It's been a busy weekend and here are some pics to show it
waist deep into the suspension front springs are done and rears as well (thats the strut in the foreground) putting in the rear lower control arms at this point (all of which is hotchkis)


My Precious on the rack for final insp and grease.
That's my tool bucket in front (kitty litter pail)


New parts are always nice to look at
I wish I had time to do some cleaning but it was at my friends shop and my time was limited.


The final LOOK was less raked than I had anticipated (which is a good thing). The hotchkis sport kit is for an S (which is heavier up front) so the front didn't drop as much (1" in rear 5/8" up front).



new brake parts Powerslot Cryo rotors Hawk HP+ pads and Stoptech lines.


finish through the wheel.


I will coment on the performance of these mods after my first autoX but for now all I can say is WOW!

 

very nice, I wish I had garage like that to work in

 

If that's your garage, then I'll have to come over and kill ya...

 

+2 on an awesome place to work on your cooper. update us on the new feel of the car!

 

Nice clean look! Congrats, and nice garage!

 

Nice shop! Oh, and nice modding too. Gosh, I miss dealership life.....a lift when you need it, air on demand. (deep sigh).

 

 

well done!!! Looking good.

 

A little OT, but whats up with what appears to be a C5 'Vette with a cage?
Oh, and the car looks sick nasty. I wanna know those cryo rotors feel after some abuse.

 

BTW thats my friends shop and his Vette he just let me use some tools and the floor. Anyways the ride and handling are just amazing (I really haven't pushed her too much I'm waiting for the brakes to bed in properly before I really brake hard). As for the brakes plenty of bite and NO SQUEEL!! I will comment on this further after the final alingment and the brakes are bedded in . I can say that I am expecting quite an improvement in my times in AutoX.

 

Based on your first pic, the first piece of the Hotchkis kit you installed was the window sticker!

 

Thats pretty observant of you and yes it's true

 

Well after alot of driving and an adjustment to the RSB (Alta 22mm on stiffest setting) my baby is neutral again!! I absolutely love how the springs feel, much softer over road imperfections and rail road tracks, and much flatter and stable in the twisties. They are just a little bouncy (still have stock struts) but not irritable. The brakes are amazing I'm nearing 1k miles with 2 autocrosses and it feels like they are improving as they wear in (just did the first high speed hard as you can press 100 to 0 stop and I felt a strange sensation it pulled to one side then to the other side and then none at all (this all happened upon the initial brake pedal application it started around .5 sec into the stop lasting for a second or so). The stop took what seemed to me an amazing 4 seconds 70 deg temps warm tires but I could be wrong because halfway into the stop I was getting a head rush . I have never had that happen before in any car (rollercoasters yes, planes yes, cars no). After I replace the rear with the same power slot cryo/Hawk hp+ setup as the front I will do another high speed stop and have the wife time it. Taking a fingernail to the front rotors there is not even the slightest ridge and the wear across the surface seems symetrical. I belive the pulling could be air in the brake system and when I bleeded the lines (with a pressure bleeder) it didn't go like my past experiences with other cars. For some reason when I cracked the calipers at each wheel it took forever to bleed out what I thought would be enough to clear the lines with new fluid. I had 15 psi on the pressure bleeder and after the first wheel which took about 7 min to bleed I only lost about 2 lbs of pressure on the bleeder. Should it take that long to bleed each line (I loosened each caliper fitting at least a full turn and a half)?