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That will work for the driver’s seat. The passenger seat needs the resistor but it also has the pressure sensor and that is something that is read by the computer and not resolved by a resistor. You could pull the sensor from the stock seat, plug it in and hide it under the seat. There are also electronic units you can buy, but you will need to have someone marry it to the computer.
That will work for the driver’s seat. The passenger seat needs the resistor but it also has the pressure sensor and that is something that is read by the computer and not resolved by a resistor. You could pull the sensor from the stock seat, plug it in and hide it under the seat. There are also electronic units you can buy, but you will need to have someone marry it to the computer.
Sounds like moving the old sensor to the new seat is probably the best bet. I wasn’t planning on keeping or trying to sell the old seats, so I have no problem cutting into it. I’ll be sad to see the butt warmers go lol.
Thanks, I really appreciate your input. I’m going to look into the piston upgrade for the JCW brakes. Brake cooling is definitely something I need to look into. I saw that Squaw Ski Bum worked some magic with a 3D printer. I have some high temp PLA sitting around so I may look at using that for the entry duct. I’m interested to see what you came up with for the rotor adapter.
A long time ago I got my hands on a set of the European Recaro seats and put them into an earlier R56S I had. These had the airbags, but not the sensor. I pull the cover off the seat bottom of the passenger seat and the sensor is a pad glued to the seat cushion foam, or maybe it was glued to the seat heater pad, and it pretty much covered the whole seat bottom. It was moderately easy to peal it off from whatever it was glued to and put them into the Recaros, so everything worked. However, if you are going to do a proper 6 point, that will put a hole right through the middle of the sensor pad if you try to put it into the race seat, and that will damage the pad. That is why I suggested laying it somewhere on the floor under or behind the seat. It should not need to be in the seat, just hooked up to the wires. Also, I am not sure if it needs to lay flat or can be rolled up. Oh, and make sure you have the car battery disconnect when taking the stock seats out and hooking any wires up. You don’t want to trigger a code that will take a dealer to undo...
There is a coding platform for these cars (NCS Expert, I believe) and there is a really good thread for it. I don’t remember if there is a way to turn off the sensor using that. Might be worth a look.
Roll bar or roll cage... If you put in the race seats with a 6 point, you will want to do a roll bar/cage at the same time. As I understand it, if you are belted in and have a rollover and the roof crushes down, you may not be able to get a 6 point harness released in time to prevent your head from being crushed. This isn’t as much of an issue with the stock 3 point as you should be able to lean to the middle of the car...
A long time ago I got my hands on a set of the European Recaro seats and put them into an earlier R56S I had. These had the airbags, but not the sensor. I pull the cover off the seat bottom of the passenger seat and the sensor is a pad glued to the seat cushion foam, or maybe it was glued to the seat heater pad, and it pretty much covered the whole seat bottom. It was moderately easy to peal it off from whatever it was glued to and put them into the Recaros, so everything worked. However, if you are going to do a proper 6 point, that will put a hole right through the middle of the sensor pad if you try to put it into the race seat, and that will damage the pad. That is why I suggested laying it somewhere on the floor under or behind the seat. It should not need to be in the seat, just hooked up to the wires. Also, I am not sure if it needs to lay flat or can be rolled up. Oh, and make sure you have the car battery disconnect when taking the stock seats out and hooking any wires up. You don’t want to trigger a code that will take a dealer to undo...
There is a coding platform for these cars (NCS Expert, I believe) and there is a really good thread for it. I don’t remember if there is a way to turn off the sensor using that. Might be worth a look.
Roll bar or roll cage... If you put in the race seats with a 6 point, you will want to do a roll bar/cage at the same time. As I understand it, if you are belted in and have a rollover and the roof crushes down, you may not be able to get a 6 point harness released in time to prevent your head from being crushed. This isn’t as much of an issue with the stock 3 point as you should be able to lean to the middle of the car...
My other concern is the seat belt sensor since I plan on competently removing all of the OEM stuff. I see that the kit above comes with a device that should trick the seatbelt sensor, but again, I don't know it there were any significant changes to the sensors between model years. Probably means a trip down a rabbit hole on Real OEM.
As far as the cage goes, I am planning going to go with a Sneed Speed for now. I'm going to wait until I have everything on hand before I mount the seats, that way it is a one shot thing. We'll do RRR in July and then settle down for a few months to do the safety stuff and give the car a break from the heat.
