9 replies to this topic

[ant_parker]

sorry peoples don't know if this is the right section really for this?
if not can a mod please move it?

im thinking about lowering my mini by cutting down the trumpets... my questions are as follows

will it work front and rear?
is it difficult to do?
does anyone know the ratio please of how much to cut off of the cones to lower the car how much?


hope this makes sense

reason i ask is because i havent got access to get to my mini to get stuck in at the mo

thanks
Ant

[BoboGib]

this was asked only the other day, have you tried using the search function in the top left corner.

[nicksuth]

Front Ratio is 1:3 & Rear Ratio is 1:5

My advice = buy some HiLo's

[jwb_moto]

When i ws t bingley somebody was selling hilo kits for £35 which is well cheap and at the end of the day all hilo copies are the same.

[zebidee]

Though its not especially difficult to do, it is fairly time consuming! Definitely fit some Hi-los, will save any pains you might have after cutting a trumpet by a wee bit too much, you can balance the car far easier, and you can always tinker with the height at any point just by turning a nut

[THE ANORAK]

When i ws t bingley somebody was selling hilo kits for £35 which is well cheap and at the end of the day all hilo copies are the same.

actually no, the copies are not the same as original hilos.

on original ones the area that seats against the rubber cone has a radius on its edges, just like the original trumpets. this is there for a reason as it controls the way the rubber cone is compressed. a lot of development went into getting this right.

cheap copies do not have this feature, that is the main reason they are considered to be inferior, although very few people realise this.

hang on, I'll get i photo

[THE ANORAK]

here we go...

the profile of the trumpet is a very important part of the design and cheap copy hilos do not have this.

the cheap ones are turned aluminium and to add this profile on a CNC machine would be very very easy. the fact that they leave it out actually proves that the manufacturers of these cheap copies have no idea what they are doing. by leaving this profile off they can actually turn the unit from a smaller diameter bar and therefore save money, just a shame they don't understand the design

Edited by THE ANORAK, 01 February 2009 - 09:27 AM.

[jwb_moto]

Did you read what i put? i said all hilo copies are basically the same, not that theyre the same as the originals.

Also they wouldnt need a larger piece material to start off with as you can run the raduis tool on that edge until the side of the tool that run parrellel to the chuck just touches the material. although this would add a little bit extra cycle time to the run.

[THE ANORAK]

Did you read what i put? i said all hilo copies are basically the same, not that theyre the same as the originals.

yes, sorry, i realise that, i just thought it would be a good point to clarify the difference between the two

Also they wouldnt need a larger piece material to start off with as you can run the raduis tool on that edge until the side of the tool that run parrellel to the chuck just touches the material. although this would add a little bit extra cycle time to the run.

i believe the copies have a much smaller diameter at that point. they basically have the connecting area and a small lip. to create the "platform" that controls the cone compression i believe they would need to use bigger bar. its not just about the radius, its about the diameter of the platform. they have left it off to save money with no understanding of why its there.

i don't actually believe you need to use a radius tool to form a radius when turning, we are not milling this from above. to cut the corner to a radius instead of square would have very little effect on the cycle time.

[ant_parker]

right okay thanks lads... so its easy but a bit pointless because if im genna take them all apart i might aswell fit hilo's right
and ideally i want genuine hilos yeah?

thanks for your advice