similar thing but bought the kit for 95-98 Nissan 240Sx. It came with two dampers (maybe mistake on their part?) and I was able to use parts from both to make one unit that worked with the STS mounts. No rattle to date from that. T5 on the other hand is what it is. Believe the ebay seller was ajpdistributors.
 
Last edited:
@smoothdurban
What’s the approx diameter of the 4-cyl damper?
Also with the tail of your transmission as low as it is, did you have any issues with firewall clearance at the back of the cylinder head?
 
Last edited:
I'm doing my T5 swap right now and everything is pretty much ready to go in the car. I still need to buy my slip yoke and was wondering if the big dampened 4 cylinder yoke would fit in a 740 tunnel? If not how does one modify the tunnel? Is it as simple as bashing it with a ball pein hammer? It seems that most people T5 swap 240's. I'm trying to do as much research as possible before I buy anything to avoid as many vibrations as possible. After reading this thread and getting feedback from other members my plan is to use the 4 cylinder slip yoke and two-piece driveline. I'm using Yoshifab's stage two clutch kit with the sts machining 20-pound flywheel and Yoshifab's 740 T5 transmission mount with a poly bushing. I will also do my best to get correct bellhousing alignment and correct u joint angles, although I'm not sure how exactly to go about that. My T5 was just professionally rebuilt by Jeff from Elite Performance near Portland and I'm using the Dee works kit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top