Rally Mini Cooper

MCS02 you should jump off that plane in July, I hope the first rally will run then. Good to hear you're enjoying WRC+ so far I've not had any streaming issues so I figure they fixed the bug

 

Thanks, I must say I'm super excited about the next phase of the Mini. I hope the straight cut box is all I hope it to be. I know the Reiger suspension will be good.

 

The Reiger bushes showed up today. I still lack the Peugeot synchro rings and C clips but I hope they show up before I leave. The gearbox will be a mix of Mini and Peugeot so I'm now exactly sure this Hybrid will work.

 

Got to CR with the springs and Gripper LSD without any issues from customs due to another Lush bath bomb taking their attention..LOL The STI inserts and Reiger bodies are in San Jose clearing customs. I had to ship them because the airlines don't allow stuff under pressure....been warned once by the TSA.

The Peugeot synchro rings are in Madrid on their way to CR thanks to Mini Gearboxes. If all goes well I hope to start the gearbox build this weekend.

I was thinking the gearbox has held up well since the final drive exploded! Over a year of abuse and the box still shifts well. It will be interesting to see the bearings when I strip the box down.

Also I got the eMINIparts decals on the side glass.

 

and worth 2 seconds a stage.

Wooooooooooooo hoooooooooooo everything arrived today! I have all the gearbox and suspension parts. Looking forward to rebuilding the Midlands this weekend. I hope the Monday commute will be filled with straight cut gear whine!

Wishing all you father's out there a wonderful Sunday.

 

Finally something interesting to write about! I was a little nervous about this build as I was not sure if the Peugeot gear set would work in the Midlands casing and selector forks. Friday night I carefully built up the gear set from a donor Mini gear set. What was interesting was the oil ways were completely blocked with oil sludge. It pays to swap the life time oil!
Saturday I got up at 6am and by 7:15 the box was out, then 45 minutes later the box apart! Seeing as I had to split the LSD to fit the new crown wheel I decided to inspect the internals. All the plates looked good so I rebuilt the LSD with the 4:2 final drive. Then I had the swap all the parts over from bad casing to the good one.
You can see the 2 tubes of gasket goo that didn’t stop the oil leaking out. Dropping in the gear set was routine as before. The only issue was the Peugeot input shaft has a C clip and not a nut. Unfortunately I did not have a washer to fit under the C clip. Lucky for me I found a washer the correct size. Phew!
As always putting the box back in takes longer but I was surprised the box mated to the engine with the first try! I fitted a new ball joint and radiator while I was at it. The radiator swap is easy as now I have the fan attached to the plastic surround. It did not help that most of the day it rained, the joys of working outside. Plus I bitten by the all the bugs flying around.
By around 4pm I was ready for the test drive, I was super excited because I’ve never had a straight cut gear set. I was wise to use a synchro set up instead of a dog engagement as shifting is like a normal box.
Once I got on the street I shift through the gears expecting a loud whine but was surprised to hear only a slight whine, 3rd was pretty loud so I should imagine from outside the whine could be heard. The spread of ratios was really nice making the weedy Cooper engine seem more powerful. This morning I was able to open up on the side road to work confirming the 90mph in 5th at 6000rpm …sweet! So there you have the first Midlands with a straight cut gear set. I hope it will last without regular rebuilds.

 

Finally something interesting to write about! I was a little nervous about this build as I was not sure if the Peugeot gear set would work in the Midlands casing and selector forks. Friday night I carefully built up the gear set from a donor Mini gear set. What was interesting was the oil ways were completely blocked with oil sludge. It pays to swap the life time oil!
Saturday I got up at 6am and by 7:15 the box was out, then 45 minutes later the box apart! Seeing as I had to split the LSD to fit the new crown wheel I decided to inspect the internals. All the plates looked good so I rebuilt the LSD with the 4:2 final drive. Then I had the swap all the parts over from bad casing to the good one.
You can see the 2 tubes of gasket goo that didn’t stop the oil leaking out. Dropping in the gear set was routine as before. The only issue was the Peugeot input shaft has a C clip and not a nut. Unfortunately I did not have a washer to fit under the C clip. Lucky for me I found a washer the correct size. Phew!
As always putting the box back in takes longer but I was surprised the box mated to the engine with the first try! I fitted a new ball joint and radiator while I was at it. The radiator swap is easy as now I have the fan attached to the plastic surround. It did not help that most of the day it rained, the joys of working outside. Plus I bitten by the all the bugs flying around.
By around 4pm I was ready for the test drive, I was super excited because I’ve never had a straight cut gear set. I was wise to use a synchro set up instead of a dog engagement as shifting is like a normal box.
Once I got on the street I shift through the gears expecting a loud whine but was surprised to hear only a slight whine, 3rd was pretty loud so I should imagine from outside the whine could be heard. The spread of ratios was really nice making the weedy Cooper engine seem more powerful. This morning I was able to open up on the side road to work confirming the 90mph in 5th at 6000rpm …sweet! So there you have the first Midlands with a straight cut gear set. I hope it will last without regular rebuilds.

 

ooops posted twice

 

Well chaps I'm getting used to double checking parts before the weekends work. The Reigers came with a 10mm bottom bolt hole instead of 14mm. So Reiger sent another set overnight. Last night I went to fit the new bushes only to find the bush OD is 16mm and the spherical joint is 15mm.....ooops. Now the bushes are in the machine shop for a bit of turning on the lathe.

Gearbox box is working great! All R50's should have one. hahaha I do think the 90mph top speed might be a limiting factor but the plan is to fit 185/70 15 tyres for more ground clearance when I've worn these tyres out.

 

Last night I fitted the STI inserts. What surprised me was the Gravel spec inserts were a wee bit softer than the street inserts. I fitted them and didn't notice much difference this morning going to work. I might buy some stiffer springs for the fronts with a little more lift.

Loving the gearbox. I'd be interested to know the 0-60 time as 90mph comes up very fast.

Tomorrow the day I've been waiting arrives.....fitting the Reigers.

 

Well that was a long weekend! I thought Saturday would be enough but it took Saturday and Sunday to fit the Reigers. Mainly due to I had to some changes to the steel cradle to fit the coil overs. They were made for the R50 trailing arm so my R56 arm was not a straight fit. Drivers side was done on Saturday and the Passenger side Sunday. Passenger side was worse because the cradle got bent up after the roll.

First impressions were the springs were to soft but once on the open road this morning it was very clear the rear was planted. The Cadillac float rear end was gone even with 1 1/2" more ride height. Next I need to let the suspension settle and go get the suspension aligned.

 

I think now I'm at a point where I've fixed everything?? I think but as you all know the list is never ending. Modfather knows that.. hahaha

 

One thing I've noticed is shifting fast is not an option! Even selecting reverse requires a 2 second delay to wait for everything to stop spinning. Power through the gears is way too much fun, when did an R50 owner get a kick in the seat on shifting?

Another interesting thing is the gearbox temperature has dropped by 15F I have the outside air temp sensor mounted on the gearbox casing which recorded 121F with the normal gear set.

With 1 1/2 " more ride height at the rear the Mini is on rails around the corners. Now I'm thinking to buy King springs for up front at 20% stiffer.