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Post by Horney on Feb 17, 2019 16:51:52 GMT
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Post by Horney on Mar 10, 2019 10:02:34 GMT
Been a couple of weeks, more things have happened. First up I tried to do a Sunstrip and failed miserably, too many curves in a Mini screen and I suck at applying this stuff. I think I'll have to enlist a local sign writers to do it properly. For now I've just gone for a Yoko sticker.  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr BlackFlagLabs sticker on the rump, because he sorts all my stickers out for me.  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr Next up coolant tank. This is a known week spot on these cars as they perish and crack as well as the caps failing. There's a few decent replacement tanks on the market from Airtec, canton etc but I've gone for the DaveFab one. It's new to the market but the Dave's have been knocking it out of the park with MX5 bits for a few years now plus this is designed and made in the UK. Really chuffed with it.  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr Finally I went to a massive "cruise" for the first time in years last night and it was quite amusing.  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr |
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Post by Horney on Mar 10, 2019 18:49:16 GMT
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Aaron
Chats A Bit
Posts: 207 
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Post by Aaron on Mar 12, 2019 19:26:51 GMT
This looks awesome, I had a Cooper S momentarily, great fun to drive. Seeing yours made me nip on to eBay to have a look what is about! Think I’m going to stick to looking for a 350z for the time being though.......maybe  Love the livery too. |
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Post by Horney on Mar 18, 2019 21:21:44 GMT
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Post by batou on Mar 19, 2019 12:50:13 GMT
How many driveshafts have you been through so far and what coilovers and setup (camber) are you running? I ask this because I know the drill...  ... and eventually fixed the problem  |
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Post by Horney on Mar 19, 2019 15:11:52 GMT
AP's with Project Silver Adjustable top mounts. 2 deg of neg camber. The car is too low really.
I'll be moving to BC RMs later in the year.
As the car is fully polly bushed I can feel them start to go before you can even check for play.
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Post by batou on Mar 20, 2019 12:35:52 GMT
AP's with Project Silver Adjustable top mounts. 2 deg of neg camber. The car is too low really. I'll be moving to BC RMs later in the year. As the car is fully polly bushed I can feel them start to go before you can even check for play. The car doesn't really look too low in the pictures, infact it looks standard JCW/GP ride height also its on 17s too which give you a bit of clearance so its odd your blowing driveshafts. Maybe your not low enough? Are AP's and/or BC RMs mono or twin tube? I remember I ran something like -2.8 to -3.2 on the fronts, with zero toe. Sadly I don't have the sheet but it seemed that the switch from Bilstien B14 (Monotube) to KW Clubsports (Twintube) and the combination of more negative camber on the front stopped the car eating driveshafts (I went through 3 or 4 sets) and it allowed for a low ride height. Mine was "fully poly'd" as well, all suspension points, gear and engine mounts, but not sure that has too much of a impact on the car breaking driveshafts. There were a lot of people when I had mine that ran much lower and didn't have driveshaft issues, but they were usually running twintube dampers and lots of negative camber. Mine was fairly modest: 
Kanjozoku JDM Style MINI Cooper S JCM (R53)As you can see below there was plenty of space left for the warning flap, I did also have a lower brace bar which very occasionally caught on a bad road that cambered off due to age/condition or sudden bumps:  |
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Aaron
Chats A Bit
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Post by Aaron on Mar 20, 2019 23:29:23 GMT
Cheers, they do get under your skin a bit! That they do! Sacked off a 350z and going to look at a very similar specced R53 to yours, a further coincidence it’s also grey and white haha |
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Post by Horney on Mar 21, 2019 7:38:43 GMT
Cheers, they do get under your skin a bit! That they do! Sacked off a 350z and going to look at a very similar specced R53 to yours, a further coincidence it’s also grey and white haha Oh god! Lol. Wanna bring it to Llandow in July for the trackday and join the other grey minis with the MX5s? Ha ha. |
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Post by Horney on Mar 21, 2019 7:45:07 GMT
Batou, thanks for the post. In answer to your questions.
The APs are monotube and prarrie canoee really. Inlybheight adjustable and seem to be designed for max lows. They were on it when I bought it.
The BC RMs are also Mono AFAIK bur are inverted damper with height and damping adjustment with pre load setting etc.
I’m actually on 16s so it’s lower than it looks from the side. The front lip catches on crests in the road!
Interesting you found more camber helped! I would have thought that put more strain on the CVs but maybe it helps straighten them out. Will need to look under the car at that.
The poly bushing doesn’t make the wear worse but it does mean I can feel the CVs start to vibrate through the wheel long before you can feel any play in the joint with the car on the ramp. A standard cars bushings will take care of all the NVH from that until they’re much more knackered.