This stuff snow ***** really fast lol.
Last edited by scotty_r56s; 01-12-2021 at 08:47 AM.
Yes! That is what a friend used on his R56 when he put race seats into it and it worked. Not sure if it was that one, but he got it off EBay. He did have to have a shop marry it to the computer to clear the indicator.
I have a custom R56 roll bar that this same friend made. It bolts in using existing bolt locations (No added holes). And it stiffened the car noticeably. The Sneed roll bar should be fine, as long as you don’t mind drill holes in the MINI. And maybe you can build off from it for a full cage for racing?
Some of that stuff for the seat belts (like the buckles) you can take the parts and tie/mount to the underside of the race seats and still have them plugged in. For the buckles you can get a dummy tongue or tongue cut from a stock belt to plug into it. Or just make a dummy tongue from a piece of sheet steel or thick aluminum. There is also a seat rail sensor on the driver’s seat that will need to be retained. For that, I just plugged it in and zip-tied it to the frame when I put the Recaros in.
Here is a post I did showing the brake dust shield mods I did to get air to the base of the rotor vanes. I think there is more that I can do, but have not gotten around to it.
No problems drilling holes and welding, I have the R53 to be comfortable in . Sometime last year I gutted the back, cut holes to reach the rebound adjustment on the KWs and drilled a 2.25 gallon water tank into the boot. I have been eye-balling the random latches and bits that need to be cut off along with some of the support under the hood. I'm sure there is a few pounds of useless metal back there still.
That bolt in bar looks great!
Speaking of weight loss, I need to find out why the car feels like its starting to float above 120. I'm sure the answer is aero, but that will come in time.
Speaking of weight loss, I need to find out why the car feels like its starting to float above 120. I'm sure the answer is aero, but that will come in time.
That bar takes about 20 min to take out or put back in...
I have never heard that one about MINIs feeling floaty. Mine is rock solid up to 120 at WGI. Cross winds affect it, though. I have friends who hit 130 that same track in their R56 MINIs (JCW); no complaints. I understand the GP2 rear diffuser and the under engine pan do wonders for the car. That would be something I would do to improve aero.
What is your front and rear toe? That can cause a bit of wandering at higher speeds? I go with a little toe in at each end.
I’m really hoping this is because I didn’t fully seat one of the clamps on the auxiliary water pump. No leaking from the back (fingers crossed) just a small puddle on the top of the gearbox. It looks consistent with the aux pump trying to run and just blowing coolant everywhere.
That bar takes about 20 min to take out or put back in...
I have never heard that one about MINIs feeling floaty. Mine is rock solid up to 120 at WGI. Cross winds affect it, though. I have friends who hit 130 that same track in their R56 MINIs (JCW); no complaints. I understand the GP2 rear diffuser and the under engine pan do wonders for the car. That would be something I would do to improve aero.
What is your front and rear toe? That can cause a bit of wandering at higher speeds? I go with a little toe in at each end.
Zero toe. That’s probably part of the problem. Yeah, it feels like the nose is lifting, like there is not enough weight upfront. But it’s only on the back stretch between 8 and 9, so I think the topography may have something to do with it.
Last edited by scotty_r56s; 09-03-2020 at 04:09 PM.
Zero toe. That’s probably part of the problem. Yeah, it feels like the nose is limiting, like there is not enough weight upfront. But it’s only on the back stretch between 8 and 9, so I think the topography may have something to do with it.
Try the factory toe front and rear, that is what I run for the track and then work back from there as you get comfortable with the car and how it handles. But, for the track, in the rear I would always have some toe-in. The Ackerman steering in the front is reasonably aggressive, so having less than factory toe can cause tire wear and really doesn’t buy much in the way of turn-in. Zero toe in the rear can be the culprit as toe-in is used to help with stability. Think of it like pushing a shopping cart from the wrong end, give it a shove and letting go. It will want to swap ends. Having a car or cart steer from the back end is really hard to control, like the shopping cart. Remember static toe is not the same as dynamic toe. When moving there are changes in suspension geometry as it moves up and down, car leaning, gets side loaded, etc. If the static rear toe is zero, then it can be going toe-in to toe-out and causing it to steer like the backwards pushed shopping cart. Instability. This can be used by a talented person doing autocross. Having a little static toe-in in the rear helps to counteract any occurrences of toe-out on one side or the other during a dynamic situation. I would not recommend zero toe for the track where you want to do little and slow movements to get the fastest time. And you don’t want the car wanting to swap ends on you. Having a car that is easy to drive may not have the fastest ultimate time, but it will be the one that is least fatiguing an you can do the most consistent time with. Being consistent is a major factor in winning races.
