Hi,
I have seen many posts about people converting to 4 pots and what that entails. During some conversions people have used the metro hubs and have experienced issues with the subsequent handling, as the use of these hubs create different castor and camber angles that the mini was not designed for. So to show why this is I have taken some pictures of both a mini hub and a metro hub next to each other to show the differences. I have also done this with the drive flanges and steering arms.
I hope this helps some people out there!
The metro hub is the one on the left. The mini hub has had the threads cut off so this exaggerates the gap between the two. Notice the difference in the position of the ball joints. There is a much larger distance between the two on the metro hub then the mini.
And from the side the difference is also quite apparent. Its clear by this image that using metro hubs would give you much greater positive camber over standard.
Next the drive flanges.
Again a comparison between the two. The metro flange is on the right this time. As can be seen the metro drive flanges have 4 lugs that stick out, unlike the mini flange.
From the side. The metro flanges have longer studs then the mini.
And finally! the steering arms.
The metro is the blue one.
Firstly the mini arm is much shorter then the metros. Also the angle of the hole were the track rod bolts too is slightly different between the two.
And finally some aditional information from dsn classics about the use of metro hubs on a mini:
"There seems to be much confusion over the use of Metro hubs on the Mini.
Here are some comments on the subject.
The post-1984 Metro uses a different size top ball joint, which has a larger taper and will not fit the Mini upper arm. This can be solved by fitting a pre 1984 Metro top joint.
Although this will allow you to physically fit the hubs, the Metro suspension geometry is different to the Mini. This means that there will be enormous amounts of positive camber (the wheels will lean out at the top).
Some people (including high profile magazines) have suggested that fitting longer lower arms will get the wheel to the correct position. This may, indeed, get the wheel to somewhere near its original camber angle. But, this is taking a very simplistic view of suspension design. There is far more to it than just getting the wheel to the right angle in the static state. Suspension is, by its very nature, a dynamic device. It is important that the wheel behaves correctly throughout its motion. By using Metro hubs with longer lower arms, the ‘kingpin’ axis is still not the same as the original Mini. This means that, when the wheel is steered or the suspension is operated, it will move in a different manner to the way it should.
There is little point in getting into the technical details of what actually happens to the wheel, but it is fair to say that it won’t be as Issigonis intended it to be!
Our view is that the use of Metro hubs and longer lower arms should be avoided. If you do insist on using vented discs and 4 pot calipers, then start with Mini disc brake hubs. You can then build up the Metro vented discs, drive flanges and calipers without wrecking the excellent suspension geometry of your Mini. It works very well in standard form, why mess with it?"
I hope this was helpful to someone!
(I also have a set of metro 4 pots with discs, drive flanges and brake lines for sale but cannot post in the for sale section as not enough posts, the 4 pots themselves are actually quite good, its the hubs that cause issues with this conversion!)
Kind regards
Oak Richardson
