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I've ran the car without the hub rings and I had no issues. I was careful cross torquing lightly so the wheel centered nicely, I did a few light passes with the wrench
I've ran the car without the hub rings and I had no issues. I was careful cross torquing lightly so the wheel centered nicely, I did a few light passes with the wrench
I started collecting Dewalt tools a long time ago and have expanded it to their current cordless line. So I have the smaller of their 20v 1/2” drive impact wrenches. It fits into my MINImalistic travels to the track.
I don't allow myself to bring power tools to the track. It is a slippery slope to longer and bigger motorhome , so hand tools only.
If you suspect a wheel is mounted off center WRT the hub put a dial indicator to the outside rim and spin the wheel by hand. I do this all the time. I often let the ball tip a tiny distance from the rim and just eyeball the change in the gap. I have been doing it long before I have a dial indicator. That is with a poor student's indicator consists of an artfully bent piece of clothes hanger wire held by a visegrip.
I don't allow myself to bring power tools to the track. It is a slippery slope to longer and bigger motorhome , so hand tools only.
If you suspect a wheel is mounted off center WRT the hub put a dial indicator to the outside rim and spin the wheel by hand. I do this all the time. I often let the ball tip a tiny distance from the rim and just eyeball the change in the gap. I have been doing it long before I have a dial indicator. That is with a poor student's indicator consists of an artfully bent piece of clothes hanger wire held by a visegrip.
I don't bring anything that doesn't fit inside my MINI, along with 4 tires in the back seat...
However, my friends joke that I could rebuild an engine with what I pack in there.
I've done the coat-hanger thing...Just not on a wheel. Mine are all fitted with hub centeric rings.
I bring a trailer full of crap that I have broke or other r53's have broke, along with a few belt sizes. The afco pillar rotors came, never ran ones like this before they do have a little more meat in the bridge area between the mounting tabs.
These cost 54 $ hopefully I can get more than 10 sessions out of them. If these crack early too I'm going to try to get a spacer made to fit the wilwood dynaopro caliper over the stock rotors. All they need to work is about 2mm more spacer, I was able to mount them with a thick washer but I think I want something a little more solid
If these crack early too I'm going to try to get a spacer made to fit the wilwood dynaopro caliper over the stock rotors. All they need to work is about 2mm more spacer, I was able to mount them with a thick washer but I think I want something a little more solid
Are these spacer for the two halves of the caliper as the standard Wilwood rotor is thinner than Mini OE rotor. If so the spacer is more than just some plain washers, as there are hydraulic channel(s). There must be a hydraulic channel on top and bottom of the caliper as they are flipped between the left and right. What about the lateral offset of the rotor WRT the caliper? I can't imagine they happen to align.
I tested with pads that were worn and it fit over fine. It needs a slightly thicker mounting bracket, or a stack of the adjustment washers the wilwood comes with, the caliper needs to move forward about .5mm and needs to move out about 2mm.
But, but, but with new pads, the caliper won't fit the OEM rotors as they are closer to 1" thick and the Wilwood is 0.8x". Eddie has the special Dynapro calipers that accommodate thicker rotors but he is rich . Also using Ti shims will rob you the needed space.
Are you planning always shaving the brand new pads?
I tested with pads that were worn and it fit over fine. It needs a slightly thicker mounting bracket, or a stack of the adjustment washers the wilwood comes with, the caliper needs to move forward about .5mm and needs to move out about 2mm.
A while back I cracked a Wilwood rotor at a multi day DE and didn’t have a spare. But I did pick up a set from someone who carried spares. These were about 0.060” thicker than the Wilwood, which doesn’t seem like much, but it was noticeable in a positive way. That a slight increase in thickness would be an improvement surprised me. Now, the rotors were used and had surface cracks when I got them, so I can’t say anything about their longevity.
Originally Posted by pnwR53S
But, but, but with new pads, the caliper won't fit the OEM rotors as they are closer to 1" thick and the Wilwood is 0.8x". Eddie has the special Dynapro calipers that accommodate thicker rotors but he is rich . Also using Ti shims will rob you the needed space.
Are you planning always shaving the brand new pads?
And this coming from the guy who bought a brand new set of brakes with a brand new trailer attached to them...
Actually, the caliper that I got is a standard Wilwood unit, made for a 1” thick rotor. If they made a Dynapro that would work on 1.125” thick rotors I would have gotten that. The thing that was really custom was the rotor hat. Todd of TCE mllls the rotor mounting face of the MINI hat to move the rotor outboard so the inboard face of the rotor is at the same location as it was with the thinner rotor (hope that makes sense).
