mini1 jhw390L accident damage repair

[mini1]

Since getting the car on the road end of 2006 thee are a lot of things i found i wasent happy with whilst driving it in 2007. After the miniworld action day (sep 07) i decided to take it off the road over winter and sort a few of thoses things out. I always think a picture speaks a thousand words, so rather than bore you all with loads of txr, i will uplaod pics with a few lines of description!!

First off, When i first built the car i fitted a Gripper LSD, but on the way to mitp 06 the diff pins bith broke of destroyed the F16WR gearbox (after 150miles of the car being on the road :cry: ) so i just chucked a F20 in there to fill the gap, so Gripper rebuilt the diff free of charge as they had the diff pins made from the wrong material (not their fault) so this needed to be fitted to my F18 WR box.


Gearbox cleaned
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics204.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics203.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/gearbox7.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/gearbox5.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/gearbox3.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/gearbox1.jpg

Old and new
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics209.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics208.jpg

New diff and new bearings
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics207.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics210.jpg

In there
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics010.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics013.jpg

And finally, painted. (colour coded to the car, of course!)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics024.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics021.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics018.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics019.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics025.jpg

[mininut]

Bloody hell mate, thats a bit shiney 8)

M.

[MINI_BOY_IAN]

looking good dude

i need me a f18 w/r my 16 c/w is far to short for distance driving :(

[mini1]

gearbox fitted in car

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics0551.jpg

Next on the job list was to do something about the fit of the front end. As time went on in got worse and worse.

From this (rear corner of bonnet)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics066.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/PaulandJemmaspics065.jpg

To this

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics037.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics038.jpg

So, after a bit of cutting, sanding, drilling and more cutting i managed to refit the front end (minus the engine at this point) getting the panel gaps at the A panels and the scuttle nice and even, and bracing the bonnet with a light frame made from 6mm od thinwall tube and attaching it using the bonnet pins. Also, the ITG air filter for the tb's used to rub against the bonnet and as it was exposed rain could have been a problem (although it never did) so a vent was required.
I still have contacts at Subaru from when i used to work there and a quick call was made. That night a genuine Impreza bonnet vent turned up! There was not enough room to mount it vent forwards, and i was worried about it lifting the bonnet at high speeds (the new Impreza STI vent lift their bonnets at 110mph and their bonnets are alloy!) so what chance would a carbon one have?
The vent was offered up to check for fit and looks.

Better!

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics029.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics030.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics031.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics039.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics044.jpg

[jiminwatford]

that looks great 8)

do you know, are the ratios the same on the f16 and 18 wide?

also what have been your experiences running 10"ers with the 2.0? i can't think of anyone who has actually done it?!?

[mini1]

F16 WR
1st - 3.55
2nd - 1.95
3rd - 1.28
4th - 0.89
5th - 0.71

Diff ratio 3.94

F18 WR
1st - 3.58
2nd - 1.87
3rd - 1.23
4th - 0.92
5th - 0.74

Diff ratio 3.74

Not a huge difference with the gear ratio's but the final drive is much better.

I find running on 10's ok, acceleration and grip are pretty good (with a lsd) but it does run out of steam at around 115mph as its on standard cams and revs are getting high! Cruises around 4000rpm which equates to around 70 mph. Im going to try 13" wheels in the next few weeks though

[mini1]

Also on the "to do" list was to sort out the pedals. I found the spacing too small with Sparco pedal extensions fitted, and the angle to high with the standard padals. I bought a stanard pedal box to practice on, and found to get the pedal gap and angle i wanted i would have to bend the pedal arms slightly and cut the foot plates off and make new ones, re welded at the correct angle.

Heres what i ended up with:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics009.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics007.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics002.jpg

While the engine was out, i had to fabricate a new alternator bracket as the previous one had snapped on the adjuster part which was down to fatigue as the alternator vibrated at certain revs. I increased the thickness of material from 3mm to 4 mm in places and added gussets to add strength.

End result

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/minipics026.jpg

[alexcrosse]

very very nice car mate, only person that got past me at castle combe when i had the R1 engine in the front. You really impressed me!

At the next show ill make sure i meet you

[mini1]

Hi Alex

Was this at c.combe this year or the year before? Have you got any pics of your car as I can have a look through my pics and see if your in any of mine.

Thanks for the comments :lol:

[alexcrosse]

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v236/122/70/509954329/n509954329_401236_5807.jpg

this is what it looked like with the R1 in

It was this year... well... last year (2008) Had to back off around lap 3-4 when the temp got to 130degrees, and the coolant started to run down my bulkhead (inside!).

Cheers!

Al

[matt]

Nice car mate. I remember seeing this at santa pod i think, which sounded very meatey.

How do you get on with the Gipper lsd? Does it pull badley in corners when giving throttle.

Also does it creek badley as i have just fitted one and when pushing my car around it was judering the wheels and making horrible sounds. Would like to hear your opinon on the Lsd?

