12 replies to this topic

[Dru in Australia]

Hi Guy's,

 

I have just fail a registration inspection for insufficient ground clearance but I'm quiet happy with the height it is at,

does anyone have any suggestions for me to raise it slightly to clear the inspection or do I have to buy higher springs etc?

 

The car is 97 rover mini.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Drew

[The Principal]

your best bet is a set of hi-lo's http://www.minispare...|Back to search you can adjust them to get some more height then lower back down for the preferred ride height

[Guess-Works.com]

While you're there replace the cones for new ones, they only really have a 10 year life span, so I suspect yours are 6 years over due for a change.

[Dan]

  What clearance is required and where?

[Dru in Australia]

Thanks guy's for the info so far, I hadn't given the whole thing much thought when I posted it and have only had the car for 4 days so there is a lot I do not know and really appreciate being able to speak to you all ** great site**

Anyway after I posted this question I started wondering if it even is a spring/shock set up? I had a look at the rear and could not see any... Shortly after pondering on this and resisting the urge to take it apart to get a good look... I posted another topic for a suitable manual (hoping when I get to it that there are heaps and heaps of responses)

I'm in Australia and last time I had to deal with "car to low" 100mm was the minimum, gauged in these neighborhoods as a standard Coke can.

From what I get so far-
The hi-lo's are fitted to my car already or this an upgrade?
If they are already on the car how do I adjust?

And I need some new cones- sounds good :)

Thanks again for your responses

[miniman24]

Have a read of this How To guide on fitting the hi-los, you will be able to tell staright away if you have them fitted, with the wheels off (or by just looking underneath at the rear) :)

 

http://www.theminifo...-fitting-guide/

 

The first picture is the standard rear setup and the picture in step 10 is the rear hi-lo.

Edited by miniman24, 17 June 2013 - 09:38 AM.

[Dan]

  The setup is hollow block rubber springs, called cones or doughnuts, with struts normally called trumpets pushing against the suspension arms.  The dampers are separate from the springing rather than concentric.  The rear is a simple trailing arm with the spring / strut arranged laterally and the damper vertically.  The front is effectively a modified twin wishbone with both the spring and damper mounted vertically above the upper arm.

 

  As has been said the springs (cones) do wear out, particularly the late Rover ones which were terrible.  New cones will absolutely give you the ride height you require, when fitted from new they are very tall and if you got the car measured in the first few days it would comfortably pass.  You should order new genuine cones and knuckle joints (the ball joint that connects the strut to the arm and allows it to move), bearing in mind that your car will have different knuckle joints front and rear.  The front joints will be the integral spacer type.  Springs are the same all round.  Beware of non-genuine springs or car show specials, they are often badly made and can fail dangerously in use.  The new springs can take up to 3 months to settle to a decent height, after which you should have the tracking adjusted.

 

  The car doesn't have Hi-Los as standard, but they may have already been fitted.  Hi-Los are a replacement for the strut which has adjustable length, allowing you to raise or lower the car by changing the fitted resting length of the spring/strut pair.  They are adjusted with spanners.  Given that you are in Australia and I don't know what the parts supply situation is over there, if you are getting them from the UK I would suggest you order Hi-Los at the same time as springs (if you find they aren't already fitted).  The new springs should in theory be enough to get a decent height by themselves.  But if you still have trouble passing the test and want to wind it a bit higher it would be unfortunate to have to wait even longer for them to arrive.

[tiger99]

For a quick fix, just put washers on the knuckle joints. Actually I would advise a new set of knuckes as the cups often wear through, which damages the arms. There is an official washer of circular cross section for this purpose. A set of 4 knuckles and 4 washers is much cheaper than a set of HiLos, and will give you the height which you require. There is then no worry about the problems which certain badly made height adjusters that look like HiLos, but are not, can cause.

[Dru in Australia]

Awesome! You guy's are great

[Ethel]

The trumpets can sometime break removing old knuckles from them, so if you don't mind the expense getting hi-lo's would be good insurance. They'll certainly offer the easiest fix if you have to address the issue again, four inches would be around the mark for many Minis. There's a special tool for compressing the front cones.

[mike.]

Which area of the car has failed the test? Less than 100mm ground clearance is really low, even with collapsed cones I'd expect the car to be higher than that. 

 

It could be a simple fix such as a broken exhaust mount causing the exhaust to drop too low. 

[Dru in Australia]

Good point Mike I don't think it needs to go up much,
It does have an aftermarket exhaust system coming out the centre which I'm pretty sure is the lowest point, I have ordered a side exit system today and I'll order new cones also.

I'll have a look at what I have before ordering the hi-lo's, if I can get away with the cones bringing it up that would be great because it does sit nice as it is.

[Dan]

  It's probably the sump, which is ridiculous because it is right between the wheels, but when the suspension settles the sump does end up around 100mm off the ground.

 

  Using washers will be fine to get the clearance to pass the test but it does not return the lost suspension travel or ride quality that is robbed by the springs being worn out.  Realistically it will only get you around 15 mm at the front anyhow as you can't use a washer any thicker than 5 mm or so without compromising the fit of the knuckle into the end of the strut.  Obviously the fit of these parts is safety critical.