A thing I ran into with my original calipers was that in my last full track season I kept getting leaks in the outboard seals. I at first thought that it was from dirt getting into them. But after I got the new calipers I am now thinking that the leaks developed because of the wear on the piston and/or the caliper bore. Now, I don’t have proof of this conclusion as I did only 2 track days on the new calipers, but I did notice that the brakes felt more solid. The only differences I can think of are in those two parts and the wear in the older ones making them feel less solid. And if there is that much movement in the parts, that could lead to developing the leakage I was getting.
The worst part about this conclusion is that I may have come up with another ”throw-a-way” wear item, but this is an expensive one. The calipers...
A side note, I have a friend who does DEs with a NASCAR stock car (fitted with a passenger seat - nice) and another who did race stock car in the NASCAR feeder series and they told me that in NASCAR their calipers get replaced (not rebuilt) all the time and if they pull one out of the box and don’t like the way it looks or whatever, it gets “thrown” out (most likely sold cheap to the car owners in the feeder series). This really makes running MINIs for DEs look really cheap...
Originally Posted by MrBlah
you can use 7812 pads too the only difference is thickness
I think the pad material on those is about 0.2” thinner than on the other pads. They won’t last long.
That said, I may have some “pre-bedded” and “shaved” (otherwise called “used”) Polly H sets of pads you could have to try with that thicker rotor, if you go that route. A lot of my DE events are multi day events and I start those events with a new set of pads. Once they get about half used, they won’t pass our initial track inspections, so I keep them as spares. I have a bit of a collection that I would be willing to pair down. Send me a PM if interested.
Another new year and Desire wonder if my affection for her has diminished . She has been left out in the Pacific elements and often not driven days on end. Rest assured, you are still my favorite ride ever . Spring cannot come soon enough and we can be out there tearing up the tracks, vaporizing some brake pads and cracking some rotors, and abusing some poor tires.
At the mean time I want to recycle a few favorite foto.
Don ORP walking up to Desire
at the high country race track
Desire at the all you can eat petroleum buffet
celebrating Children day
Desire posting at the Bridgeport
is Desire Asian?
fat shaming at the waterfront - Desire is such a bully
Desire and friend Harvey
is that a radio control toy?
Desire and friend Paul Bunyan near PIR
pacific northwest mini
I like taking foto at this angle which show the next to zero overhang of the Mini
Desire dreaming of being a frontier pony express in the wild wild west
Track event schedules have been published around here. I imagine people are thinking about getting out there. A fear around here is winter is starting later and, the last couple of years, has run into the end of April which makes it hard to make it to that first event.
Thanks Eddie. Mini is so photogenic and timeless. Still after 19 years since launched, or 24 years since Frank Stephenson's team won the design hands down at BMW. It is as fresh as daisy to me in 2019 and I have yet grew tire of its styling and proportions. It just happened that Autocar gave an interview with Mr. Stephenson only a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea the man raced auto-x for Honda.
I am looking forward to the 2019 season. I plan to spend a lot of time (all-you-can-eat track time on club member days) at Oregon Raceway Park that now I am a club member. I might even be silly enough to volunteer to prepare a meal or two for the club and track workers. I have always been very wary of the events early in the season due to unpredictable weather, and I think most people are as track fees are not cheap.
A tip in car photography that I learnt. Most people, including pros commit the same mistake of taking the photo too up close result in distorted proportions. With wide angle lens on smartphone which most photographs now are taken, to avoid the all too common nonlinearity distortion step way back from the car and place the car as center to the FOV as possible. With so many pixels (12 M bits or more) you can then crop the photo to achieve the composition that you desire.
Here is one example:
photo as taken - very boring
photo cropped during post processing - cropping was the only thing I did beside blurred out the license plate
Great set of photos there.
Desire is lookin' good!
I am especially envious of the body color roof, it looks so much better imho than the black roof, and it more candidly proclaims proud slicktop glory because it's easier to distinguish as such.
I remember I agonized building the option list using MINI's online configurator in 2004. As we had to wait a long time so I had plenty of time to think carefully what I wanted. A popular color was electric blue. I didn't want a dark color roof due to solar gain, and for Pepper White body black or body colors are the only choice. Very few owner opted for Pepper White and body color roof for sure in those days. The configurator had many built in restrictions so you don't end up with a poorly configured car with clashing colors and theme. For example, you cannot have body color mirrors with body color roof, nor can you have other color mirror in my case. I like that the chrome mirrors are in harmony with the other bits of chrome on the car. If I were to made the choices today, I would still stick with this configuration.