[evolotion]

when pushing my car around it was judering the wheels and making horrible sounds.

normal for a plate diff with some preload mate, you get used to it.

[mini1]

Mine sounded so bad I thought the gearbox was going to fall out.......literally!

When I put the car on full lock and drive slowly it knocks very badly (only when hot) and I thought I was going to break something, so I called Tom Seal (gripper diff's) and he assured me this was perfectly normal. So my words to you are....dont worry!

If it breaks though...dont blame me! :lol:

Call tom if your worried, he's a top bloke and he loves Minis.

[mini1]

After last sundays little mishap, I needed to get my ass in gear and start repairing it as I have a track day booked in May and I need as much time behind the wheel as possible before then as I've only driven once with the power steering, new suspension and anti roll bar.

I started by removing whats left of the front end and stripping of the bits I can see are damaged or broken. This included the front end itself, exhaust manifold, front cross brace, headlamp bowl, radiator and a few other bits and pieces. Only thing I havent removed that is damaged is the O/S A panel.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild001.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild002.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild004.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild003.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild006.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild012.jpg

[mini1]

Bit of good news today. Front end arrived early thanks to ABS and first impressions look good. It seems a lot more sturdy than my old one and it looks big enough to allow me to trim it too a good fit.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild002.jpg

Also, found a pic of the accident scene on flickr, which is the only one I got (was'ent really in the picture taking mood at the time!) An old fella driving past asked if he could take a pic and I said yes, not really thinking too much about it. I asked what he wanted it for and he said he puts all his pics on flickr.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/RIMG0166.jpg

As promised, I took some pics of the steering arms (mini vs metro):

Mini arms (look at the angle of the track rod arm)

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild008.jpg

Much straighter with a metro arm as its longer which pushes the track rod arm back which will increase ackerman

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild009.jpg

The ackerman will not in that much though because the arms are near enough the same angle as mini arms. They also have an advantage of moving the track rod end lower which should improve bump steer:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild010.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild011.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild013.jpg

You can also see how bent the mini one is (caused by the impact)

To see if I'm correct about the bump steer, I made this today. Havent really tried it properly yet, but initial tests comfirm it works well, so far.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild004.jpg

[Marcus Nordblom]

Looking god Mate, really like the rims, are they new for the season?

Love your garage floor to! Must crack on and paint mine before i turns 65 :?

[wee man]

i reckon if you kept your foot in you could have cleared that hedge! :shock:

[214_si]

have u fitted the abs front yet??

whats the fit like?

also how are you gonna secure it by the a panels?

[mini13]

Very interested to see how well your bump steer gauge works! 8)

I am looking to build somthing similar to sort out the B steer on my mini subframe that has metro hubs.

[2lrMiniVan]

MINI1 u have PM

[mini1]

Managed to spend a good amount of time on the mini this weekend (the glorious sunshine here in Bristol today didnt make working on the car very easy today!) and managed to get the front on roughly aligned.

Started by removing the A panels:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild002-1.jpg

Front went on and off what felt like over 100 times over the weekend. Could not get the panel gap between the wing and bonnet right. Started off like this:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild006-1.jpg


Managed to get it to this stage:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild013-1.jpg

And then to this today:#

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild017.jpg

Panel to bolt the front onto:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild016-1.jpg

And finished today at this stage:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild007-1.jpg

[tommi_balls]

bet u wished u hadnt of crashed it lol looks great mate. nice work 8)

[MarkLD]

Looks like you making good progress, keep it up :D

[mini1]

Things seem to be going well for a change! Managed to get the front end lined up nice and the panel gaps equal. To do this meant adding around 10mm thick of fibrglass (P40) to the top edge of the bonnet and adding around the same amount to the bottom end of the bonnet, but behind the seam. This allowed me to crate a panel gap at the front whilst still keeping a return edge.

Tony at ABS motorsport assured me that the front end is made oversize and needs to trimmed to fit, this is very true especially when it meets up to the doors! When I tried to fit the doors the front end overhung them by around 1"!! This meant a lot of trimming to obtain a decent panel gap. Anyone who's fitted any fibreglass panels will agree with me in saying that this extra is a god send! I have never found a good way to add fibreglass to fibrglass panels to correct gaps/lines etc. and keep it reasonably strong.

Next step is to fit the front lip spoiler, cut out the headlamp holes and indicator holes, try and work out where the air intakes are going to go and then its ready for prep/paint.

Pics to follow....

[mini1]

Panel gaps finally acceptable

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild001-2.jpg

The green stuff on the top edge of the bonnet is fibrglass, so you can see how much I've had to add to bring the gaps together!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild002-2.jpg

Decided to have the air filter poking through the bonnet liek I had it first, as opposed to the WRX sccop.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild004-2.jpg

This front end seems to fit a lot better with no clearance issues as of yet, eg radiator clears by miles!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild008-2.jpg

Front splitter getting there...
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild006-2.jpg

[2lrMiniVan]

looking good :D

[mini1]

Planning for another good weekends worth of work on it this weekend, got to finish of making and fitting my tow eye, fit the exhaust back on and re fit the radiator and plumb it back in. Unfortunatly Im waiting on parts again, my wheel arch's havent turned up yet and have been promised my Toyo 888's next tuesday so hopefully they will go straight on but I think the rear wheel arch's wont give me enough clearance so I may need to fabricate a panel to clear the tyres and I think the front springs will rub so I may have to buy some shorter ones (more money!)

