Well, it was a good day over at Out Motoring today. It was a fun filled day painting the stairs, going out with the fam to return some cruddy gifts and a stop for ice cream (it was nearly 40 degrees today so why not!) and of course a stop at Blockbuster to return some movies.

When the kids fell off to sleep for their rare 3 hour naps I slunk out to the garage to install some stuff. Mainly the Pilo Racing Rear Upper Stress Bar, a set of new (under review) high temp plug wires (good competition for Maggies) and the B&M short Shift Kit that had bean knawing at me for about two months now. Those things just sit on the shelves begging to be installed! Someone has to save them. Since one of them had made past the Holiday rush I thought I would do it put it to good use. Plus I just got a new compressor and some air tools that needed to be used.

Anyway, the Pilo Racing Stress Bar had been sitting around waiting for a good day to install it, review it and put it up on the website. And the day arrived. The install was painless (especially compared to the $#%^&* Short shift kit!!) and went in perfect. Install was maybe 15 minutes tops. The result was what I would say to be pretty impressive. My Cooper S already had a 21mm rear sway bar but the Pilo Upper Bar really kicked the rear end into a new dimension of steering response, tur-in and overall handling performance. A fairly decent run around the labrinth of turns and straights at a new local education campus put the rear end to a rigorous testing consisting of flailing the car around every sharp and make beleive hairpin turn out there. The back end felt solid! I would compare the difference to adding the rear sway bar (from stock) and adding the Pilo Rear Bar to have similar steps of increased performance in handling. While it has been quite a while since I made the first jump, it seems to be inline with what I remember that change being. Maybe I've grown more attentive to what the car is doing and what I can do to get it to what I want, but I am still impressed with the bar. Having had them many of my previous cars including 5 Sciroccos, one 16v GTI, a Corrado G60 (completely done up) and now the MINI, I can see why they've become a staple in the Hatchback market. While most bars I've had were Triangulated, this one seemed to do fine without it. Could it benefit from it? Probably, but that requires drilling (most likely) and making temporary removal a little bit tricky. The NEUSPEED versions I have had made trips to Home Depot and the like nearly impossible (3 point mounts make for little room in the back!)

If anyone is interested in pics of the bar and a "how we did it" check this out

http://outmotoring.com/How_to_pilo_rear_stress.htm



_________________
Aaron Cornaby
Owner

http://www.OutMotoring.com

 

Thanks for the post Aaron, and the link with photos! I like the idea very much. I'm stuck on finding a way to triangulate it though. I believe the bar is oval, correct? I'm envisioning a bar that is textured so that that the two added diagonals, with clamps at the ends, can be slid to a desired load position, and then tightened, if that makes any sense. If you have a weight on the bar, please do share. Thanks!

 

Interesting thougts...the bars I've had were all 'broken' somewhere in the span of the upper bar and had a angled bar (like a lower case Y) that bolted to the floor. All joints had some sort of adjustability so you could fine tune it. There are lots of ways to skin that cat though. Another option to have a 4 point bar with connections somewhere near the base of each strut tower...

The weight of the bar with brackets and hardware is 2 lbs 14 oz. The brackets by themselves weigh 1 lb 12 oz., so that's half of it right there..

And yes, the bar is a oval cross section which is tapered on both ends to a round section. If I'm not mistaken the bar seems to be a off the shelf item, probably used on other suspension items for other makes and models, which is fine-it keeps costs down. The brackets seem to be water jet or Plasma cut sheet stock with a welded on U shape for the seat retainer.

 

Thanks for the How to-
When I look at the mount and the fitting of the rear seats I notice that after the installation the angle of the rear seatbacks is more upright than stock- is that correct?

Weight is an estimated four pounds. See
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...mp;topic=20150

 

Thanks for the fast and thorough reply Aaron. You have me thinking more about other possibilities now... minhune, I think Dan did say that the rear seats would sit a tad more vertical, but not much.

For as often as you might have folks back there, it should be no big deal. And with the excellent headroom in our MINI's, that should not be an issue.

I took out and sold my rear seats simply b/c I find them very impractical anyways... I would not want a friend or family member sitting in such an uncomfortable space. And such removal lightens things up 47lbs (with belts & hardware), and I was able to pocket 300 bucks

In their absence, there are some very nice threaded holes for creative triangulation...

_________________
2003 IB MCS

 

Yes, the seat angle increases (or decreases-depends on how you look at it) when the new bracket is installed. The reason being is that the bracket needs to have ample room for the cross bar to attach and be able to bolt on properly. The result is a gap that is close to an inch greater than with the standard brackets. The seats STILL LOCK into position, just a little 'sooner' than they did before. I did'nt actually sit in the back seat with the bar installed, but it seemed like a pretty minor change, especially since the rear seats are (usually) used infrequently....

...the wieght I got (2 lbs 14 oz) was from our low cap digital shipping scale, but add in a box and packing material and it can get to 4 or 5 pounds quickly...

 

Hey Guys..

The origional estimate was made due to the fact I do not have a digital scale... Well, that is untill one of my X-Mas presents arrive.

The seat is approximatly 1" more vertical on the top. I have sat back there, and have had other people sit back there with out an issue.

I will still be working on triangulation that people want, and the brackets will allow another piece of steel in the mount to complete this triangulation. Once I get some time, I will do the measurements, and the cad drawings to get this all speced up.

Thanks
Dan
Pilo RAcing

 

I enjoy the musing of it actually providing some sort of performance upgrade, but it seems pointless to me. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am not.

I am not one to tell people where to or not to throw their cash... unless it's towards me.

(laughter)

But really, how does this allegedly provide anything of value to the perfomance of my mini?

Also, after hitting the previous thread concerning this device, it seems quite overpriced - compared to what else is available/modifiable.

Any response is welcomed, I have an open mind today!

-West Coast Coopers

 

Well I am in agreement with West coast Coopers on this one. Does connecting 2 body points acctually stiffen up the rear and increase handling? If a bar was created to tie the 2 rear shock towers together (like they do in VW's) then I know there would be a gain.

I give credit to Dan at Pilo Racing for coming up with this and trying new things but I am just skeptical thats all.

 

I second that...

I guess if you reinforced the whole car it would feel stiffer. How much? Who knows. Would you even be able to feel it? MINI already boasts that their chassis is stiff enough. Are you trying to say that you actually feel chassis movement? Skepticism remains in my eyes...