According to Wikipedia, the Civic has 106hp. That gives the Civic a 4% power/weight advantage, hardly worth worrying about. There's a whole bunch of HS cars which have a better power/weight than the MINI, its still the MINI that dominates. I'm quite used to running with higher horse power cars, and usually beating them. If you're worried about it, the thing which will defeat you is yourself.

If the engine's anything like the 93 engine I was used to, it didn't make much power until you really wound it up. So to use all that power the Civic would have to manage the revs, keep it cooking, and that probably means changing down into first, a lot. The MINI had a much wider power band, which started lower in the rev range. Just because the headline number is bigger, doesn't mean its all usable.

Also, if its dominating STC, it'd be thanks to the suspension changes you can make in ST. As noted above the stock suspension is a little lacking.

 

2,222 is the official weight, lets say 2,250 #s but he's got no power steering, windows, a/c, etc. so it probably is the 2,222 number - on the other hand, my particular Mini with sunroof is probably close to 2,600 #s.

Do you know exactly why the EK class wasn't particularly fast? It seems like its got all the winning ingredients - light weight, decent-ish gearing, doublewishbone front suspension, low, wide, etc.

FYI, we each did a 20-40mph test - the Mini did it in about 4.3s, the Civic in about 3.6. I have to imagine that, with the same brakes and carrying 350lbs less, the car will also brake faster than the Mini. The suspension and overall grip may be to my advantage, but one thing I've learned when it comes to AX is that weight very nearly trumps all

I'm not "worried," I'm just playing devil's advocate to find where the Mini has an advantage strictly from a car to car perspective. I wouldn't be surprised, btw though, if we see an uprising of Mazda2's (100hp, ~2200lbs) at Nationals this year and next in HS. Like I said, just as a comparison, we ran 2nd gear 20-40's (not scientific) - he ran ~3.6s consistently, and I ran 4.3s consistently. No "driver" skill here, just mash throttle start timer. And yes I was in sport mode. I was particularly surprised given how long the Civic's 2nd gear is (reaches 67mph) but that's weight for you - power/weight is a little deceiving IMO. Think about it this way - the Mini has an additional 10hp to move an additional 350#s - not insignificant.

And yea, stock suspension, despite being double-wishbone, must be lacking - either that or the strict wheel restriction for stock class that limits those Civics to some pretty narrow options. Whatever the reason, it seems the Mini, despite what the cars add up to on paper, should be able to out-handle the Civic. Maybe the multilink rear suspension is helping me out in that regard.

Again, I'm not trying to say the Civic is better than the Mini, anything like that - I'm just trying to brainstorm where exactly the Mini will have its advantages. Maybe the multi-link rear suspension keeps the rear geometry in check better

 

Ok, I guess I can see a base model hatch getting close to that weight number.

I'm not sure why that chassis wasn't commonly used. I'm assuming it was in HS since the ITRs were still in GS back then (way before my time). Generally, 4 things kill cars in stock class: weight, camber, tires/wheels, gearing. Camber shouldn't be a problem on a double wishbone car. Tires, well, an ITR could fit a 275 on the same platform... If its really good to 67 mph in second, thats way too tall for a low power car in autocross. I'm shocked you aren't beating him from a roll, non vtec D blocks are pretty gutless.

Use your extra tire and stiffer suspension and take it to him. Very few stock cars will out slalom a mini and the brakes are exceptional.

 

In addition, probably not used as much because it was no faster than the previous generation (for AX) - kind of why the Evo X isn't as common in AX as the 8/9 is. I think the main reason was the limitation in wheels/tires.

Both of us were surprised that the Civic was quicker from a roll as well. Once he told me 2nd reached 67 I was absolutely certain I would pull on him, but that's where we are somehow. Must solely be the difference in weight. I am counting on the Mini in the slalom, especially due to the Civic's very slow steering ratio, and I have definitely found braking to be very good for the Mini - not sure whether that will overcome the weight though

 

But you don't have the same brakes. You already said you have more tire than he does. Brakes only slow down the wheels; the tires slow the car down.

The best way to figure out how your car compares to his is to run them both. Swap cars for a run, if your sanctioning body allows "fun runs". That will give you an idea of where each car is stronger and where each one needs help.

 

True - I meant same pads, but as you said the braking is still going to be a big ? - slowing down with less weight vs my larger rotors etc. This isnt apples to apples but I drove my evo the other day and it was actually scary slowing down from the highway exit to a stop, car didn't want to stop.

We will def do funruns or "grudge matching" if possible

 

Unfortunately the club I ran with doesn't post results online, but I can say it was definitely a very interesting day. The course we ran with was a Miata club, and the course featured two very tight "parking garages" in the back - it also featured a total of 12 runs, pretty much double that of a normal event. Overall the course was very tight, and it was difficult to find the right gearing to stay in at first. I finally decided to settle on where to shift and that was that.

The morning runs ended with me sitting at a 56.6, and my EK Civic buddy at a 56.7. I had a friend with a BRZ there, but he was fairly new to AX and clocked a 57.7. I believe the fastest time of the day was a 50.xx raw.

