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| The Hasport engine mounts installed. |
Performance wise, I haven’t really gotten to test the mounts properly yet, but I can already tell that they have reduced engine movement as the throttle response has become snappier; in the past some of the engine torque initially went into causing engine movement which slowed engine response. Now, that engine torque goes into accelerating the engine rpms instead of shifting the engine. It’s like riding a bicycle with a wet noddle frame versus a super stiff frame; with the super stiff frame, your pedal inputs translate directly into propulsion instead of twisting the frame. Remember the graph showing the steeper slope line at throttle tip-in? I would attribute that added response to the stiffer Hasport engine mounts.
My initial impressions of the drivetrain upgrades are great! I haven’t been able to push it properly yet as I have to break-in the clutch, but the clutch pedal effort and engagement smoothness is dang near stock. The combination of the lighter flywheel with the stiffer Hasport engine mounts has made downshifting so much nicer due to the quicker accelerating engine, snappier throttle response, and more positive shifter engagement. When moving away from a stop, you do have to use a couple hundred more revs, but the flywheel is not so light as to require a drastic driving style change even with the A/C on and dragging the engine down. So the compromise with the lighter AP1 flywheel and stronger Centerforce Dual Friction clutch has been minimal. The Hasport mounts have introduced a good amount of vibration at idle, but that was the expected compromise for improved shifting and better throttle response. The added throaty noise is an unexpected benefit as they give the car some character without being loud. I have a track day coming up, so I’ll report back as usual. Stay tuned!
EDIT: The engine mounts do seem to have broken in a bit after a few days of use. Also, the noticeable vibration was only at idle at 850rpms. I used the Hondata KPro to bump up the idle to 950rpms and problem solved!
P.S. Thanks again to Howard at Technosquare! Also, thanks to the guys at Westend Alignment; dropping the tranny means lowering the front subframe which jacks up your alignment. So plan on getting an alignment afterwards!
Sources
Sneak peek of more Hasport goodness to come….
2 comments
Came to this article as i was interested to see you’re confirmation of lightweight flywheel performance, i know it for myself after i did it and wow what a world of difference no other mod can replicate.
Interesting you noted noise introduced by the engine mounts. When i did mine in my drift spec BMW 328I i also noted this after doing engine/box/diff mounts all at once to fairly stiff aftermarket options, i thought i was off my rocker a little thinking the car under hard load sounded better but quickly confirmed this, I also enjoyed the mechanical feel of gearbox/diff spinning up you can now feel through your butt, real racecar stuff!
The engine mounts where one of the best mods for adding ‘feel’ to the car. Once I bumped the idle speed up 🙂 Love the improved shifter feel and the extra noise.