That was very well said. I'd agree with what you have said. As I said, I am working on this kit to make a good kit for the money. I am working on Fit, and Function. They are building everything to the specifications that I provide. Spring Rate, Camber, Adjustability etc. This is your chance to let me know what you would want for a kit. Not many manufacturers allow this kind of input on a kit. But I want to make a kit that will satisfy your needs.

In regards to the DOT comment, did some research on the subject. There is no DOT approval on springs and such that I could find, as well as my manufacturer stating the same.

 

well if you want feed back, dampining adjustment for the rears possible with out removing the strut, ie like the koni.

 

Minipilo, the king of the rebadged product

How about coming up with something unique? I am not trying to bash you but you tend to announce a new product as if you were the designer/manufacturer and then they tend to turn out to be something currently made by someone else with your name on it.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

Your opinion is fine. As I am a small company, I can not manufacture every single items that I sell. What I do, and do not hide, is work with many companies that want to come out with products for the Mini Cooper. I send them CAD Drawings, Specifications, Ideas, Etc. Then with that the Manufacturer will produce a prototype product (to my specs) and I will then test it. I will then specify changes, Upgrades, and Problems. This can happen several times. Even though some one else may be manufacturing it. I am Designing , Testing, and Experimenting.

Many Companies Specialize in one thing. I bring these things together, use my knowledge of the Mini, and produce a product. I have many products that many other Mini Specialists only carry from other companies. Intake, Rear Stress Bar, Cylinder Head Upgrade, and things that I am working on Header, Exhaust, Oil Cooler, 04+ Mini Cooper Shifter, Coil Over Suspension, and more.

I hope that this answers your questions. If not, please send me a PM and we can discuss this further.

 

.... wondering if this post is all that nessasary. It seems to me that it could be one of those thoughts that would be fine kept to yourself, ..no?
Seems so many here feel they need to put all of our suppliers on the " watch out for this guy" list.
Sanddan, I think you could say this to just about every supplier here.

 

I will be riecieving the prototype on friday. I will get pictures and install this weekend.

Then the testing begins.

 

I got in the prototypes. They really look Trick. Some features not listed yet: There are 2 ways to adjust height, You can adjust the spring pre-load, or you can adjust the perch height. The Camber adjuster has lots of movement, but I have not installed to measure yet. I will post pictures once I get it installed and tested

 

ooooo any pretty pictures to show us eager buyers?

 

Are the Megans a Dual Perch setup?

 

"You can adjust the spring pre-load, or you can adjust the perch height."

how does that work?

 

I work in a market leading company in our segment. Slowly but surely, we're outsourcing more and more, and creating lower cost "captive" companies to make what we need. That is the nature of business today. Boing doesn't make the whole airplane, Ford doesn't make the whole car. Almost all manufacturing from raw materials is going to other nations, and companies in the US are becoming more of "system integrators". Why shoud a small shop cary the costs of flexible manufacturing equipement and NOT USE the capacity, vs, partnering, getting the benefit of the application space (mini specific knowledge) and the benefit of low cost of production of the general, high volume manufacturer? Following your lead, we'd get these at well over $3000 a unit, because the equipment would have to be paid for over many less units, so we just wouldn't have the option at all.



Dan, go for it! One thing you can learn from others like me, is that with some coil over set-ups, lowering the car any amount at all takes up a lot of suspension travel. If it's not too late, design them for stock (or close to it) range of motion at around a 3/4" drop, as people go lower, they'll go stiffer in spring and damping, so the loss of motion isn't a big deal.

Matt

 

this is what megan is copying:
http://www.tein.com/flexdamp.html
http://www.heeltoeauto.com/marketpla...cts/FLEX04.jpg

both the spring perch and one attach point are threaded onto a common sleeve. moving the attach point doesn't change the spring perch adjustment.

d2 does the same thing, but with an all aluminum body and attach plates
http://www.heeltoeauto.com/marketpla...adjustment.jpg

and yes, that means to adjust the lower mount, you have to disconnect the attachment to the car and rotate that whole lower housing around. a tech at tein said that unless i was a SERIOUS track guy, i'd never tell/need the difference between their flex style damper and the "normal" style ss coilover.

