I'm going into my second year of auto-x. Last year I took 2nd place inGS as a Novice so I figure I'm ready to compete in SM (not!!).

I plan to have track wheels/tires to take to the events. I also plan to adjust my H-sport comp swaybar. Unfortunately, I'm about as unhandy as you get. I have the requisite tools, trolley jack and 2 jack stands.

Can somebody please give me by-the-numbers instructions for changing the wheels and sway bar setting? As in, first jack the car here the put the stand here, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Ten Thumbs

 

>>I'm going into my second year of auto-x. Last year I took 2nd place inGS as a Novice so I figure I'm ready to compete in SM (not!!).
>>
>>I plan to have track wheels/tires to take to the events. I also plan to adjust my H-sport comp swaybar. Unfortunately, I'm about as unhandy as you get. I have the requisite tools, trolley jack and 2 jack stands.
>>
>>Can somebody please give me by-the-numbers instructions for changing the wheels and sway bar setting? As in, first jack the car here the put the stand here, etc.
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>
>>Ten Thumbs

OK...
Put car in as flat a spot as you can get.
Take your lug wrench and loosen (meaning loosen slightly ) all the wheel bolts
Pick a side (we'll call it the driver's side)
Put the jack under the front jacking point (make sure you use a piece of wood on the jack's pad if it is a floor jack) and lift. You will find both wheels come off the ground.
Put jack stands under suspension/frame, drop the car onto the stands (softly)
Tear the street tires off.
Crawl under and adjust the left side links to your setting (of course you could have done this at home instead where you would probably be in your garage and more comfortable surrounds).
Install race rubber
Drop car
do other side....
TORQUE WHEELS
SET TIRE PRESSURES
Go and kick ***......or get your butt kicked.........REMEMBER, motorsports is essentially a contest of yourself and your machine vs. the pavement....never mind anyone else......

 

Include:

Buy torque wrench. Learn to use it. Torque wheels (dry - aka no grease) to about 90 ft lbs. Check during event. Some do it after every run.

 

Thanks, guys. I've got a torque wrench so i should be good to go.

One last question: I have the sway bar on the middle setting. Which of the other two holes is the stiffer setting, closer to the bend or farther?

 

>>Thanks, guys. I've got a torque wrench so i should be good to go.
>>
>>One last question: I have the sway bar on the middle setting. Which of the other two holes is the stiffer setting, closer to the bend or farther?

Think of a sway bar like a wrench... the longer the arm or a wrench the easier it is to loosen a tight bolt... sooo... on a swaybar.. the hole at the end of the bar is the softest... (making the bar longer) and the innermost hole (making the bar shorter) is the stiffest... Now that said I drove a H sport Comp rear bar equiped MINI at a Novice School and the Middle setting worked very well...

 

I hope it's clear that you should put the lugs on and tighten them as much as possible (the front wheel will spin--so you can't get leverage) while the wheels are in the air. Finish torquing them properly once they're back on the ground.

Two other notes. One--set the parking brake before you start, and two--you should tighten lugs in a cross-hatch pattern. This last note means tighten the bolt at 12:00 o'clock, and then the one at 6:00 o'lock, and then 3 and then 9. Not critical but it helps insure that they get tightened evenly.

Apologies in advance if you already know this stuff...

Jeff

 

you didnt run in GS with all those mods last year did you???

 

>>you didnt run in GS with all those mods last year did you???

No, I only had the exhaust and CAI (which I removed for racing).

ConeCarver, I have a test n' tune day before the first event. I plan to try the middle setting first. With 3 degrees of negative camber in the rear and the middle setting on the sway bar I'm wondering if I'm still getting a little understeer. It's hard to tell on the street and I don't want to push the car
too hard.

Duck, no apologies needed. I plan to make a checklist so I don't goof anything up.

 

Someone had a nice busy offseason :smile:----
<---------Jealouse

 

>
>>
>>ConeCarver, I have a test n' tune day before the first event. I plan to try the middle setting first. With 3 degrees of negative camber in the rear and the middle setting on the sway bar I'm wondering if I'm still getting a little understeer. It's hard to tell on the street and I don't want to push the car
>>too hard.

find you an empty parking lot, find out......you'll be scrambling to change a setting in between runs......

 

I four wheel drift with stock springs, SO3's, and the bar in the middle position. I also spun when the local organizers changed the course, let us walk it, then moved the final slolem cone in without telling us. That was nice of them. Tire pressure are somewhat important, just make sure both fronts are the same pressure. Dont ask me how I screwed that up, but it made for some interesting, smoke filled right hand turns. I am not a great driver, but I was the second fastest MCS. But his car is green, and we all know the green ones are faster.
Uber

 

Luckily, the Steel Cities club Test 'n tune on April 24 includes a half day of skid pad and a half day of running on an actual course. It's limited to 50 cars and I'm told that it ends only when everyone has had enough. Supposedly there was a guy last year that did over 30 runs.

I plan to button-hole some of the experienced guys for suggestions.

BTW, Uber, I'd always heard that Chili Red was dyno-proven to be faster.

