New to rallying. Hoping to get valuable suspension information

I'm from Helsinki, so it's "kundi", short for "stadikundi".

Wayne: let me know if the axle will help you and I'll send it. It's actually an R53 axle (2003) since we used the Getrag before the switch.

-Markus

Sure Ill PM you.
Wayne

Rough measured the driveshaft today. Maybe 20 degrees (max) of movement on a 12" arm, so approx 8-9" of travel possible before blowing the cv. ( to be conservative probably more like 17 deg)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2016 08:10PM by loifs8.

is this thread dead?
if not i might chim in a bit
i built 05 Mini S with front set up similar to Costa-Rican Chris with STi struts
revalved for high speed compression/rebound
but with rears i went with off-road Bilstens and boxed-in lower mounting points
because seems like those bolts have tendency to bend.



fab'd upper mounts



car was made for P2WD with 32 mm restrictor.
can't go any bigger for open because supercharger inlet is only 32mm where it's supposed to be
and even had to shave some metal out of ot to fit-in restrictor.



just a bit over a month ago run it at Big White Rally. basically it was just a test for a car
and break-in for the engine with freshly replaced bearings.
Bilstenis performed exceptionally good but then again winter road was fairly smooth
but for fronts i'd like to have something beefier preferably w/longer stroke.
contacted DMS and it turns out they make gravel specs dumpers for Mini and two fronts will cost
$2100 + shipping. (stroke is 200mm which makes wheel travel about 250mm which i can live with)
PS. Flatout suspension already makes dumpers for Mini R53 and fronts are interchangable with R53
...just my 2c.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2017 12:47PM by alexinvancouver.

Not sure about the status. I sent Wayne a spare driveshaft, but don't know what he has done. Our rally Mini is 90% through heart surgery (engine replacement); hence, I haven't had time to tinker more with the suspension (see earlier in this thread for our details/experiences with Reiger). On the Mini, you'll be limited by the design of the trailing arm in the rear and the control arm in the front. For extended suspension travel, you'll also have an issue with the axle unless you modify the cups.

-Markus

i'm using adjustable rear laterals already
and going to re-design rear top mounts by mowing pivoting point further front
thus changing included angle and increasing suspension travel
as i mentioned DMS said front dumpers have 200mm of travel.
didn't specify if that's a bump or total
oh, and i run Subaru top hats for fronts because had to reinforce strut towers making them flat
and then all i had to do is to re-drill couple of holes. still have to make a custom strut bar.
PS. really, really impressed with rear Bilsteins. even with this short stroke they were amazing
and soaked up all the bumps and runts and rear wheels were just planted.
don't know if it's the design or enormous external canisters lol.
also toe-in helped to overcome over-steering problem.
having heard people complaining about it i expected it to be much worse.
but then again i didn't push it to hard. still have to get use to the car and co-driver was a pretty much first-timer.
PS again: nice to know others rally Mini too =o)

Sorry its been a while. Put the suspension on hold for a bit there (working on the car gets a lower priority than the wife, kids, job yada yada ....) So now back to it.

installed some rebound adjustable fronts with 8" 225# springs up front gives about 6.5-7" of travel, rears are 185# less travel. haven't really measured anything yet just getting installation sorted. set ride height about the same as stock then ran into a problem with the front sway bar end link and the lower control arm contacting/binding stopping droop by about 1-1.5" (suppose this could make it seem to be a harsh ride like bottoming out), so front control arm is now disconnected (maybe i will keep it that way - not sure). I had rebound set pretty low but didn't seem like it was critically damped and seemed to have an extra oscillation. adjusted fronts to add more rebound and seemed to take that out. they seem to run through the travel and hit bump stops - so might need to have compression side re-valved since i don't have adjustment (maybe next new set). at highway speeds it feels nice though, not floating like a town car and not bouncing/harsh like a lowered civic either, all while still feeling the road. haven't been aggressive with it yet

So I continue to learn and adjust inching my way to a longer travel and more involved mods...