Hi Guys,

Despite owning my car for 9 months I only just got around to taking it over rego. Since I have had it I put on a brand new exhaust from minisport, added an air filter to the previously unfiltered weber and turned up 16 stud spacers to allow the 13inch wheels that came with the car to be held on with std mini chrome wheel nuts. took it over rego yesterday and it got pinged for the following things.

wheel track too wide
ride too low at exhaust (by 10mm)
steering rack has too much play and is loose
left upper and lower ball joints
left and right tie rod ends
left inner and outer CV joint boots
oil leak

The planned method of attack is to replace everything with new parts from minisport, and to solve the wide wheel track I will swap my wheels with my cousins mini, which has 10s on it. this will make the car lower again though, so i will need to find 2 inches I reckon to get it above the required ride height. I am thinking of installing hi-los to jack it back up....im somewhat keen on replacing all the rubber cones too, but am balking at the $400 price tag. Will simply installing hi-los and maxing them out get me two inches of height?

Engine will be pulled out for leak ID, a big clean and some paint prior to reinstall.

I do all work on my cars myself and have plenty of experience with all jobs ranging from changing brake pads, to fixing blown head gaskets to rebuilding motors.....just never on a mini! Am I going to encounter any difficulties with any of these jobs? (I know sometimes ball joints can be a pain to do.) Any tips for a newbie to min repairs?

You will need to drop the front subframe out by a few inches to remove the steering rack to get it re-cond. Everything else is pretty straight forward. Does the car sit level? Perhaps try taking it to a Mini friendly RWC shop for the ride height issue.

Why do you need spacer's for the 13's? Piss them off unless your going to fit them correctly and trim wheel arch's and fit the correct length tie rod ends.

Whilst your replacing ball joints you can slip the drive shafts out and replace the boots, might as well do both sides while everything is apart.

But if your pulling the engine the CV boots and subframe removal can be done then.

_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

You should be able to do most of it in one hit. Might take a bit of time though. The steering rack is a bit of a pig to get in though. Someone will no doubt be along shortly with helpful hints.

If you are taking the engine out do the steering rack with the engine bay empty - makes moving the subframe easier

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

"Whilst your replacing ball joints you can slip the drive shafts out and replace the boots, might as well do both sides while everything is apart. "

Damn straight. Im thinking Ill spend the extra $40 a side and just put in new CVs while im there...the right one has a fair bit of play that rego must have missed or forgiven.

Yeah I regret not asking about mini friendly shops before booking in...they are being quite pedantic about ride height....its a mini for gods sakes.

The issue with the wheels is that the 3/8th mini stud (bout 9.5mm) is too thin for the wheels on my car. I think they are datto wheels, and the datto uses a 12mm stud. Thus, the holes drilled in the wheel were too big for the mini wheel nuts...so I turned up some collars to slot into the wheel, effectively reducing the drilled hole to a diameter acceptable for the mini wheel nuts. was a lot of effort, but worth it as the wheels look great and are unique.

Thanks for the tips re the steering rack. Any idea on what they cost to get reconditioned? A brand new one for $200 isnt too bad.

Are they 100mm PCD or 4"? Mini's are 4", and while 100mm is close, it's not close enough to keep you from breaking studs and losing wheels..

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Sounds like your front end is completely shagged.
If you're keen on the thirteens, I'd do the following if not done already:

New balljoints
Recondition CV joints
New (or repack) tapered wheel bearings
Hi-lo suspension
Replace dowel pins in steering arm (if loose)
New suspension rubbers

Tapered wheel bearings on back
Recondition rear trailing arm shaft (bronze bush / needle bearing)

Recondition Brakes if drums, but ideally you want discs with big wheels.

For recon steering racks see Mini King on this forum. If you get a new one that is for a Rover Mini you will need new steering arms as they are a different length

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

i recently the front end of my car, going back 6 months, with some of the same problems for rego. i found the easiest way to disconnect the the front sup frame of the car and then with a block and tackle lift the car off the front sub frame. makes it hell of an easy job to get to stearing rack and only about half hour work, then u can also repace all the ball joints and cv boots from there. putting new cones in will raise the height slightly for a while before the cones set lower.

hi-los jacked up can raise your car way up, i've had mine jacked up to about 20cm at one point (just to see how far it would go) i wouldnt want to drive around on it tho.

new cones will raise your car about and inch depending on how worn your old ones are and the car will gradually drop back to standard as they settle in.... in other words you would pass on ride height if you dont put too much strain on them before you go and your car will drop back to the height its supposed to be afterwards.

the older datsun wheels are the same stud pattern (someone asked about it) and if you've just sleeved the stud holes should be ok.

how is your wheel track too wide? what size wheels are they 13*? did you fail because they stick out to far?

replacing the steering rack is a pain in the ar$e by yourself, mainly when putting it back in. get someone to help you out it'll make a 3 hour job turn into 30 minutes (thats how long it took me, engine still in). give the u bolts a stretch before you put them back in as they often close up a bit once you take the rack out.

Best of luck!

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1962 850,Frog

I think it took me about 30mins to do by myself the 2nd time. I jacked the car up and supported the body on stands. Then had a jack under the subframe and let it drop down a few inches. But if the engines out it will be a piece of p*ss.

They might still sting you on those wheels as I think there is a limit as to how far you can increase the wheel track over standard.

_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

thanks for all the help guys...this looks like being a good forum.

"if you've just sleeved the stud holes should be ok."

Yep, this is what I did. worked like a charm, I made the sleeves a slight interference fit so they dont fall out when changing wheels, and they lined up perfectly when I put the wheels on.

The 13s are staying, but rego wont see them next time...im swapping with 10s before I go back over the pits. Sounds like those hi -los will get me the height I need.

Sounds like your front end is completely shagged.
If you're keen on the thirteens, I'd do the following if not done already:

New balljoints
Recondition CV joints
New (or repack) tapered wheel bearings
Hi-lo suspension
Replace dowel pins in steering arm (if loose)
New suspension rubbers

Tapered wheel bearings on back
Recondition rear trailing arm shaft (bronze bush / needle bearing)

Recondition Brakes if drums, but ideally you want discs with big wheels.

Yeah I fully intend on putting discs on it. Part of the reason why the 13s are staying, full stop. Ill also take advantage of the big dismantle to rebuild the front end. would be stupid not to for a few bucks more.