Does anyone have any experience on their R56 with rear holes in the trunk , panel area to access the adjustment ***** on your Koni's or other after market Shock Absorbers? I am looking for experiences and / or pictures of what you did. I am going to need to do something similar so that hopefully I can make on the fly adjustments without having to lift the car when at a motorsports event.

Thanks

David

 

Bump..also want to know

 

I did this on my R56. I didn't have any interior panels in the boot of my car (see link in signature if you want an idea of that) and drilled some holes in the body of the car. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the process I used.

First step is to obviously take the rear coilover out of the car. There is a big hole between the two bolt holes used to secure the shock tower to the car body. From here, you need to make a reference point for a pilot hole. I stuck a large straight allen key in the end of my KW coilover, where the adjuster is, painted the end of the key with red paint, and then pushed the coilover up as if I was about to secure it. Push it till it makes a mark on the inside of the car body. MAKE SURE you push it up at the same angle that it orients when it's connected to the lower trailing arm. It kind of sits at an angle.

Second, drill a pilot hole with a small drill bit. Now you can see from the interior where you'll need to drill it out larger. I used a very small hole saw to cut the metal out, deburred everything, and then used a bit of touch-up paint on the bare metal to make it look cleaner.

From this point, it's up to you how stock you want your interior to look. If you still want the trim pieces, you're going to have to get creative as to make it look clean. This is kind of the point where you're taking somewhat of a step off the deep end. If you don't do a good job, you'll have a hell of a time selling the car. I guess you could just remove the trim panel every time you want to adjust. However, in my experience whenever removing plastic panels is called for on the MINI, be prepared to have spare plastic fasteners at the ready since half of them usually explode upon removing them.

You might want to try something like this guy did from Grassroots, but instead have a small hole cut in the interior for the tool to drop down.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/for...r/62936/page1/

 

Some other words of wisdom from my experience with the MINI... be extremely careful removing and tightening the lower shock mount bolt that screws into the trailing arm. It is an idiotic cost save on BMWs part. It's a self-tapping bolt. I never experienced the pleasure, but those who kept removing and reinstalling the shock eventually just stripped out the aluminum threads. BMW specifies some crazy-high torque for steel-to-aluminum at somewhere around 100+ ft-lbs of tightening torque. I put mine back at 78ft-lbs, paint marked it, and just kept an eye on it. Worked fine after many years of track abuse.

There have been many track/auto-x junkies that have gotten burned by that bolt and had to heli-coil it. Any day you need to heli-coil, is a BAD day.

 

If you're not interested in drilling the holes it doesn't take long to adjust the rear shocks. I've discovered you don't have to remove the whole shock from the car. Jack up and support the rear of the car. Take an electric impact and a long extension and reach up from the bottom to get the two bolts securing the top shock mount to the car. Undo the upper shock mounts on both sides and then you can press down on the wheel hub with your foot and reach your hand in and adjust the top of the shock. It's not ideal but I can do it in about 15 minutes working fairly casually.

Drilling into the interior of the mini for shock adjustment wasn't actually legal in street (old stock) class until the end of this year. There was a tech bulletin posted in one of the fastracks towards the end of the season and then the rules updated in the latest 2015 version of the rule book.

I've seen some how-to guides with pictures posted on some of the other mini sites but now I can't find them.

 

Thanks for the replies. Ideally I would like to be able to make the adjustments from inside the cooper.

I am not tracking my car, and it would be nice to get the right settings with minimal effort.

Good tips so far!

I will be keeping my interior in the rear and try to make it look as factory as possible. It is challenging to install these extenders and keep it clean. My other I did not use the extenders and left the interior out until I got it dialed in.

Not having ripped out the interior or started yet (in process of completing heated seat retro, navi screen antiglare, and cravenspeed short shift) but maybe if nothing else I will install the extenders under the interior get it dialed in and if any adjustments later I will remove interior again