Just a few questions.......

If the Front and rear subframes on a round nose mini (dry suspension) have been stripped and powdercoated, what would be an estimate on the time required to completely reassemble them (using all new parts) ready for the body to be lowered onto them so that the body could be rolled around ?

Is there ever a case when a wheel alignment would be done without the engine in the vehicle ? Or would that be pointless because another wheel alignment be required once the engine had been fitted ? What's a resonable timeframe for a wheel alignment to be done on a mini ?

Cheers

Those are all interesting questions and all depend on who is doing the job an how prepared they are.

- Subframes could easily go together in a day if everything is ready and nothing goes wrong.

- I wouldn't get the wheel alignment done until the car is complete.

- Wheel alignment will take anywhere from 20mins upwards depending on weather or not you have adjustable suspension including tie rods, control arms and rear adjustment kit.

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

Subframes are easy, I've had to drop my rebuilt ones out of the car and transfer all the parts onto another frame at some point for both front and rear, in each case the frame was out, parts swapped and reinstalled in a number of hours (so 1 day max).
That is ofcourse if you have all of the parts, know where everything goes, how to get this in / out and have to tools if necessary.

Wheel allignment without engine is pointless, the weight will make the car drop 4-6 inches changing all the geometry.

All done by a supposedly reputable mini mechanic who has all the right tools and decades of experience with minis.

This taken from invoice
Front subframe reassembly 19.25 hours and counting......because he also included front subframe work at another section of the invoice...doubling up ????
3.25 hours on wheel alignments with engine out of car.

The dodgy list (invoice) goes on and on.... He has also included for work on stuff i had done by another mini mechanic that i have receipts for !!!

I doubt it would take that long. But I will tell you in a couple of months!

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you are being ripped off.

Sounds like those times are straight out of the SAA handbook

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those are quoted times out of the handbook, so its hardly a rip off...

<MOD EDIT>

I know the mechanic in question and he is a very honest man i have dealt with for over 15 years, there were also many things that were not charged for at all.

I actually believe he is currently on about 3 months of storage costs ontop of his unpaid bill. <MOD EDIT>

<MOD EDIT>

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--Insert legal disclaimer here--

<MOD EDIT>
.

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"

Nothing wrong with mechanics selling a car for Storage costs, that Is how I got my Pajero......

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I wouldn't mind those carpet templates back please Doug, Paul or Michael Tzetlin. There's a few people waiting on them. Two years should be enough.

You're not still arguing over that bill?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

sorry i didnt know the story. Sorry Grahame, Gareth and mick

Ha ha, I hadn't even read the rest of the post before I replied...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

So did we finally figure out who nicked all that gear? <MOD EDIT>

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

Edited

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