59 replies to this topic

[nicksuth]

wow those are pretty friggin cool, i think i might go for those, wonder what makes them road specific? as for teh shocks ill get on spares and get that sorted. thanks for the help so far

Don't forget to keep us posted once you've done the conversion

[Slinky1313]

yeah but like nick was sayin before apparently the springs can get dislodged if you use them for normal roads, just wondering what theyve done to make these road use?

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

as far as im aware there is a spacer which stops the spring disloding and only happens when the car is excessively lowered and either going over a massive pot hole or hitting ramps and doing big jumps lol (highly unlikely)

im no expert id ring minitastic and have a chat with them and if ur near try their demo car hope that helps

[carboy001]

Basically if your going for springs go for Minitastic, its the only worth while conversion, all others havent been given such good reviews like the huddersfield ones you were looking at, avoid them!

I thought about this when deciding to go down springs or cones, my theory was; why mess around with a tried and tested method, that being the original cones, even if they are something like £130 for the set

[Slinky1313]

as far as im aware there is a spacer which stops the spring disloding and only happens when the car is excessively lowered and either going over a massive pot hole or hitting ramps and doing big jumps lol (highly unlikely)

im no expert id ring minitastic and have a chat with them and if ur near try their demo car hope that helps

lol well thats no good then ill have to change teh paint job and get rid of the dixie horn . i think i will try that mini tastic, if at all possible i want to do teh springs so if they can go on road ill have a look, where are they located? also thanks nick ill have a look at some of those shocks

[zef]

as far as im aware there is a spacer which stops the spring disloding and only happens when the car is excessively lowered and either going over a massive pot hole or hitting ramps and doing big jumps lol (highly unlikely)

im no expert id ring minitastic and have a chat with them and if ur near try their demo car hope that helps

lol well thats no good then ill have to change teh paint job and get rid of the dixie horn . i think i will try that mini tastic, if at all possible i want to do teh springs so if they can go on road ill have a look, where are they located? also thanks nick ill have a look at some of those shocks

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't recommend minitastic's coil conversion high enough. My girlfriend's Mayfair has them and the ride is excellent. The coils haven't fallen out and she lives in the pot hole capital of the north (Hull). It will roll in the corners a bit more but seems to give more grip, probably due to the Tyre being in contact with the road as opposed to skipping over it.

Set up is Minitastic's fast road coils with their kit and kayaba self adjusting shocks.

[xrocketengineer]

Hi,
I just installed the Minimania (same as Minispares?) set in the rear with the KYB standard (no gas) shocks. The coil spring free height was almost the same as the old collapsed cone. However the old cone was collapsed so much that at full extended stroke of the shock, the cone would come off the seat by at least 1/8". The new shocks have a sligthly shorter stroke. The coil spring/trumpet assy. had to be set in place on the seat with a pry bar. With the shock installed there is a slight loosenes on the coil spring, but there is no way that the spring can come off.

Hope this helps,

Ivan

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[shnevpayne]

I know what its like when the suspension pops out, tho it happened when my cone collapsed. I'm reading the topic with high intregueness (if there is such a word) and seeing as i live down a country lane it might be an idea to get springs for a more comfortable ride (not being low to the ground).But now I'm not sure.... :S may stick to what I know! and have to agree with many of the posts, decent shocks help.

I had some bog standard non adjustables (hence why when he was low the who side of the car went downwards aafter a bump). So after getting some Gaz Adjustables its alot more comfortable but i know it could still be better!

Al

[glen]

surely when you install these springs, if you’re using hi-lows that is, if you have the radius arm resting at its furthest extent and adjust the hi-lows so that the spring is secure there should be now problems? At that ride height or anything higher. The problems would come if you went below this ride height? Bare in mind, I’m not talking from experience here. This is just a question to the more knowledgeable/ experienced out there.

[Slinky1313]

interesting, so you recon that the spring has no chance of comming off? i was wondering about it aswell because it sits in those polysomething seats i thought those if nothing else would surely stop it from popping out.

[xrocketengineer]

These springs do not have the rubber or plastic seat. It is just the spring and an alloy adapter for the trumpet. Even though the coil spring and the collapsed cone were about the same height, the ride height went up by about 1" measured at the wheel arch flare. The ride is better and now you can feel and see the rear suspension working when you push down on the rear of the car. Before, it was so stiff that when pushing on the rear of the car there was no noticeable suspension movement and the tyres were the only thing flexing.
I still need to plan how I will replace the front springs. I have to deservice the air conditioning so I can get the accumulator out of the way of the upper right subframe bolt. Possibly the condenser has to come out too, in order to remove the upper right suspension arm. Luckily, the front cones still have some springginess to them, so I am not in hurry to replace them.

Cheers,
Ivan

[MiniMonty]

I went through this whole thing about six months ago and did a ton of research.
I came down to:
Springs - Minitastic or nothing, otherwise nice shocks and new rubbers.

I went with new rubbers and it's great.
I can even do those stupid big square speed bumps in second gear now !

On the flip side, if I had money to burn I'd have the Minitastic springs installed
and set up by them with their shocks etc.,

Best wishes
Monty

[xrocketengineer]

One more thing about the old collapsed cones. With the car on jacks, you could lift either rear wheel at least an inch by hand with no spring resistance whatsoever until the cone would finally contact its seat.
Now, I went with the Minimania red springs and KYB standard shocks simply because they had them on sale and I am cheap. The springs were a lot cheaper then even the generic cones. So, I have absolutely no opinion on what is better. I figured that the springs would not collapse with time (assuming proper heat treatment) and no further replacements would be required. And like I said, I am cheap.

Ivan

[Aria Aradhea]

These springs do not have the rubber or plastic seat. It is just the spring and an alloy adapter for the trumpet. Even though the coil spring and the collapsed cone were about the same height, the ride height went up by about 1" measured at the wheel arch flare. The ride is better and now you can feel and see the rear suspension working when you push down on the rear of the car. Before, it was so stiff that when pushing on the rear of the car there was no noticeable suspension movement and the tyres were the only thing flexing.
I still need to plan how I will replace the front springs. I have to deservice the air conditioning so I can get the accumulator out of the way of the upper right subframe bolt. Possibly the condenser has to come out too, in order to remove the upper right suspension arm. Luckily, the front cones still have some springginess to them, so I am not in hurry to replace them.

Cheers,
Ivan

I don't think you need to remove the aircon unit to place the front springs... Although it depends if you had the original Japanese Spec aircon installation or custom made installation, though. I recently changed back my springs (cheap malaysian copies, with substandard height-adjuster that bends and broke easily if going over a harsh bump - I don't recommend it to anyone!) back to cones and there were no need to remove aircon unit whatsoever...




Regards,
Aria

[1275 sprint]

Hi,think this was covered some time back but can't find the post ,but ive got minitastic fast road coils hi/lo's and lowered height gaz ajustables there great no poping out or anything ,very good set up ,steve