38 replies to this topic

[siggy]

Its the very back mount that you need to fabricate. the center one is just a bit of a mod the the standard one.

Siggy

[centralminiTC]

a word of warning...

one of the guys from our mini club bought one of these - he had no end of trouble in getting the thing to fit. he had to drill some new holes and weld others on the frame before it would fit. He wasnt too impressed..!!!

[mini-magic.de]

Hi,
maybe i can get somemore discount on this part for you, as i´ve bought a few bit from Hudderfeild in the past,

same goes for all of ya´s comming over here on the run, if ya´s are going to spend a few quid on parts, gis a shout and i´ll see what i can do!!! :grin:

all my parts in http://www.mini-magic.de are comming from over there, i dont mind passing my discount on to the lads comming on the run (what i want in return?????, some of the English grub when we meet at the ring :cheese: -i´d kill for a pork pie)

incase anyone does´nt know me, it is me and Leigh Barnett who is going to sort the German side of this out :cheese:

have a nice crimbo lad and look farward too seeing ya here in the summer,

all the best,

Brian

[siggy]

The ones I have fitted needed only the additional 2 holes for the rear frame drilling and suitable spreader plates making.

Siggy

[Alburglar]

Right...
...Don't mind drilling holes or cutting surpless bits of trailing arm off. That's no big deal.
However, The stress on the body maybe, because my car is fibreglass. I would have thought that it would be more suited to a beam conversion as stress will be spread a bit more evenly through a GRP structure. But could always bond some kevlar matting where stuff is bolted to the body.
Do you reckon I need it?

FAO Siggy: what do you mean by spreader plates. Have you used 20gauge steel or something to spread stress loads? If so where?

Thanks for everyones opinion so far, by the way.

[Rob]

ive heard you get a considerable increase in road noise with these beam axles.

is this true?

[bluebottle]

al
does your minus have any steel in it at all?

my mini jem has steel reinforing plates (heel board) where the rear subframe mounts, and also has the steel rear inner wheel arch glassed in.

if you have these as well, then you shouldn't need any extra reinforcing.

[Dan]

I believe the spreader plates are used because the beam uses more mountings along the heelboard than the subframe does. The subby is obviously only held to the heelboard at each end, but that would be a fairly insubstantial way to mount anything once you ditch the rear mountings so two extra mountings are bolted through the board inboard of the trailing arms. This needs re-inforcement as the heelboard is only strangthened by ridges in the pressing in this area and isn't double skined or triangulated. I doubt a composite shell would have re-inforcement here either since nothing is meant to attach in this area.

This old steel box cage version of the beam subframe has been around for donkeys years and used to be available from almost everywhere (even non Mini dealers like Europa Specialist Spares who sell parts for Cobra kit cars mainly). Until someone developed the extruded aluminium version which is a vast improvement and saves buckets of weight. Most places seem to have stopped doing the steel one now.

Beams are never a simple replacement as they are a fairly major alteration to the running gear. Most insurers will care about them and want to know.

[siggy]

As Dan says its beacause of the extra mounts in the Heel board. I used 2 mm plate. You have to drill 2 x holes about 6 inchs in from the outer mounts

I think the Minus has steel plates in the floor but not in the heel board area. If in doubt, talk to Minus (are they still around???)

Apart from the extra bolts and a new rear mount the beam was a straight forward fitting.

There is no extra noise over a std frame.

Siggy