Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Öhlins coilovers - for MINI

Upon requests for more info on these.....

First the opening shots:

Fully assembled and ready to install




The fronts come with a solid top-plate. Non adjustable on the camber, but there is good news. BC Racing camber plates fit perfectly. :: Please don't start on using middle of the road plates on these COs. They use the same type spherical bearing and are really a pretty decent setup. ::

I'll post addt'l pics if you want.

Now, on to the springs. Fronts use a 7" 6kg/mm Eibach linear-rate spring.
These are only load adjustable. As PGT has stated in the other thread, some may look at this as a <fail>, but it's really not. If i'm going out to drive hard, or track it, etc. I don't want it on the ground.

On to the rears. 8" 5kg/mm. You do have to use the stock rear top-hats and bushings, but that's ok. I have not had any problems.

As you can see, both front and rear have the damper adjusters on the bottom of the assemblies. A life saver on the rear. No drilling, yay!
Also, the rubber bottom shock cover thingy covers the adjustment knob. Both f and r are easy to find when you reach under there to do the adjusting.

Now about the avail and pricing. I got mine from DDMWorks. This set was/or is the first in the states, that we know of. This according to Öhlins NA.
I paid about, well, i'm not really sure. It was according to the exchange rate back then. The Öhlins site, actually Carrozzeria's (they build them for Öhlins) site lists them as Â¥299,250. If you exchange rate them at Â¥110, that works out to be ≈$2720 I don't think that was how much I paid, because the rate a was a little better (last summer).

I think I got to most of what was asked, but I'm sure that there will be lots o' questions. I'll try and answer them to the best of my ability.

Some addt'l pics that I ran across:



Proof that they are on a MINI

 

Here is a link to the Carrozzeria site that gives a little more info on the DFV setup.

It is in Japanese, but for those of us that like pictures, it is still informative.
Look about half to 2/3rds down the page.

Please see next post. It will be a write-up that I lifted off of, well, I can't remember now. I apologize to the writer in advance.

 

Again, I lifted it from a site - a while ago.

 

Ah, now see, you got camber plates.... and the threaded bodies..... :drool: :lol:
Just kidding. I thought about having the original plates machined and sourcing a pillow-ball, but found the BC ones instead.

No washers. I have had them off a few times (mainly when I was changing springs) and they were never loose. The cinch up very tight.

Nice custom pieces!

 

That's a :crazy: price for a some stamped steel.

I'll definitely look to get some of the poly bushings. Didn't even know of those.
It's ok for now, but will keep them on "the list".

Right now, i'm dealing with the end links rubbing/touching the trailing arms. The Alta bar that I have was one of the 1st produced after the 2 to 3 hole conversion. Gah, has it been that long? :lol: The side motion retainers allow it to move side to side a little too much. This was not an issue until I had to back off on the 22mm from the result of the increased front neg. camber.

 

A month? Already?

Yeah, I'm still enjoying them. Still waiting on parts to get in so I haven't been driving it the past couple weeks. After I do my clutch and flywheel (that I am still waiting on) , I am going to re-evaluate the spring values - again. They just seem a little soft.
In addition to, I found the orig. install sheets. Since they were in all Japanese, I didn't pay any attn. to them. After a closer look a few days ago, the springs are supposed to have some pre-load on them. So, I am going to take that into account when my re-eval. begins. Reset and try again.

Moving on. I agree there is little data about the DFV setup. The links (and inserted paragraph) at the top of the post are about it. The pics explain more than anything.

They are single adjustable (one knob). All on the bottom, thank goodness. No hole drilling.

I wish that I had taken some measurements before installing, but yes, I think that they are a little shorter than stock. The travel is very similar to stock, but I'm not sure exactly how close. Again, I should have taken some numbers.

The fronts come with a machined plate with spherical bearing in it. Not camber adjustable. I took some measurements from them and found an old Megan racing camber plate from way back and they matched. How cool, right? Right. I didn't want the red Megan plates, so I contacted BC's re-seller in FL, Import Image, and they sold me some plates. They are a little off on the color match, but.... they work.

The rears re-use the stock hardware, but I have had no issues. Like PGT said, the poly bushings should firm it up quite nicely.

 

That's what I was thinkin too.
I've got the 7kg for the fronts already, but need to get a pair of 6kg for the rear.
I do have a 22mm rear bar so that should work nicely.

:: beer mugs ::

 

More info for Ryan... & all

Take a look at the scanned sheets. As you can see, they are almost all in Japanese. As I do not read, nor speak it, these were disregarded/neglected very quickly. (Who needs the instructions, right?)

After a suggestion from someone that there should be some measurements on there, I dug them up and looked again.

There are measurements on page 5 and 6 that give length. It may not exactly what you looking for but, better than nothing.

Also, there were specs for spring pre-load. As the sheets were neglected, so were the pre-loads. When installed, they were set at, "keep the spring from moving/rattling" - maybe a couple mm's. After changing this on Sat., I took a spin to run-in the cam. Wow, cool. Definitely not as soft. More firm and solid.

I am going to re-evaluate the rates after taking some of the roads that I noticed everything being a little weird on.

 

Update on the pre-load situation. Still better. A lot more "composed", or "behaved".

I think the rates are ok where they are. Unless I get into some rough, hole laden asphalt, things are good.

Now, I have some questions for people that are smarter than me.

As you can put together in this thread and others, you know the gist of my susp. setup.

Alta 22mm rsb, 3 hole - in the softest. Stock front bar. Front camber plates. Rear LCAs. 6kg/mm, front and 5kg/mm, rear springs.
Now, while the car is lowered, it is not dropped. As stated in the literature attached, the avg lowering is 20mm front and 25mm rear. That is very close to what it is now - within a few mm.

Moving on. Here is what I am picking your brains about. After doing an alignment on the car, it feels a tad tail happy.
Here are the specs:
Front: -1.5 camber (both sides) and 0, to a breath of toe-in.
Rear: -1.1 camber and 16th of toe-in.

My thought is this, if I have this combo of spring rates and camber mixed together, do I really need a 22mm rear bar? Would it be better to step down to the Whiteline 20mm? Or even a 19mm? Should I just get used to the new feel and adjust my driving around it?

This MINI is on the street mainly, with a trip to the twisties fairly regular, wo we'll see where this goes. Thanks everyone.