 

>>Luckily, the Steel Cities club Test 'n tune on April 24 includes a half day of skid pad and a half day of running on an actual course. It's limited to 50 cars and I'm told that it ends only when everyone has had enough. Supposedly there was a guy last year that did over 30 runs.
>>
>>I plan to button-hole some of the experienced guys for suggestions.
>>
>>BTW, Uber, I'd always heard that Chili Red was dyno-proven to be faster.

Uber doesn't really know what he's talking about. BRG MINIs are all a piece of C..p.....take it from me....no one should buy one....they should be discontinued immediately. I understand the BMW board is actually considering that move cuz they are so bad.....

 

>>Luckily, the Steel Cities club Test 'n tune on April 24 includes a half day of skid pad and a half day of running on an actual course. It's limited to 50 cars and I'm told that it ends only when everyone has had enough. Supposedly there was a guy last year that did over 30 runs.
>>
>>I plan to button-hole some of the experienced guys for suggestions.

I am not scheduled for the test and tune in April, but I will be at the first event. If you are running street mod, there are several very fast people you can talk to. I would suggest Kent Rafferty - he won the first SM National Championship in his Supra (before it was a full status class) he may also be in Rafferty Corvette ZO6 or Grand Sport, Ramzi Anzipas in his blue VW, or Mark Andy with an ES MR2 will probably be running the test and tune. Any of them or a cast of thousands will be happy to help.

I have run in the very competitive GS in my Neon ACR in the past, just not last year. I will look for you this year. I will have a BRG/W MCS.

Jeff

 

Cool, Jeff! I wondered why I was the only Mini last year. It'll be good to have another.

I really have Chris Carlisle to thank for my finish last year. He mentored me at most of the races I went to.

I sat with Kent Rafferty at the awards in January. I gave him a shirt I won in the raffle that didn't fit me. He wanted to pay me for it but I hinted that maybe he might ride along with me a time or 2, instead.

Gene

 

Gene,

Let me tell you a story about Kent... Two years ago, I spun a bearing in my Neon at BeaveRun. He came up to me and offered to use his trailer to get my car home. The only drawback was that I had to drive his Corvette Grand Sport home! He went out of his way to help and is one of the best drivers around.

Last year I only made one event, but I was following your progress in the MINI. I have known I was going to get one for almost 2 years.

I was trying to get to North Park on Sunday to try the MCS for the first time but the snow and cold discouraged me. I can't wait to get back into the sport. I will want to talk to you about your experiences autocrossing your car and a good baseline stock setup.


Jeff

 

I thought I should make a couple comments about PocketRocketowners list for adjusting the swaybar...

First, some people are Closter Phobic (SP?), I'm CrawlUnderCarFallonHead Phobic, so I never crawl under a car unless I have to. I don't see any reason when adjusting the rear swaybar links that you need to put it on jack stands and crawl under the car when you already have the rear wheel off and the adjustment is right their in the wheel well. Also, you need to be careful, if you jack one side of the car at a time to adjust the rear bar the side of the car that is on the ground will be in compression and the side raised up will have alot of tention on the swaybar link because the spring is pushing down and the wheel on the ground is pushing the swaybar up so you can't remove the link bolt.

Here is what I did at the last event, it was very easy and you can leave your jackstands at home.

1.Loosen Lugs
2.Jack car from front jacking point until both tires on the side being jacked are off the ground.
3. Remove and replace front wheel and snug lugs
4. Remove rear wheel and place a second jack under the suspension (shock) mount and jack up the rear suspension until the tention is removed from the swaybar. You can start to loosen the swaybar and see if the bolt still has any tention and adjust the jack up or down as necessary to remove the bolt.
5. Adjust swaybar setting, Lower rear suspension jack
6. Put rear wheel on and snug lugs.
7. Lower car and torque bolts in an 'X' pattern
8. Repeat on other side.

_________________

 

Jeff,

The only significant adjustments I made last year was to tire pressure. About half way through the season I figured out that 38 lbs in the front and 42 pounds in the rear gave me the best balance for my driving on Yokohama Prada Spec-2's. I have Kosei K1's and Kuhmo Victoracers coming from Tirerack on friday. I hope to get pressures set up at the test 'n tune. BTW, Kent seemed to say that he was going to do a lot more Pro Solo this year and might only make a few of the local events.

Super,

What you say makes sense. Since I currently own a jack and 2 stands I wonder if I can put the car on the stands then use the jack raise the rear suspension? Working on a car that's on wheeled jacks kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies more than getting under one on stands.

 

Veni,

You could use one jack and the stands. At Webbmotorsports.com he shows you where you can jack the MINI without using the front or rear jack blocks so you can get the stands under the jack blocks with one side raised up. When I did mine I used the MINI supplied roadside jack to jack the suspension with a hydrolic jack under the front jack block (that I borrored from someone else).

Here is the Pic of the alternate jacking point to install stands.

 

Awesome! Now I can print the picture and add it to my checklist. Thanks

 

Yep.....thank you for the lessons......various.......what about front toe??? what do fast dudes and dudettes do about front toe in general? what if the mean machine is a daily driver as well? C'mon fast guys.....cough up......