Suspension 1st Gen R53 Greene Performance Coilovers / Ride Height Help

Discussion in '1st Generation: 2002–06 R50, R53 & 2004–08 R52' started by BumpDaddy, May 3, 2018.

  1. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2015
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    My car is on jacks. Here the threads of the rear coilovers. Car runs low, but nothing rubs

    driver side

    [​IMG]

    Passenger side

    [​IMG][/url]
     
  2. BumpDaddy

    BumpDaddy New Member

    May 3, 2018
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    Awesome! This is why I love owning a Mini too! Working it out with Fish on a PM - looks like Saturday, June 30th is going to work for us!
     
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  3. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Awesome.. !
     
  4. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2015
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    So we met last Saturday at my house to get this Mini lowered. I have none of the photos that were taken, but I can summarize what we found.

    the car had been set up with exactly the same fender height front and rear. That made it look too high up front. We jacked it up, measured the coil threads and did our preliminary math - then realized that the installer had actually pre-loaded the springs to level the car. So before our final coil adjustment math, we loosened the spring seats, released the pre-load on all 4 corners and buttoned it back up, then back on wheels for another measurement. Now the front was higher than the rear, but the car overall went down a little bit, like 8mm in front and 16mm in back. Now it was way to high in front.

    Our first stab at adjusting was something like 1.5" down in front, 0.5" in back, I think. So we broke loose the lock nuts up front and turned those coils down. Had to fix some threads that had been met with some heavy tool, but no major issues. Then we tackled the rears... and we hit a road block: after loosening the lock nuts, neither side would go any lower. We almost rocked the car off the jack stands. We took one of the coilovers off the car to further investigate. On the garage floor, with a heat gun, WD40 and a big hammer we got nowhere in terms of lowering, so we turned it the other way, just to check if the threads were busted or what was going on. After more heat and a few good hammer smacks against the spanner, the coil finally started spinning out of its mount. So we turned it and turned it to see how much was actually in the lower body. Well, to our amazement, that shock body kept getting longer and longer. It was completely bottomed out. So at the LOWEST setting possible, this car was riding at the exact same fender to tire ride height as my bone stock electric blue R53. You can only RAISE the car with the rear coilovers Colin shipped to Paul. Doh.

    Re-assembly, test drive, car looks like straight out of the Dukes of Hazard with its massive rake, but there was no point to adjust the fronts away from where they are now. The rears have to be the wrong shock body. What we had to work with cannot be adjusted to a ride height anywhere resembling what the photo above shows. I don't know what came back from Colin after Myles sent him what we found, but I would expect a parts exchange is necessary.

    This also means the mechanic who put these on wasn't totally incompetent. Those rears are absolutely at their lowest setting and the rest was just set to match that physical limit.
     
  5. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    @fishmonger Nice of you to help! I cant wait to hear how this ends.
     
  6. BumpDaddy

    BumpDaddy New Member

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    First of all, for those of you following this thread, I can't express enough thanks and gratitude for this forum and Fish's and Myles' help last weekend. Complete strangers connected together via this forum, sharing the passion for these crazy cars. Fish and Myles had the car up on jack stands within minutes of my arrival, and tackled my issues with passion - as if it were their own car. Their knowledge of these cars is second to none. I learned a lot that day, so thanks for that, guys.

    Fish's meticulousness is an understatement, and I'm thankful for that. Measuring and re-measuring with a vernier caliper, writing every small measurement down, we had everything dialed in to the millimeter. However, as described above, when it came time to lower the rears, we ran into a roadblock. This thread originally started because I was having trouble adjusting the rears. I believe everyone that chimed in disagreed with my mechanic's assessment that they were "as low as they can go", and after personally working on it, I couldn't get them to adjust either. So after Fish and Myles removed one from the car, we were able to confirm that indeed they ARE as low as they can go, and in that position, the car is at stock height! I believe it is safe to say, we were all in shock after we removed the coil from the lower body and discovered this as we were not expecting this at all.
     

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  7. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    So now what? Are you getting another set?
     
  8. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    So it looks like the upper tube, the threaded part in "coil at fish 2.jpg" is too long. Is the strut up in there? I'd think you could put the lock nuts all the way up (to the left in the photo), cut off the threads and then remove the lock nuts to straighten out any threads that got mangled in the cutting. Thanks for the update... looking forward to a resolution.
     
  9. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Have you contacted Colin. He will make it right.
     
  10. GokartPilot

    GokartPilot Well-Known Member

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    Agree. If it doesn't work than it doesn't work, call Colin.
     
  11. BumpDaddy

    BumpDaddy New Member

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    Yes - I've been in touch with Colin over e-mail and sent him some additional pictures he requested. He's looking into it.
     
  12. Ujin

    Ujin Member

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    Yeah, mine will definetly drag the ground if I lowered them all the way. Good luck. Colin will make it right, I am sure.
     
  13. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Where did this end up?
     
  14. BumpDaddy

    BumpDaddy New Member

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    Hi Sully - here's the latest:

    Colin sent me a new set of rear coilovers around the beginning of August. I took the old ones off and removed the lower perch(es) to compare the length of old vs. new. In this pic, the old is on the left, and the new is on the right. They are the same size, but I installed them anyway just to be sure I wasn't missing anything. Much to my dismay, the car is still sitting at stock height with the shock body bottoming out in the lower perch. I still can't adjust them any lower. I did not touch the preload, per Colin's advice.

    Colin says he installed these on his R53 before he shipped them and didn't have an issue with the adjustments. He also suspects something is wrong with my car. He is planning on sending me a third set with a shorter shock body.

    Stay tuned.
     

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  15. GokartPilot

    GokartPilot Well-Known Member

    Jan 9, 2012
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    Hang in there, it will all be worth it once you and Collin get this sorted out.
     
  16. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2015
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    what would be wrong with your car? a 1" steel block on the top mounting frame to screw up the ride height? There was nothing wrong with your car when I saw it.

    Seriously, what could raise a car over an inch from stock when coilover's are attached? Are your lower control arms too long? Can that even be a factor to make that big of a difference that the three of us could get it so wrong?
     
  17. BumpDaddy

    BumpDaddy New Member

    May 3, 2018
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    Agreed. And just so you know, I didn't see any 1" steel blocks under there either. ; )

    Colin sent me a note on 8/15 and said he's working on a rear set for me with a shorter shock body. I'm not sure if he was waiting on me first to return the set, but he did receive those back from me FedEx'ed on 8/31. So I'm anxious for him to test those out and hear his thoughts on what could be going on. Also I'm looking forward to receiving the new (shorter body) set.

    The project continues...... more to come.......
     

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