If all goes well all there is left is to paint the front end/wheel arch's, fit everything back up, fit new tyres and carry out a full suspension/steering gemoetry set up so hopefully it should handle a bit better on the track.

will upload a few more pics on Monday on how things went over the weekend

[2lrMiniVan]

hi m8 just fitted my protech shocks and they hit the tyre so had to mod the bottom bracket i have 8" coils as well and 13x7 wheels so yours will hit as well i should think
yours is looking good. :D

[mini1]

Yeah, I had to remake the bottom brackets, but with the Avo's i had the 8" springs fitted fine! They just touch on full droop with the Protech's but thats with 195/45/13's so they will defo rub with my new toyos (225/45/13). Here is a pic of my lower bracket:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsandrebuild011.jpg

Had quite a productive day on the mini today, got qutie a few odd jobs tied up like fitting a new horn, re-fitting the exhaust for the final time, same for the radiator and the plumbing and got the wheel arch's fitted as well, so happy with the progress.

Its all coming together more qucikly now as a few weeks ago it seemed like I was getting no-where and it was never going to get finished. A few pics for your interest:

Wheel arch's are made from a unbelievable material, not sure what it is but its good stuff! Hopefully I can make the paint that goes on them will be as flexable!

How they came! I thought a fat courier driver had sat on them!!

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild007-2.jpg

To this:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild005-2.jpg

To this:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild006-3.jpg

And fitted:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild013-2.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild008-3.jpg

Anti roll bar fitted: (I fitted this a few months ago but never uploaded any pics)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/whoopsrebuild003-2.jpg

Now all I got left to do is fit the new tyres and sort out any clearance issues, paint the new bits and set the suspension/steering up. Does'nt sound like much but I can see the tyres causing a lot of problems....I hope there worth it!

[mini1]

What a day!! My better half went to see her grandparents in Exeter today so that left me free for the whole day! I managed to get 12 hours solid on the car today and got loads done. Its really starting to come together now as the pics show.


New tyres at last, to be honest the pics dont show the size very well, they are huge!


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/lewismini.jpg

managed to spray the front this morning so gonna let it bake off over the weekend and fit it up on monday. Looks so much better now its all one colour.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/lewismini021.jpg

How I left it tonight. Doors on for the final time, rear wheel alignment sorted and rear wheels torqued up for the final time.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/lewismini020.jpg

[2lrMiniVan]

looks good u got a set of small springs then

[pritch]

that is one bad lookin mini, it would be terrifying looking at that in the rear view! (not that it would be there for long :lol: )
top job

[Rob H]

Looking good, really like the rear ARB, where did you get it? or is it a home made job?

[mini1]

Thanks Andy, those are my old springs that I had on at the end of last year. They are the right length (6") but too soft at 350lbs.

Thankyou Pritch, thats the sort of look I was after!

Rob.H: Its a KAD rear bar. It is listed on the price list on their site but without a picture. For me it was an Ebay bargin!

[chris alderman]

those tyres are the nuts, where did you get them from and if you dont mide how much were they, i am lookin around for some now, i was thinking of the yokahoma a048 ? i think. front end looks sweet where did you get that splitter from,

keep it up.

[mini1]

Thanks for the nice comments Chris.

The tyres are Toyo 888 225/45/13's and they were £90 + vat each.

The splitter is from ABS motorsport but I modified it to extend lower (can be seen in previous pics on this build).

[Tom]

Let's see it with the front on then! :D

[mini1]

As promised, pics of it painted.

To be honest, I was really unsure of the new splitter/front end etc and right up until saturday before it was painted I never really felt 100% about the look and was wondering if I'd made a huge mess of it all, but after seeing it on there all fitted up will the lights and the grill............................................. ...I Love it!!!
Hope you like:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/Castle%20combe%2027%2008%2008/paintedpics002.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/Castle%20combe%2027%2008%2008/paintedpics003.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/Castle%20combe%2027%2008%2008/paintedpics004.jpg

[Body Stylist]

looks great

[craig 1010cc]

Noice 8)

What have you done to mod the bonnet (or is it just the light) other than the cut out for the filters? I think you did the right thing by leaving the scooby scoop off this time.

[2lrMiniVan]

looks very good
sitting low enough :D

[Tango™]

wow :shock:

where you get the arches?

[evolotion]

oh wow!

[Tom]

Looks sweet, I love the splitter! 8)

[Richspec]

Looks well hard 8)


Where'd you get the door squares?

[Owen]

That looks fucking amazing dude! 8)

[matt]

I might have to get me a clubman front with one of those splitters. Roundnose for daily driving and clubman for weekends :lol: .

