86 replies to this topic

[karl & his cooper]

Economising + cheap cones = colapsed suspention

Buy genuine every time, if they dont say dunlop or Moulton on them, dont by them!!

Excuse me! Please do not assume have you have just done. All genuine cones on the car so meh :-p

and economising to a point, ie where I can do work\fit parts ill do so to avoid huge garage costs and that other cone is less than a few months old.

Rant over.

[Ethel]

Collapsed subframe mounts will cause the gap between the tyre 'n wing to decrease - the wing's on the shell 'n the wheel's on the subby. Look at the rubber on top of the turret under the cross member.

[karl & his cooper]

Collapsed subframe mounts will cause the gap between the tyre 'n wing to decrease - the wing's on the shell 'n the wheel's on the subby. Look at the rubber on top of the turret under the cross member.

I dont know where that is...lol please help! Im still bit of a trainee lol
some pics!

[Ethel]

Where the big bolt is that holds the subframe on between the shell and the top of the subby there should be one of these http://www.minispare....aspx?pid=33333

[karl & his cooper]

The Bad side
http://i250.photobuc...008/badside.jpg

Good side
http://i250.photobuc...08/goodside.jpg

Wheel off
http://i250.photobuc...08/wheeloff.jpg

[karl & his cooper]

Where the big bolt is that holds the subframe on between the shell and the top of the subby there should be one of these http://www.minispare....aspx?pid=33333

Thanks Ethel, still slightly stumped where I should be looking...do you have an exploded diagram or a map lol

[Ethel]

Can't really tell anything there as the suspension is unloaded, but it looks normal and in decent knick. The bit I'm on about is just above the piccy on top of the subby, above the bumpstop. That link isn't too useful as you'll just see it end on, looking like a cm thick strip of rubber - or much thinner if it's duffed.

Good excuse to swap to solid mounts.

Edited by Ethel, 27 July 2008 - 11:50 AM.

[karl & his cooper]

Can't really tell anything there as the suspension is unloaded, but it looks normal and in decent knick. The bit I'm on about is just above the piccy on top of the subby, above the bumpstop. That link isn't too useful as you'll just see it end on, looking like a cm thick strip of rubber - or much thinner if it's duffed.

Good excuse to swap to solid mounts.

What im saying is one of them bits in my pic Changed after the lil crash! it looks diff.

and im still confused! you say bump stop...i think of that lil bolt on lump of rubber that bounces of the upper arm?

[karl & his cooper]

http://i250.photobuc...08/100_0244.jpg

[THE ANORAK]

again cant really see anything wrong, but then its not easy on such a "close up" image.

we really need to see how things are sitting in relation to other parts of the car. when you look under the front of the car, is the height of both sides the same ??? (pick a fixed point on the sub frame to the ground)

either.... you were given a duff cone and its collapsed

or

the part of the sub-frame where the cone sits is bent

or

the suspension is fine and the body work is bent


not going to be easy to see with out seeing the car is it

[karl & his cooper]

again cant really see anything wrong, but then its not easy on such a "close up" image.

we really need to see how things are sitting in relation to other parts of the car. when you look under the front of the car, is the height of both sides the same ??? (pick a fixed point on the sub frame to the ground)

either.... you were given a duff cone and its collapsed

or

the part of the sub-frame where the cone sits is bent

or

the suspension is fine and the body work is bent


not going to be easy to see with out seeing the car is it

Ok thanks Annorak! I will put wheel back on and move to level ground! where would u suggest a suitable datum\measuring point on the subframe?

Pic of cone removed and new 1!
http://i250.photobuc...08/100_0235.jpg

[THE ANORAK]

any suitable point "near" the area that the bottom suspension arms join the sub-frame.

there's no point measuring the front of the sub-frame as it may be twisted

just have a good look at the way the car sits in general, try to judge if common points on both sides are at the same height, is it sitting low one side because of the suspension or is it in fact a twisted wing ?????

Edited by THE ANORAK, 27 July 2008 - 12:30 PM.

[Sprocket]

My apologies

How does the rear look compared from side to side? 1/2" difference on the rear can cause a large difference on the front

[Sprocket]

Ok Anorak touched on it but as of yet no one has said anything since.

Firstly, any slight movement in the subframe is not going to drop the suspention as much as you are seeing and if it did, it would be obvious, however, the slightest of wear in the nylon cup that the knuckle sits in in the top arm will drasticaly change the hight of the suspention.


Did you replace the nylon cups in the top arms and were the apropriately greased and the dust seals fitted correctly.

One way to work out if its the car or the suspention that is generating this difference in hight is to measure the distance between the bump stop and te top arm, with the car on all its wheels, with the suspension settled. If the gaps are similar, its the body thats the issue, if they are noticabley different, its the suspention thats the issue.

Ethel has a good point on the subframe mountings. There are the toeboard mountings, the tower/ crossmember mountings and the front panel/ teardrop mountings. These generaly are overlooked, but should be replaced at least every five years. They are a wear item. I had to replace all of mine with the car at an age of 11. The rubber just gives up.

Hope thats a little more help.

Sorry about before.

[karl & his cooper]

Ok Anorak touched on it but as of yet no one has said anything since.

Firstly, any slight movement in the subframe is not going to drop the suspention as much as you are seeing and if it did, it would be obvious, however, the slightest of wear in the nylon cup that the knuckle sits in in the top arm will drasticaly change the hight of the suspention.


Did you replace the nylon cups in the top arms and were the apropriately greased and the dust seals fitted correctly.

One way to work out if its the car or the suspention that is generating this difference in hight is to measure the distance between the bump stop and te top arm, with the car on all its wheels, with the suspension settled. If the gaps are similar, its the body thats the issue, if they are noticabley different, its the suspention thats the issue.

Ethel has a good point on the subframe mountings. There are the toeboard mountings, the tower/ crossmember mountings and the front panel/ teardrop mountings. These generaly are overlooked, but should be replaced at least every five years. They are a wear item. I had to replace all of mine with the car at an age of 11. The rubber just gives up.

Hope thats a little more help.

Sorry about before.

Its ok thanks for your help! Yep I replaced the nylon cups and packed it with grease and spent ages getting the rubber dust seal on! so much my back is burnt lol!

More pics.

http://i250.photobuc...08/000_0012.jpg
http://i250.photobuc...08/000_0013.jpg
http://i250.photobuc...08/000_0014.jpg

Measuremtns from this pic
http://i250.photobuc...08/000_0011.jpg

LH- 17cm
RH- 18 to 18.5cm

I took the upper arm apart yesterday....if theres not much grease (fed in from the nipple in the arm) could this cause this huge drop?

My measuremtns are probs rubbish as I do not know where I should be measuring!