1st Gen JCW Most liked posts in thread: Refreshing Rufus - 2005 MCS JCW

:incazzato:

 

cha ching! wow. you "saved" big on that order Looks like you won't run out of things to do for a while.

 

I really like the shocks he builds. I’ve had them on my GP since spring of 2014.

 

Not sure if I am in love with my Greene Performance coilovers. Never had anything else on the car other than the stock Mini setup, or broken lowering springs with Koni (that is how I bought that car). The coilover ride is somewhere between those two extremes, closer to the broken lowering springs than stock suspension, though. Too harsh for a daily driver in this state of unrepaired roads.

The comfort was fine driving it south of Illinois, and out west in the desert, but here with our cratered roads? OMG I would feel sorry for the car driving it here as a commuter and errand car. Some roads are just absolutely dreadful and I am using Greene's recommended shock settings and springs, so I guess it doesn't get much softer. You compromise a lot to get that go kart handling, and it has that handling: there is no lean in fast corners, and it runs on rails around roundabouts, but our shitty roads here are so bad, I really had to buy another Mini for daily driving with a softer suspension, so that over time I can turn that stiffly sprung car into a single purpose more aggressive sports car where comfort is not required.

I cannot imagine anyone builds a shock/coilover that can be significantly more comfortable while lowered as much as I have lowered my car, so it's just the nature of the beast that things will get harsh when you reduce suspension travel. And if your roads suck like they do here, you should really think hard about what the purpose of the car is before lowering it. In Texas, it probably doesn't matter at all.

 

can you document how you change the guide rails? I need to do that, too, but can't find much of a how-to. I know you are supposed to be able to do that from the top, but no idea if I need the cam locking tool to do that job

 

Call Colin and see what he says about adjusting them,or different softer Swift springs.

You could set the shocks softer and see if that help a little. I live in PA and we also have crappy salty roads and I agree no higher end coilovers will be perfect on our crap roads full of pot holes.

You have to balance out it what is more important to you, grip and stability or comfort. If you want both you have to buy very expensive coil-overs.

 

I second what Dave said, a softer spring rate can make the daily driver less harsh. That said, my suspension is firm but compliant and the tire stay planted to the road. The OEM setup on the GP had softer springs but the ride could be just as harsh or worse over bumps and potholes as the suspension bottoms out.

 

It’s been a couple years but here are the basic steps I followed when replacing my chain guides.

Timing Chain Guide Replacement

1) Lift car and secure the car.
2) Remove front tires – If you have help or the cam tool or a helper you could skip this step.
3) Support engine from below.
4) Remove intercooler.
5) Remove engine mount bracket.
6) Remove valve cover.
7) Remove cam sensor.
8) Remove threaded plugs from head to access guide bolts.
9) Mark or secure cam timing for reassembly.
The Bentley manual says:
Rotate the engine until the triangular adjustment mark on the cam sprocket is at 12 o’clock and then use paint to mark the chain and sprocket and the crank damper and chain cover so you can realign the marks for reassembly. This approach allows you to remove the cam sprocket and give more room to pull the guides, but make sure you get everything lined up when reassembling.

Alternatively, I used zip ties to secure the chain to the sprocket. This give less room to pull the guides up, but there was adequate room to pull the guides and lesser chance of bad timing on reassembly.
10) Loosen the cam bolt.
If you have the cam tool use it to loosen the cam bolt. Alternatively, if you have a helper, have them put the car in first gear and press the brake pedal hard while you loosen the cam bolt.

OR, as I did, place the car in first gear and use screw drivers in the veins of the brake rotors, against the caliper bracket, to hold the engine from spinning while you loosen the cam bolt.
11) Remove timing chain tensioner
12) Use a bungy cord attached to the hood to apply tension to the cam sprocket while you remove the cam bolt and sprocket from the cam.
13) Remove the bolt holding the rear guide and you should be able to move the chain and sprocket around enough to get the guide to pull out.
14) Remove the bolt holding the front guide and move the chain around to pull the guide out.
15) Replace in opposite order. The front fixed guide is held at the bottom by a stud that it slides over as you lower it in place, just hug the front and it should fall right in place.

My guides had broken so I followed this up with pulling the oil pan and removing the pieces. While I was in there I installed a baffled oil pickup tube from RMW to prevent oil starvation.

 

FYI Colin coilsovers only use the BC housings and lock nut adjusters and adjustable Camber plates that’s it.

All 4 shocks are NOT BC’s at all. He has a high end manufactures custom valves shocks that he adds to them and he adds the Swift Springs. The cost should be $1000 more than they are be he is a small business and wants people to have a truely great setup.

That’s the reason his BC’s are 1000 % better than the all BC crap coilovers.