^^^^^^^^^^^^

all you guys are talking about removing the rear line holding bracket. you gain less than .1" doing that.

to gain about .25," take off the lower lock nut and bottom the damper into the perch. i've already done that and would like about another .25" lowering. i don't have pictures; my rear gap was about .5" more than the front gap.

part of that is due to my removing over 100 lbs from the rear of the car. at ~333 lb/in per rear spring, this makes me ~.18" "higher" than stock. the eibach springs drop more in the rear than in the front, thus reducing the raked look.

 

here she is, 1 inch lower all around. alignment this monday. i'm already very happy....can't wait to see what getting rid of some of that negative camber in the rear is gonna do

 

Hmmmm

If it was bottomed that wouild still keep the piston in the safe range and still lock the system... I think a good idea ....

There is a shorter spring avaliable from BC that may work in the rear (used in a honda aplication) that is 30 mm shorter... I will be testing it ... caution however that this "could" move the piston to the danger point of "bottoming out"

 

Well I guess I'll be the first one. Looks real nice Ox! But doesn't the rear seem higher than the front. Is that just expected or can the front not go any lower? Thanks man and again...looks great

Steve

 

thanks vern.

i kept the same rear/front height difference as stock....so yes, the rear is about 7/8th's higher than the front. i didn't want to stray from the factory design...i thought it might introduce some undesired characteristics. but you can see that the rear "gap" is gone....i didn't want to lower it any further (i have another 1/2 inch i could drop if i really wanted to tuck it). just as others have said, i suspect i could lower the front about another 3/8".

i also think the slight "uphill" perspective i used on the pic might have something to do with it.

i passed an important test last night....took my wife and son to the movies in the mini last night....and neither complained about the ride (10 from full soft front and back).

 

For those that have removed the brake line bracket.....have you done anything to secure the brake lines or have you just let them sit free?

 

30 mm!!!!!

cor, that would be way, way too much - over an inch!!!! i would also be suspicious of that being too much of a shortening of the stroke, unless the spring is way stiffer to counter that.

if you've got dampers to burn and want to do a science experiment, ok, but please don't try that spring just for me......

 

I know 30 mm would be to much ... that is what I said and was concerned about ....
but you could (from disasembeling my show set) lower about 15mm and still not hit any interference... so as they are adjustable a 10mm lower looks to be a possability...

I have another trick that I am looking at...
After installing a set of the rear plate and pillowballs on "another" brand of coilovers that were designed to use the OEM top plates. I have noticed that the bushing / spacer above the spring top hat to the top plate is longer than needed.

If the 1 trick of removing the lock nut and bottoming the body in the mount was used WITH a different or modified bushing a drop of 1/2 " at the fender seems to be realistic.

I dont 100% like the idea of removing the lock nut as the adjustability of ride height is gone .. but the bushing may give 1/4 " and not change the locking system.

I need to play a bit..

I am not after a slam but the avaliable rear drop does seem to be something that you guys atre after .... so I am trying

 

Removing the bracket gave me more than that, but then I haven't been measuring things.

I think it's time for some to move onto another product if these aren't lowering enough, imho.

Rally, I repositioned the bracket onto the bottom sleeve. It doesn't fit as nicely but it's still doing its purpose.

 

and it was!! i definitely couldn't see the difference, and was shocked at the pre alignment difference. alignment set everything straight though.

yup

btw, my rear camber pre alignment was -3.0! i don't think the oem control arms would have been able to correct that much camber? getting the rear back to -1.25 decreased the drop by 1/8th inch!

present set up: 10 from full soft front and back. approx 7/8th's lower all around. aligned -1.75 front, -1.25 rear, 1/32 toe out in the front. extremely happy with this ride. not rough, handles on rails. first post coilovers autocross is in 2 weeks, then a track day 2 weeks after that. i couldn't be happier with the results thus far...and the invaluble help of this thread....still can't believe it's not a sticky.

 

This is the all time greatest post. I am finishing up the install on my BC coilovers mostly using this how-to as a guide. Biggest project I have done to date on any car. Couldn't have done it without the help here.

