Well, finally got into the mods on the MINI this year, snow is finally gone, temps into the 40s. Yesterday I put on a Stratmosphere exhaust, stock downpipe remains on the car. The exhaust is 2.75" SS tube with carbon steel flanges and a 3" bullet type muffler.

08 MCSa, stock drivetrain except for AccessPort. I live in Buffalo, and this car has been a year-round driver since new (that means that there is rust starting in lots of places, and most fasteners are a challenge to remove). I cut off the old v-band clamp, and the install went fine (new v-band was difficult until I got the car high enough to use both hands). I used a belt sander to clean up all the flanges (this exhaust has 4 flange sets), and put a light coat of silicone on new gaskets.

The idle is noticeably louder, and there is some resonance/boom/drone while accellerating until about 3500 RPM. Then the resonance goes away. The exhaust is quiet like stock when using cruise control or under low load. Sounds nice when you get on it. I'm not too happy that the muffler hangs low under the car, but we will see how much it scrapes.

Isn't it funny how a car seems faster when it makes the right noises?

I will try and have my nephew get a sound clip or two tomorrow. I've got a growing pile of things to put on:

- Koni Yellows
- Helix FMIC (I was one of the lucky ones to get the black sample)
- JCW Steering wheel ($370 from sewell)

Then maybe it will rain and I can put the summer wheels on after the salt is gone.

Woo Hoo!!!

Mike

 

A new buddy down here in Miami has the Stratmosphere exhaust. I heard it the other day and I must say it sounds amazing. Exactly as you described it. At cruising speeds it doesn't even annoy you.

 

Today I replace my 'Cooper S' shocks with a set of Koni Yellows. I'm running TSW springs, and I'm primarily looking to see if I can improve the ride over bumps without compromising the handling that is part of the MINI experience. I am still running my non-runflat snows on 16" wheels. After searching and exchanging info from others, I started with both front and rear at 1/2 turn off of soft. This is also the reccomended starting point via the Koni instructions.

The car definately is less upset by a rough patch of road, and it seems to be more pleasant over small ripples as well, after about 30 miles or so on familiar roads. For my little hustling around corners, the car is still faster than I am.

Have fun,
Mike

 

When you said you were looking to improve ride and then said runflats, I chuckled. Get rid of them asap, I can't even begin to explain how much better the ride feels and sounds with regular tires(hankook v12). I went from the stock 17's with runflats to 18's and a low profile tire yet it rides 10x better and softer...odd...since low pro usually renders a harsher ride.

 

Right now my snows and summer 17's are non-runflats. Even with the soft sidewall 16" snows, the ride seems significantly better with the Konis. I miss the quick steering response of the rf snows that I had, but I got used to it.

Mike

 

Koni's are great, in my subaru days they are a lifesaver because the only other option is coilovers, a good struts/spring combo can own the track any day and usually ride a bit better on the street. I found it very surprising that koni has a FSB set for the mini as well as the standard koni dampers. I'm on stock suspension and would like a mild drop and good ride. Do you know if the tsw or other lowering springs cause issues on the stock struts? does it ride like crap after 5k miles and reduce absorber life?

 

There are people here that have run the TSW and NM springs (as well as the JCW Red) on stock shocks for years, I had about 10k on them without issue. My car had the Sport suspension when I started. I put the TSW springs on it, and the ride was pretty harsh. I put shorter bump rubbers on them from WMW, and this helped on the sharp bumps, as the shocks were bottoming frequently.

Then I swapped out the Sport shocks for normal 'Cooper S' shocks, and some of the harshness went away.

Some other springs drop lower than these (H&R, Eibach), and I think that there would be issues with shock life. In my experience, the shocks bottomed a lot with the TSW springs (and they are about the most mild drop, other than the JCW reds). The $40 bump rubbers made a large difference, and even these showed some damage when I removed them yesterday.

There are some people that have had Koni Yellows and NM for a while, and I think that would be comparable to the Yellows and TSW that I have.

By the way, I stripped one of my lower shock mounts the second time that I had it apart. This appears to be the only potential damage that happens from playing the spring/swap game several times.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Today I got the JCW suede/leather steering wheel installed. It feels nice, just a little thicker (1.4" dia at the top, 1.6" at the bump at 10:00). Both are about .15" larger than the stock wheel. The leather is much softer than the stock wheel. Excuse the dirty car......

I'm gonna put a few pictures in the 'How To' section for installing the paddle shifters.

Happy, Happy..........

Mike

 

I am jealous. I've been eyeing that wheel ever since my friend with a 135i had one. I just paid off all credit card debt, stop persuading me! I would add a yellow centering strip

 

About $370 shipped (with NAM discount) from Sewell. The JCW one is suede on top and bottom only, and leather around the horizontal spokes. Can we justify any of these mods, its just about keeping the smile going.....

Have fun,
Mike

 

I sold my last car because it had such a large aftermarket following that there were endless parts available. I swore I'd leave this car alone before I modify it past the point of practicality but this mod is well justified...