Just a thought: I guess you could shorten the fron trumpets considerably to allow for longer springs / more windings. Currently available spings look like they do all the work on a single winding... (material fatique?) It actually surprises me that noone sells long-ish coil springs together with special made - very short - HiLos. Or am I missing a point?

Longer rear springs should be even easyer to do.

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No speakers, no bodykits, no six-inch spacers, no spak filler, no bullshit

We have all (I think) got MST brand springs from Japan. I cannot recall the actual spring rates at the moment but do know they were bought in a set that have a stronger pair of springs for the front.

I personally prefer a hydrolastic car as well but have found that the springs give a comparable result. My daily driver is a Deluxe with hydro, my weekened car is a '70 Cooper S also hydro, the wifes 1275LS is her daily and I feel that it lies between the Deluxe and Cooper S as far as the suspension goes.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Steve

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1964 998cc Cooper
1971 Mini K x 2
1972 Clubman GT

Looked in to that on the front, still not enough room.

It was some time ago, but I do recall that it can be done on the rear.

Thanks Steve. Yes what you say about the ride being between the Deluxe and Cooper S sounds about right for the current ranges of springs available, however yours do appear different, for one thing there are differnet ones front and rear. I have to say I have not come across your particular ones (MST from nippon). Have you a www link?

For MST brand, this is what's available...
http://www.reispeed.com/m_coil.html

MST
　●SS70-S100／ソフト＆スーパーソフト コンビ （色／ブラック）
~ soft & super soft (black)
　●S100-M140／ハード＆ソフト コンビ（色／ダークグリーン）
~ hard & soft (dark green)
　●S100／ソフト（色／オレンジ）
~ soft (orange)
　●M140／ハード（色／イエロー）
~ hard (yellow)
　●R200／スーパーハード（色／ブルー）
~ super hard (blue)

The numbers correspond to the spring rate.
The first and second are the ones like Panthersteve said.
Apparently the first and second are recommended for Automatic or Minis with aircon (Jap-spec).

@Panthersteve
Which one do you have and where did you buy them from?
I currently have the first one and think it's probably too soft. I'm thinking to change it with harder one.



Daniel

Hmmm, thanks, but these appear (yes only appear) to be the same as those from the UK, right down to the varieties, colours and çustom Hi-los. Bummer......

I'll look further it to these (anyone got a translation??)

PS, what is it with Japanese websites, half in english and half in nippon??

PPS the name of the company sounds a bit like the japs trying to rip off matt the mini man.......

Hi

The ones we have are the first variety, althoiugh I think there are others up here with some harder ones. As this car is as I say the wifes daily driver she was interested in comfort and not performance so much. Having said that when I drive it and sometimes when she does it gets driven a bit harder. Either way it seems fine.

I got mine from Japan via a local club member who is Japanese and sometimes goes over there. He actually has an Oz cooper S over there that used to belong to Wayne Gardners mother

While descriptions, colours etc are the same in the UK sites I believe the Japanese ones are better. I had heard/read this somewhere but are not sure now where.

Cheers
Steve

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1964 998cc Cooper
1971 Mini K x 2
1972 Clubman GT

Thanks kindly for your feedback here Steve, I'll look further in to these (maybe after I learn Japanese?)

Done some research, it would appear the event of one of the coil over conversion kits springs falling out may actually be real...."minispares" in England say not designed for roads, so no bumps/pot holes. .they do however suggest the "spax" setup full coil overs....which makes more sense to me . so i guess options are:
1- replace rubber cones + hi-los $1135
2- get spax full coil overs (drool) $1395
3- research & locate motorbike units (will have to find correct length/rates, ect)

don't think the local roads will really go easy on the coil conversion kit....

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

Just thought I would add that everyone I know of using these spring setups have also gone to HiLo's so no trumpet to shorten.

Steve

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1964 998cc Cooper
1971 Mini K x 2
1972 Clubman GT

Of course the only ones with any possibity of them falling out are the rears, the top arm at the front would have to fall out before the front spring could

From what I remember of installing them the shock had to be discnnected from the trailing arm to allow enough clearance to install everything so do not believe that there can be enough free space created with a pot hole etc. I don't think they can fall out even if the wheel has air under it.

Steve

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1964 998cc Cooper
1971 Mini K x 2
1972 Clubman GT

Nobody has ever answered the question of the legailty of replacing one type of spring with another without engineering approval.
It may be legal overseas but is it legal here? From what I can gather it may not be legal.

Changing a spring with another does not need engineering and approvals. I have asked one. But there might be others who might think differently. A spring being made of Rubber or steel is still doing the same JOB and they can both break or fail. The only queery the Engineer can have is that a Coil spring is not the Manufacturer's design in the case of a Mini. Another thing about legality is "Coil overs". How much weight can the botton shockie pin at the rear and the ones in the front take ? Can you imagine the extra load on these poor Buggers. I had one of my speedway Minis which I modified the rear subframe on and it actually had no subframe at the back just trailing arms on a special bracket that fits under the car and I used coil over shock absorbers out of a Motorbike with this system, No cones at all, all the weight was on the shocks and springs so the shockie pin copped the whole load. I never had one break and believe me Speedway ricing gives the suspension one hell of a good workout. Al this mod was done purely for weight reduction from the rear. Thios mod worked very well for this purpose.

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