I know a lot of things that people do with MINIs are “conventional wisdom”, but I have found that may not always be the best. Like not putting a big sway bar in the front end of a MINI. It works, though. It really does.
Last edited by Eddie07S; 06-22-2020 at 03:00 PM.
Reason: Typo
Try the factory toe front and rear, that is what I run for the track and then work back from there as you get comfortable with the car and how it handles. But, for the track, in the rear I would always have some toe-in. The Ackerman steering in the front is reasonably aggressive, so having less than factory toe can cause tire wear and really doesn’t buy much in the way of turn-in. Zero toe in the rear can be the culprit as toe-in is used to help with stability. Think of it like pushing a shopping cart from the wrong end, give it a shove and letting go. It will want to swap ends. Having a car or cart steer from the back end is really hard to control, like the shopping cart. Remember static toe is not the same as dynamic toe. When moving there are changes in suspension geometry as it moves up and down, car leaning, gets side loaded, etc. If the static rear toe is zero, then it can be going toe-in to toe-out and causing it to steer like the backwards pushed shopping cart. Instability. This can be used by a talented person doing autocross. Having a little static toe-in in the rear helps to counteract any occurrences of toe-out on one side or the other during a dynamic situation. I would not recommend zero toe for the track where you want to do little and slow movements to get the fastest time. And you don’t want the car wanting to swap ends on you. Having a car that is easy to drive may not have the fastest ultimate time, but it will be the one that is least fatiguing an you can do the most consistent time with. Being consistent is a major factor in winning races.
I know a lot of things that people do with MINIs are “conventional wisdom”, but I have found that may not always be the best. Like not putting a big sway bar in the front end of a MINI. It works, though. It really does.
Eddie, if I’m ever in NY, I owe you dinner. You are what makes this community great.
Found the leak. I’m sure there is a good reason for the bleeder screw being plastic. Tried multiple extraction methods last night before I gave in and started removing the thermostat housing. Finished pulling the housing after breakfast and spent a few hours trying to remove the remains of the plastic bleeder screw. A new t-stat housing is enroute from FCP Euro. $110 with overnight delivery. Hat tip to Mod MINI ( @CORNERS ) for his excellent videos.
I’ve bled the system twice since I purchased the car in 2015 (with less than 9,000 miles). So, I’m pretty sure it’s only been bled twice in it’s life time. Much like the batteries in the lights and optics of my firearms, this $4 plastic bleeder screw will now be replaced annually.
It’s 0930. I’m going to have a glass of rum and play some video games.
Last edited by scotty_r56s; 06-23-2020 at 10:56 AM.
I had considered a brass replacement like the one I used on my E36, but I am hesitant to thread metal into plastic. I've had some bad luck with set screws in plastic on the KW spring perches. I've got a little bit of nerve damage in my neck that results in numbness and tingling in my right hand. I'm sure that contributes to a little over-torque every now and then .
Small update. The thermostat housing arrived last night. I would say it was due for replacement. The gasket on the old housing was looking pretty worn, so I'll chalk this one up as regular maintenance. I was going to drain and replace the coolant this week anyway, so win-win I suppose. I will definitely be replacing the bleeder screw annually. It's a $4 part that is available at any one of the AdvanceOreillysZone's. It's cheap insurance.
All in all, the thermostat housing replacement was not difficult at all. I only needed the Bentley book for the torque on the housing. Again the Mod MINI video came in clutch.
Last edited by scotty_r56s; 06-25-2020 at 12:37 PM.
Took a short break for a business trip, but now I'm back.
I ordered some OMP side mounts and couple Schroth Flexi 2X2 6 point harnesses from Discovery Parts. I'm so antsy waiting for them that I'm thinking I should have just driven to AMP and picked them up in person. Next on order will be the Sneed Speed roll bar.
The next order of business was to sort out the side airbags, passenger side seat sensor, drivers seat position sensor and seat belt catch sensors. From what I've read, most people use a 2.2 Ohm resistor to fool the airbags. Eddie07 brought up some really good points about the passenger side occupancy sensor and fooling the seat belts. So I had two choices. I could solder some resistors, and hack the seat apart to get the occupancy mat and leave the seat belts and sensor wiring in-place and just try to bypass all of it. Or, I could use NCS Expert to code all of that out and just remove everything that I didn't want.
