JCW Suspension

Ever since I got the Mini, I wanted to do an OEM+ upgrade by doing a JCW conversion since they don’t make a 4-door JCW. I already completed most of that conversion shortly after buying the car and even sourced the JCW suspension new but just didn’t get the opportunity to install it to complete the transformation. After a few years of procrastination I decided it was time so I dropped it off with SJF so he could complete the install.

JCW suspension

The JCW coilovers are height adjustable but have a fixed valving and are made by KW. Since the car has almost 85k miles, I figured I’d also get brand new hardware, top hats, etc for the install to just freshen things up since putting those old components with new suspension seemed like the wrong thing to do. 

New front shocks and springs

New rear shocks

New top hats and associated hardware

The overall installation went pretty smoothly and I had the ride height set to just a little under factory height since it’s winter and the suspension settled maybe around 0.25-0.5” after sittting around before alignment. 

Front suspension installed

Rear suspension installed

New ride height

The car feels really amazing to drive. The ride is a bit more firm but very well controlled just as you’d expect from a KW tuned suspension setup. I’m definitely very happy with the upgrade and I’m glad that the JCW conversion is finally complete.

While the car was there I also had SJF flush the brake fluid since that was due.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 84,996

- New JCW suspension (made by KW) all around

- All new suspension bolts, top hats, etc for the suspension

- Motul RBF600 brake fluid

New Seat Foam for the 944

The interior on the 944 is actually really clean and original. The only thing after 35 years is that the driver side seat bolster flattened over the years so I wanted to actually fix this to make things 100%. Unfortunately finding brand new OEM seat foam is difficult, if not near impossible, so I bought some new seat bottom foam from Design911 in the UK.

Seat out of car with new foam next to it

New foam

The only problem with the new foam is that it’s a bit generic for the standard seat so it’s not a direct replacement. It doesn’t have the appropriate cut outs for the power seat controls nor and doesn’t match all the contours needed to slot in to the seat frame.

Removing the seat cover and cushion from frame

New seat foam vs very old one

I spent several hours cutting and trimming the new foam to match the old foam then recovered and attached everything back to the seat frame. It was frankly way more work than I thought it’d be but not only does the bolster look better, the fresh foam makes the seat feel much better and supportive.

All the foam trimmings

Seat bottom frame

Everything put back together