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Post by batou on Mar 21, 2019 12:43:37 GMT
Batou, thanks for the post. In answer to your questions. The APs are monotube and prarrie canoee really. Inlybheight adjustable and seem to be designed for max lows. They were on it when I bought it. The BC RMs are also Mono AFAIK bur are inverted damper with height and damping adjustment with pre load setting etc. I’m actually on 16s so it’s lower than it looks from the side. The front lip catches on crests in the road! Interesting you found more camber helped! I would have thought that put more strain on the CVs but maybe it helps straighten them out. Will need to look under the car at that. The poly bushing doesn’t make the wear worse but it does mean I can feel the CVs start to vibrate through the wheel long before you can feel any play in the joint with the car on the ramp. A standard cars bushings will take care of all the NVH from that until they’re much more knackered. Ahh, they looked larger but that's probably the spoke design and lower profile tyres, I was going off the arch to tyre gap so that makes sense now. I went with bigger profile as the ride was improved somewhat and allowed a stiffer damper setup. The lip is pointless, I had mine cut off as I was sick of hearing it but fitter the lower brace to make up for it, plus if those APs are too soft you may be diving under braking too. I don't know much about BC RMs, but I do remember BC offering a very cheap option back in the day. I can highly recommend the KW Clubsports, they are as close as you'll get to their race dampers which are still useable on the road (not really great if its a daily though). Height, rebound and compression damping are all adjustable and they come with adjustable front top mounts. Not cheap though but they are built to last, the ones I had were used and had done over 30k miles and a lot of track days and the threads were like new. Yeah, I think when you go much lower the extra camber actually puts them in a better position, as I never had a single issue after fitting the clubsports and dialing in the camber. I get what your saying about the bushing now, I know the feeling and the noise when they are done. Sadly, when they start to vibrate they are usually running dry anyway so either way your putting new/working second hand ones in lol. The only thing I could attribute to the KWs helping was the fact that I noticed that, despite fitting stiffer springs and running them harder than the Bilsteins, was the ride was better on road, and things like potholes and big abrupt hits to the suspension were, still horrible, but not as bad as before so that shock wasn't transferred through the drive-train as much as previously. Speculation yes, but maybe the KW's, despite being twin tube had more internal room for the damper to deal with the bigger loads, we know monotubes are supposed to be superior when it comes to response as they are a single valve assembly so the pressure is dealt with better, so maybe the Bilsteins didn't have very large pistons or the KWs were simply a much superior damper, which is to be expected given the cost. I wish you the best of luck with the driveshafts, and I think I said it before, your brave, the Mini, whilst lovable and great to drive (I had mine for something like 6-7 years) is a complete c*** when it comes to figuring out its maintenance "quirks" once you start modifying them. There's a saying you've probably heard many times already... "Eff'ing Mini's" |
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Post by Horney on Apr 2, 2019 11:27:01 GMT
I took the MINI to Donington Park on Friday for the first track action of 2019. After the first time out at 9:30 I had an excessively smoking front drivers side brake, which seemed odd. On closer inspection the CV boot had split and it was CV grease that had been splattered everywhere that was burning off. Doh! A quick run to GSF in Derby and a replacement driveshaft was sourced. Massive thanks to my buddy Brian for giving me a hand swap it out allowing me to get back out in the afternoon.  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  LHP_1864 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  LHP_4361 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  LHP_4370 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  LHP_4472 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr Highlights video: Next up Curborough Sprint Circuit on April 10th. I need to fit new brakes pads before then as the DS2500s on the front are now dead, I've got some Carbotech XP10s to replace them. |
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Post by batou on Apr 2, 2019 14:16:19 GMT
NICE. Watching that back makes me wish I'd fitted the later facelift gearbox on mine, the gearing is just so much better and makes the car clearly feel and go quicker on that track. Thats the issue I was having with the CV's but often it was at the point where the CV joint was dead too. Maybe the Boots are too stretched or something given the angle of them? This happened to me at Brands, what a PITA. I ran Standard R56 Calipers and discs, Carbotech XP10's, Castrol SRF/Motul RBF660 fluid and Hel Braided lines. They generate a lot of heat so better fluid (I was running Performance Friction pads & Motul Dot5.1 prior) so made a really, really big difference as I was just getting fade on track before. My first trackday after the change and fitting an oil cooler I spent a solid 45 Mins on track without coming in, no brake fade at all (Snetterton). Highly recommend those pads in combination with good fluids. Also worth doing the GP/R56 Aluminium rear trailing arm and rear brake conversion to balance it out and save some unsprung weight...  R56 Rear Calipers & HEL Braided Lines _RGJ9673 |
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Post by Horney on Apr 14, 2019 17:36:27 GMT
Also worth doing the GP/R56 Aluminium rear trailing arm and rear brake conversion to balance it out and save some unsprung weight... They're on my shopping list for this winter.  Curborough was awesome fun, what a great little layout to hoon round. Quite hard to get it all right in one single run as they layout we were running was quite complex. Very easy to over shoot an apex. I fitted some new Carbotech XP10 front pads which were ace however the extra heat has murdered one of my discs. Anyway, enough rambling, you just want pics and videos:  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr A few other MINIS doing the day as well:  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr One mullered disc:  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr Onboard fastest lap run: Outside run shot by a friend: Such a great day, killed my ADO8Rs though and the MOT is booked in for Tuesday. Ne tyres ordered and as the car was immobile while I was sourcing some new discs I swapped the wheels over to a set of MG Hairpins I had. This was to keep it rolling while the proper wheels were getting the tyres fitted. I quite like the look!  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr New boots mounted to the SPARCOs and new front discs fitted:  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr  Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr Fingers crossed for the MOT. |
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Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
le sigh