Tofubaru - Forester II

Absolutely!

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@PhilDAS @ricky2slicky

Absolutely agreed on lows. It's still on Cooper S sport suspension at the moment but I think I'll go with Tein coilovers for it in the not distant future.

Truth be told my eye has wandered into planning the next build (not a Mini) and it's making me reluctant to go too much further with this one (I'm also increasingly disliking the online Mini community for the obnoxious volume of Union Jack content and idiots who don't realise it's a small hatchback they own and not a McLaren F1) but time will tell...

This monk seems to be pretty sound though & he's knocked up a good 'un (apart from the 17s)

I saw this alright! What a great build and he seems like an excellent fellow!

Yeah, "more power could be fun, but it isn't necessary" - the wee dicks tearing down my street last night could learn some chudo from this guy

not low is the new low.
how about some chrome delete? my mate has done this on his clubman and it looks a lot better for it IMO, especially on the headlights.

Literally the first post I spotted on a Mini group this morning. The second being a man in a towel who had shaved a Union Jack into his chest and facial hair. :(

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I'm torn on the chrome delete actually, it's a very very popular mod to the extent that it's actually more unusual to have a modified Mini with a bit of chrome left on... Have considered it though.

Also won't be going too low at all when I do get the coilers, maybe 15-20mm but not slammed by any stretch of the imagination!

I reckon body colour on the headlamp surrounds would be a good trade off.

Generally I think Mini's look better with chrome than without. It's one of those cars. But then I think 90% of BMW's look worse with the shadow package.

In your grey white combo I think you can go either way. Current wheels would probably nudge it towards chrome delete.

Keep the chrome!

shadow package.

Looks naff most of the time IMO.

.

The second being a man in a towel who had shaved a Union Jack into his chest and facial hair. :(

This one?

A mate sent it to me last night.

Funny how context is everything. They're so woke they won't even open tabs to the right. So I probably didn't see it the same way you would have.

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Funny how context is everything.

Quite.

My one of these is 30mm lower only with different springs and already feels a lot nicer.

Really like the look of the smaller wheels w chunky tyre combo on yours. Have fitted the JCW r56 brakes to mine which 15s won't clear but am considering the change now.

Do post pics! I thought about lowering springs alright but I'm actually concerned they might be too low? Wouldn't be an expensive experiment though to be fair and the stock suspension does ride well for what I use it for at the moment so I might look into springs again!
What springs did you go for?

I was absolutely torn on going for the big brake kit and having to change my wheels, I absolutely love the 15's and the extra sidewall is great on shitty road surfaces but I suspect I'm somewhere around 220bhp-ish at the moment and the braking is definitely under a little bit of pressure when the going gets spirited for any prolonged period, I suspect they would be a let down for a track day...

I know there are a few 15's that will actually clear R56 brakes though.

Have only got rubbish pictures from Instagram at the moment, will pop a couple on but also find time to give it a good clean and some real pictures.

The springs are weitech ones, it has a bit of 'bounce' over really crap roads that a decent set of coilovers would be better for but definitely an improvement over stock.

Mine seems to be almost identical to yours engine wise and is between 210-220, just waiting on the intercooler diverter and ultragauge to arrive as I think its getting warm at times. Are you impressed with your diverter?

Will have a hunt on the forums for 15s which will have enough space, would be nice not to have to be so precious on the backroads.

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That looks very smart! Do you get any rubbing at all?

Yeah the diverter is a great job, I don't see a massive benefit at all to be had by going for any of the more expensive ones vs this setup. There's lots of data on some of the forums where people have done in depth analysis of the performance of the eBay intercooler with diverter vs the expensive ones and there's no real gains with the other ones, especially in our climate.

I do need to get mine dyno'd and mapped though as I suspect it's got room for a bit of tweaking.

Nope, no rubbing at all and it can handle even the gnarliest of speed bumps. I haven't dared try multi-story car parks in it yet which I think might be bit difficult.

Have you stitched your steering wheel cover on yet? Like the look of them but am not exactly handy with a needle and thread.

R56 brakes

I thought that was the go to mod. Didn't realise they were significantly bigger tho.

Ah they're not hugely bigger but I believe they don't fit under every 15" wheel. 949 Racing 6UL are one of the ones that definitely do clear R56 brakes but I didn't buy them so if I want bigger brakes I need different wheels :(

Depending on how much room you need to gain you could always have a look at at bit of machining and some spacers.

@BenjiD @Nahguavkire I have an R50 Cooper that is throwing an intermittent ABS light - do you have any recommendations for a code reader that might help with diagnosis? I have a very basic ebay one that isn't telling me anything useful. thanks in advance

Am having similar issues with my DSC light at the moment, coming on when the car gets over 3-4kish rpm and then staying on for the rest of the journey.
Am hoping the ultra gauge I have coming will be able to flash the relevant code up for me, if not a local independent should be able to at least read it and let you know what the problem is reasonably cheap.
I had an intermittent ABS light on my 3 series which was caused by a combination of faulty ABS sensor and also the wheels being a bit out of alignment. The sensors aren’t expensive and fairly easy to fit if that is your problem.