*GENUINE Rover Sportspack arches come with the fitting templates - mine didnt, which made them a headache.....

My arches had also shrunk in overall radius between the time they were made and when i bought them. If i tried to force them to the right shape, they would have cracked. I was required to mount them in a jig for a long period (months) to get the right shape back - before i could even fix them to the car.... that sucked too. But they're fine now.

Upgrades??? Yes.

Brakes. Bigger brakes are a must when using bigger wheels.

Bigger wheels weigh more, and so do bigger brakes, so i upgraded my shocks to ones with heavier bound and rebound rates.

Mini Spares (England) catalogue has heaps of gear in it, but i dont know where you could get one from....

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

here is an online catalogue you might want to see ---- CLICK HERE

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

Yeah I have a set of power assisted 8.4" vented discs with metro calipers (sp) so that should take care of the breaking side of things hopefully. I have good quality shocks but I'm not sure if they are uprated at all, so I might just have to see how they go and if they pack it in then buy some new ones. I have all rubber suspension bushers at the back but so far I haven't got any for the front so should I be thinking about upgrading the ones on the front?

Having a template would be bloody good, you see it all the time in ever mini mag, but you just have to get the flares which come with it and I don't mind the sport pack ones, but then again I'm not really sure of all the other choices out there. But I just had a look at the link of the flares so now I know....half of them aren't cheap though.

Think you can get genuine rover sportspacks from Karcraft in Sydney and Northern Mini parts in Melbourne.

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mutant mini 1380cc '73 UK imp-Chroma Lusion-leather interior-8 x 300W Diamond Audio Dual Voice Coil 8" subs, Phoenix Gold 4 chnl amp, Pioneer 7550 DVD, 2x Phoenix Gold A1.800d MonoBlock Amp, Focal Utopia splits, 14" chrome rims 195/40/14 tyres

I'm a QLD boy so those shops are a little far away. There is however shops up here that I can get stuff from. Will have to go and see them in person as I won't buy anything unless I have seen it in the flesh, unless of course I know exactly what its going to look like. At this stage I am just going to go for 13x6, whack them on without cuting anything or puting on flares at all and just see how it sits and everything else and then work out what else I feel needs to be done. Of course at this point in time it won't be driven on the road due to the wheels sticking out too much, its just for my personal curiousity. Thanks again for all your help, its been greatly appreciated.

Glens mini mart might b a good place to start in Brisvagas
http://www.glensminimart.itgo.com/

Marconi, you're a freakin champ, I hadnt heard of that place before. Gonna give him a call, see what sorta stuff I can organise

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

I think I have looked at the website of that place before. I live closer to the sunshine coast then brisbane though so I usually go to a place on the sunny coast called Sunshine Coast Automotive Services...they have heaps of mini stuff there and the people are really good, well they have at least always looked after me very well. Plus they know what they are talking about since nearly everyone who works there has or has had a mini at some stage in their life.

LMAO, I dunno what yer worried about. At least your closest mini shop is within a days drive.

Oh, and who did ya have to kill for the 8.4's??

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

a days drive heh its only actually just over an hour away. I don't have a set of 8.4" i have a complete set of cooper S discs...everything needed to change drums to discs..I got them off someone I know for a price which is too good to even mention I will be swaping these for 8.4" as I want to go vented discs..there will of course be a cash adjustment as cooper s disc sets are meant to be worth more then the 8.4" and when I sell the cooper items they will be ready to just bolt onto a car....however the swivel (sp) hubs won't be going with them of course.

Eh, I I'd be happier to have the 8.4's and fit 12" wheels. screw whether they're cooper or whatever. If I gotta pay to put disc brakes on, I'd prefer the better discs.

And living in Townsville, it IS over a days drive to get down there heheh

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

if you look in the current issue (March 2004) of Mini Magazine (yellow Mark 3 Cooper on the cover), page 110 has a guide showing a 13 inch wheel and sportspack arch conversion. i thought of you straight away when i saw it...

(off the topic) that mag costs $13.50 here in adelaide, what about the other states???

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

Must be about 1000 bucks , coz none of the newsagents around here stock mini mags. My local newsagent only gets 2 copies of Fast Fours in LMFAO.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

My local newsy doen't carry either Mini magazine any more (and he's a Mini lover..!) they are getting too dear. Nobody buys them. $13 or so for Mini Mag? forget it...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I subscribe to mini mag and yes I do have that copy that your talking about, thats what started this whole post as I read that and then someone else told me something different so thats where the whole 'which way is right' came into play. I have no idea how much each issue costs as I never look. May issues is a 300 page special and my god its good...not too many good cars in it but the amount of parts...wow...its a mini 45 years or something like that...I can't remember..its big though. I live in gympie and a couple of the places around here have mini mags, but they don't get them in every month so they are usually old ones....down at the sunshine coast though they always have the latest one.