Planning what to do on my upcoming MiniTuesday and revisiting the rear toe in. The left arm appears to be bent or the mount is out of alignment. What options do I have? I have adjustable mounts and with them at full travel I still have toe out. Are there measurements to check to see if the arm is bent?

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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!

If you think the arm is bent that much, I'd try and borrow / buy another one and fit that for a look. The subframe is relatively easy to check for accuracy - basically the forward most 'c' section rail should be straight. I've had one where the last 8 inches bent away from the rest of it.

It's more likely that the subby is bent, the arms are cast iron or steel and pretty sturdy.

My car was in a shunt long before I got it, to fix your problem I checked the [mis]alignment, then milled the hole in the outer bracket forward by 5mm from memory. Then I welded and filed the back of the hole to fit the shaft with no slack, and shimmed the fixed bracket for adjustment.
It's fine now...

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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.

We find them rather commonly bent actually,,, a little slide into the gutter or a bump from another car & they`re bent,,, it doesn`t take much actually

if it`s all that way out David then definitely have a look at the subframe & measure both sides for even-ness, an easy simple check (not that it`s fact but still it`s an easy eye-ball type thing) just run your finger between the end of the shocky pin & the subframe edge , on both sides,,, if one arm is bent then there will be far less room between the end of the pin & the edge of the frame.

So, yes, My guess is the arm that`s bent so probably swap arms to fix the problem

we used to have a jig for them but it went missing after one of our mechanics left us (strangely enough)

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Hmmm... the thick plottens.

Left side my index finger fits nicely between shocker pin and frame between 1st and 2nd knuckle - Right side can barely get my finger tip in. Yet with the wheels on - before I put 1/4"spacers in - the left wheel touches the shocker and the right I can fit a finger between wheel and shocker - What's going on?

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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!

do you have 165 tyres fitted with std (non-spaced) drums???

if so then i`d bet the right arm is bent

i`d say that if you put the car on to do a rear-wheel-alignment then you should see the right rear will be positive camber (gap between tyre & shock) & also towing out ... this would show that the arm is bent both down & back--> typical of hit a gutter or some-such similar item

The left rear is probably all std-ish & if i`m right & you have 165 tyres fitted then you will need the spacers to clear the tyres from the shock as per std issue.

if you have 145 tyres fitted then cancel everything that i just said above & i`d bet your whole rear end is out of whack & i`d have to whack it onto our wheel-alignment machine to find out where everything is pointing before i open my big (smart-arse-know-it-all) trap

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I would have thought the left would show more damage from gutter hitting that the right - unless slid out on a fast corner I guess

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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!

Roundabouts are on the right!

Not always...

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So what's the last thing you remember...

I'm pretty sure you were..

WRONG ANSWER!!!

have an eye-ball down the back side corner (sort of) you know what i mean rught?

anyways, so eyeballit & see if the panel has a soft arc-kink just above the wheel arche lip in an arc eminating from the same arc as the wheel arc lip

you`ll see it if u get my drift

use the light & you`l all say either "Wow my car is bent"

or you`ll say ..."Wow my car is straight"

simple as that!!! cause you can`t m,iss what i`m saying/talking about... & """ALL""" the other people in "mini-workshop-land" will know exactly what i`m talking about:-)



true

But ok,,, to be fair,,, i havn`t "eye-balled" your car yet so i can`t say crud , can i really?

but i don`t have to bet that your car is out of whack do it?

you told us already

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Gottcha Matt - at least I think I have. Right side in the corner of the wheel arch level with the pivot pin the body panel kinks in - Left side follows the body panel curve down. Apart from the there is a slight indentation in the panel between the door and the wheel arch I've not noticed before cause I haven't looked before. SO it looks the right rear may have had a hit.

Question now is what to do -if anything about it?

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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!

Ahhh,,, welll,,, you can get the wheels to point fairly square/straight-ish & then the body is up to you if you want to do anything about it... our panel guy is old skool trained proper so might be worth getting him to have a look at it if/when you`re ready

but still, you can fix the bent arm by replacing it & wheel-aligning

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.