I hadn't thought too much about it - I had just assumed that because it was a non-performance enhancing modification that there wouldn't be any issue..

Can you guys confirm the plastic pin to pull out is that white one? I'm going to do a before and after alignment today and tomorrow. I got an alignment sheet from last year from the prev owner of the car, the alignment was kinda all over so hopefully that can be taken care of a little.

 

Just a reminder that the purpose of tech is not to determine if a car is legal for the class entered but rather whether or not it is safe.

3.3.3 Safety Inspections
All vehicles must pass safety inspection on the following points prior
to competing. Entry fees, if already paid, will be refunded if a car fails
to pass safety inspection. Safety inspection is not concerned with the
legality of a car.

 

well i scanned through the rulebook, couldn't quite find anything specifically allowing a defender, but I wonder if it could fall under:

13.2 BODYWORK
A. Accessories, gauges, indicators, lights and other appearance, comfort
and convenience modifications which have no effect on performance
and/or handling and do not materially reduce the weight of
the car are permitted.

As an accessory or convenience modification - a part strictly to prevent doming/mushrooming which has no effect on performance or handling? Is that a stretch?

 

Are the defenders even needed on a 2nd-gen MINI? I had thought those were primarily to address the strut top mushrooming problem that the 1st-gen MINIs had, and that the 2nd-gen cars were not prone to that.

You can try to argue them as an accessory, but I don't think you'd be successful. Since it reinforces one of the suspension mounting points, I think you'd lose on the "no effect on handling" argument.

 

the previous owner's dealer actually installed this part after the strut tower did dome due to a really bad pothole. i'd never even heard of this until i saw it on his (now my) car

 

IMHO it isn't legal, but if you ask your competitors I doubt anyone would object. That would be one heck of a weenie protest if it came to that.

So unless you are running National events I doubt it's worth worrying about.

 

Any word on whether these white things are the plastic pins guys? Near the lower right bolt in the first pic and the upper left one in the right? pull those out and then loosen bolts, push, tighten down?

 

lol I'll cross that bridge when I get there

 

I believe that's the pin.

http://www.minicooperspeed.com/minic...er-adjustment/

- andrew

 

Thanks. Hopefully the std's don't complicate the matter. Here goes my attempt at this...

 

Kyoo - Here is Charlie's HS build thread...it is a great read:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...kin-powah.html

And, yes, those white pins in the holes of the M7 plates are the ones you pull. Then loosen the 3 nuts on the top, jack the car up just enough to allow you to push the top of the strut towards the engine and while holding the strut in place, tighten one of the nuts. That is just so the strut doesn't move when you tighten the other two nuts. Remember you will need a wheel alignment for toe-in. If you can do it yourself, you will need to turn the tie rod in by 1/2 turn on each side. That will get it back to approximently the same place it was before you made the camber change. If you don't adjust the toe-in you will have too much toe-in and lose the advantage the camber change gave you.

As Charlie said...Great to have another MINI out there in the autocross world

 

If you are just running locals I wouldn't worry about the defenders. If you plan on trophying at a national, I would definitely take them off. I probably wouldn't protest on the grounds that the sunroof is enough of a handicap, but I don't speak for the class.

 

Thanks very much for the tips - this is my first crack at it and I'm finally getting a little more hands on so it will probably take a while, but I'll be sure to post pics. I actually purchased a lifetime alignment, so hopefully they will be able to take care of the toe. I've definitely seen Charlie's thread - it is a great read.


It is kind of a let's see how I do deal. I will be sure to take them off for nationals if I ever reach that stage. The sunroof is definitely a handicap, , but I hadn't actually considered the defenders to be any sort of performance booster - just don't want the strut tower tops to dome.


Thanks for the tips all:

 

As I mentioned earlier, I try to purchase lifetime alignments for all my cars. This is especially pertinent with the evo now that it's got coilovers, but I think the Mini can benefit from this as well - especially if I get adjustable dampers, etc soon (barring that they void the lifetime alignment for swapped dampers).

Here is the pre-adjusted alignment - not as bad as I thought it would be, and strangely a lot of camber in the right wheel. These are with 15"ers on winter tires though, so I should probably put on the other wheels when I go for the alignment.



It is still a little "all over the place" for me, but like I said - not as bad as I thought.

 

Finally jacked up the car and put it on stands today to get a good look at everything underneath - I'd say the car is fairly clean given its mileage - few spots of rust here and there, but more or less what I expected. Kind of funny how close the stands ended up being together. I'd say the chassis is fairly stiff too, a little stiffer than I expected.











Bolt regarded as NOT missing:







Trans with "lifetime" fluid sticker (pfft):




Drain and fill plugs:




Can't make heads or tails of where the oil is on this car...:

 

TLDR of the post above:

Ignore all I said except for the "missing" bolts in the trans - are they missing???

 

Step by step of how I did the free camber mod:

Disclaimer - I have strut tower defenders, but the procedure is the same, may just look different. Eventually I'm gonna have to take them off and clean everything though.. just didn't feel like it today.

(1) I got the car lifted up (previous post) and loosened the strut tower bolts.

(2) I actually did screw a screw into the plastic pin - I tried it the other way the second time and it basically wouldn't work.



I personally ended up tearing the pin the first time, which initially I panicked about:



Until I realized it just poked through:



^ This picture is pretty good for showing you where the position at least initially was.

(3) Push the entire strut assembly towards the center of the car. It moves surprisingly easily. As someone recommended, I began bolting down one side before letting go. I did not use a torque wrench, I just tightened a good amount and I'll retorque it later after the car's been driven around a little. I think especially in my case, the STD may help "equalize" the pressure on the strut tower.

After:




(4) Repeat for the other side. This time I screwed in the screw much less, and I used the backside of the hammer to pull the pin out - came out extremely easily this time.




*Something fairly important to note: with the wheel/strut assembly "hanging" this is as far as I could get:




**But using a jack to hold the wheel/strut assembly up, I was able to eke out a little more:






The process was fairly easy actually! I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out when I get the car realigned next week to compare the front camber. Honestly, like people said, doesn't seem like I'll get much - even a half a degree seems like a stretch looking at the pics, but we'll see how it comes out. I'm definitely gonna have to look for some rubber grommets to cover that hole though

 

Those camber numbers are about where mine are with the pins pulled! You might have gotten pretty lucky with your chassis.

 

Good to hear - though I see in your sig you've got Konis, I think I did read somewhere that you can't get as much with aftermarket dampers - maybe from you

Transmission "missing" bolt regarded as normal, not missing.

 

So on my window sticker I've got things like the sport package, which gives me Dynamic Stability Control, and under standard features there are ABS, CBC, EBD, TPM, and ASC for all season traction control. I'm assuming ASC is not the same as DTC?

Basically I just wanna know how to turn everything off - I've held the "DSC Off" button for 1 second, 3 second, 10 seconds - doesn't seem to matter, it looks like it always does the same thing?

 

Press and hold for 3 secs. Message in Tach says "DSC Off". The system is not fully disabled with the 1 second press, not does the Tach message appear. Note that I ordered a "Code 5DT - Dynamic Traction Control" on the Vehicle Inquiry Report when purchasing the car, so your system many not be identical.

 

It seems I have something different - I just wanna make sure I'm turning everything off:



btw I did auto-x on this mode accidentally at one point, which resulted in, at least what felt like, a power cut.

 

That's as off as its going to be on a car without DTC.

 

Great - thanks

 

Car runs normally and no loss of fluid any longer.