Looks the muts nuts, i like 8) .

[chris alderman]

that looks evil.,

[Mini Vlatko]

Wouldn't want to see that in my RWM!!!
Looks mean! :twisted:

[XEValver]

Well done Paul.. that is looking absolutely ACE! really mean! congrats on a speedy repair job too! 8)

[mini1]

Thanks for the great comments guys, I really appreciate it!. Things like that to me make it all worthwhile when building cars.

Right, to answer a few questions!:

Arch's: Proper Miglia ones.

Door squares: Mini Se7en club (had a stand at last years MITP)

Splitter: Modified ABS Motorsport one.

Hope that helps!

Just finished another 12 hour's on it today setting the steering/suspension settings and ended up with what I wanted:

Front:
Camber: 2 degrees neg
Castor: 6 degrees
S.A.I: 10 degrees
Toe: 0.5mm toe in

Rear:
Camber: 0.75 degree neg
Toe: 2mm toe in


Ride height: 250mm front, 270mm rear to sill edge.

Hopefully this should sort out my twitchyness and allow me to drive the car fast without the feeling that I'm going to lose control at any minute, which is what I had before. It literally felt on the ragged edge at any speed in any conditions. i think this was mainly due to the rear being set parallel so a bit of toe in and metro steering arms should help this loads. This is all in preperation for my first proper track day on the 23rd so I will report on how it felt after that.

[XEValver]

I know what you mean about it feeling 'on the edge'. Mine has always felt like that, although better now i've made a few tweaks here and there and since the power steering too.

Are you also running power steering as well as the metro steering arms? I found a pair of metro arms in the garage and am thinking about fitting them (i've also got power steering) so would like to know what its like.

If you could let us know how it drives with those settings that'd be great. I may have to try mine at those settings if its noticably better.

[mininut]

Looks mighty nice matey :shock:

M.

[mini1]

Joel: Yes, Im running a corsa c column with a controller. Will post up the results after the 23rd with (hopefully) some pics and vids of how it felt. I know its a bit of a treck for you, but your more than welcome to come and watch

http://www.16vminiclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16547

That offer is open to everyone btw!

[Andy_S]

That looks sooooooooooooooooooooo good 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

If the 185 Toyo's are anything to go by you'll be stuck to the road like glue with 225's ........... :!:

[mini1]

Well, had a great day on the track yesterday, with only a couple of small problems. Firstly, cooked the brakes on the last session of the morning (boiled the fluid, DOT 5.1) so had to bleed them on the lunch break but after that they were ok. I think the day high-lighted the weak link in the chain yesterday (the brakes) which is not really susprising I'm still running my KAD 4 pots on 7.9" discs that i had on my 10" wheel set-up. To be honest though, I think the main reason they failed was due to the high amount of hard braking due to the track layout and lack of cooling, secondly the dot 5.1 fluid is not the best quality either!

Second problem I had was the back end bouncing through corners when the tyres got upto temp. Not sure how to sort this yet, but will let everyone know if and when i do. This can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l57mS5oj9PE

In the next few months I will be looking to upgrade my brakes trying to stick to a small budget so if anyone has any reeomendations I would be greatful to hear them thanks.

[2lrMiniVan]

looked like fun wish i could have made it but a m8 had is stag do will come down next time u go maybe get my van done as well and have some fun. :)

[speedy]

hi there... your car looks great... :!:

on the vid it looks like your getting to much grip.
you could make the car a little harder or a little more neg.camber.

[mininut]

check your shocks arn't failing and also check bushing mate, that should sort it.

M.

[Andy_S]

Nice :D

That's a really clever idea getting someone to follow you on a track cos you can see how your car's behaving.

To me it looks like you are getting too much body roll & are getting pulled off the tyre contact patch of the outside rear. Try stiffer rear springs & more negative camber to rear. Do you use an ARB?

I just went over to Dot4 fluid cos Dot3 was marginal with Metro 4 pots. Looks like I need to rethink this though if you're boiling Dot5.1 :shock:

Reckon its between you & Richspec for the ballsiest looking Mini too. :twisted:

[craig 1010cc]

for a brake upgrade on a budget i think you'd be hard pressed to beat a set of metro vented 4 pots. With what you could get selling on your KAD's should cover all new kit with decent discs and pads.

[mini1]

Nice :D

That's a really clever idea getting someone to follow you on a track cos you can see how your car's behaving.

To me it looks like you are getting too much body roll & are getting pulled off the tyre contact patch of the outside rear. Try stiffer rear springs & more negative camber to rear. Do you use an ARB?

I just went over to Dot4 fluid cos Dot3 was marginal with Metro 4 pots. Looks like I need to rethink this though if you're boiling Dot5.1 :shock:

Reckon its between you & Richspec for the ballsiest looking Mini too. :twisted:

Was thinking about stiffening the rear, only using 100lbs springs at the mo, may go up to 150lbs perhaps. May also go upto 1 degree neg on the rear as the inside of the tyres look unused! Yes, i am using a rear ARB on it stiffest setting.

Thanks for the comment!

