Any possibility of a group buy? If so let us know and count me in.

What would be the rough install time needed? Is it easy to remove?

What is the rough estimate on weight?

 

Hey, what the heck is this cr*p!? Where's the hate??

 

oh, boy....cant wait to see the finished product.


is there anyway to get a raw unfinished one when they are produced?

 

By how much would it "compromise the strength"? Flatter tubing has several pros that may outway the cons.

Pros:
More Ground clearance
Less distrubance to the under car airflow
Greater market appeal?

Cons
Compromissed strength? (this may be a non issue with proper gusseting)
Increased cost?

 

Understood.

Now that this issue has reminded me of my dinged up bar I will be approaching it with a small cutoff wheel. I'll be nipping off a wee wedge of tubing. Parallel to the chassis.


Good luck guys

 

I'm in for the group buy! I also agree that a little foil sectioning would seem a good idea, especially as this must work in tension and compression, not torsion (I'd guess from the dimensions implied in the photos.)

 

If the price is reasonable and this product garners positive reviews, I'd def. consider the group buy.

mb

 

We may entertain a group buy, yup... seems like there's plenty of interest now!

Install time is literally about 10 minutes - it takes longer to jack up the car than it does to remove the 4 bolts and slap it in...

Rough estimate on weight is 5.5 pounds for the finished product...

 

Are you going to powdercoat it or paint it? It'll rust, otherwise...

 

I'll let Dr. Mike weigh in on this...

 

I hope that you were not offended, just trying to lend a helpful answer(prediction)

 

Hey this sounds great
How soon will the group buy be?

 

I was gonna say...

 

 

As soon as we get production pricing and a timeline, we'll post on a group buy... I'd expect we won't have production units in hand for 2-3 weeks.

 

This product keeps looking better and better. Thanks for being so thorough with the test fits. I'm sure a lot of us will be on the lookout for that group buy info.

 

Sounds good to me.

 

Any color options?

 

imma powdercoat it.

 

I'm loving the txwerks/M7 mutual adoration society going on in this thread. This is how MINIdom should ALWAYS be... friendly competition, always trying to make our cars BETTER. Nice work, guys.

Now.... when someone comes up with a way to actually MEASURE the relative benefits of these kinds of braces... (am I really the one saying this?)

Cause my rectopuckometer says that my USS works well... but it isn't cross-calibrated with other folks' rectopuckometers. And I'd be willing to bet there there is a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference between the two solutions, in terms of what they do for ride quality and handling. Won't be surprised if they're better in different ways vs. just one being stiffer than the other or whatever...

 

Ah, elliptical tubing (foil sections) would be SO cool - but the price of the tubing is much higher at the quantities we are starting with, and the fabrication costs go up a lot as well (it's much more troublesome to notch and mate foil sections instead of round tubing).

As for additional cross-linking on the brace, yes certainly, more bracing would result in a more rigid part. For this particular design (specifically the one shown as a 3d-CAD part) a cross link at the rear adds weight without adding enough stiffness for me to justify the increase in weight and cost. Still, it's something we can add as a "+1" design later if the demand is there.

 

Recto...pucko...meter? Cross-calibration? How does that happen? How much does it cost to do? Are you the same person afterwards?

Searching google for this descriptive term shows-
MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Project MSFITOY Part 2...[SIZE=-1]That stuff will recalibrate your rectopuckometer. Motor On, Paul -------------------- BlimeyCabrio's Blog at GoMotoring.com Blimey - 2006 MCSCa w/lotsa mods ...
www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104646&page=17 - 173k - Cached - Similar pages[/SIZE]

I think it will be a short time before it is listed in wikipedia under terms used for subjective evaluation MINI Cooper mods.

If we break down the bits of the term using wikipedia today-
"Recto"-
For the Filipino politician, see Claro M. Recto
The recto is the right-hand page of a folded sheet or bound item, such as a book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. It is a term of art in the binding, printing, and publishing industries, and can be applied more broadly to any field where physical documents are exchanged.

"Pucko"-
Pucko is a classic Swedish chocolate drink. It was created in 1954 by Arla Foods. It is currently manufactured by Cocio in Denmark.
Pucko is primarily available in 20 cl glass bottles with a screw top, but there is also a somewhat bigger bottle. Pucko is now also sold in cartons. The drink itself is also available in a few variants including a diet version.
While Pucko is sold in most Swedish shops that sells cold beverages, it has become especially associated with Hot dog vendors. To order a "dog with a Pucko" is a common cliche although it is not known how many Swedes actually prefer this combo.

"Meter"-
The metre (American English: meter) is a measure of length. It is the basic unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units (SI), used around the world for general and scientific purposes. Historically, the metre was defined by the French Academy of Sciences as the length between two marks on a platinum-iridium bar, which was designed to represent 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole through Paris. Today, it is defined by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures as the distance travelled by light in absolute vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

-----------------------

There can be different measures of stiffness before and after the brace is installed. You can measure deflection or lack of it. You can measure lap times or 0-60 or cornering g forces. Anything that allows you to go faster or feel more confident in hard manuevers is good. Anything (not too heavy) that helps to increase stiffness where there can be points of stress or fatigue is good.

 

Love it.

Pretty soon someone will figure out how to conjugate it.

Sounds so much more scientific than "butt dyno" methinks.

I guess technically it should be the sphinctopuckometer. But that just sounds gross.

 

+1...nice to see some positive competition here. We need that to push the envelope and make the products for our cars better, with options for all tastes and driving styles

This system looks promising. I would like to see a shot of it installed from under the car while on a lift...to give overall orientation. Seeing is believing for me, hehe.

Looking forward to Gnats impressions.

 

Ya'll waiting for my impression will have to wait for production models. I'm just going for a test fitting this week.