SIDEBAG_LINKS_1 -Side Airbag (left) SIDEBAG_RECHTS_1 -Side Airbag (right) AKS_LINKS_1_CD -Active head restraint (left) AKS_RECHTS_1_CD -Active head restraint (right) OC3_1 -Seat occupancy mat GK/OC3/POL -Not sure exactly but related to the occupancy mat GURTKONTAKT_BEIFAHRER_1 -Seat belt contract/connection (passenger) GURTKONTAKT_FAHRER_1 -Seat belt contract/connection (driver) GURTSTRAFFER_BEIFAHRER_1 -Seat belt tensioner, active restraint (passenger) GURTSTRAFFER_FAHRER_1 -Seat belt tensioner, active restraint (driver) SPSBF_1 -Seat position sensor (passenger) SPSF_1_CD -Seat position sensor (driver)
SIDEBAG_BEIFAHRER (Corresponds to SIDEBAG_LINKS_1) nicht_aktiv SIDEBAG_FAHRER (Corresponds to SIDEBAG_RECHTS_1) nicht_aktiv KOEPFST_BEIFAHRER (Corresponds to AKS_LINKS_1_CD) nicht_aktiv KOEPFST_FAHRER (Corresponds to AKS_RECHTS_1_CD) nicht_aktiv OC3_ACSM (Corresponds to OC3_1) nicht_aktiv GK_OC3_POL (Corresponds to GK/OC3/POL) nicht_aktiv GURTKONTAKT_BEIFAHRER (Corresponds to GURTKONTAKT_BEIFAHRER_1) nicht_aktiv GURTKONTAKT_FAHRER (Corresponds to GURTKONTAKT_FAHRER_1) nicht_aktiv GURTSTRAFFER_BEIFAHRER (Corresponds to GURTSTRAFFER_BEIFAHRER_1) nicth_aktiv GURTSTRAFFER_FAHRER (Corresponds to GURTSTRAFFER_FAHRER_1) nicht_aktiv
SPSBF_1 -Seat position sensor (passenger) SPSF_1_CD -Seat position sensor (driver)
This is all very similar to what is in the ABG module on our cars.
This is my modified TRC:
BAUREIHE
r56
NOTRUF_AACN
nicht_aktiv
BPLUS_TRENNUNG1
nicht_aktiv
KNIEBAG_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
KOPPLUNG_SBR_POS
aktiv
BATT_LEIT_DIAG
nicht_aktiv
SBE_STEP_DOWN
wert_01
SEAT_BELT_DISTANCE
wert_01
SBE_STEP_UP
wert_01
SEAT_BELT_SPEED
wert_01
SBE_SCHWELLE_ON
wert_01
DIMMUNG_POL
wert_01
PAS4_TELEGRAMME
wert_01
POL_MIN_SCHWELLE
wert_01
POL_MAX_SCHWELLE
wert_01 GURTKONTAKT_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
GURTKONTAKT_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv AUFROLLSTRAMMER_FA (This is the seat reel roller tensioner) aktiv
AUFROLLSTRAMMER_BF (This is the seat reel roller tensioner) aktiv
AGKB_FAHRER (This is the seat belt force limiter) aktiv
AGKB_BEIFAHRER (This is the seat belt force limiter) aktiv
KNIEBAG_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv
CIS
nicht_aktiv SITZPOSITION_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv
GURTSTRAFFER_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
GURTSTRAFFER_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv
SBE1_STATUS_VERZ
nicht_aktiv
GK_OC3_POL
nicht_aktiv
TROMMELSPEICHER
nicht_aktiv
SEAT_BELT_MONITOR
wert_01
GURTSTRAMM_SEITENCRASH
nicht_aktiv
ROC
nicht_aktiv
AUFROLL_SEITENCRASH
aktiv
ROLLOVER_OPTION
nicht_aktiv
POS
nicht_aktiv
POL
aktiv
TYP_LENKUNG
linkslenker
UPFRONT_FAHRER
aktiv
UPFRONT_BEIFAHRER
aktiv
US_SCHWELLEN
aktiv SITZPOSITION_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
SBR_PREWARNING_FA
nicht_aktiv
SBR_PREWARNING_BF
nicht_aktiv OC3
nicht_aktiv
CRS_TIMEDELAY
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r57_us_0312
PARAMETERSATZ_0
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_1
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_2
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_3
r56_ece_0712
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_4
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_5
r56_us_0312
FR_HE_PARAM_6
r55_ece
r56_ece
r57_ece
r58_ece
r59_ece
r55_ece_0712
r56_ece_0712
r57_ece_0712
r58_ece_0712
r59_ece_0712
r55_us