[Andy_S]

Did you swap the 350lb front springs for some 450lb / 500lbs?

I'm running 500lb fronts & 175lb rears for a very stiff ride, but with the ARB you probably don't need to be so stiff at the rear.

[Richspec]

it may be worth reading back through some old posts on suspension settings, coilover poundage etc I know it was discussed yonks ago, possibly by me. :wink:
I had the AMT road frame with 275??? pound front at 8 or 9" springs, rear shockers (avo's) and Minispares ARB at mid setting, handling was good on track.

I ain't got time right now to look it all up and can't remember the setting /poundages.

I'll have a look next week if you've not found anything by then.

Rich

[mini1]

I've done searches in the past about spring rates but iirc most of them are about front springs, but will have another look just in case.

Yes, i swapped the 350's for 450's, but then when i Fitted new tyres they fouled in them, so went for 500x6" which seem to work well on the front.

I thought 100lbs was ok on the rear with a ARB, but I'm tempted to try harder, maybe 150's or 175......

I stuck a post up in general as a poll to get some idea what people are running. When I get it sorted, I may make a table up consisting of what car/engine and f + r springs rates..

[mini1]

Most of you know the progress of the car over the last few weeks, but for those who dont..............the saga continues!

Firstly, torque steer! Since Ive had it back on the road, the torque steer has got considerably worse. I can only put this down to the new suspension/steering geometry I'm running and to combat this, I've just bought a corner weight gauge so will set these up and hopefully dial this down a bit

Secondly, the handling is still causing me a headache, its sooooo un-predricalbe. one time it will understeer, then oversteer with no warning or anything. To be honest, I've got NO cofidence in driving the car fast unless its on a airfield (colerne). Hopefully, again the corner weights and tyre pressures should help this.

Thirdly, the brakes! The new tyres have highlighted how the brakes need to be improved, but on a budget. I'm thinking of making a custom set-up using a pair of alloy bells from Rally design, a pair of corsa gsi discs (260mm) and a pair of wilwood calipers. This should be achievable for around £400 which is easier to swallow than the £1000+ that eveyone else wants for a similar spec set-up.

[Andy_S]

Metro 4 pots are working for me with the mintex 1144 pads, why not try the cheap & cheerful route first before spending such a big wad of pennies.

Also as your car is really twitchy maybe you should set your camber nearer to zero as your big low profile tyres should take care of contact patch without too much negative. You need to get the car uber stiff before that though.

Stiffer car + lower profile tyre = less negative camber required (especially at rear) cos the car doesn't lean over so much

Softer car + higher profile tyre = more negative camber cos the car leans over like the tower at Pizza.

At the weekend I found that dropping tyre pressures even further on the R888 improved lap times / handling. I ended up with 25psi front & 14psi rear on the 185/60 profile so was well chuffed.

Corner weights are deffo critical on our little machines with the big Vaux lump & AMT frames ........ what type of corner guage are you getting? Bathroom scales are a bit of a pain to work with, so if there's a simpler sensibly priced alternative I'd be pleased to get details.

Andy
_________

I just realised that in an earlier post I was saying more negative camber, but you already run 0.75 degs at rear so I think I was wrong to say more. :oops:

[Pooler70]

I ran metro 4 pots with mintex pads when my car was first on the road and do have to say they worked very well indeed. I thought I would upgrade to the KAD setup (4 pots) and I have to say the braking was definitely not as good. I have since sold the KAD's and gone for a custom brake setup using tarox 6 pots and 260mm discs. This wasnt cheap but I do have 100% braking confidence. Id definitely say try the metro 4 pots out and see what you think.

As for changing your springs etc let me know if your going to buy any as I have a few sets lying around here I can sell you for cheaper than buying new

[mini1]

Tried to set the corner weights yesterday morning but to be honest, I got in a right mucking fuddle!! Its a lot more difficult than I thought to get it right as every time you make an adjustment to one corner, it throws the other three off!

Read in a lot of places that drivers weight must be added before the weights are adjusted, so looking round the workshop I thought these would do.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/Chedderrun003.jpg



Took the rear wheels off to set the rear camber (1 degree neg) as the inner of the tyrs are still unworn:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/Chedderrun001.jpg



Spent most of mornig trying to get it right with the weight in there, but had no success, so tried it without and got them closer but ended up with it reading light on the left hand side, which now means it pulls to the left under acceleration

[2lrMiniVan]

hi m8 if u need that much water in there go on a diet lol
any luck with sorting out the brakes
also what make is your roll cage

cheers
Andy

[2lrMiniVan]

in this months mini mag/world nice feature

[craig 1010cc]

indeed, a darn good write up

[The Mighty Mallott]

Have you not tried adjusting your damper settings? it looks like the bounce is coming from the tyres and the suspension not damping, maybe too stiff? just a thought.

With the brakes, could you not make a bracket up to move your existing calipers out with larger discs??

[chris alderman]

really nice feature !!!!

[mini1]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. The bounce was caused by the dampers being set too hard and not being able to compress quickly enough, not sorted by using harder springs on the rear.

