I have looked at JSC Speed a few times. Didn't know if someone in the mini community was the go to for them! Better call Jan! Thanks guys! An suggestions on Suspension setup (alignment) with camber plates and adj control arms?
Are building a pure track car with an unlimited budget? Or just making a damn nice daily driver for some random weekend events?
Do you have front camber plates or coilovers with camber adjustment and rear adjustable control arms? The best settings go beyond OEM adjustment ability.
The car is going to be a weekend fun car that I will drive to work when it is nice out. May see some track time as well. Just want a really fun car to drive on the street without eating my tires off and still able to rip my face off around corners! I have camber plates, coil-overs, front and rear sway bars, Powerflex bushings, all 3 Vibratechnics mounts, adjustable control arms, and soon the Cusco bracing!I have the 8 piston Brembo brakes and as soon as I make up my mind on which, some very sticky tires!
Ok. I misunderstood your initial question. Thought you were looking for the hardware suggestions. You are simply looking for the alignment specs to get started at?
For everyday driving, no. The MINI is plenty stiff to begin with, as you mentioned.The braces won't make a difference. People will tell you they do, but unless you're really pushing it, and by that I mean driving harder than you should in public, it's not going to make a difference. On the track, different story.
My experience is completely different than this opinion, and therefore disagree completely. While stock, I had unacceptable amount of cowl shake all the time, whether hitting potholes, RR tracks, or just cruising on freeway. Since I put tower plates and braces plus TSW X-brace from Way Motors, the R-52 feels virtually solid. No shake - the RV mirror is quiet so you can see out of it all the time. Hitting RR tracks at any speed is no problem, the car feels just great. When I first bought the car I was disappointed with the way it drove, rode and handled, and wondered why it was considered so great. Now I know it desperately needs these mods.
Mine did. From what I understand that's more a function of the design of the windshield--rake and flatness--than from flexing of the chassis. Let's face it, the MINI windshield is basically a sail, and gets a ton of stress from small rocks and at high speed even air. Any small hits or imperfections get magnified quickly.
Desperately needs these mods? Um, no. The MINI out of the box is substantially stiffer than the average car. I'm guessing you had another issue with the car. Most complaints with the first generation MINI centered around the car being too tight, both chassis and suspension.
RussWK has a 1st Gen Vert that why his car flexed so much. (Roofless) Everyone knows a car without a roof needs much more bracing.
I'm not gonna argue the chassis stiffness or lack of it on a first generation MINI because I'm not the least bit qualified to do so but I have read a number of posts from people who have hardtops that have installed bracing report that certain squeaks, rattles, etc. have been eliminated by doing so. I have also read reports to the contrary so while it is not cure all for everyone it seems to have worked for some.
In my old MG when hitting a really bumpy patch all the parts no longer touched each other & were just there floating along in the same direction of travel. It was pretty funny to watch when it happened. That car had the rigidity of a piece of tissue paper.
Old fart ramble below.... I'm not a structural engineer or an expert, but you get my .02 anyway. From my experience & mine alone with such things the MINI seems to be a very structurally sound & stiff car. My MINI does not have a big honking hole in the roof & that may make my MINI feel stiffer. I added an M7 strut brace to keep the strut tops from mushrooming which it has done nicely. Don't know if it added any structual benefits, but it may have. Who knows? I've also added the braces from the rag top MINI, cheap & easy to install. I have not installed any under-body bracing & can't comment on their effect to stiffness or handling. The fact that I drive on real roads means ground clearance is important to me. I felt an under strut system would be asking to be ripped off on some Ohio Back-road. These added pieces I installed made no difference in the feel of the car. I've read that others really feel the difference from smoothing things out to making their MINI handle like a 917 Porsche. The placebo effect is strong with some folks. Hey Dave I've outed myself. M7 parts on my MINI.
I was going to mention the placebo effect, but I had a pretty good idea how that was going to go over, even though I think it's contributing significantly... Look, it's ok if you have an M7 part, as long as you have a quality part to counterbalance it's bad juju-edness.
My R53 stopped creaking in corners after the roll cage was installed. But it has spring rates over double the stock rates and 50 treadwear tires. Most of the rough ride people complain about is from lowering the cars without sufficiently increasing the spring rates, and therefore hitting the bump stops. Or putting on big wheels and low profile tires. I seriously doubt bracing is worth the added weight on most street cars.