76 replies to this topic

[THE ANORAK]

well, i finally decided what to do with Dominic's suspension and ordered a moulton smootha ride set from mini sport, well as you can see i ordered the four cones and some front adjusta rides as he already has rear adjusta rides and new shocks (didn't bother with the camber brackets)...



well the front ones went in OK. Although it's quite a pain in the butt having to remove the top arms just to get the cones in, every thing went fine and the new cone compressor worked a treat...



(photos end now due to mucky hands, but will get more tomorrow)

so i thought the hard part was over and moved on the the back. no problem dropping the old units out but.... even though they had only been on the car two years and coated up with copper grease, the old cones had stuck solid on the adjusta rides
i actually think that the adjusta rides are a tighter fit than standard trumpets but i might be imagining it.

well after a good hour on one side, spraying with WD40 and levering with a big screwdriver the cone finally came loose.

ten minutes later and the one side is back together and ready for final adjustment

i moved onto the other side and after another hour nothing was moving at all. well i had an idea

if i could get the rubber out of the way i could get at the steel mounting much better, so how do you remove the rubber ????

with an angle grinder (lets not forget i have little or no patience and by this point i was going to try anything). anyone ever angle grinded rubber before ????

well its fun i can tell you, and it smokes a lot and it stinks but i was soon at a point where most of the rubber was removed (well lets just say melted and flicked all over the back garden)

i actually think that it was the heat that freed it up in the end (it was too hot to hold) but after all that the cone just came off quite nicely. job done

first impression of the new suspension is good, taking the local speed bumps is now no problem at all, i need to adjust the ride height and I'll let you know how it all settles in. ill take some more pics tomorrow and keep a full report going of how the smootha rides perform over time.

so where did the trouble with the kids come in ????

well, you remember the melted rubber all over the garden ??? it seems they managed to get it all over their feet somehow, and then march it through the kitchen, across the lounge and up the stairs

lets just say I'm not Mr popular tonight

anyone know how to get rubber out of a carpet ???

Edited by THE ANORAK, 11 August 2007 - 11:20 PM.

[biggav]

home insurance.


been there, done that, got the carpet stains.

[roofless]

home insurance.


been there, done that, got the carpet stains.

bang! and the rubber is gone.............

[8vAlan]

anyone know how to get rubber out of a carpet ???

i heard somewhere that an angle-grinder works well!? but make sure you dont spread it over your back garden as it can cause all kinds of problems!

[ROCKET]

Yes Craig, your rubber is now in my house (mainly the bath) as well, bloody kids !!

[Matt]

im glad someones done a write up about it..
considering what i should do with mine!!

what size wheels are you running??

[ROCKET]

He's running standard rover minilights with 165 yoko's

[Matt]

so what would the handling be like on my 13" 7 inch wheels?

[THE ANORAK]

right, got some more pics today, finished setting the height and also fitted new engine mounts as well (which went very well actually)

the rear unit in place...



and the front...



it's sitting quite level at the moment but it all need to settle over the next few weeks before final adjustments can be made....



right then, for anyone interested in the smootha rides here's the info....

I'm running the tall smootha ride front cones and short smootha ride rear cones with the mini sport adjusta rides, i didn't bother with the rear camber brackets. the shock absorbers are kayaba gas a-just from mini spares all round but are not new (less than two years old).
wheels are standard rover minilight style alloys with yokohama A539 tyres run at 28 psi, rear wheels fitted with 5mm spacers for internal clearance


first impressions are good, but then after the old cones it should be. you can still throw the car around, trust me. the system seems to be really rather soft at slow speeds and rolls a fair bit around corners (very similar to a normal modern car) but when you start to speed things up, you do notice the car stiffen up after the initial roll and fast twisty roads are still safe and fun.
i am going to find some good washboard roads to try it out on this week as i think this will be the real test.
speed bumps are now nice and gentle.

I'll let you all know how it develops

not sure how 13inch wheels would affect the ride as i have absolutely no experience with them at all.

Edited by THE ANORAK, 01 December 2007 - 07:22 PM.

[minili]

Great job Anorak! .................

Can you come and do mine? I've got standard 21 year old suspension.... Everything is actually 21 years old I think And has 21 years of mud on it too...

Just the front looks a bit low....

lol

[THE ANORAK]

yes, front (and rear actually) looks very low. i suggest you do something about changing them. Dominic was really starting to suffer from all the shocks and knocks that the lack of suspension was putting him through.

[Matt_20]

Try shaving the carpet...

If its a fluffy enough one you should be able to shave off the rubber...no experience of doing this but it works on fluffy clothes.

By the way dont use an electric shaver, use a razor!

[Mini_Magic]

Considering getting this kit myself sometime, you'll have to let me know how good it is over time

[Bungle]

been thinking of changing my cones as they are now 17 years old

[Mincento]

Daft question but ill ask anyway, do moulton just make these smootharide cones or do they also make the standard ones as well?

just got my equinox apart at the moment and when lookig at the frame the other day noticed moulton stamped into the rubber cones? if so could explain why it handles so crrap i can find myself getting it really out of shape and a simple hard corner turns into what feels a real effort wouldnt recomend them for handling and the ride quality isnt thatb great although they are by no means new, i am comparing them to the originals on my 87 city

wayne

Edited by Mincento, 12 August 2007 - 11:45 PM.