The mag feature came out really well, even if it is a bit out of date now as those pictures were taken over a year ago now!! Still, was worth the wait.

Cant't do anything to the brakes at the mo, as our 2nd child is due next month and we are moving house over the winter so I really cant afford a thing!!

[Rob H]

Taken at Combe yesterday:

http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc347/raheslop/Combe%2009/CastleCombeMiniDay09tweaked5.jpg

[mini1]

Thought I'd better do a bit of an update . . . . .

To start with, I'd like to say .. Oh Bugger!

Having not starting it since the end of september I trailored it down to work for a open day at S&B Automotive Acedemy, and gave it a wash and ran the engine up to temp. to clear out the cobwebs.

The following morning I started it up, pushed the clutch in and suddenely it developed a very loud clicking noise that was consistant with engine speed and it sounded like it was coming from the gearbox side of the engine. Just what I needed after decideing to do the track days, castle combe performance action day, and booking the MoT for the middle of March!


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG074.jpg


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG076.jpg


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG079.jpg


As you can see, the workshop looked great for the open day!

As soon as everyone had left, I decided to investigate further and diagnosed the noise was coming from the either the flywheel or clutch. . . .great!

So, engine had to come out

This was not all bad as it gives me a chance to replace a few things and sort out a few niggles which is much easier with the engnie out the way.

After 3 hours the engine and box were out and found the clutch was at fault. One of the drive straps had snapped and had jammed outwards and was rubbing against the bellhousing. So all in all, it could have been a lot worse!

How I left things today.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG082.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG083.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG084.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG086.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG087.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG088.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG089.jpg

Will keep you all updated with the progress!

[MiniMadGreg.]

Workshop looks great mate, glad it wasn't something to serious. Mini looks absolute stunning there.

[benji]

i spent along time at MITP looking at this car, in the end my dad had to drag me away. looks great here and even better in the flesh.

just out of curiosity what arches are those?

Ben

[mini1]

Thanks for the nice comments, glad you like it.

They are Miglia arches

[benji]

:)

Nice looking workshop too :)

Sierra Cosworth looks good, anything special under the bonnet? Also, were did you get your splitter from?

Ben

[MiniMadGreg.]

:)

nice looking workshop too :)

sierra cosworth looks good, anything special under the bonnet? Also, were did you get your splitter from?

Ben

Modified abs one.

[inverted_577]

God that workshop brings back memories

[mini1]

God that workshop brings back memories

I take it you went to S and B then?!! How long ago?

[mini1]

The front end rebuild is still on-going and I really need to get my ass in gear as the MoT is booked for the 27th of March and I still haven't got the engine back in yet!

The main delay was due to being supplied crap quality rose joints from Rally design, only 2 out the 8 had no free play at all, the rest were worse than what I took off the car! So after another week of searching the net for better ones at a decent price (good quality rose joints can easily be over £80 each, and I need 8 of them!) I found a small engineering supplies in Portishead than are distributors for Aurora bearing and rod ends, a good quality firm in America. Managed to haggle them down to under £25 each so picked them up yesterday. Now this left me waiting on the Suspension arms from the powder-coaters which I picked up today, so now all I've got left to do is build the front suspension back up making sure they are the same length.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG118.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG121.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG122.jpg

Also, as most of you know I have always been on the lookout to upgrade the front brakes on the Mini for a long time now, but due to money (or lack of it!) I have not been able to afford the £700+ that most places want!!
Yesterday, I managed to win a pair of new calipers on ebay, so I am now planning planning to use these and hopefully around 270mm discs.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG126.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG124.jpg

[2lrMiniVan]

nice 1 m8 where abouts did u get the powder coating done
well my mini will be taking a back seat again as im moving in may if all goes to plan.

[mini1]

I would tell you mate, but I would not bother as its not the best job tbh. It is already chipping off and all I've done is assemble the arms!

Good luck with the move mate, where are you off to? Staying in Bristol?

[2lrMiniVan]

no m8 devon just put up a post about it

[inverted_577]

I take it you went to S and B then?!! How long ago?

from 2004 -2007

[mini1]

I must of just missed you then, as I started in Aug 2007!

[inverted_577]

if you need powder coating you should try http://www.abcenamelling.co.uk/ there based in nailsea

[mini1]

Thanks for the link. TBH I did'nt really need to get anything done, a mate of mine said he could get it all done cheap (which it was!) but as I said previously, its all chipping off as it too brittle and I dont think its keyed properly. Never mind!

[Quadra]

Also, as most of you know I have always been on the lookout to upgrade the front brakes on the Mini for a long time now, but due to money (or lack of it!) I have not been able to afford the £700+ that most places want!!
Yesterday, I managed to win a pair of new calipers on ebay, so I am now planning planning to use these and hopefully around 270mm discs.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG126.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG124.jpg

Did those Wilwood superlites just fit directly onto the lugs of the mini hub, or did you have to make an adaptor. Raldes sell bells which can be adapted to fit and all sorts of different sized discs, although you probably already know this. This looks like a good option for a mini brake setup that has large discs rather than 8.4 inch ones. Let us know how you get on.