r56_us
r57_us
r58_us
r59_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r57_us_0312
UP_FR_PARAM_1
r56_us_0312
UP_FR_PARAM_2
r55_us
r56_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
UP_FR_PARAM_3
r55_us
r56_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
SEITEN_PARAM
r56_us
r56_us_0312
HECK_PREPROC_PARAM
r55_us
r56_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
ROLL_PARAM_1
r55_ece
r56_ece
r60_ece
r55_ece_0712
r56_ece_0712
r61_ece
r55_us
r56_us
r60_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r61_us
ROLL_PARAM_2
r55_ece
r56_ece
r60_ece
r55_ece_0712
r56_ece_0712
r61_ece
r55_us
r56_us
r60_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r61_us
ROLL_PARAM_3
r55_ece
r56_ece
r60_ece
r55_ece_0712
r56_ece_0712
r61_ece
r55_us
r56_us
r60_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r61_us
ROLL_PARAM_4
r55_ece
r60_ece
r55_ece_0712
r61_ece
r55_us
r56_us
r60_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r61_us
CIS_PARAMETER
r55_ece
r56_ece
r57_ece
r60_ece
r58_ece
r59_ece
r55_ece_0712
r56_ece_0712
r57_ece_0712
r58_ece_0712
r59_ece_0712
r61_ece
r55_us
r56_us
r57_us
r60_us
r58_us
r59_us
r55_us_0312
r56_us_0312
r57_us_0312
r61_us SBE1
nicht_aktiv
SBR_SENSOR
nicht_aktiv
ITS_SCHRAEGCRASH
nicht_aktiv
THORAXAIRBAG_BEI_ROLLOVER
nicht_aktiv
L6_SENSOREN
aktiv GURTKONTAKT_FOND_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
GURTKONTAKT_FOND_BFAHRER
nicht_aktiv
CC_GURTWARNUNG
aktiv
AIRBAG_FAHRER
aktiv
AIRBAG_BEIFAHRER
aktiv SIDEBAG_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
SIDEBAG_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv KOPFBAG_FAHRER (This is the head airbag that runs the length of the car)
aktiv
KOPFBAG_BEIFAHRER (This is the head airbag that runs the length of the car)
aktiv
BEIFAHRERBAG_STUFE2
aktiv
FAHRERBAG_STUFE2
aktiv
SBR_FAHRER
nicht_aktiv
SBR_BEIFAHRER
nicht_aktiv
MRSA_TUERE
aktiv
THORAX_AB_IM_OFFSETCRASH
nicht_aktiv
NHTSA_EDR
aktiv
No codes, no mess, no soldering. This just worked.
Oof. That is a total of six airbag warnings. Post NCS Expert SUCCESS! Gut.
Last edited by scotty_r56s; 08-13-2020 at 09:02 AM.
Reason: Added two more that needed to be cleared.
There are posts on NAM on coding using the NCSExpert. I am sure someone would appreciate you posting that code in one of those places (or linking to your post here). This might be a good place:
There are posts on NAM on coding using the NCSExpert. I am sure someone would appreciate you posting that code in one of those places (or linking to your post here). This might be a good place:
I think there are a couple of more places that cover NCSExppet programming. Not sure if one is better than the other.
Anyway, great work...
You’re right. I had to do a lot of searching to get this all sorted out. Once the seats and cage are 100% in, I’m going to type out a DIY for it.
Started with some weight loss. The sound dampening material comes out pretty quick with a heat gun, but I’m not completely convinced that it is worth removing. It is very lightweight. However, there is a mat the goes between the firewall ad the carpet that was worth a few pounds at least.
I’m still working out the details on the floorboards and removing the OEM seat supports.
I removed the rear support and will probably leave the front support until the full cage goes in next year. With the current supports the OMP seats feel too high, I figure at 6'3" I can use all of the extra head room I can get.
06-21-2020, 06:46 PM
