Welcome to FrankenMini Racing

The following is a blog by Paul Monaghan aka paulmon to highlight work in preparing a 1967 tube frame Mini Countryman (aka Estate) for SOLO2 competition in Ontario, Canada. Look here for more information on the car, you can check out my upcoming event list and don't forget the Photo Gallery. For additional information contact me.

Went to see the car today. Looking REALLY good. The engine is installed, with the nice CM oil filter and shiny ceramic coated header, new valve cover is in, suspension is reinstalled after being painted, door bars are installed on the driver's side. The driver side polycarbonate window has been really done nicely. The inside has been heat (and sound) insulated, the Tilton master cylinders are in. All in all a great deal has been done in the last 3 weeks. Various things were moved around in the engine bay to make more room, particularly around the fuel pressure regulator coil and the master cylinders. Photos can be seen in the Week 7 photo gallery.

Now to order the Woodward steering rack, and harnesses.

So the Chevette rack is 3.75 turns lock to lock with 6" of rack travel over those 3.75 turns. Based on this the rack is traveling 1.6" per turn 6/3.75=1.6. Very very slow. If my goal is 2 turns lock to lock I would need an ideal 3" per turn (6/2=3) or roughly twice the ratio I have now. This puts me between 2.88 and 3.14 ratios offered by Woodward. Wanting to make sure the steering isn't too hard to turn I think I'll go with the 2.88" per turn which would result in 2.08 ( 6/2.88=2.08 ) turns lock to lock which is pretty damn quick steering. Hope my math is right. Now the question, is a ratio of 2.88" per turn going to be too hard to turn without power? I've been emailing with the Woodward folks and hopefully they can answer that.

Update 12/20/06: The folks at Woodward got back to me, seems my math is correct. They've suggesting backing off the caster to -1 to -1.5 so the steering isn't too hard to turn. Now to find some $$$ to order this thing.

Steering racks are proving more expensive than I though. The Chevette rack from a junk yard is $150, while a rebuilt is $300. I'm now looking at a Fiero rack, which is similar to the Chevette rack. The only problem is all of these racks are 3 turns lock-to-lock and I was hoping for something quicker without having to go power steering. I read that there seems to be a 2.5 turn Fiero rack and hope that turns out to be true. Don't need power steering on a 1400lbs car, overkill. I've shot an email to the Fiero Store who seem to sell rebuilt Fiero units. Worse case I can add a steering quickener but it would be nice to not have to do that. Will see what the Fiero Store has to say.

If anyone knows of a quicker manual steering unit than the Fiero that is of similar dimensions shoot me an email.

Steering racks are proving more expensive than I though. The Chevette rack from a junk yard is $150, while a rebuilt is $300. I'm now looking at a Fiero rack, which is similar to the Chevette rack. The only problem is all of these racks are 3 turns lock-to-lock and I was hoping for something quicker without having to go power steering. I read that there seems to be a 2.5 turn Fiero rack and hope that turns out to be true. Don't need power steering on a 1400lbs car, overkill. I've shot an email to the Fiero Store who seem to sell rebuilt Fiero units. Worse case I can add a steering quickener but it would be nice to not have to do that. Will see what the Fiero Store has to say.

If anyone knows of a quicker manual steering unit than the Fiero that is of similar dimensions shoot me an email.

Update 12/18/06: Been doing a whole load of google searching for steering rack solution. Stumbled across Woodward Steering who make a range of steering racks for just about any application one could imagine. Their "K Style" rack is a manual rack available in a wide selection of widths (starts at 18.25") and ratios from 1.57" per turn to a recommended maximum manual steer ratio of 3.14" per turn. There is no doubt this solution is more expensive, $485us, however considering a rebuilt Chevette/Fiero rack are around $300us and a steering quickener, needed for these slower racks would be $125, the Woodward rack becomes competitive an an overall better solution. Even better the ratio can be changed by simply replacing the pinion (see picture at right) with a different ratio. Very nice. Paul is looking at the rack dimensions now and trying to determine if this will work.

Paul and I talked on Saturday regarding adding a sway bar to the front suspension. One thought Paul had was to make it adjustable by the driver. This would be very effective and allow for greater tuning over the suspension components than I have now. The picture to the right is a NASCAR style splined sway bar. We're still thinking about this and for now will most likely just make the mounting points and not actually build the bar. In the splined configuration the bar is actually mounted solid to the front frame across the front of the car. The spline ends then fit onto the sway bar which then connects to the front lower a-arm. Pretty simply in principle, more complicated when you get into the math of how big you need.

Any one know any good sources to work such a thing out? Comments below...

Dropped by to see Paul this morning. WOW! Talk about progress. As mentioned in my last update post a bunch of stuff has been done. What wasn't mentioned in that update is the following:

• Engine completely removed
• Front suspension completely disasembled
• Front frame, suspension and steering shaft have been painted with Zero Rust

Paul is also making modifications to the bar that was forcing mounting the brake master cylinder reservoir higher than needed. This is why the bonnet had a hole cut in it, so the tops of the reservoirs could peek out. Nice. That hole will be sealed up with some fiberglass. You can see the hole in this picture.

Unfortunately the steering rack cracked/snapped. So I've got to find a new rack. Most likely just get a unit from a junk yard. However a new Fiero rack is a possibility.

Check out the Week 4 Pictures.