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GMS Engine lowering kit

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  tibby 
#1 ·
Dear fellas,

We have another interesting upgrade coming our way. It's the GMS Engine lowering kit, which as you can tell by the name, drops the engine for 10mm. This is as far as we can go without major modifications. 10mm might not sound like a lot, but if you consider that you lower basically entire engine and transmission assembly that with all auxiliary items weighs well over 200kg, the effect on lower CG is not negligible. It's not gonna drop lap times by seconds, but upgrade after upgrade surely makes a significant change in performance capabilities compared to OEM car. Right now with having over 50 upgrades for the 4C already available and more coming, the 4C platform is really developing into serious capable track toy. It's a joy to watch the 4C, once bashed by journalist, now standing strong against Lotus, Caymans and 911 cars which are somewhat benchmark of sport cars today. While we are already yielding faster lap times than any Lotus or Cayman GT4, we've met so far, still, due to power deficit compared to 911 GT3 series, we are losing about 6s / lap on fast track straights alone, but we are yielding higher G-s and corner speeds, which means there is lots of potential left. I am perfectly confident that once we get the power levels close to 400hp, the 4C will be able to keep up the pace with these too. Now back to the red string...

The CG (center of gravity) is perhaps the single most critical area of any racing car weight consideration. CG must be as low as possible to the ground, not only because the weight acts through it, but also because all forces of acceleration, braking and cornering work through it. Lower CG means less body roll during cornering, less nose diving on braking and less squatting on acceleration. A better performance in general.

Alfa Romeo 4C has transverse mounted inline 4-cyl 1750 TBi engine in front of the rear axle. While 4C's extremely wide track - given it's wheelbase, greatly reduces body roll of the car, its mid-engined layout, suspension, chassis and engine design, make the engine sit relatively high from the ground, significantly contributing to undesirable, higher CG (center of gravity). As an answer to this engineering drawback, we have developed a simple, plug and play solution to address this issue - GMS engine lowering kit.

With GMS engine lowering kit, the engine height is lowered for approximately 10mm, providing lower CG, less body roll and generally improved handling overall.

Kit includes lightweight, hollowed, T6-6061 waterjet cut, shot peened and silver anodized left and right upper engine mount lowering spacers, set of mounting hardware and optional - uprated lower engine mount (available in 3 different hardness compounds). Installation is 100% plug and play and requires no supporting modifications.

Due to reduced clearance between the engine and the subframe, we strongly suggest upgrading OEM lower engine mount to the GMS lower engine mount.

We'll be testing this upgrade in following months and get back once we get enough of feedback.

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#3 ·
🙏This answers one of the burning questions like "how low and angled could I theoretically place the engine" that led to ideas like 675LT-like top exits or turning the entire engine around and a roof snorkel or charge intake... 10mm feels very small, but like a lever, the distance of effect to each wheels, especially the front, makes for a perfect compliment to well tested and tuned coilovers and wider rubber.

I wonder how @GMS/tuners will illustrate the difference the whole package will make? My largest droppers where tires, wheels, and brake fluid. Those 3 alone were seconds each due to confidence and vector change amplifiers... Will the 10mm be more a confidence lever or an actual grip performance lever? Even the extra little bit of real estate can allow for some wild head ideas... I just might even get this so my Spider tonneau stops touching my Beau carbon engine cover!

Love the work put in here! The 4c was once an aftermarket dry model, but thanks to @GMS to be a major reason why the 4c has enough to turn into a wildly different animal than any factory delivery.
 
#6 ·
We can make upper engine mounts but they would generate more NVH if we would want them stiffer than OEM. From my experience the upper mounts get shot because lower engine mounts are very soft and engine tilts excessively upon acceleration which puts lots of strain on the upper engine mounts then. I've been using our 75ShA lower engine mount soon after I got the 4C and we have 50kkm of mostly track use now and the OEM upper engine mounts are still fine, so that's why I didn't bother in making our own interpretation of it - yet.
 
#7 ·
We are happy to announce that this upgrade is publicly available now. Enjoy it!

 
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