Very soon after a textbook breakin I found that the most limiting performance factor in my MCS is traction. Yes, I'm still running the 17 HP runflats and stock bars, but the traction in tight corners and even in some pretty fast sweepers is severely lacking. The first thing I do after the car starts is turn off the traction control. The first time it shut off the fuel on me I thought I was running carbs from the 60's. (: I can't see putting thousands into horses that I can't get to the ground. I have seen several different limited slip options out there but no discussion on any of them. Now that I have found this site (and I don't have to ever go back to the NEW Mini message board) I wonder if anyone has installed a limited slip device and what their experience with it ihas been like (and their cost). So Randy, when are you going to start rotating limited slips through the mule?

 

go here: http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=21055

That's a Quaife LSD Install thread on another MINI message board. On MINI2 if you do a search you'll find a fair bit of other discussion on it. Good luck!

Welcome to the board btw!!

 

Thanks Grinder....a very interesting half hour of reading. I think that I will have a shop do the install as my wife won't like having to help me "wrestle" the diff back into the case. All my friends are clueless. The Quaife LSD is definately where I want 2 go. And the flywheel....and the pulley...and the chip...and the bars...and the exhaust....HELP SANTA!!!

And the guy lost to a 450 Cobra? Must have been an open course or one helluva Cobra. In the old days the 7's, elans and mini's used to FTD those guys all of the time (without the LSD).

 

Well Blue,

Right now the Quaife is the only game in town for a real differential. It is a great LSD, but due to the fitment issues, I'm hoping they will do a slight redesign on it. I'm still waiting to hear a response from them on the grinding necessary to make it fit.

You would be very surprised at the difference a rear sway bar and some springs makes for traction issues. On the track, the stock suspension car just kept struggling to put the power down, while both cars with swaybars and H&Rs had no problem. One of the cars had runflats, the other Yokohama AVS ES 100s. It really helps keep the front tires down.

Let me know if you have any other quesitons. jlm here on MCO has done the flywheel and Quaife, so maybe we'll see a response from him...hint, hint. Since you are already considering doing the flywheel, I would highly recommend doing them at the same time, since the labor required is relatively similar - and expensive - so you don't want to do it twice if you're paying for someone else to do it.

Hope that helps!

Randy

 

posted on mini2:
Re: lightweight 11lb-flywheel from BMP
I love it. a couple of issues:

you will be losing the torsional dampening the stock flywheel provides which means you can expect a bit more rumble from your transmission gears, etc. when in neutral and idling and a bit more bearing noise, both of which are minor. Another issue is that the stock clutch plate does not have torsion springs to prevent ****** when engaging (the vibrational damped flywheel serves this function). If I had to do it again, I would source a replacement clutch plate with the torsion springs, mainly to ease my mind. There are many specialty clutch shops that could deal with this if you can't find a direct substitute. My car doesn't have the springs and it is no problem for me, but I tend to match rpms when I shift which lessens the problems. The stock wheel is a 36 lb pig and a good thing to get rid of. Go for it. Ask BMPabout the clutch, he may have a solution.

to get it in, you need to drop the tranny; that simple operation is about 10 hours in the shop. If you are thinking about the quaife, while the tranny is out, it takes about $1,000 and another hour or two. And while you have the car that far down, you might as well pull the blower and put on the new pulley...

 

Exactly my thought 2G. As long as its in pieces you can spread the installation cost over 3 mods and it doesn't feel so bad. That's an excellent idea about the clutch. The springs are in the pressure plate, no? I match too but its not smart to do all of that work and add those horses and traction and put it back together with the stock clutch. Do you mean to say that noone is offering a high performance clutch solution yet?

 

BMP may have a clutch solution.
No. The springs are in the friction plate hub section of the clutch disc and ease the ****** between the friction portion which gets squeezed between the pressure plate and the flywheel and the hub/transmission shaft.

 

>>you will be losing the torsional dampening the stock flywheel provides

Can the stock flywheel be machined? I'm having a tough time envisioning what a dual-mass flywheel looks like. 36# is ugly!!

Jeff