more from above
On Monday I brought the car to the shop to weigh it, but with a full tank of fuel it was still a few pounds heavier than the 2011 GT was (with no fuel). I have calculated the low-fuel weight to be about 60 pounds lighter than the '11, stock for stock, both without the trunk junk. The 18" skinny spare in the 2013 is pretty slick and if we can find another it will make for a great drag race set of front runners (no "temporary use" or slow max speed listed). For those of you asking, I doubt this will fit over the 14" brakes, but we can try it. When I get a free moment, I will do an all-new thread on the 2013 GT ESP build and share even more. We've already begun ripping and tearing...
Whiteline S197 Parts Now Available
The North American Sales Manager for Whiteline USA, Reid Yoken, came by Vorshlag yesterday. He is in town for the Global Time Attack event this weekend and of course is stopping by to check up with all of his Whiteline dealers. He ended up staying for two hours and we discussed all sorts of new products coming for the S197 Mustang, the BRZ/FR-S, Subarus, BMWs, Miatas, and more. He promised to send us a few more new/pre-production parts for our Mustang and also our BRZ build, which was unexpected, but very cool.
Earlier this week the pricing was published for the new
Whiteline Watts Link kit, which we have
listed on our website now. Unlike some drop ship/resale operations that listed this and every other part known to man, we have actually used this Whiteline kit and know all of the tricks and tips for installation, tuning and use. We also stock some of their other S197 parts, like the Whiteline Panhard Bar kit (with the optional support brace) and some of their bushings. These Watts Link kits, Whiteline sway bars, and additional parts are available now. We will have another whole batch of S197 Whiteline parts coming for our 2013 GT soon.
Whiteline S197 Watts Link kit shown above, now available from Vorshlag
Our $899 price on the Watts Link kit's ($999 MSRP) is very reasonable considering all of the custom parts it comes with - a gorgeous cast aluminum differential cover with integral bearing loading studs, the bracket for the Watts "Football" mount, the cover's inlet/outlet ports for a differential cooler, and the various arms, brackets and hardware needed to mount all of this. It also comes with a unique cross-chassis brace, which is an optional piece on most PHB kits.
The OEM parts removed and replaced with the Watts Links kit installed.
We had Whiteline send us the production weight for their S197 Watts Link kit: "The entire Watts Link kit is 29 lbs, which includes 8.4 lbs from the differential cover and the associated hardware." Some of that weight is a wash, as you are removing a stock (or aftermarket) PHB, the stock cross-chassis brace (which is replaced in the Whiteline kit), and swapping the stock steel differential cover for their cast aluminum piece. We just weighed all of these stock parts we pulled off when installing the Watts on our 2011 and it all came in at 13.3 pounds. So in the end there's only a net ~15.7 pound increase for this Whiteline Watts Link kit. Not bad at all. In our upcoming 2013 GT purpose-built ESP build we will verify this to the tenth of a pound... and maybe look for ways to pull some weight out of the off-the-shelf Whiteline Watts kit, for those fanatics like us looking to save every ounce.
I discussed this on another forum earlier this week, but I want to make sure people who are racing the S197 realize how complete and high quality this Watts Link kit is. It works GREAT on a street car as well, without the banging and clanging of rod ends to drive you nuts. I will ask them if they want to make a rod end version, but if not we might modify their existing kit with rod ends for dedicated race car builds - we have already been asked. This always adds noise and new wear items, of course. Unprotected metal rod ends that are in high exposure areas are subjected to lots of salt, grime and road debris spray and should be given lots of thought before being installed on a street car.
Left: OEM rear sway bar routing ends very close to the rear tire. Right: Whiteline sway bar runs opposite of stock routing and has 6"+ to tire face (click to enlarge).
Another thing S197 racers should remember is that the Whiteline "axle mount" rear sway bar frees up a lot of inboard room for wider wheels and tires. This is unique to the S197 sway bar aftermarket and is one that cannot be overlooked. If you want to run more than a 10" rear wheel without cutting the fenders, you are going to need the Whiteline rear sway bar. Sure, you can buy it from us (we would appreciate it!), but whoever your Whiteline dealer is, this bar is the way to go for more tire room. Drag racers looking to run 15" or 16" diameter wheels can also look to this unique Whiteline sway bar style for the room they need to fit these smaller wheels. So much win!
last bit below...