just a thought as i'm soon needing to replace the old worn out rubber cones. Has anyone tried using these yet?

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

See http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=59491

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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.

They don't give as much sprung travel as donuts. IMO I wouldn't recommend them for the road.

hey gt, just wondering what ones you tried as there appears to be three types ranging from soft(blue i think) to race(red?) . say if i were more worried about performance than comfort what would suggest then?

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

Hi, I have a different brand springs http://www.minitastic.co.uk/home1.htm Town ride ones with koni adjustable shockers very happy with it. For the rear popping out I don`t think so but to be sure they sell special bracket type things that you can screw to the bottom of the hi-los so holds the springs in shape.

springs are one of those things that takes more then 3 varieties to get right.. id rather invest in a good rubber cone setup with adjustable shocks then putting springs in only to find they arent the right poundage and wasting your money.. go with whats tried and true

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Potato

I put spring in the wifes LS and she loves them.

I know others that have them in LS, Rovers and Cooper S, they all love em.

As for everything out there you will get some that love em, some that hate em, but have the haters tried them

Cheers
Steve

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

i remember reading an article in "miniworld" (i think) that once said one of the best things you can do to improve a minis handling/suspension is to upgrade to springs...well something like that. i suppose if i don't like them on one i cud just use them on the other . they do seem to be reasonably priced tho

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

if your heart is set on them. put a full coil over suspension kit in there.. they are a better system then jamming one where the cone was

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Potato

I don't know about that. The shock mounts were not designed to carry the full weight of the car. At least the subframe was designed to carry the spring loads.

okay so i think i have made up my mind. choice may be a set of coil overs from minisprintgt.com aka david rosenthal

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

go for a trip to your local bike wreckers. There are plenty of bike shocks that are fully adjustable for both shocker rate and spring stiffness. many have plain spherical bearings instead of rubber bushes.
The bikes that have a single rear shock the springs are good enough to run on the front and the bigger heavyier bikes with twin rears are good enough for the back. the only thing is that you will need a adapter bracket for the rear.
As Morris 1100 said DO NOT USE THE ORIGINAL FRONT SHOCKER SET_UP
If you look at the thread I posted with some pics of the way I do it you will never break them.
I will be finishing off a full set of bike shocks/springs for my new sprint T/C when I get home from WA and will post info on make/model etc and set-up. On the back I am going to run 4 link strut set-up.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

if you look at the kits they dont use the original mounts.

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Potato

Depends who fits them. Most people fitting coils or coilovers don't have a clue what or why they are doing it. This is why they run into problems.
I have seen some people put a lot of thought into fitting them but they are in the minority. Most people do it because thay see the glossy photos in the magazines.

OK, I haven't tried them but I have looked long and hard in to them.

Just to be clear here we are talking about the coil springs that completely replace the rubber donut, not coil overs or other auxilliary / secondary spring units.

Long story short.

I had a spring engineer look at make coils for me some 20 years ago. I gave him the rates, the travel, the space and the loads. He came back and said it couldn't be done with springs, have you tried rubber....funny about that!

I have seen these in recent times and I had hoped that spring technology had come along and that it could now be done. But No. It has not at all.

They comprimise rate / space by having a short travel. So if you fitted these and set your ride height 'nice' (not too low) at time of full re-bound travel (when the arms need to drop or full height) there is in-sufficent loading to the point where parts can fall out.....might give you a rude surprise.

Sad, but that's it. I still live on in hope.........

I like hyrolastic for the road. Real nice ride and very good handling.

<EDIT> for the record, I don't 'hate' the idea, quite the opposite, however until they can improve spring materials technology, and give full sprung travel, I can't see myself fitting any that are current available.

panthersteve, what type have you got fitted and how have you guys found the suspension travel and ride qualities?