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

  1. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    OK... for those of you that have the Greene Coil-overs:

    Any recommendations on a stiffness setting to start with? They each have a 32 point adjustment. The fronts are easy to tweak, but the rears will take a bit more work (I've got adjustment extenders, but haven't spent the time to figure out where they are going to pop out).
     
  2. myles2go

    myles2go Active Member

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    I installed mine in April 2014, and on the advise of others that were using them, set them at 8 clicks from the softest setting. I've never had a need to change the setting.
     
  3. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    That's a good thing to know... I'll go poke around back there in a bit. I went out and fiddled w/ the extenders to figure it out and found the set screws to remove the top knob. I've got a CD Changer back there, which makes getting through the passenger side panel door a PITA, so I might dig around a bit for an alternate solution. Nathan set me this photo, of extenders he ran for another coil over brand setup:

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Looking forward to seeing pics of that.. :)
     
  5. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Congrats!!
     
  6. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    My coilovers didn't drop more than 1/8-1/4" over the summer. So that is going to be real close to final set.
     
  7. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    #338 agranger, Mar 21, 2018
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2018
    Good to know about the lack of settling! I'm a bit overcommitted over the next few days and over the weekend, so it will have a week to settle in before I start mucking about with ride height adjustments. I'm not going for a slammed look anyway... just something nicely sporty. If it settled 1/4" off of the pic above, I think I'd be quite happy with that! When I put the KWs on Jango, he settled in a good 3/4 to 1" in the first week. I spent way too much time fiddling w/ ride height way too early.

    I sent the pic, below, to Todd at TCE Performance (Willwood supplier in the US). He verified that I've got the right lines, (the right part # and they match the specified length of 20") but they sure look short to me. Maybe I want to run the line behind the shock body. Any thoughts?

    [​IMG]

    I can also assume that I screwed up when estimating the tie rod length... I've got one wheel straight and one that is 10 degrees off to the side! I'll make a coarse adjustment before driving the car, so I don't completely destroy the tires.
     
  8. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Go drive the stink out of it, that will settle it!:D
     
  9. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Swift springs do not “settle/sag” like the crappy KW coils. I have had them both and removed the KW’s after one year and installed Swift’s from Colin. Could not be happier with the Swift’s.
     
  10. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Brakes and setup is looking real good! What shop in Atlanta did you send the lines to?
     
  11. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    It went to EL Johnston in College Park. It's an auto parts shop, but they do custom brake and hydraulic lines, with the proper DOT testing.
     
  12. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Interesting.. I will look them up. Didn't know about them. Thanks!
     
  13. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Cannot wait to see at MOTD!!
     
  14. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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  15. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    Looking great! Can’t wait to see it at the dragon!
     
  16. bigjas

    bigjas Member

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    It looks really good!
     
  17. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    I know it feels good to be done! That was a lot of work. My R53 has 167k on it now. I also have a stumble that is slowly getting worse. I have tried new plugs, it helped a little, now I am thinking it may be time for a fuel pump and filter.
     
  18. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    This sounds a lot like my issue. For me, it would hit if I accelerated hard in first or second gear. I'd go to clutch in and it felt like the DSC kicked in... loss of power. Sometimes it would bump start again immediately (well... after a second or two) and other times I'd have to clutch-in and turn the key to restart. No lights or codes thrown.
     
  19. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    It took me almost the entire grade from Vail to Vail Pass on I70 (4000 elevation feet) before the car would cut out. I then learned to pull over every few miles when on long steep grades and let it idle for a while, which somehow seemed to give it legs for the next few miles without cutting out. Almost felt like there's some sort of reservoir of available fuel that would suffice if I kept the car above 20mpg realtime gauge reading. It took me quite a lot of miles and several mountain passes to learn that, though. Prior to that we chased down ignition and other issues, swapped coil, wires (still in the car, that $40 Subaru coil works great in the Mini once you figure out how to mount it).

    Last October I drove it across the mountains towards Atlanta, but honestly could not say that that was hard enough of a challenge to possibly expose a still existing problem. I feel I really have to take the car back to Colorado to push the envelope. There simply is no way I could do this test here without running the car at 100+mph down the freeway for 15 minutes or more :D
     
  20. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    Pollen... we had 5 inches of snow today, salt was dropped on the roads.