tvrgeek

Lets see, I send the Autosport speedo back and I can get the PorterCable. I have a good excuse as I need to paint my wife's 98 Civic. Canada car, early water paint and it is failing.

I am the last person who does not have a smart phone. I only make calls on my phone. Generation thing. I was also looking at marine GPS gauges as they do come in 2 1/8 standard mounts, but have big antennas and are ugly. Same problem with aircraft ones. Yes, I want it part of the car. I am not getting in and "hooking up" stuff. An $80 discount GPS would probably work better. The Autosport wins for Bling. I will probably be at Burtonsville Sunday if anyone wants to see it. I saw this thing called a Bulldog in the Jegs catalog. ( nice name eh?) that will display any 4 functions in digital and one in analog. Speed, Oil, Temp, boost. It is even more and they have not responded it it will work on our cars. I may have to live with it as it is and just consider it another excuses-less fault of BMW. I can continue to wait for my Bilstiens.

I would not "give it a try" until you have our resident pro (above) look at it, unless you are ready for a re-spray. As an ammature who has only painted a couple of cars, I can fully attest how easy it is to mess it up with a buffer. Oooo. I want one of those nifty little PorterCables.....

I tried the Autosport GPS speedo/HUD. Writup is on NAM. Unit works fine, just not for me.

A great place for automatics, yea get a bit older with knees worn out running cross-country. The fairly snappy automatic transmission is exactly why I bought the Mini. Otherwise I would have kept my old fleet: RSX, Spit, TVR, Mog.... I was stuck in traffic coming back from Carlisle and realized enough was enough. For me, the thrill is driving well, not necessary fast, but quick. Of course, when you drive well, it is pretty fast

Nice fat torque above 4K. Pretty impressive. A little flatter too. Was this just Mach V tuning the ECU, a chip, or was there hardware change?

Problem is, the faded paint in UNDER the clearcoat.

Where are the gains? The stock ECU is set up up provide big low end torque, but modest high end HP. Exactlly what I want on the street. Maybe not what someone else wants on the strip or on the track. Throwing peak numbers out there is meaningless. My last car put out 210 stock out of 2L. Same weight as the Mini. It did it all at 6000 and up. It had half the torque of the mini at 1500 or 2000 where one starts to accelerate on the street. It was still flat at 3000. I will take the low peak HP, but big flat torque from the Mini any dat. It is much, much quicker. What I am saying is the shape of the torque curve is far more important than some peak number. I am NOT discrediting your tune. It may be fantastic as the cars are set from the factory to work at -30 in Alaska and overloaded speeding up a 8000' mountain at 120 degrees. Very conservative, so there are gains if you don't live in the extreme. So, show us the graphs and what you were trying to achieve. Then we can be really amazed.

New stickers. If the paint is faded, you are not going to buff it out. Otherwise, respray. Not what you wanted to hear. Hey, ghost flames are cool!

I finally pulled the trigger. Ordered a set of Bilstein sports. I will try them with the S springs, and if needed base springs. Then de-camber, maybe spacers, and finally see what needs to be done with sway bars for balance. Long process I was hoping to avoid, but I just could not find the answers for what I feel is the correct setup. Most people doing mods are slamming for looks, or wanting weekend track setups.

Exploratory, if a set of OEM base R56 springs were available from someone who has lowered their base coupe. I can be contacted easier at tvrgeek@yahoo.com

Every dyno measures a bit different. You are best to measure changes based on a single dyno. RELATIVE changes, and don't worry about bragging numbers. Of course, "improved" is a matter of what you want. If you want to be quicker off the line, you want lighter wheels and and a torsen. If "Improved" means more HP at 6000, then I would look to the classical air plumbing on both sides of the engine and then some dyno time (expensive). Never seen our head, so I don't know if a trip to Ladds should be high on the list or not. Did wonders on my Spit. For me, "improved " is all about the chassis. #1 on my list is camber, except the S has bad habits of leaving tires in the air I need to fix first. If ultimate g-force is where you are at, wide gumballs is what you need, with all their other nasty problems. So, to get bang for your buck, think about it. Read about it. ( Punn, Smith, Vizzard, Morrison) It is a matter of what tradeoffs YOU will put up with for what benefit you are trying to gain.

