7 replies to this topic

[MMM1965]

Hello

I have been thinking of fitting front shock absorbers to the front of my hydrolastic 1965 mini minor. Does anyone have any experience of doing this and the sort of difference it makes to the ride and handling, I see there is a kit available from minispares to do this. Any advice gratefully received.

Jeremy

[madaboutcherry]

http://www.minispare.../C-AJJ3362.aspx

 

I highly recommend it, your car will be so much nicer to drive.

[carbon]

+1 for fitting dampers on the front of a hydrolastic mini, these just need to be standard dampers nothing fancy.

[tiger99]

This used to be a very common mod, when hydrolastic Minis were still in production. I think you will be pleased by the results.

 

But please don't get carried away and try adding dampers at the back. They are not necessary, and can not be fitted without changing the radius arms, or at least the stub axles. The pitch control springs fitted at the back, where the dampers would be, are very necessary.

[MMM1965]

Thanks guys, will go ahead and order the kit, really does seem a worthwhile improvement to make

[62S]

To some extent it depends what engine you have in your car. If it is still an 848 start I would fit the C-AJJ 3313 bump stops at the back and C-AJJ 4007 at the front.

What the kit requires is the top arms drilling out to take the shock absorber pin which is a larger diameter than the hydro bump stop pin. To do it properly and accurately you really need to remove the top arms from the subframe.

[tiger99]

Yes, purists will remove the arm, and if that is your inclination, go for it. It is not wrong, and will not be criticised by me.

 

But, as there is an existing hole, which will provide some guidance to the drill, and as I believe firmly that all engineers should be lazy, I would be inclined to try to do it on the car, in stages. The original bump stop bolt is 1/4", so a 5/16" drill first, followed by 3/8", followed by maybe 13/32" or 25/64", or about 9.7 to 9.8mm, for clearance, should do the job satisfactorily.

 

I can't remember whether there is provision on the hydro frame for a bump stop, however you could add a rubber or convoluted poly buffer on the damper rod, if you use dampers which are dismantleable, or have a top mount like the Mini rear dampers. It is not that hard to make a new top mount bracket to suit, and it could even be adjustable, with several sets of bolt holes, to allow the damper and bump stop position to be varied.

 

There now, even more to tweak.....

 

Now when is someone going to do the ultimate, and squeeze in Citroen type hydropneumatics? Maybe too big a challenge, or even physically impossible, I don't know, but if it worked there would be the potential for immense advantages.

[Pete649]

IIRC the 4 threaded holes should already be there for the top mounting brackets. The threads will just need a clean out and off you go.