Innovative Mounts S2000 Rear Motor / Transmission Mount

Innovative Mounts S2000 Rear Motor / Transmission Mount

Your AP1 or AP2 is old enough now that the factory rear mount has given up. The fluid has drained out of it, the drivetrain shifts under load, and you feel it as a clunk on throttle transitions and a car that squats and wallows instead of hooking up. This is Innovative's replacement rear mount, part number 90730, and on the S2000's longitudinal layout it's the one at the back of the gearbox doing most of the work of holding the drivetrain still.

What It Is and Why It Works

Honda built the factory mount with a fluid-filled damping chamber because the S2000 was sold as a car you could drive every day. It's very good at keeping vibration out of a cabin with a cloth roof. What it isn't good at is controlling a drivetrain under hard launches, and twenty-plus years in, most of them have gone soft or leaked out entirely.

Innovative deletes the fluid chamber and runs a polyurethane bushing in a steel body. Their own explanation is the clearest one: removing the fluid damping is what reduces wheel hop and sharpens response. The drivetrain stops moving, so the power goes into the rear tires instead of into rocking the gearbox around, and shifts feel more direct because the transmission isn't shifting position while you're moving the lever.

Be clear about the trade, because most listings for this part get it backwards. Taking out the fluid damping means more vibration reaches the chassis, not less. Innovative says so themselves: their bushings absorb what they can, but you'll notice some vibration depending on your engine and power level. A firmer mount controls the drivetrain better and transmits more of it to you. In an S2000, with its short wheelbase and light body, you feel that more than you would in a heavier car. That's the mechanism working, not a defect.

Worth knowing if your build is headed somewhere else: this same mount works for K-series conversions. If you're planning a K24 in an AP1, or you're partway into one, you don't need a different rear mount for it.

Choosing Your Durometer

An F20C or F22C makes right around 240 horsepower from the factory, so a stock S2000 sits below the bottom of the 75A band. On an unmodified car you're really choosing how much noise and vibration you'll accept, not how much power you need to hold, and the 75A is the answer almost every time. The 85A and 95A start making sense when the car is supercharged, turbocharged, or K-swapped and actually making the numbers in those rows. Buying the 95A for a stock car buys you a harsher commute and nothing else.

Specs

Fitment

Covers the whole production run, both the 2.0 liter AP1 cars and the 2.2 liter AP2, including the 2008-2009 CR. Innovative builds it for F-series engines with the manual transmission, and it carries over to K-series conversions in the same chassis.

What to Know Before You Buy

This is one mount. The S2000 has more than one, and if the rear has failed at this age the others are the same age. Replacing them as a set gets you consistent stiffness across the drivetrain, which is what actually stops the movement. A car with one firm mount and the rest tired still shifts around, and you'll wonder why the new part didn't fix it.

Once it's bolted down it's yours. Innovative doesn't accept returns or exchanges on mounts that have been installed, because bolting them in leaves impressions on the mating surfaces. Confirm the durometer you want before anything goes on the car, and test fit first.

Innovative recommends a mechanic or specialist handle the install, and that's worth taking at face value on this one. You're supporting the drivetrain while the mount comes out, working underneath the car, and getting it located correctly matters for how the gearbox sits.

Who shouldn't buy this: if your factory mount is intact and the car is stock and you like that it's civilized with the top down, leave it alone. This is an improvement in drivetrain control and a step backward in refinement. Good trade if the old one is collapsed or you're making power. Bad trade on a clean unmodified car you drive on weekends for the pleasure of it.