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 Posted April 19th, 2008 at 12:46PM
Posted April 16th, 2008 at 7:14AM
Went to the first autocross of the season last Sunday and nabbed 4th place out of a Street Mod field of 10. I was 2.5 seconds off of first and 1 second off of third, which was a similarly prepped MINI running RA1s. I picked up a set of Azenis, which have proven to be very nice, grippy tires. (And you’ve got to love the tread pattern on them.)
My times listed on the website are a little off (the first run, for instance, was not supposed to count as I got a re-run.):
77.442+OFF
63.882
62.780
60.889
I could have broken 60 if I had a few more runs. As is, I received three re-runs though, so I certainly can’t complain. That 4th place was good for a trophy, but I didn’t stick around since I didn’t realize my last run was that strong. Plus it was a long drive home and I was beat.
But even more exciting than the first autocross, is the fact that I have a set of Kumho V710s coming to me in the mail. They’re 215/40/16 tires which I’ll be mounting to my Kosei K1 wheels. I’m excited as these are my first set of r-comps, and should help me become a wee bit more competitive in SM. They’re used, but only barely scrubbed in, and have a pretty recent production date, so they’re probably fresher than if I ordered new from Tire Rack.
My next priority is getting an alignment before I blow through the Azenis. I’ve found a place nearby that should be just the ticket. Stay tuned, ladies and gents.
Posted April 3rd, 2008 at 6:35PM
This news is three weeks late, but it’s a big upgrade for the MINI so I can’t possibly skip it. I took the suspension to the next level with BC Racing BR series coilovers. Wee!
Before, I was running lowering springs, Koni Yellows, and front Helix/RDR camber plates. The coilovers replace all of that, and I’ve sold the springs and camber plates (still trying to find a buyer for the Yellows at this point).
For their price, the BC coilovers are a tremendous deal. You get integrated camber plates, 30-way adjustable dampening / rebound, flexible rear adjusters to adjust dampening without removing them from the car, and height adjustment independent of travel. I replaced the front springs that came with the BCs with some Skunk2s, and am now running linear 2.5″ ID 6kg springs at all four corners.
The install went smoothly. I had to cut 2″ holes above each rear coilover for the flexible adjusters, and now I can adjust dampening through the rear cubbies.
So how are they? Pretty flipping sweet. The dampening rates are quality and the 6kg springs are livable on the street. The range from softest to firmest is very wide and being able to quickly adjust will be a godsend once autocross starts up. The only drawback is, as a few others have mentioned, that they sometimes feel a bit “bouncy” over undulating pavement. With three or four people in the car, however, the ride is smoother than ever.
They feel a lot better and I bet they net a significant performance gain.
One big reason for both the comfort and performance improvements is because I finally have some suspension travel back. MINI Coopers are suspension travel-impaired stock, and throwing lowering springs worsens things.
I need to get some 5mm spacers for my Kosei wheels to clear the coilover tubes (slightly wider diameter than stock), and I’ll probably spring for a stud kit too for easier wheel changes.
But for now, here are pictures with my 15″ steelies and bald Blizzaks!
Posted January 26th, 2008 at 3:28PM
Earlier this month, I installed a new serpentine belt (NAPA #060535) to ensure I had that last Nth of performance that a slipping belt causes you to loose, and changed my injectors from the stock 340cc units to up-rated 380cc ones. Why?
In preparation for being tuned by the master, Jan Brueggemann from Revolution Mini Works. He came for a week-long tuning session at Helix Minisports in Philadelphia. I was scheduled for Tuesday the 22nd.
We rushed down (it’s a 4.5hr trip to Philly), ate some food, waited, and then my car was strapped on the dyno. The wonky alignment caused the car to act dangerous on the dyno, but dialing back the camber (and going from toe out to toe in) solved that problem. The car pulled strong numbers right off the bat, but the dyno kept “creeping down” and the numbers got worse, even with the tune. After countless pulls and probably close to three hours on the dyno, going back and forth from stock to tuned maps, Jan was finally happy with the results. He made sure they were repeatable and safe.
With the new-found power comes a revolutionary level of refinement and silky smoothness. MINI left a lot on the table with their stock tuning, and with the modifications it was a bear to drive smoothly. This tune brought refinement, AND made DSC (traction control) less intrusive.
It turns out the car was running lean when cold. I was surprised, considering how rich it ran the rest of the time. The car is also mercifully getting better gas mileage, which plummeted for the week that I had the injectors installed but no tune. I averaged 24.6 mpg going down at an average of 80mph. It was 29 mpg coming back at the same speed. I should be doing consistent 30s come summertime again.
Where are the dyno plots, you ask? Why, right here! Notice the 15-20 lb-tq gain down low, and the 15 whp gain up high. The “area under the curve” is expressed as the averages on the lower right-hand corner. Run 2 is before and run 1 is after. The gains are great. MINIs never used to hit 200whp without serious work like a head – and this is all on an inertia-type Mustang dyno, not some seedily optimistic dynojet. I am quite satisfied power-wise for the time being.
(Click to make bigger.)
Posted December 27th, 2007 at 7:15PM
News flash: I’m still in love with my car.
Since installing new shocks and springs (see previous post in the motoring category), I had this really infuriating grinding noise coming from the rear-end. It sounded like metal on metal, like the entire subframe was about to drop off as I motored down the highway. But I drove it anyway, and nothing ever fell off. (I checked and retightened all related bolts and nuts, so I wasn’t quite as reckless as it sounds.)
Today I set about to figure out what the hell the sound was, because it got louder with the colder weather. I went about disassembling the suspension, step by step, isolating the noise. Removing the strut did nothing, so next up was the sway bar. And bingo, it turned out to be the sway bar bushings. Now I had expected these to need re-lubing eventually. What I didn’t expect was for it to sound so atrocious. The bushings are polyurethane, and this noise definitely sounded like metal on metal.
Anyway, a quick stop at NAPA to pick up some lube, and the rest of the day spent disassembling / reassembling, and I’m good to go. The suspension is once again quiet, and the car once again feels like a solid German automobile. (Not a Korean econobox.)
I’ve got some miscellaneous photos on my camera, but I’ll need to go to a wifi spot to upload them to Flickr. Some time.
Posted June 7th, 2007 at 11:59AM
29,879 miles in a year. I picked up the MINI on June 7th of last year.
That’s 84 miles a day…
and 2490 miles a month.
Not terrible, but I didn’t quite make it to 30k. It’s become a bit harder to live with day-to-day, with the harsher ride, loud control arms, and loud intake / exhaust. But it’s still a sublime drive.
Posted May 7th, 2007 at 4:25PM
Yesterday’s autocross was a lot of fun. Glen region is small, there were only 41 drivers. I placed 2nd out of 4 in SM with the following times:
48.993
47.911+1
56.519
48.497
46.901
56.300
I don’t have any pictures right now, but there was a photographer there so some photos ought to appear sometime soon. A Honda Prelude beat me, by .14 seconds. The two 56 second times, I nearly missed a gate and had to back up. (And the second time, I completely stalled it!). I could have improved. Oh well. I was 11th fastest, not including the karts. I’m in good company.
I got some numbers!
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