Thanks. Sounds like one more vote that the shock is the main culprit. H&R being progressive may be a big part too. I just drove a base Clubman. I would say it is closer over all to a streetable spring rate. Closer, being just a tad soft, where the S is further too stiff. One to 10, if 5 is "perfect" , the base is a 4 on the soft side, the S is a 8 on the stiff. My scale, my perception of what perfect is. I may explore running the Bilsteins and base springs as I really don't feel the need to lower it. Still thinking about the Ireland camber plates and TMS rear links.

I have a standard ODB2 type scanner. In Bowie. I guess they use the normal port.

Please provide feedback on wheel hop over sharp bumps. NM springs on Bilsteins is starting to be a leading candidate. ( Or PSS10's, or V2's.....) My gut feeling is the problem is the shock to start with.

Yes, second generation. R56. There are a few more offerings for first. I also found KYB makes shocks and of course the JCW shocks. Not suprised different factory numbers for JCW or base parts depending on options. You get that level of detail from factory, you don't on aftermarket. Frequently, different rats right and left, and occasionally, even different valving. Modern cars are pretty well balanced, but as I drive 99% of the time with jut me, adjustable coilovers have slight advantages. At 2600 Lbs, not that big a deal. Big deal in my lightweight Spit at 1700 Lbs. One side of me says FSD and NM springs to go civilized, another the Bilstein coilover with the KW V2 right behind. My perception is too much rebound as the main problem. I would hate to make is soft for the bumps when it really was valving. One side effect if the research is finding all the cool parts I can put on my wife's 98 Civic. It is time for new Tokitos but mught as well de-camber while I am at it.

Folowing is a quick summary of what I found available for shocks/springs/coilovers. I hope I picked MSRP's, as that was my intention, but as no sources are listed, no foul if a couple are low. For me, it is trying to figure out what is out there, what the smart people figure out. ( trends you know). Decision is totally for performance expectations. Not a budget nickle game. I am still waffling. Not enough info on spring rates. I would like someone to pipe in and tell us what the camber change is with an inch and a half drop. In other words, if 1.5 neg is acceptable, do I need to buy plates and arms right off? Bilstein shocks and NM springs look like a suitable combo, but then again, I loved my KW's on my RSX...... STOCK SHOCKS Koni Gold, FSD $600 Koni Yellow, adjustable $500 Bilstein Sport $500 COILOVERS Bilstein PSS10 $2250 twin adj 10 way GM5-D902-H0 Cross Coilover $2500 8K ft, 7K rear, linear, 60mm. “track” Ebiach Multi Pro R1 $2400 60mm, adj 1.2 to 2.2 adj Ebiach R2 $3000 Remote res. Adj H&R Street $1300 .6 min. drop, progressive H&R RSS Race stiff Koni Coilover $1300 sku 1150-5079 look progressive KW V1 $1500 230 Lb ( 4.2k ft and r.) KW V2 $1800 sing adj look like 60mm, lin. Tenders ft. KW V3 $2300 twin adj Megan Racing 8Kft, 6K rear, adj, lin M7 $1500 240 ft, 280 rear, (4.3K, 5K ) or custom gas, 2-adj, Out Motoring $1600 Modified Koni yellow and 2.5 springs, Vmax $650 Fronts may be progressive Moton $13,000 real race parts SPRINGS MINI Base Softer by 20% Mini JCW $420 .4”, lin (stiffer) MiniMadness Sport $240 .75 to 1” progressive Koni $230 1.2” Mach V Technic $240 1.25” progressive, 30% stiffer, progressive H&R $260 1.4” 24% over S, 30% over base , progressive NM 1.2 $250 1.2” prog. B&G S2 $210 1” higher rates but still comfortable” Mini Mania $280 1.2” pix looks prog “ adds camber, needs rear bar” MiniMania perfor $298 .75 to 1.25 Eibach $350 1.2,” settles from 1 to 1.5 inch”, progressive Apex/Moss $120 Dropzone 1.5” $130 M7 $260 1.5 progressive

Forgot to ask, Claymore: What was the camber like after the H&R swap?