 

You can adjust the pre load by moving the bottom spring mount up and down. That will adjust the proload. The breat benefit to this is that the car at the lowest setting has the same ammount of travel as it does at it's highest setting.

Just so every one know's this suspension system is 100% designed by Pilo Racing and Megan Racing, off of our designs created off of the Factory Suspension. Please do not use the word "copied" as I take offense to that.

You can then adjust the shock / perch height. We are using a V1 shock that is threaded. But you can adjust it with out undoing your suspension. you need to remove your wheel, loosen the lock nut, then rotate the shock housing. I works very well.

The Camber adjustment you need to raise the front end, and loosen the 3 nuts on top. Then loosen the alen bolts. You can then slide the suspension in or out to pre marked adjustment notches. Then tighten every thing up.

Ride Quality is great. The soft setting passed the "Significant Other" test, and the stiffer setting handled really nice. I no longer bottom out as I did with the lowering springs and camber kit that I previously had. The ride is so much quieter as well.

There is plenty of height adjustment as well. From Heigher then stock (for winter) to way low for racing (Numbers will be released for the final version.

Fit was perfect on this prototype, Though there are some small changes that I am going to have done, just to perfect every thing.

I think that I have covered every thing that I can think of for now. If you have any specific questions, please let me know. This thread is for information. If you have any other issues, please PM me directly

 

bump stops?

 

There are 1.5" bump Stoprs preinstalled under the Shock Boot.

 

Yay! Of course, I just put in the JCW upgrade, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense to pull that out and put something else in now. But many other northerners will tahnk you for the ability to run stock height... higherthan stock is even better!

 

do you have any pics of the coilovers and especially the front springs?

 

I will post pictures in a day or so once I finish some more testing.

 

Here is a picture of the system

High Res

I'll post more in time, but I want to finish testing and stuff before I do a full release.

 

looks very nice dan... would the 1000 dollar price be still be there when production hit? what are the shock bodies made of... as some of us do live in areas where there are snow...

 

Dan, they look nice.

A couple of comments if I may.

1. Like the smaller dia front springs as we can now get more then -2.6 degree camber.
2. Concerned about the fact that the fronts don't look like they will set in the front hub deep enough.
3. Concerned that we that already have good camber plates will not be able to use these
4. Disappointed to see that rear adjustment is on the top of the piston as we just can't get to that to tune in track situations
5. If you are still in the tweaking phase then consider the relocation of the front drop link mounting tabs. Being that we will need adjustable drop links with these there are repeated reports that the lowering tends to bend the links due to increased angles. Consider putting this tab as far towards the rear of each strut to help this problem from occurring.

Otherwise, nice looking product and I look forward to hearing results.
Did you ever post spring rates? Are others available?

 

First, We are trying our best for a 1000 retail price.

1. I have mot measured the camber, but I know that there is alot of movement. I will measue in the near future.

2. They sit all the way down in the front hub. That is not an issue.

3. I will see if the work with aftermarket Camber Kits, though you will still have to buy it with the camber kit that It has.

4. the Shock we use does not have the option for lower adjustment. I am going to try to find a way to adjust from the top, if at all possible.

5. I will look into this suggestion.

 

they look nice

I would like to get some feedback on how these well hold on bumpy roads and aggressive auto-crossing, since the front spring length seems to be relatively short. What is the exact front spring length?

 

Could you reiterate what is involved with the dampening adjustment for front and rear, once the unit is on the car?

Also what is your time frame for release. My Wife's MINI arrives this week, and Bilstein PSS9's are about to be ordered, unless yours may be released shortly. I like the price, the spring rates, and the camber plates! What is warranty going to be incase the shocks blow out?

 

I have this one road that I would nnot drive on with my standard lowering springs. I would always bottom out, and it sounded horrible. I tok this suspension on that road, no bottoming out, and much quieter. I aim for some larger bumps, and again, no bottoming out. That was a major issue with the stock shocksand aftermarket springs for me. There is more travel on this coilover vs a lowering spring and stock shocks