That would be my question as well. I'm like you, one of the original "Pilo spec" buyers. PM'd Megan Racing...

Repalcements or a refund either is welcome.

 

i would just like a few updates every now and then. i trust their working on them though. i still like the megans alot. but that could just be my inexperience. to have them not bottom out would be even better, excelent actually.

 

We are going to be shipping out new springs as soon as we get them in. They are 150mm tall and have a rate of 8kg/mm. You will need to preload them to 140-135mm.

They are gonna be really high in the front, that's the current issue. We can't just shorten the shock bodies because they won't have any clearance at the top, you will run out of space between the spring perches and lower bracket. We were thinking of chopping down the lower bracket, but we can't do that because the sway bar link is already at the very top.

The 8Kg isn't too harsh and won't throw off the tuning of the suspension. The absolute lowest spring we have is a 5kg, so we pair it with the shocks which are designed with the 6kg tuning. So when we adapted the 8kg springs, they were still within the range of the shocks.

The ride is not too stiff at all. I've been running with this for about two weeks now and I prefer them much more than the 5kg springs.

We have seen competitors use 9kg and stiffer spring rates. I sent MEB the new springs and am patiently awaiting his results.

Also, you will have to chop your Bump stops down from 3-Sections to one. This gives you 15+mm more of suspension travel and still protects your vehicle from impact.

 

Hi Steve and all,

I will hopefully have a chance to install these Friday morning before I leave for Minniapolis for 5 days (any members there?). I'll give the car a quick ride Friday morning and post back. I'll post back again towards the end of next week after driving on these for a couple hundred miles.

Steve - thanks again for sending these out. Sorry I didn't respond to your call, my heads' been up my butt lately. I would have installed these last night, but then it's dark and the install becomes rushed.

A thought to keep in mind here; these dampers are adjustable and as such can and should be used to adjust for understeer/oversteer by controlling differen roll rates front to rear. The point I'm trying to make is that I can very easily dial in lots of understeer with a heavier spring rate out back. The opposite is true too; any additional understeer from these new springs can be dialed out by adjusting the dampers...and sway bar.

My car is extremely neutral at the moment. So I'll also let you all know what adjustments I had to make to retain that balance.

Michael

 

Will chopping the bump stops down have any affect other than adding travel?

 

Thanks for the update Steve...how do I get on the formal replacement list? I've PM'd you but that was a while ago. Do you need proof of purchase from Pilo? Do I need to send back anything?

Thanks,
Sid

 

No, and yes. These add valuable travel, but in theory a smaller bumpstop is less resilient during impact.

 

Naw, I'll just get it started when I get the springs in.

 

Thanks Steve

 

Twas a pain in the ars to get all the old stuff out and back in - rust and dirt etc.

Anyway. I cut 1/3 off the bottom of each bumpstop off. The distance between the upper and lower perch that defines spring length is set at 5 5/8" and from the top of the lower perch ( not including the black isolator) to the bottom of the lower lock ring is 1 7/8". This gave me a ride height really close to what I had before. I set damping up front at 13 from full hard and the rears - which are several months old - at 11 from full hard.

The car understeers more than before - well duh - bot not annoyingly so. I'll try a slightly harder setting in the rear for my drive to the airport. I'll out of town for 6 days, so I'll report back about some other adjustments inlcuding the swaybar.

No opportunity to bottom out yet, but I figure I have another inch of travel.

The ride is not worse than before, by the way...it actually feels better???

The springs are identical in length to the old ones and longer springs will not matter. The lengths above do.

Unfortunately all my stuff is coming off the car really soon - new car.

I would like to thank steve for his involvement and hope you all continue to work to improve this setup. I will be selling my Megans if any one is interested - you'll need to purchase new rear cylinders at $75.00 each so all four are new.

Steve, thanks again!

Michael

 

rumor has it megan pulled out all together on their mini program.

anyone else hear that?

 

If I read this correctly, you still have another 1 7/8" for additional lowering below your present setup.....yes?

That's the best news I've heard so far!

Steve wrote that we would need to preload the springs to 135-140mm - looks like you set yours at about 140?