By the afternoon we were neck and neck, and he had just broken my fastest time with a 56.3 - motivated, I came back with a 55.8 - which proved to be my fastest time of the day. The rest of my runs stayed around 56 flat, with his fastest being a 56.1 - so a victory for the Mini! I'll have a video up of my fastest run in the Mini soon.

I'm not sure whether the Mini or the Civic has the edge at this point, though it's worth noting that the Civic had a TERRIBLE alignment (+0.2 FL, -0.8 FR, etc), and with that we were basically dead even. Not sure if my driving was letting me down, but that's close to as much of what I had to give.

 

Changed my in-cabin air filter on Monday night. Nothing of any interest to report - exactly how it was shown in this video:

 

Great thread guys! We love DIY projects as well!

 

Thanks!! I've used your site on more than several occasions!

 

Question: if I buy used Mini wheels, should they come with TPMS already? Unless the owner removed them for some reason?

 

Judging by what many of the competitive HS Mini Coopers were running, I made up my mind to downsize to the 15x5.5 R81 Imolas, or "Holeys" as they're called. This is the 7 hole OEM wheel from Mini. I was a little on and off about pulling the trigger, but through a lot hunting on eBay I was able to get a killer deal on a set of four. No TPMS though -











One of them's got a decent amount of curb rash, but overall very happy with the condition of them, pretty clean I think.

The backs of them were another story though - brake dust was CAKED on and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get it off.. decided to try out a brake dust remover that got some pretty good reviews on amazon:

&

and I was happily able to get most of it off - wheels look fantastic now.








Tires coming soon!

 

Big thumbs-up on the wheels! You can go for an even cleaner look and request tape weight as they balance the wheels after tire mount. Pics please when all done!

 

Tires arrived today from Tire Rack! Decided to go with the ZII's over the Rivals in case there was ever a rainy event - overall I think these tires will last a lot longer without sacrificing too much grip compared to the rivals. Looking forward to getting them mounted and testing them out this weekend!














They all come with around 6-6.5mm of tread, so right about 8/32nds as advertised. The ZI's came with 1mm or 2 more, but hopefully these tires will last as long. I've read they generate quite a bit of road noise on the highway that the ZI's didn't, so I'll be curious to see how it goes.

 

thanks for the advise! I'll see what they say

 

ready to go!!

 

accidental post

 

SWEET! Next pics, on the car

 

they'll probably go on tomorrow if not tonight! thanks for the support!

updated alignment as of today:



not too bad, a little less negative camber out of the rear, toes a little crazy still, but things look okay overall - these are on winter tires though, so there's a lot that can change when the zii's go on!

 

 

Finally got a chance today to do the engine oil and trans fluid. Very straight forward, and found in a number of good write-ups on the web. I'll post some pics and a very simple step by step as I remember it.






Oil Change

- I used a 8mm hex to unscrew and drain the oil, which was at the bottom of the oil pan. I'm changing at about 5k miles, from GC 0w-30 to Amsoil SSO 0w-30.






- Then used a 24mm socket to undo the oil filter. This was a very messy step - I'll have to do better in keeping the oil filter housing more upright for the next time.




- I replaced the oil filter & the o-ring and put the housing back on - just to about hand tight.






- After that, I just flushed a little more oil out and closed everything back up and refilled!


Transmission Fluid

- I never bought the whole "lifetime fluid" thing. I had been told by the dealer that changing the trans fluid would require dropping the front subframe (!) which I immediately found out online was not to be true. It was the same standard fill and drain plug as I've seen with most any other car, and probably one of the easiest to get to/do of all!

- Here's a shot of the trans with drain plug still in and fill plug already out. Both used 8mm hex sockets, and were very easy to break, despite not having been opened/changed in 91,250 miles




- Drain plug from the trans fluid




- Impressively, not any wear metals/shavings etc etc on the drain plug - just that very dirty oil




- I used a handpump to pump oil from the bottle into the fill plug after closing the drain plug back up. I pumped until fluid started coming back out of the fill plug, and then I closed everything back up, just to hand tight specs.


Impressions

- Both the trans and the engine seem to be marginally smoother - the transmission a little more so, as I'd expect. I'll probably follow a 15,000 mile interval for the trans, and a 5k one for the engine. I'd normally go 10 for the engine but I am auto-xing the Mini a LOT so these intervals should work fine

 

Nice post! Thanks.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

thanks! always enjoy reading your posts as well

 

barring the potential severe thunderstorm scheduled for sunday, i'll be heading out for the 4th event in the Mini. I was getting some severe scrub at my 3rd event on my new wheel/tire setup, so I'll be running some different tire psis as recommended.

195/55 might just be too much for the 5.5" width wheels, so I'm hoping bumping the psis up will help - I ran around 38-40psi hot in the last event, may try upping that to 40/40 cold and go from there.

 

195 is not too wide for 5.5" wheels. In fact, 205/50-15 is a standard fitment for a number of older Porsches running 5.5s.

Messing with tire pressures is definitely a good thing to try next. It is possible that raising them or lowering them will help, depending on where in the pressure vs. grip curve they are. Depending on exactly what is happening, tweaking any suspension adjustments you can may help as well.

You can always drive around the problem. Often not the fastest way to go, but it can work reasonably well. Drive really deep into the corner and have the wheel as straight as you can by the time you start really feeding in the throttle.