I am done! Just need to set the ride height and get everything set up right. I couldn't take it for a drive, the way it sits its too damn LOW! I had to use a second jack just to get the first jack out. Everything went back pretty easy (Well a lot easyer than it came off) and geting the holes cut for the camber plates went smoothe.

First to answer Eddie's questions. The front bar is the H-sport COMP front bar it's a 27mm bar, and you can get it HERE> http://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport...-sway-bar.html No it is not a good Idea to max out the camber plates on a daily driver, but I would like to have the option of being able to do it without having to drop the front struts. That is why I chose to cut the towers back a little. As for using a torch to loosen the bolts, Tried It, didn't work. I just couldn't get the leverage needed to bust the locktite loose. I think that the dealer replaced the bushings before I bought the car, and used a lot of the blue stuff. Droping the S/F was the only way in my case.

Now for the good stuff.
The H-sport front bar, not many people use them from what I hear, but I belive that a good suspension is more about balance than just doing the parts that give you the biggest bang for the buck.



Adjustability is key, The front bar can be adjusted soft or hard just like the rear.



Here is the size differance in the bushings, its not much bigger than the stock bar.



Here is the PowerFlex steering rack bushing, Not much use in it but it's cheap and nice to know its there.



Here is everything all put togeather the wrong way. The swaybar is backwards, Dont try stuffing it under the car this way like I did.



Here is what the holes in the top of the strut towers look like after they are trimmed so you can adjust them.



And everything is done!



Then I set the car ON THE GROUND. (Litterally) (Pay no attention to the bent rim, another one is on the way.)



Sittin on plastic. Awsome!



The rest of the pic's can speak for themselves.









This is eye level looking down on the car for me. (I'm 5'11")





Once everything is set the way I want, I will take it for a drive and tell yall what I think, but that's all for tonight.

 

WOw nice job on the strut tower.

Want to hear your opinon of the handling with the front bar. I am thinking of getting one even though there are some opinions on NAM that it will just return the understeer. I agree that it should be more about balance.

 

Well Eddie, I just got back from a LONGGG test drive, and can tell you that the front bar does return a little (not too much) understeer. It does balance out the car really well and kinda numbs the snappy feeling of the massive rear bar. I think that it will be best if left on the soft setting and bring the rear up to the middle hole. I will make that adjustment tomorrow if I get off work early again, along with play with the ride height some more. (now I have it a little too high again, need to drop 3/8 of an inch front, and 1 inch out back.)

I didn't get any new pics today, just drove the hell out of it. I can take curves like a bobslead and it just beggs for more. It feels like a totally different car, and is actually quicker than the driver again. The initial turn in is snappy and sharp to say the least, and it will hold any line you point the thing through. I can jump on the throttle way sooner mid corner and it holds without any hesitation. I did notice there is a small amount of bump steer on uneven pavement, but it is livable and it takes quite a bit to notice it. The steering feels tight and verry precice, almost a little twitchey, but everything needs to loosten up a bit. Not to mention that all the shock settings are set to where AST sets them at the factory, and there is quite a bit to play with yet. It's going to take time and a lot of miles to get everything dialed in but the payoff is well worth the money.

 

Looking good and sounding like the test drives are going well. Lots of fun.

After it settles have you decided how your setting up the alignment?

Guess we need to set up a lapping day out at HPR, one of the open Fridays or see if one of the groups it going to open up a Saturday lapping day to all.

Have you thought about going out to the RMVR Performance School (3 days) in May?

You get a dedicated instructor and classroom and track instruction.

Don

 

Thanks Don, I still have quite a bit to do, but going out to High Plains is deffinately on the list this summer. This weekend I am going to see if the guys at Peak Eurosport can squeese me in for an alignment. The settings I am after are 2.5 degrees front, 1.5 degrees rear, 0 toe all around, and as much caster as they can get in the front.

