8 replies to this topic

[robertw]

took the rear subby off my project today,alot of cursing and getting annoyed over not realising I had to shift the petrol tank(but i didnt cry!!!) it came off, and its in good shape i reckon,most of it is covered in kacky stuff,with a wipe the copper brake pipes look near enough new(coupled with the fact the sub is less tna 3 yr old) but I want it to look nice and play nice when the shells painted!

SO...

Do I just remove and repaint everything in site,new bushes and some konis...ready to refit? or do I just pull appart paint and refit with some konis...or or or or...do I do the whole replacing the rubber cones etc? I had considered poly bushes for the money but I will be using the car for light entertainment and some long drives so may be better to keep with standard items? and what benefits are there going for "low" dampers,appart from the aesthetics?

[wobblybob]

id replace everything donuts, new bushes, shocks and knuckle joints if they aint been changed,

[robertw]

man the mini gets more expensive by the day lol

[Dan]

Lowered dampers don't lower your car.

[robertw]

i heard something about adjustables lower your car or chopping down the cones but im not too keen on the idea of hacking about.does it just mean that lower dampers have less travel?

[pikey7]

lowered dampers are shorter. But that's not how you adjust the ride height. The alloy cones that fit between the rubber donut (spring) and the suspension arm are what you change.

you can chop down the existing cones, but it's a very hit and miss operation. Hilos are adjustable versions (and replace the cone) with a big bolt running through them to do the adjusting.

Shorter dampers are necessary when dropping the car about an inch as whn the wheel is raised (over an extreme bump or hump back bridge for instance) the shorter cone/donut assembly can come out of the arm or subframe. The shorter damper stops it doing that.

[robertw]

aaah i get where you are coming from...so if I was to purchase some shorter dampers,would i be able to fit with a standard cone and donut set up? allowing me to maybe move to adjustables if i desire later on? I am building my first mini, I have tinkered with some cars a little over the years however I am a bit green where subframes are concerned my plan was to build a slightly warmer than cooper spec mini that would be entertaining...but I still have a budget

[pikey7]

Its possible, but not a good idea. You'll get a lot of bottoming out of the damper which is not good for it's lifespan. (effectively it'll be riding on the bottom of the damper unit and will be wearing things out/damaging them uneccesarily) Not ideal unless you want to spend twice on dampers.

hilo "copies" are available from pretty much all the major players and off ebay. They aren't perfect, but for a man on a budget, they'll do the job adequately.

[Steamo]

Surely fitting shorter dampers would reduce the chance of bottoming out.

If used with a standard set up they could cause topping out though, with much the same results I would expect. It may be worth seeing if you can find out the open and closed lengths of the dampers - there are a couple of very informative Kieth Calver articles on the minispares website.

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For around £30 though you may as well fit hilo copies to be honest (it'd be easier to do it all at the same time)