A couple of questions as I get to the end. First, to set negative camber up front I assume that I move the top in toward the center of the car. Is that right? I've managed to get my self all confused looking at it from both the top and the bottom.

Second, how long should I wait before getting an alignment? I figure that things will change for a little bit and want the alignment to not get out of whack after it's done.

 

Yes, for negative camber, you move the top inward towards the center of the car.

 

rally took care of #1. i waited about 2 weeks after install/desired ride height set prior to alignment. depending on what camber you wind up with after istall (you really can't tell, though you may easily see negative camber in the back), when you have the car aligned, it may alter the ride height. my latest set up is 1 1/4" lower all around. -2.0 front with 1/32"toe out. -1.5 rear with 0 toe. 20 from full soft in rear for track, 10 on the street. 17 from full soft in front for track, 8 on the street. absolutely love this set up!!! and i've fooled around with it so many times that it takes next to "no time" to make adjustments. my next project will be cutting the rear strut towers to install the extensions....blazing more unexplored (or at least unposted) cabrio territory

you have some very happy motoring awaiting you

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Now to finish up and see how she handles.

 

first post coilovers autocross is in 2 weeks, then a track day 2 weeks after that. i couldn't be happier with the results thus far...and the invaluble help of this thread....still can't believe it's not a sticky.[/quote]

any auto X news ???

 

my last autocross was a very technical course...i had a hard time going slow enough to post a good time. my 2nd run (with instructor on board) seemed great, and the istructor told me i did a great job ....except that i missed the first cone! . fortunately after that my expectations were lowered by the belief that it was all downhill after the first cone. anywho, my autocross times are limited by my inexperience, not the set up.

now on the track, the mini was a killer. so cool to pass s4's and even pulled on a new m3. the mini was a champ.....so now with all my mods, i've decided to punt on autocross (save for mini days) and focus on the track! i can not express how impressed i was at how controlled the mini perfomed under duress!

 

Finished up the install and went for a first spin. All I can say is "wow!" Much better than expected (I have low expectations due to many past experiences with overhyped products). This is my best mod by far. I can't believe how much of a difference the BC coilovers make. My MINI feels like it is running on rails now. Can't wait to see how it is after things are settled and more finely tuned.

 

I love my BC coil overs. Its been 6 mo. that I installed them & just love them. the ride is nicer than stock the stiffness is way better, I set them for twisty at front 12 from hard & on the rear 15 from hard. WoW is that fun. Normal every day I setting is 15 from hard in front & 17 in ther rear. this mod was the best thing I did to my mini so far. still need to lower the car but can't right now tires to wide need to go back to 205's instead of 235's.

 

4th in SM at the NE Divisionals this past weekend, which meant I was the fastest non-nationals caliber driver. Just missed a trophy finish, which isn't bad for having the wrong car for the class. The coilovers are fantastic.

 

Agreed, agreed, and ditto.

Moving the bracket buys you about a 1/3" of additional lowering capability. The BC's are not designed for the slammed crowd; they appear to be designed for 1.0-1.5" lower than stock setups.

I simply used a longer bolt to clamp the bracket to the lower sleeve, no big deal.

If I had any pull at BC, I'd ask for 1.5" more stroke and the ability to shorten the distance between mounting points by an additional 1.5". This would satisfy the whole gamut from road racers to slammed MINIs, all the while being more comfortable everywhere.

 

I did take the liberty of passing that info on to the importer ...

 

I appreciate it. More travel stroke is never a bad thing!

 

fyi, for future readers i edited my post about the track settings...most of you probably noticed that i mixed up hard with soft. should be all good now

 

so has anyone had any problems drilling the holes in the rear for the adjuster extensions?? That is some really think metal and the hole saw bits I have aren't doing anything to the metal. I'm in a jam now cuz my car is completely taken apart, its getting dark out and now I can't adjust my dampening without pulling the shocks out again. Any suggestions on what hole saw bit to use??? HELP!!

Steve

 

I'm not running the BC's (Koni yellows actually), but I did drill the rail for adjuster access. I used a 5/8" bit on my 1/2" drill and all is well. I don't use any adjuster cables obviously, but it's not hard at all to get at them from the access panel.