 

I said it, so yah. But it's not a definite thing.

I'm still trying to keep things going, but the owner has just been getting a lot of angry and negative emails which don't really accomplish anything other than make us not want to proceed with MC parts.

I want to resolve this suspension issue, and then after that I will try to get things moving again. But as of right now it's just up in the air.

 

I had it at 135mm, but then I went down to 140mm. The more pre-load you have on the springs the more they will bind. It's not a bad thing, it's just an annoying thing. At 140mm I have yet to Bottom out and I've hit some pot-holes that rival the Grand Canyon.

I am probably going to go to Neutral preload or maybe just 145mm, but none the less, I really like the ride now with the 8kg's. It feels more balanced and stable in a turn.

 

So with the new fix how much suspension travel is the front able to get? And how much front travel does a stock MCS get?

 

There is 3.25" of suspension travel on the front of an 06' MCS uncompressed.

There is 3.375" of suspenion travel on the front of a Megan Damper after the Bump-Stop has been cut down by two sections. This is how I am riding at the moment.

 

So with the Megans you get more travel. Is there any chance of the tire coming up and hitting the car if you bottom out? I hope you get this problem worked out. And I hope you don't pull out of the Mini business. The Megans seem to be the only kit that has all the featues I am looking for.

 

Steve, thanks for the update.

Do you have an estimated date of arrival for the new springs?

CynMini, that should not be an issue unless you plan on running 22"s and then you'll have bigger problems than the Megans bottoming out. Lol

And please keep us posted on Megan's decision to service, or not, the Mini community.

 

We are getting a shippment of suspension parts on Monday, I believe. So when those come in I BELIEVE the springs will be in there.

Does everyone know how and where to cut their bump stops? I cut mine down two sections and am only using the big fat section up at top. I used a box cutter and heated up the blade.. cut through it like butter.

 

...just an update. I drove back from the ariport today with little trouble, but on roads I never drive. So after a couple more days I'll get back here.

By the way, the bumpstops on the other set were totally torn apart about 1/3rd the way up the stop. These were obviously in contact with the dampers quite a bit.

I also cut nearly half the dust boot off as well.

 

I sometimes open my mouth out of frustration before I think things through. I was wrong about the comment I made about the stiffer springs. I learned from racing Motocross a long time ago that, often a stiffer spring can make the shock softer because the stiffer spring keeps the shock up in the softer part of the compression stroke instead of blowing through it.

I am gaining back faith in this system and I am looking really forward in trying them when all the problems are worked out!

 

Keep a few things in mind:

The dampers are adjustable and should be adjusted slightly to cope with the new spring

You can change front offset/track and this will effectively reduce the rate at the contact patch

The gain in suspension travel is HUGE. I just drove to work and the car feels cushy compared with the other setup. I'm very sure that my car was riding the bumpstops most of the time; the lack of control on and off the track points to this. The difference is night and day...I'm frustrated because I could not understand why I was having soooo much trouble at the track, especially under threshold braking. Here the car simply slammed into the stops and stayed there causing these long lurid slides into turns. Then the control simply got worse as the outside front rode its stop.

Everything feels way better, in spite of needing an alignment. I do wish the spring rates shared the same relationship as before, but this aspect of handling can be changed with swaybar settings, front track changes and dampinf adjustments.

Too bad the car is going

 

Megan - Does everyone know how and where to cut their bump stops? I cut mine down two sections and am only using the big fat section up at top. I used a box cutter and heated up the blade.. cut through it like butter.[/QUOTE]

steve,
i have no idea how to cut the bump stops and even if i did i have no where to do the work. i live in new york city and will probably have to drive out to long island, miss a day of work (rorh autowerks isnt open on the weekends) and pay to have the work done. i still have no idea how im going to get my hands on the springs as well. looking forward to fixing this problem. thanks for sticking with us thru this bump in the road.

 

yea how do we get our hands on these springs? are they in yet. cutting the bumpstops is easy if ur worried about that. as long as you have basic tools.

 

Springs are coming in. IMMEDIATELY once they do, I will have instructions on what I need for a replacement from you guys.