Installing Konis and Vorshlag camber plates Hi. This is on an 06 MCS (R53) I am planning on installing my new Koni adjustable shocks and Vorshlag camber plates this weekend. I will be keeping the stock sport springs. The rubber spring pads look OK so I will be reusing those. Its been awhile since I've had the struts and shocks apart. Do you reuse the stock bumpstops when going with this combo or do you need some other bumpstops? Any special instructions regarding bump stops in general? Thanks for answering a potentially dumb question. BTW - Thanks to Way Motor Works for their help in selecting camber plates.
Remember to check if the top of the strut shaft interferes with the camber plate! (Just being a bit of a bastard... Sounds like you're going to have a good combo). Some strut suppliers say to cut the stock bump-stops in half. But truth be told, with short stroke suspensions, the bump stops should be an engineered part of the total suspension solution. Matt
Matt - we'll have to compare rides after I'm done. I'm in Mountain View. Been meaning to call you since I drive by your house a few times a month in the RX7. Thanks both for the input. After some more research, it seems like the Mini bump stops are not integrated into the upper shock mounts like the RX7 so my question really was pretty dumb... Now I wish I could find someone local with the special tools for the front strut top nut. That is going to be a biatch... Installing this weekend.
Can you check and see if the Konis are the exact same dimensions as the stock dampers when you have them of the car? Like is the body shortened, or the strut shaft longer or shorter, etc. - Andrew
There are a couple ways to get the top strut nut off/on without special tools. 1. Use an air impact gun to loosen the nut. If installing the nut with the impact gun be careful about the torque and start on a low setting on the gun. 2. Use a spark plug socket that has a hex head at the top (most do). You can put the allen wrench through the socket (where the rachet would usually attach) and use a wrench on the spark plug socket (hex portion at top of socket). If you have a crows foot wrench use can torque with a normal torque wrench.
I was planning on attempting option #2 hoping I can find a deep enough socket and that I can indeed remove by hand. I think Khuevo mentioned using a 13/16" spark plug socket in one thread. Air tools are something I can only dream about.
Quick update from my installation adventures... Friday night ended with me stressed that I hadn't received the camber plates after ordering 2nd day air. UPS customer service told me the plates were shipped on Fri instead of expecting to be received on Fri. In frustration at the situation and a shipping problem from Vorshlag, I lost my temper and left a voice mail at Way's shop only to have UPS show up half an hour later. I've never seen a UPS truck in our development after 3:30 PM. Sorry Way Motor Works. Started installing this afternoon. In my previous post I said that I wanted to measure the differences in the shocks since I had read some threads about Konis dimensions being different from stock. Good thing I took that approach or I'd be a very unhappy camper... The rear Koni shocks are the same dimensions as the stock rear sport package shocks. Same length from the lower bolt hole to the spring seat and same over all length on the shock body. Stacked with the stock spring and upper mounts, it measures out the same as stock. The front Koni struts on the other hand are indeed different. I'll post pics tomorrow or the day after once I sort out some other issues... From memory the front lower spring perch seems to be about 1/2" lower than stock. Maybe a little less. I measured out a bunch of different dimensions and will post the differences when I sort out what I'm going to do with the camber plates... Regarding the Vorshlag camber plates, I am not at all happy with them. Nicely engineered and quality parts but doesn't fit my needs. I need to talk to Way Motor Works on Monday about returning them or maybe exchanging for H-Sports or IE. Thankfully I didn't install them so I didn't really loose any time. Measuring them with the Koni shocks, I'd be loosing 1 inch of ride height and 1 inch of suspension travel. The space between the lower spring perch and upper spring perch with the Vorshlag camber plates is ~1" less than stock and also lower overall ride height another inch on top of the half inch of the Koni shocks resulting in what looks like a 1" - 1.5" overall drop. I don't want to change ride height. Especially by that much. This will be clearer when I post pics. This kind of leaves me in a bit of a bind. I had scheduled to get this done this weekend as the wife and I have a family trip next weekend and an alignment appointment on Wed. I don't really have the time to wrench on the car during the week. Sadly, I might be forced to use the stock upper strut mounts and re-install the fronts tomorrow. Timing is everything....
Pics, measurements and comments here: Mini Cooper S Suspension install This pic in particular illustrates the issue I have with the Vorshlag camber plates
Well that's interesting. It looks like the Konis would lower the car without sacrificing bump travel (still nice) since it's shorter between the lower mounting point and the lower spring perch. But i'd rather just gain bump travel and not lower the car. Unless i'm mistaken here. Do the Konis have the same total travel (i.e. the strut shaft compresses the same total distance if you push it in)? - Andrew
I believe so. Need to review the pics again to try to validate. The lowering is minimal. It probably nets out to less than 1/2". I think its more like 1/4" or maybe less judging by the overall height of the fully assembled strut, spring and stock upper strut bearing.
I discussed the camber plates with Way Motor Works and will be returning them. Way has gone out of their/his way to help me review this with Vorshlag and come to a solution. Way's customer service is simply outstanding! The Vorshlag plates are nice parts but really don't suit my needs for use with Konis and stock springs. Between the lowering and what it does with the bump stops, I don't think its what I want. The problem only really presents itself with their version of the stock spring perch. If you are using coilovers, you can obviously adjust ride height and travel to suit your needs and wants.
Having been on that end before, it sounds like Way Motor Works is a great vendor. The Vorshlag plates for other cars (Subaru and Mitsubishi) generally have a low stack height, perfect for coilovers. You get a little more bump travel at a given ride height which is a great thing. It just looks like their own required upper spring perch design for OEM style springs goes down a little too far. And it would have been cool if the Konis had the same distance from lower spring perch to the lower mounting point, just extended down a little farther past the mounting point for more bump travel. Oh well. - Andrew
I called a bunch of Vorshlag dealers and none of them had ever done an install using stock springs. All of their installs were on coilovers. Everything is installed now - Konis, stock sport springs, stock upper strut mounts. Going to take some more measurements in the next couple of days. In desperate need of an alignment.