301 replies to this topic

[markrally]

Is the wheelbase on the pickup longer than the saloon/car??
Ps looks almost ready to go.........

Mark :wales:

[R1minimagic]

Pete

Have you checked your coil springs?? They might be knocking against the bottom bolts on the shock bracket. Try bouncing the car up and down and you will see if they are hitting.

[bluebottle]

Is the wheelbase on the pickup longer than the saloon/car??
Ps looks almost ready to go.........

Mark :wales:

vans, estates, pick ups, are all on a longer wheel base, its 4" longer.

[pete]

Pete

Have you checked your coil springs??  They might be knocking against the bottom bolts on the shock bracket.  Try bouncing the car up and down and you will see if they are hitting.

Well spotted that man. Seems very close so under load could be the fault but now the important bit. WHATS THE CURE. Can't see any way of moving the shock out without making a modified lower bracket :sad:

[Dick Dastardly]

I had to re-fabricate the upper and lower shock mounts, as well as re-locate the lower fixings on the upper mounts. In the process I also lowered the front of the car by 30mm (by raising the top mounting holes), which meant some surgery to the front subframe as well, to enable anything like a decent amount of wheel travel.

I'll try to take some piccies of the brackets tonight, but the subframe is being painted at present, along with shell etc. (at last!!)

I tried to engineer it so that the bump stop on the shock came into play before any metal to metal clashes.

I seem to remember that the maximum amount of compression travel on the standard front shock setup was less than 40mm before some form of clash- a figure I decided was too small. I now have in the region of 65mm (at the lowest ride height). In effect these mods mean I now have a greater range for adjustment of front ride height.

The problem is due to the top suspension arm being quite short and inclined towards the outboard side. This means that when the suspension is compressed, the bottom shock pivot moves inboard as well as upwards.

It's an area I'm still not happy with, but until I've driven the car I'll reserve judgement. I may revisit the front suspension at a later date- maybe I'll adopt a bespoke double wishbone setup from a seven-alike?

ATB.
D.D.

[R1minimagic]

Pete

I had to weld the holes up in the bottom bracket and then re-drill them about 5mm further out. Luckily my brackets are quite wide so there is still plenty of metal around the new holes.

A good test is to stand on your front crash bar and bounce up and down. This gives loads of movement, far more than i think you would experience when driving the car, and will tell you whats hitting what first.

With the bottom shock bracket bolts you can also remove the spring washers if you need to, refit a longer bolt and put a nyloc locking nut on the back to stop it coming undone. To give extra strength i also redrilled and tapped my top mountings mate.

The back of the car might also bang when going over bumps as the shocks tend to top out if you haven't cut the wheel arches out and lowered the car. Chris might have re-engineered this with the later kits. It took me a while to work this one out as it only happened when i was going over speedbumps....

[R1minimagic]

[QUOTE]To give extra strength i also redrilled and tapped my top mountings mate.


Was supposed to read M 8 not mate!!

[R1minimagic]

PS I can now drive at full speed over speed bumps (well 40mph anyway!!)

[pete]

Thanks for the help Dale. Already modified the top mount fixing bolts and added some more to beef it up a bit. Looks like I will be modifying the bottom bracket same as yours :sad: When thats done will have to check the amount af travel and then possibly modify further. Rear arches have been cut back by at least 4 inches so shouldn't have any clearance problems here.
Currently still trying to get the front subframe back on after changing the steering rack. At least all the suspension is apart so saves me a bit of time.

[Random_Person]

I reely like your car Ade - i hope i see it like when its finished!!!

[Ade]

I reely like your car Ade - i hope i see it like when its finished!!!

Lol this is Pete's thread and his Pick-up..... unless your posting on his thread just to tell me how nice my Minus is (in which case thankyou :cheese: ) which I'd find quite funny :grin: :tongue: :tongue:

[Dick Dastardly]

Modified top mounts.......

Attached Files

•  top_mount.jpg   241.68K   12 downloads

[Dick Dastardly]

.......and bottom ones....

Hope this helps.

Attached Files

•  lower_mount.jpg   257.79K   11 downloads

[Random_Person]

actualy, i don't like either car, i want olly180's, his is a proper mini!!!!

[Ade]

actualy, i don't like either car, i want olly180's, his is a proper mini!!!!

Now now there's no need to be like that :tongue: At least not about mine you can say what you like about Petes :grin: :tongue:


willy that looks like quite a movement!! Did you mention it to Chris? I'm just wondering if he knows and whether theres a chance ours might be a little different??