The Mini has withstood the test of time very well. Look around the cars from the same era on the roads, most are so dated, but Mini is still has the youthful fresh face. The most unique aspect of Mini's body stying is devoid of any crease or character line.
That photo was taken in the Columbia Gorge History Highway by a small waterfall. It is in the area of last year's massive Eagle Creek fire caused by a stupid teen that made national headlines.
I marked the location where I took the photo; the wide angle lens accentuated the height
here is the foto before cropping
here is after cropping
Most of my photos are taken without deliberately placing Desire into a preplanned shot. Rather I try to find a vantage point that make the shot interesting with consideration to context. I wanted to use the waterfall as the back drop but it was just not in the cards.
here is another shot that I like from a different vantage point without moving the Mini
And I like that you have pictures to explain your pictures.
As for the car, you are right about the timelessness. Our 2004 still gets compliments and it stands out in a parking lot. That, plus it is a blast to drive (even better with the new FSDs)
Thanks for the supplementary pics and explanations.
You're correct about the solar heatsoak with the black roof, mine gets very very hot in prolonged direct sunlight.
Interesting to read of your configuration and how you weighed all the options, I was just browsing this old thread that recently got bumped and it was pretty neat to see the waiting times involved and how people were spec'ing out their MINI's: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ort-group.html
I wish that I had had the foresight to purchase one for myself back then, but I was/am a hardheaded curmudgeon and resisted change as I was content and happy with my '86 Saab 900T16 that I'd driven since 1991 LOL
Also, many thanks for the Frank Stephenson interview link, it was a very good read and I'd like to see the doc as well as get the book if one becomes available.
I recently read a Peter Egan piece on R&T that I had never seen before and he's exactly right about the MINI being a phoenix to stoke passionflames of automotive enthusiasm which may have lapsed, as it did just such with me for I was long over the modding days with my old Saab and basically it had just became a quirky AtoB vehicle - which I loved yes, but the heartfire had lost some intensity. The arrival of an R53 in my life re-stoked all that forgotten joy and got me back into the somewhat mad game of obsessive automobilia...
Peter Egan is pretty great,
most especial is this caption which he is rather famous for:
Speaking of things I had never read before, I recently came across an old BMW 2002 review in C/D from the late 60's that's freakfuzz acid-drenched in a gonzo manner which reflects the time period and was an excessively fun article to read through,
here: Turn Your Hymnals to 2002 https://www.caranddriver.com/archive...mw-2002-review
Yet more offtopic stuff,
but also related because foto - I recently discovered the work of Arnold Odermatt and have been enthralled going through his portfolio as it is all very interesting on many different levels.
After discovering him I immediately went searching for books, the 400 page Karambolage is one I'd love to have most best but it's OoP and demands a high price.
And one last thing,
I recently discovered Shorpy and've been browsing their archives,
I really love this shot:
Last edited by Oldboy Speedwell; 01-05-2019 at 08:52 AM.
Why is it car tend to hit telephone poles that are out in the middle of nowhere? I had a friend who slide off an icy road and he hit a telephone pole that had 150+ ft of space around it. That Mercedes didn’t do well and my guess is that the driver did less well...
I also had a friend who whammed pretty hard into a telephone pole on a slightly damp day,
he was driving an old Datsun 260Z and it fishtailed on him under acceleration he told me.
Love those long vanished old petrol stations. Most nowadays are soulless. This one has a hint of mid century styling. A few film noir shots starring Desire.
Now, just need a canyon shot in black and white and you’ll have the start of a nice Ansel Adams collection.
B&W is tough to do, even though it seems that it should be easy. The Radio Cab shot is interesting with its 40s - 50s style phone number to go along with the building style. Nicely done.
Now, just need a canyon shot in black and white and you’ll have the start of a nice Ansel Adams collection.
B&W is tough to do, even though it seems that it should be easy. The Radio Cab shot is interesting with its 40s - 50s style phone number to go along with the building style. Nicely done.
Good observation with the fonts Radio Cab uses. I didn't pay attention to it except finding the building pass the visual inspection being historic. I found this photo that attests the company wisely retain the same font.
one historic photo - the structure hasn't changed much
With hope the Bridal Veil pint size post office will likely reopen and I would want to go there and mail Desire a postcard. It was closed on the day I took the photo with Desire daydreaming being a frontier pony express.
12-09-2018, 12:52 PM
, so hand tools only.
. Also using Ti shims will rob you the needed space.
. She has been left out in the Pacific elements and often not driven days on end. Rest assured, you are still my favorite ride ever 
