261 replies to this topic

[Tonylamb]

I don't have a way of measuring it but the car looks like it has positive camber. ie the top of the front wheels is further out than the bottom. Is that right? I don't know how you are supposed to adjust the camber on a mini unless it has specific adjustment parts added to it. There is a decent gap between the bump stop and the top arm over an inch at least. I am still trying to find the time to set the tracking. and of course the tyre pressures need checking over accurately. I'm getting used to the bouncy ride. to be honest its a long time since I've driven one. There is obviously nothing else like it. Does anyone know of a mini guru in the Tunbridge Wells area that could help me out with setting up the suspension. I've got a diagram of the measurements from the ground etc. To be honest Ive only done 18 miles and I changed all the front suspension so it might take a bit of time to settle down.

[Tonylamb]

I've been trying to back track all the parts to see if I've done something wrong. I discovered this on the mini spares site in regard to the red spot cones that I have put on the front of the car.


If using these on 10" wheels with Hilos you may have to cut 3/4" off the end of the centre threaded bolt of the old type Hilo with a circlip as it will bottom out on the cone spring face and the car will sit high, for extremely lowered cars the hilo face will also need machining a few mm.

I'm not entirely sure what the centre threaded bolt is? Can anyone show me exactly what this means perhaps with a diagram?

[GreaseMonkey]

Did you fit hilos for adjustable ride height? To be honest, if you've bought the hilos fairly recently I doubt they'd be the old type. 

[Tonylamb]

The car has adjustable suspension but I dont think they are hi lo ones. Another make. Its clear that reading all the answers the red spots are higher and adjustable suspension is needed. If I buy new genuine hi los for the front will I need to cut them down? Or is that just for the old hi lo design?

[Retroman]

Thinking it sounds like they need taking out and turning down about 10 or 12mm

 

The leverage is 3:1

 

You can take material off both the seat part and at the ball end

[Tonylamb]

thanks I bought new genuine hi los for the front. they have a circlip. now I see them off the car I understand the way of cutting them down. i'll swap them over for the ones on it and measure the depth. At the same time i can check which knuckle joints are on the car and swap those if needed. Then i can do the tracking again.

[Tonylamb]

So I switched out the mini spares hi los for the genuine ones. Replaced with the genuine items. I cut off the centre screw by 18mm as suggested. And removed the locking nut. I currently have 28mm of thread between ball joint and the bottom of the hi lo. This has lowered the gap between wheel arch and tyre by 2cm. I think the ratio is 1 to 3 so if I wind them down a cm then the car should go down 3cm. Going to leave it to settle a bit at this setting though.

[Tonylamb]

Just a little thing I have a smiths capillary oil gauge. So my assumption is that it can't really read wrong. When I first ran the car it showed 70psi almost constantly. An adjustment of the oil pressure relief valve spring sorted that and now its running around 50psi. The odd thing is that I would expect the pressure to rise with revs and fall at idle? It doesn't it sits around 50psi pretty much all the time. In fact it seems to drop a tiny bit with revs which makes no sense at all. I probably haven't got the oil that hot yet which presumably makes a difference. It does seem a bit odd though, the oil pressure my other car rises from around 15psi at idle up to 60 at 4000rpm.

[imack]

Mine does the same, 75psi at idle and then drops around 5psi when revved as the Pressure relief valve lifts off its seat. Needle moves back to 75psi at idle as relief valve seats again.

[Tonylamb]

Thanks mate one less thing to worry about

[GreaseMonkey]

Good to see you got the hilo problem resolved. So the new genuine hilo you bought from minispares had the circlip? In their description, I thought the circlip was an older type that has been superseded. I'll take note as I have some to fit to mine with 10s but its all boxed up waiting to be fitted. 

 

Cheers

[robj2502]

CCK historic should be able to get your suspension set up. They are used to working on classic minis and many other classic cars and arent too far from Tunbridge wells also have a rolling road for getting carbs etc sorted and setup:

 

https://www.cckhistoric.com/

 

I cant say I have used them but I was looking to take my car there to get setup once its on the road 

[Ethel]

Don't know if it's relevent, but the suspension can take a fair while to settle after you've fitted new parts. Wait until you've driven it for a bit before attempting a final setup. The factory figure is about 1 degree of positive camper.

 

Oil pressure might be down to the relief valve sticking.

[Tonylamb]

CCK Historic are well known to me as they set up my lamborghini carbs on their rolling road and did some engine work. When I've done a few hundred miles and have the engine well run in I'll take it over there to get the engine tuned in. Should be a bit easier with one HIF 44 as opposed to 4 twin choke IDF's.

[Tonylamb]

last job for the MOT. the passenger side wheel bearing gaiter keeps popping off. Its a pain because it chucks warm grease everyhere all over the suspension. I think i need to pull the inside small gaiter clip outside a bit onto one of the ridges on the driveshaft. That will stop the gaiter coming off the outside of the UV joint. One question i have is that the UV seems quite hot to the touch? Should it be? Maybe because all its grease has been chucked everywhere? The only place you can have heat from is the brakes or the wheel bearing. I wouldn't expect it to get that hot from a short journey?