Project Blackout – Whiteline ALK, MSI Engine Mounts – CSCS Round 1 & 2 Recap

We are continuing to update our shop’s blog post. We want to make sure we can tell you guys the inside scoop of our race cars.
Our last post saw the car get some new brakes and wheels. Next, we’ll go into some of the darker hours where parts gave up.

The car withstood unbelievable amounts of stress, but eventually some parts were bound to break. The Whiteline ALK gave up after some numerous hard driving. Lots of curb jumping meant the bushing couldn’t withstand the abuse.  Whiteline stands behind their products 100% and warrantied the ALK kit with not only a free part, but an upgraded Race spec kit. Mmmm yes Race spec, we all like those two words together. We had them installed before the next test session. Below you can see the old failed ALK vs the new unit.

Old unit on the car

off the car

New Whiteline Race ALK – I know, Race stuff always just has to look better too.

Ready to go on the car

Next up were some solid engine mounts from MSI.

We are a huge fan of products that come out of MSI, they are a world class company making various one piece CNC pieces for some of the fastest Time Attack cars around the world.

As you can tell, an excellent product is generally an extremely good looking product. Solid engine mounts help the engine transfer the power without loss through unnecessary dampening found from stock rubber engine mounts. There is also a better feeling to the driver as to what the engine is doing, where the revs are, dips in power and overall feel of the vehicle. When on/off the throttle, the weight transfer can be felt more instantaneously to the driver, a crucial element of precision driving. Although generally not recommended for Street use due to the increased NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) in the car, so long that you do not have solid transmission mounts or pitch stop upgrades, the NVH does not actually increase too much. Project Blackout is driven everyday on the street. It can be done 🙂

Two photos to satisfy the eye. What you’re looking at is solid aircraft grad aluminum engine mounts. Just say that a few times and witness your mouth salivate

Aren’t they just delicious? MSI’s aluminum is certified, so it is guaranteed they are real aircraft grade aluminum, and yes, we have these in stock! Lick them, use them as meridian balls, or install them in your engine bay, they will satisfy you in various ways.

Here we can see the stock WRX mount, ugly and heavy

Compared to the MSI which is lightweight and sexy

Prior to many of these mods, Corwyn, owner of the car entered CSCS round 1. To everyone’s delight, he won the first round in Street AWD class.

With the same goal for round 2, we gave trackside support to Corwyn and Project Blackout. Unfortunately the round was a bit of a mess.  For the first time we started to have issues with the axle boot on the passenger side front melting due to the heat from the downpipe.  We had come down the day before to familiarize Corwyn with the track and ended up not getting to spend much time on track due to the axle boot.  With very little options we sourced some stuff to temp repair the boot and fill it with fresh grease so he could at least finish the even on Sunday and we would repair or replace the axle later on.  Knowing the vehicle was hurt we decided to play it safe and simply make sure he was qualified for the final and then let the car sit until then.  After the second session Corwyn was comfortably in 3rd place and we were happy to stay there… However, we knew we could have the car go much quicker. Unfortunately the Grand Bend area is known for having wild weather changes and in the early afternoon massive amounts of rainfall came in to Grand Bend. A drivers meeting was called and probably 99% of the racers voted to go out for the final time attack.  Unfortunately some of the first place qualifiers felt differently and their continued protests ended up forcing CSCS to cancel the event and base the points on qualifying.  This was a bit of a bummer for us but that’s racing!