So, I went over to Megan Racing today to have their R56 prototype coilovers installed. Cyrus, they're head tech/R&D guy/pro driver met with me to do the install. Everything fit fine but it looks like the strut bodies are too long. The front's not bad. As you can see in the pictures, it's decently low. I've got maybe .25" more to go down. The rear didn't lower enough. I think this, pictured way below, is as low as it goes. So they're going to order up some shorter strut bodies, front and rear.

As I said earlier, fitment was a piece of cake. The ride is smooth but not as smooth as stock (base MCS suspension). I think that's to be expected. There's a tiny hint of bounciness in the rebound but it's not annoying. No noise from the suspension on the initial shakedown cruise of an hour of LA/OC traffic.

More to come as I get more time on these puppies and, of course, updates to follow after the new shorter struts go in. Alignment and corner balance to occur some time after the set up is finalized... whenever that is.

EDIT: Admittedly, I'm a suspension noob. So, if you have questions, I'll do my best to answer or ask Megan for the answer. If you also have a request for me to test this set up in a specific way, let me know. Finally, if you're in the OC and want to meet up for a test ride, I'm game, too, if we can make the timing work.

Pics!


One front (r) and one rear (l) c/o.


Top of the front c/o.


Rear installed.


Front installed.


Rear Megan next to rear stock. Note that the Megan is wound all the way down. So the body will be shortened for round 2 of prototype testing.


The final results. Not too shabby. I wouldn't go lower in the front but would in the back. The final kit should allow a little more drop in the front and quite a bit more in the back. Not parked on a flat surface. I'm dumb.

 

Dang it. Can a Mod change my title to "Megan Racing R56 Coilover Prototypes"? My bad. Then delete this second post. Gracias.

 

Thanks for working with Megan on this, I look forward to offering them to NAM Members ASAP.

 

Hey ! I seen you up mulholland drive. The Mini is looking great man.

 

Yeep. I'm willingly offer up my car as the guinea pig for the good of the community. Haha.

It seemed like Megan had them sitting around waiting for a sucker like me to stroll by.

Really? Maybe not me? I don't think my car has ever been to Mulholland... I'm usually in the OC. LA is smelly.

 

When u install the rear coil. did you have to remove the rear inner quarter panels?

 

NOPE!

You can do it all from the exterior. But, the c/o adjustment is at the top of the strut so basically, I'm never adjusting it. Cyrus talked about flipping it so the adjustment was at the bottom but his concern was that struts set up like that aren't as durable. But, it's easier to change your settings. It's a trade off. What would ya'll rather have?

 

My first round of questions:

*How much total stroke?
*What kind of bumpstops and how big?
*Are the dampers still linear damping?
*They now come with rear mounting hats?
*What spring ID is used
*What spring rates are available?

*On your R56, please measure ride height from the apex of the wheel arch to the ground on all 4 corners [on level pavement please]. From the look of your car I'd guess somewhere in the range of 24.0" front and 24.4" rear. Let me know the specifics.

 

Give me a few days to work on that. But I'm on it...

 

Sorry for going dark for a few days on this. I'm going to hold off on the measurements and answers until next week. I'm getting the revision 2 prototypes installed this Friday and there's no sense in giving you data on an obsolete version.

 

No prob, better to get them right the first time than mess with re-work!

 

any news on how they fit? also do you know when they are expecting to release them, i sent them a email but no response yet

 

Hi all, new ones are in, but I've barely driven on them. Had a, uh, mishap that cracked my intercooler. I was leaking boost so I let the car sit for several days until I got the new i/c. Just put that in last night. I'll drive her out tomorrow and shoot some pics, take some measurements, etc. Thanks for your patience.

 

That's great news, thanks for the updates. I look forward to adding them to my site ASAP.

 

They look like my BC units- different anodising colours Don

 

from what i have read from other forums, mainly for subarus, megan is just a re branded bc coilover. bc is the original company out of Taiwan and there are many different brands that just stick their name on it and change the color

p.s. finally got a response from megan on a release date, they said within a month or 2 they will be releasing them. they said to check the front page of their website

 

Hi everyone,
Busy over here. Slowly getting around to sharing feedback.

Here are two pics for your enjoyment.

Dumped to the bottom of the coilovers. Pretty sure this is as low as it goes. If I'm wrong, I'll report back.


A little night time shot that I snapped last night.


Brief ride report:

At this height, that little lip that hangs off the bottom of my front bumper scrapes on everything. But the ride is relatively smooth and controlled. I'm coming from the base stock S suspension, which I felt was pretty firm to begin with, and this feels only marginally firmer.

 

All this is pretty preliminary and subject to change. I fear some of this may be lost in translation, too, since I'm not very technical when it comes to car suspension.

*How much total stroke?

*What kind of bumpstops and how big?

*Are the dampers still linear damping?

*They now come with rear mounting hats?

*What spring ID is used

*What spring rates are available?

*On your R56, please measure ride height from the apex of the wheel arch to the ground on all 4 corners [on level pavement please].

 

Thanks for the info! If they do have the damper stroke you think they do, that'll mean they'll have ~4" of wheel stroke front and rear, which is a bit more [and better] than the BC's for the R53.

By linear damping I did not mean the springs, though thanks for letting us know they springs are linear. My question was regarding the damping curves for the dampers themselves; rebound and compression damping can be plotted on a unit-damping vs. velocity graph; I'm just curious if they're linear in both compression and rebound just like the R53 Megan dampers. Stock dampers are mildly digressive, which means low speed damping is higher than high-speed damping. This offers improved ride quality while still having good transitional competence.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Ryan,
I'm going to have to get back to you on... uh... that. Haha.

Let me see what the Megan guys say.

 

 

Hey, that's my car! Here are a few more pics:







Oh, and Ry, sorry for never getting back. Life got in the way.

Now, all I need are some new wheels.