Springs and Torque Arm

The NM Engineering front and rear springs are all installed now. Everything fit like a glove! The car's still up on the lift right now, so we don't know how low it will actually sit with the new setup. It should sit about an inch lower, though. The blue springs, sway bar, and induction kit look really good installed too.

The engine torque arm was installed also. That installation was extremely quick and straight forward. Now, we'll take the car off the lift and see how she does in round 2 on the dyno. We'll post the before and after dyno graphs here shortly.

NM Rear Sway Bar!

Slowly but surely its coming together. We were able to get a little dirty along with Arturo from Paladin Motorsports as we installed the new sway bar. Every thing lines up perfectly. The detailed color instructions made it much easier. Can't wait to put it to the test.

Intake

The Paladin Motorsport guys are helping our Cooper S breath better. The NM-Engineering High-Flow Induction Kit is going on smoothly. We'll post the results of the dyno run before and after the installation to see how much the induction kit improves the engine breathing.

Have "Car"- Will Travel

If you don't get the 1960's TV reference, Abel and I are at Paladin Motorsports in Corona, CA. We have our MINI Cooper S here to have dynoed and to install our NM Engineering parts on it.

The Paladin guys just strapped her in the Dynojet. They did some test runs and are now preparing for some real ones. We'll post the results here soon!

Break-In Passed

Abel and I just passed the break-in miles in our MINI Cooper S! We did it on our way up to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA for a Lotus Challenge Series race.

It clicked passed the 1,000 mile mark on I-10 near Ontario, CA. The rear seats were folded down to accommodate a few sets of brake discs, brake pads, tow hooks, and other Lotus bits. The MINI did a superb job of hauling two men and a bunch of gear almost 300 miles in total comfort.

I'm about 6'6'' tall and never once felt uncomfortable or cramped even with all of the extra gear in the car. The MINI seems to magically grow in size once you get in it.


The next step is to have it weighed and dynoed. Then, we can start installing all of our tasty bits!

Chevy HHR owners listen up!

One of our customers recently had to put his kappa away for the winter months. He's other vehicle happens to be a Chevrolet HHR. Well he noticed that something was missing and realized that what he was in need of was his Kapparoo Pouch. It turns out if fits just fine in his HHR. We haven’t confirmed it yet; however I wanted to share this with all of you just in case you also have a Chevy HHR and would like to try it.

First MINI Canyon Drive

Took the MINI out for it's first spirited drive. Break-in miles are almost done so I started rev'ing her up to 4500rpms.  Overall impressions are still positive.  I took her on a favorite run through DeLuz Rd.  It is a fun road that combines many elements: smooth, bumpy, technical, slow, fast and plenty of elevation change.   

The MINI S is a fun canyon carver but has a few areas that I would like to improve.  The brakes felt mushier than I would prefer.  I want some better initial bite.  Pads, fluid and lines should do the trick.  

Better tires should also help.  The added sidewall of the tires (195/55R16) was welcome on the bumpy sections of this road.  We are going to order some lightweight wheels and high performance tires shortly.  The turn-in was good but the lean was too much.  We should have a rear sway bar coming soon that will help.   We will install the springs as well and the car should slice and dice DeLuz.... 

The pedals, steering wheel and gear selector relationship is pretty good.  The pedals are almost too well spaced.  I'd forgotten how easy it is to heel and toe in a BMW.   Way easier than a Lotus.  The gear selection takes a bit to get use to it.  A light touch is needed or you pass 2nd and enter the reverse section of the selector.  I definately don't like the gear knob.  This will have to change.   Steering feel is good.  Glad MINI has not lost that in this second gen car.

Blistering speed was not the objective.  We will tune this car so it delivers good 'around-town' compliance yet still work the canyons.  I'm sure we will get there shortly...