March 12-13 I need to be down at FT. CARSON for my drill weekend. Then I need to get ahold of some 10mm wheel spacers so I can install theese GIANT brakes. After that it's all little stuff that takes a while to do, untill it gets warm enough to start on the body and paint work.

 

looks good!

 

The only adjustability your set up has for caster is via the lower control arm bushings; it appears from the photos some increased caster has already been dialed-in. The bushing could be removed and reset (drop the subframe again), but the position it's in now is a fair compromise.

 

Drove the MINI to work today, and on the really rough roads in commerce city, the suspension is pretty stiff. It dosent bounce everywhere or follow every rut in the road like my SAMURAI, but it would be a little much for your average DD. Thankfully this is my weekend/ and occasional use car.

 

Awesome! I would love to do suspension mods but seeing as how my MINI is my DD (though I take the bus to school) I don't have the nerve to stiffen up the suspension. Maybe after law school.

 

Good to hear the rims are not that pricey. Cool if you make the old one into a table. You'll have to post pics, too.

1/2-1" clearance in the tire wells should suffice so long as you have the stiffness of the struts cranked up some. I'm guessing those have like 16 or 32 settings. A lower center of gravity always complements the suspension mods (I'm sure you know that).

I had a KW setup on my old '02 MCS, and the lowered setup of it was the best. When the struts wore out, I changed it out for a Dinan/Koni Stage 3 setup. But, it really sucked. It was more like stock. I have not done anything on my current '06 MCS yet. Still thinking about my options.

 

I just tried the rear bar on full hard, and WHOLLY (insert your choice of unaproved 4 letter word)!!! It is incredible, I have never driven anything short of a full blown racecar that is that precise and easy to controll. It's not even something I can attempt to explain, so I will just leave it at WHOLLY ****!!!

I went to the tire shop to get that bent rim swaped out, and normally I am against taking the whole car, I just take the wheel or whatever down in the back of the ZOOK, but I figgured what the hell and just drove down. When they pulled my car into the shop, I stoped hearing all the impact guns, so I looked out the window and EVERY tech in the building pluss the two managers was crowded around my car checking it out. It was actually kinda funny. What have you never seen a MINI before?

I will take some pics of my wheel table, when I can find a hub to bolt it to for the base. It would be nice if I had an old tire to throw on it, but I'm all out at the moment.

 

Oh I forgot, CHECKMATE, there are plenty of suspension mods out there that you can do and not increase the harshness of the ride. Proper bracing and a 19mm rear bar can go a long way with good tires and stock struts.

 

Thanks! Currently I have the M7 STB and RCB. I have ordered a Performance adjustable 22mm rear sway. It's forged and solid. I also plan to do the X-Brace at sometime or another.

 

The X-brace is one of those must have parts in my opinion. I have one and am verry pleased with it. People on here a while back where talking about how it reduses ground clearance too much, but I have never had any issues with that. It really ties up the front of the car, and IMHO this brace does more than the uppers combined.
So you are going with a 22mm solid bar, that shuld add a little twitch to the rear end. Set it to the softest hole and it will make you smile.

 

We don't have icy roads in San Diego (Downtown, not some outlying mountain village in SD County) nor do we get much rain (roughly 10" annually). The X-Brace is definitely my next mod after tune.

 

My $0.02....
The rear bar is inexpensive and easy install and a fantastic improvement without change ride. But I would differ on the next mod...My choice was the IE fixed camber plates. On a gen II they will give -1.6 deg camber and that is another HUGE improvement in the Mini handling. And without affecting ride. Both of those change complement each other and the end result is more than sum of the 2 (if that make any sense). I am basically staying with that even for the track as this is my DD.

 

Called in sick to work tomorrow (no I'm not really sick), I have an appointment at Peak Eurosport to get my alignment done at 11:00. Dont really want to wear my tires out prematurely.

If it dosent rain like they say its going to I am going up to Lookout MTN. to get some pics and see how she handles.

Good recomendation on the fixed plates Eddie, they do a great job on DD street cars.

