Most liked posts in thread: Rally Mini Cooper

Medical , Rally license and car technical all done. We did the recce on Saturday. The stages are short with some rough sections. The first stage is run once , then up and down for the next 6 stages (5.5KM) then up and down again but part way we go another way to make a 9.5km stage. We did the practice yesterday on gravel to find the Mini is very tail happy, so much that we spun. ooops. The rear tyre pressure was 35psi so we dropped it to 30psi which helped but I think 26psi will work better. Overall the Mini seeme very fast and up hill has a lot of pulling power. I love the tail out handling but currently it's too much. The suspension seems to work well on the rought stuff.....so now we're on the countdown....oh the nerves!

 

All quiet here, enjoying the summer while MA freezes. I hit a pot hole with road tyres on the front the rally tyres on the rear. The road tyre got a flat and the rally was fine. Just goes to show how srong rally tyres are..... I've been promoting the Mini at the weekend for the sponsors.....other than that I have to wait until next month for a rally. I think rallying with go on in CR but on private land, pretty much the same as it did in CA.

Happy holidays

 

As previously mentioned I found out the 2008 STI suspension was too soft for the Impreza so Subaru stiffened up the damper and spring rates by around 60% and dropped the ride height by about 8mm. The last rally showed up the soft springs so I bought some 2013 rear struts off Ebay to compare against the 2008’s I have fitted now. The spring is a little shorter and about 1mm thicker in the coil and the damper is much stiffer. Once fitted the ride height is still the same but the feeling is much stiffer on the rear. Next job is to look for some 2013 front struts to balance up the handling. The good thing is the old 2008 struts will become my spares to get me home.
Here’s a photo of the STi/Mini top mount.

2013 STi is on the left.

Meanwhile UPS lost my radiator in their depot 3.1 miles from my house. It’s amazing with a tracking number they can’t find a large package like this. I’m still fighting with UPS to find the package, their customer service is terrible. Now I know why so many folks didn’t get their Christmas packages.

 

The good thing about using Subaru suspension is the quantity of stuff available. Look at these caster/camber top mounts.

[ame=http://www.ebay.com/itm/KCA409-Whiteline-Offset-Strut-Mount-Assembly-2008-2013-Impreza-WRX-STI-/261296165167?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cd677112f&vxp=mtr#ht_1772wt_898]KCA409 Whiteline Offset Strut Mount Assembly 2008 2013 Impreza WRX STI | eBay[/ame]

 

When I was sponsored by Middle East Airlines way back we used to un load the tyres and suspension from the plane and put in another! imagine that now!

 

thanks chaps! Welcome to Modern Mini for some more reading.

 

There went the weekend! The plan was to pull the gearbox and swap in all the gears and bearings sent from Mini Gearboxes UK. I have always wondered if I can split the casing on the engine to save time but after some hours fiddling around I decided this was not an easy option. At least now that nagging in my head is gone. Haha
The best part of Saturday was getting the box out and checking it over. The bearings were getting loose so I swapped them all. I changed 1st gear from a 3 piece syncro to a 2 piece and replaced the worn 2nd gear. Also I fixed the stiffness in the shifting by cleaning up some ridges in the shaft and grinding a few thou off a pin that was tight against 5th gear shifting plate. Another thing I noticed was the 5th gear teeth were worn so I’m going to replace them. Unfortunately I don’t have any spares so I’ll have the wait to get them next month.
With the decision to ground the car until I return next month I finished putting the box back in as 5th gear can be serviced on the car. Then I swapped the radiator for new, fix a slight oil leak and started to swap the front suspension from 2008 to 2013. The dampers on the 2013 are much stiffer which should help.
All in all it was quite a pleasant weekend under sun and Mini.

The clutch slave cylinder bracket flexes and can break so I added a small piece of bar to rest on the gearbox.

With the Gripper LSD you have to cut down the spline to avoid hitting the cross pins.

I use the outside temperature sensor to monitor the gearbox temp. Also I added inlet to fill with oil.

The pin you see here runs along the black plate when 5th is selected. 5th has always been stiff so I took a few thou off the pin to free up the shifting

Output end bearing is showing signs of wear.

This is getting to be a regular view! Habor freight gear pulled set is a must for this type of job.

2nd gear looks a little worn!

Fun in the sun!