[mini1]

Did those Wilwood superlites just fit directly onto the lugs of the mini hub, or did you have to make an adaptor. Raldes sell bells which can be adapted to fit and all sorts of different sized discs, although you probably already know this. This looks like a good option for a mini brake setup that has large discs rather than 8.4 inch ones. Let us know how you get on.

Yep, they fit straight on, 3.5" mounting lugs. I have looked at the universal bells Rally design sell, but they are a bit steep on price tbh (over £60 each) and after that they need to be machined and drilled to suit.

Discs are a little on the steep side, if they are priced per disc as it does'nt say if the price if for 1 or 2 discs, but Im guessing its per disc.

I may be changing again soon for radial mounted calipers, so they may be up for sell if your interested.

[Quadra]

Yes I might be, obvious question is 'why the change to radial mount calipers?'

I know what you mean about the price of the bells and discs, but it would still work out cheaper than the equivalent from tarox or KAD.

[mini1]

Well, tbh the main reason is down to cost, and what I can afford. I was planning to uprate the brakes for as little money as possible for this year, then do them properly again next year, but I will prob loose money after selling all the various bits and pieces so I am toying with the idea of doing it properly this year and going big discs, alley bells and big 4 or 6 pot calipers, and I dont think the calipers I have just bought will be suitable for massvie discs (260mm +) but should be good for 240-250mm discs.

Will have hopefully made a decision in the next few weeks!

Yes, it will work out cheaper than the "big brake conversions" but even so, it may still be more than I can afford!

[mini1]

Well, after many weeks of very early mornings and lots of late nights, the mini turned a wheel under its own power for the first time since September 09 and now has a shiney new Mot certificate and tax disc. Happy days!

When I took it into work, I was intending to sort out a number plate light and give it a quick check over. I ended up replacing the clutch, all the rose joints on the front, totalling revising the front suspension geometry and sorting out a few little niggles that I could not be arsed to do before!

Gave it a quick wash and polish this morning before MoT and this is how it left the workshop. .

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG137.jpg

Now all I've got to do is decide what brakes to get and fit them!

[2lrMiniVan]

nice 1 m8
got my mot on wednesday :D

[Mini Vlatko]

love it!

[MiniMadGreg.]

OMG!! That is gorgeous.

[mini1]

Thanks for the comments guys. Its taken a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears (literally!!) to get it to this standard, but it has ALL been worth it!

Things won't stand still for long though, new things are planned for 2010, with the brakes being No.1 on the list.

[MiniMadGreg.]

Whatever you do, please don't change the look of it :).

[mini1]

Don't worry! There are no cosmetic changes planned! Unless I crash it again, which I hope will not happen!

Everything planned is all mechanical

[MiniMadGreg.]

Good, what's it pushing out then? BHP wise?

Best looking mini i've ever seen :).

[mini1]

Last rolling road showed 188bhp at the flywheel, 155bhp at the wheels. This is with one of my maps, and a very tired engine which is down on compression and breathing very heavy, so hopefully lots more to come!

[Mr Hatt]

Your car is brilliant, a testiment to your attention to detail and a credit to you but you realy need to find a cleaner workshop, what a dump, how can you work in that mess????
regards Steve

[mini1]

Your car is brilliant, a testiment to your attention to detail and a credit to you but you realy need to find a cleaner workshop, what a dump, how can you work in that mess????
regards Steve

Lol, you realise sarcasim is the lowest form of wit!! I would love to own this workshop, but this is one of the workshops where I work. I do however run this workshop and make sure its kept very clean and tidy and in return I get to use it whenever I want, which is nice!

I have to admit i am very anal when it comes to neatness and attention to detail and I can't let it lie when I know something looks messy, even when I know NO-ONE will ever see it!

[inverted_577]

who's head of light vehicle now and who else teaches light vehicle?

[mini1]

The only person you would know who is still there in LV is Paul Gay who is HOC, then myself, Harry, Rob and Nigel are all lecturers. Glenn left 3 years ago

[Mr Hatt]

Ah low forms of wit are my favourite kind, nothing anal about your care in the shop, I spent a number of years auditing and guiding independent workshops that applied to become Bosch Car Service centres, waste disposal, health and safety, duty of care, litigation risk etc,etc workshops are in great danger now if they do not work in this way, all credit to you, its a great example

[inverted_577]

The only person you would know who is still there in LV is Paul Gay who is HOC, then myself, Harry, Rob and Nigel are all lecturers. Glenn left 3 years ago

ah right, paul was my tutor so atleast i still know of one person there

[revingtosh]

Can you tell me what wheels and tyres and fitted to this beauty?

Ta

Mike

[tinxy]

car looked nice at coombe on sat mate couldnt see you about tho `

[mini1]

Sorry I missed you. Saturday never really went to plan for me tbh! I planned to take it out for 1 session to ensure that everything was ok with the car for the track day I got booked end of May.

so...........1st lap, ended up spinning on the 2nd corner due to stiff rear suspension and cold tyre which resulted in my boot lid coming off on the track, paint side down! Typical.