 

The alignment is set. Ended up with 2.3 front and 1.5 rear with no toe, and it ran up Lookout MTN. faster than ever. I am really happy with this setup, minus the slight bump steer on really uneven pavement. I am going to be keeping the rear bar on full stiff, there wasn't any time that I could feel the back end trying to slide out, and I was hitting the hairpins up there at about 40mph. Now that's controll.

I also went down to TOBZ and he wants to redo the tune Sunday. This means quite a bit of work for me tonight and Saturday to get a few things done that I wanted to do before the next dyno session. Nothing major just moving the water meth nozzle, porting and polishing the I/C outlet horn, moving my boost gauge feed line, replacing some VAC lines with silicone hose, and regaping the plugs. Ah all in a days work. I only wish that working on my car could pay the bills!

Well if I want to get done, I better git at it!

 

Better edit your previous post, you wouldn't exactly be the first one losing his job over an online post

Anyway: love reading this

 

The boss man is ok with it. Just had to have that little technicality to get around the supervisor.

NOWHERE in town had silicone VAC line in stock so, I just picked up some reinforced rubber hose, it will work but I will upgrade to silicone later on. The barb fittings that I need to reroute my boost gauge pressure line where NOWHERE to be found, finally I got the right ones at O'riley's, but I had to go into the back and find them myself. Lucky me also found their hidden supply of spring type hose clamps (OEM style), the ones that if you ask for them they don't carry those because the screw down clamps (that don't hold ****) are so much better. So after finding a price that dosent exist in the computer I picked up as many as I could. The only thing that I didn't have problems wit finding or purchacing was the 6 pack of GUINNESS that it's going to take to get this done tonight!

Anyhow less talk more work!

 

Well no tuning tomorrow. I lost my place on the list to somebody else, no biggie though there is still plenty of stuff that needs done.

I got everything I set out to do done last night / thismorning. All the little leaks are stoped, and I am more than happy with the port job I did on the I/C horn. About that, I finished just in time, on my last cut the entire head and collet assembly snaped clean off my Dremmell tool! I only had a little clean up to do after that so I finished it by hand with 220 grit paper.

With the leaks fixed, the water meth nozzle moved, and the port work, I can feel a little more pull than before. The idle isn't near as bad as it was, and the fuel mapping is off by quite a bit now. Ah the process that never seems to end.

I will put some pic's up soon, maby tomorrow.

 

Good luck with the tuning, as usual your way to busy fixing and changing.

I like the fact you could hold it up on Lookout MTN road, that one is a beast. No cyclist?

Don

 

Nope, durring the middle of the day on weekdays, especially when the weather man says rain and snow, the bikers tend to stay at home.

Here's the pic's.

At the top of the mountian.





The I/C outlet horn (BEFORE) :notice the milled hole for the bypass valve with all the sharp edges, and the huge lump of un needed metal to cover a bolt that dosn't even come that far into the casting. The turbulance they must cause!



After the port work (before the final cleanup) Nice and smooth, no lump of casting, and a lot of metal taken out of around the bypass hole. You can also see the new location for the W/M nozzle, aimed almost directly into the intake manifold.


Closeup of the bypass valve area. I removed a quarter inch of casting covering a bolt, and just barely nicked the hole with it ground all the way out. Nothing that a dab of RTV on the tip of the bolt and some tefflon tape couldn't fix.


The new W/M location from the outside.


Remember the pic of the previous owner's mystery "T" fitting, and attempt at sealing it? This is how it shuld be done! My way dont leak! Also done in the pic, but not visible is the fuel pressure regulator line, I even clamped the ends just to make sure.


I thought I took some more engine bay shots but they arent showing up on my camera. I will take some more and post them up tomorrow.

 

Well with not much else to do, I guess its a good day to clean up the garage. Maby some small tinkering around.

 

Stunning thread and love your suspension mods. Can't wait to get my gp rear arms on and white line end links. Have you corner weighted your car?