Calymore, Do you have them on now? This is a super tempting option as the H&R are progressive. I am looking for pose on our streets, not kiddie racer. This decision is driving me crazy. I don't buy a pair oof shoes without trying them on, but we are expected to pay thousands for mods with no idea of the results. It took me several tries to get the RSX just right. Besides the cost, my arthritis makes it hard to swap parts all day long. Of course, the dealer has no JCW optional suspension to drive. Only standard works cars which have the same setup as our S. They complain they can't sell a $3000 option. I would argue, that that is true, sight unseen! Honda has the same problem. They have performance shocks for the Civic, but no demonstrator. Then the wonder why they don't sell them.

Well, I changed my mind on the direction I am going. So, someone can get an even better deal on the s-lites and good Conti snows I got from Jay. Hit me with an offer. Nothing to do with the wheels and tires, they are exactly as advertised. A tad of rash but not bad. Good rubber. no TPS.

I finally put on the convex mirrors from Moss on both sides. They do take a lot of getting used to. The curve is a bit odd and inconsistent. It is only a tad more than the right side stock. They are not as perfect in shape as the OEM mirrors, but close enough. It was a real pain getting some RTV around the top edge. Anyway, I guess I am pleased with them. You can set them so cars are visible from the inside mirror to the outside without gaps. That was what I wanted as my neck never got full range after being rear-ended on 95. ( the one day I slowed down to the speed limit, I got nailed). I am not sure the right side is really much help over the stock one. But the help me in the quick look over the shoulder problem. You can drive with just the mirrors.

Thanks Edge, Sounds like the JCW kit ( checked with the dealer, over $3K installed), is not what I want. They have none to drive. So, back to FSD, yellow, or Bil. ( shocks only on the Bilsteins. Again, the full kit is over $3K.) All of the shock options are about $650 or so. A copuple of recent surprises slowed doen my purchasing power. Maybe I can get a ride in some member cars that have chosen one of the for-mentioned options. Poise is really the issue. Quit having to catch the car after a bump in the corner. Cars corner faster with the tires on the ground. I don't autocross any more. That makes me lean towards the FSD or Bil's. It is not the cost that is a tough decision, but that it is getting hard for me physically to do work like this. My wrists just can't take the wrenching any more. ( why I had to sell my TVR). I want to do it correctly the first time. It looks like the KW for the R56 uses standard 60mm springs, but again, I don't want to have to swap parts for 6 months like I did on the RSX. End result was perfect, but it beat me up getting there. BTW, funny. At the dealer when retuning the TPS that had the wrong stem, I mentioned how happy I was to get my Mini back after driving a 328 for the week. How I felt they made it feel like an overgrown moving-sofa Camry. One of the very senior exec's was walking buy " You are not the only one who noticed" Maybe BMW will listen to the dealers and give us back "real" 3 series again. In the mean time, I need to sell the s-lites I bought as I have changed my mind and direction ( someone can get a really good deal on my change of mind). Get the 205 RE960's like I planed in the first place and but in the flat cargo deck.

I forgot about the JCW option. At least that is one I can go test drive!

Tough questions. Some love the FSD. Slower steering but tires stay on the ground better. Just got a solid recommendation for yellows. Another for Bilstiiens set to soft. About the only consistent recommendation is the OEM is stiff, but not well controlled.

Did not see any measurements, so this is the little I have gathered. Sure would be nice if there was a spreadsheet of tires with wheel specifics for combination known to fit posted somewhere. Example, does a 225/50 on a 17 with 40mm offset clear? What 225's on what offsets actually clear? S-Winders ( what came on my 09 S) 6 ½ x 16” 48mm offset spec. I measure 49.5, #71193A 195/55/15 Mounted section width is 205 mm Rear clearance, Hub to section edge 152 mm 38 Lbs mounted., so tire 23 Lbs, wheel is 15 Lbs, very light. S-lite Picked up used. 7 x 17” 48mm offset spec. I measure 49. 205/45/17 Mounted section width 208 mm Rear clearance: Hub to section edge 153 mm 44 Lbs mounted , so 23 Lb tire, wheel is 21 Lbs. Actually not that heavy. Notice the more square lower profile tire is only 2mm wider than the 195's on the car. Lots more tread though. Aftermarket wheels run from 16 to 25 Lbs in the 16 and 17 sizes. Big difference. Offsets from 48 to 40. My stock tires clear the trailing arm by only about 18mm Some to play with, but not much. 205/55/16's on OEM rims are not a problem. I think I will do this. Tempting 215/55/16 on a 16 x 7 with 40mm. Maybe next time