The next 6 or 7 laps went really well in fairness and the car handled brilliantly, really really pleased with that even ending up lapping some slower cars after only 6-7 laps!

The main problem came on the penultimate lap as I came to overtake 2 slower cars that were side by side. I thought there was enough room but there wasn't.... and ended up hooking a wheel on the grass which then pulled the whole car over on the grass (due to the LSD) at just under 100mph!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/25589_10150163144905005_824500004_1.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/25589_10150163144915005_824500004_1.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSCF0021.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/25589_10150163144920005_824500004_1.jpg

Which resulted in this damage:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG150.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG151.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/IMG152.jpg

And whats left of the front splitter . . .

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/untitled-1.jpg

Decent stuff starts around 4 mins . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YwVWe2UNSI&feature=player_embedded

[Mini Vlatko]

Not again..:(

[2lrMiniVan]

thats not good m8

[mini1]

Its not that bad tbh, and I'm not that worried about it! I built the car to be abused, not parked in my garage and polished once a week so a few "battle scars" can be expected!!

[Richspec]

Not designed for off roading them arms :)

[mini1]

Your not wrong there Rich!! I'm making some new ones from some EN19 grade steel so they should be a bit stronger.

[Mini Vlatko]

I built the car to be abused, not parked in my garage and polished once a week so a few "battle scars" can be expected!!

I must agree with this!
Same way thinking here and that is why I think my finish wont be show car class ;)

[2lrMiniVan]

Its not that bad tbh, and I'm not that worried about it! I built the car to be abused, not parked in my garage and polished once a
week so a few "battle scars" can be expected!!

lol spends more time in the garage having work done, after you drive off the road and into a grass bank then you go off road driving at combe lol.

[MattG]

but seriously ..should they have bent so easily ? ok no video to see how hard you hit anything , but was it bumpy on the grass ?

Matt

[Richspec]

but seriously ..should they have bent so easily ? ok no video to see how hard you hit anything , but was it bumpy on the grass ?

Matt

Bound to be rough, its just a field after all!

Did the tabs on the subframe bend too?

we all know the arms are a weak point;), but if you make them stronger then you're just passing the forces to somewhere else.
swings and roundabouts:p

[mini1]

I did think maybe I should make them the same spec as the AMT ones as it seems to be a bit of a built in designed weak point and by making them stronger then something else is more likely to bend/break but the main reason they bent is they are working as the bump stop.

The tabs on the subframe limit the upward travel as the rose joint comes in contact with them, so if you hit a big bump they will always take most of the shock impact. Maybe some bigger bump stops are in order . . . !!

[mini1]

but seriously ..should they have bent so easily ? ok no video to see how hard you hit anything , but was it bumpy on the grass ?

Matt

Yes Matt, it was a fairly big impact! The area of tarmac off the side of the circuit that I'm heading towards on the first big, I managed to clear with all four wheels! Italian Job stylee as someone said!

About half way down the page posted by DK:
http://passionford.com/forum/general-discussion/350136-action-day-at-combe-this-weekend-anyone-here-go.html

[Richspec]

#thinking out loud##
how about if you turned the tabbs on the frame through 90 deg and angled them more towards the front arm, you could also add some triangulation in there as well?

depends if you want to go the hassle! LOL!

[mini1]

I did also think that, as that would solve the problem full stop . . but . . . I dont think there is enough room on the subframe. May have another look though

[Andy_S]

PaulW has turned the upper tie bar bracket through 90 degs on his AMT frame ....... works no problem.

[mini1]

mmmmm, maybe there is enough room then! Have to scan through his pics now!

[mini1]

Few pics from the weekend. . .

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSC_0036.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSC_0060.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSC_0048.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSC_0073.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/jhw390l/DSC_0081.jpg

[2lrMiniVan]

looking good m8
back wheels off aswell lol

[jayare]

I take it the bottom one is after your rallycross bit :D

JR

[mini1]

The quickest damn lawnmower in the country!!

[MattG]

is it worth upgrading to 5/8 rose joints .. would make the arms beefy as well.

i assume you did some laps after they got bent but did not notice untill you got home...

[mini1]

I've got some EN19 16mm bar to make the new arms from, but I will turn them down to 1/2" for the threaded section. I will also turn the mounting lugs through 90 degrees to allow full travel without them hitting anything, which is the main cause of them bending.

The grasstrack lap was the penultimate lap of the session anyway so after that I limped the car round and came in as I did not know what damage was done.

[MattG]

very suprised that the brackets would be the cause of the rose joints stoping , i mean i would have thought the brackets would have just bent before the arm ?
but as you are going bigger on the bar it should be good.

shame to turn down the bar for smaller rose joints , but i guess you just bought them . as if you where modifing the bracket it would be simple to make them take bigger rose joints.

Matt

[mini1]

Yeah it is a shame, but you're right in saying I have just bought Aurora rose joints at £22 each. I have enough bar (5 foot to be exact) and the arms are 6" so I can always make some more!