Shops open Harley...............me too !
Where did you get the Unipart in the photo from ?

_________________
'98 Mpi Sportspack + 7 port alloy head

Got mine from minispares uk......obviously before they went out of stock.

I have a limited amount of NOS ball pins ( NOT KITS ) I purchased from the factory when they stopped making the Mini here in Australia. It is my understanding that they were made here in Australia.
I gave Dr Mini some of these years back and I think he was very happy with them. Anyone who thinks they may need them give me a call.

_________________
" A Hundred Years From Now It will not Matter what my Bank Acount Was,
The Sort Of House I Lived in, Or The Kind Of Car I drove ... But The World May Be A Better Place
Because I was Once Important In The Life Of A Child"

You are a lucky man that it happened in a car park. I know of someone that wasn't so lucky, it almost cost him his life. It was found after testing that the ball joint was of very poor quality. The Australian mini specialist that sold him this crap no longer sells them, thank goodness.

_________________
The bitterness of poor quality (or Crappy Workmanship) remains LONG AFTER the Sweet Taste of Low Price is forgotten.

Yep Better quality than the ones in the new ball joint bags from minispares uk
I used them a few weeks ago and threw the new minispares ones in me parts box

Expensive job this one. 6 full ball joint kits + 4 new swivel pins for peace of mind. The NOS swivel pins are on their way from John, absolutely top bloke. Thanks for the help and advice everyone, I'll let you know once I'm safely back on the road.

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Hi All,

After buying newly buying a Rover Mini 99! I want to better understand its suspension.

Did Koni Red Shock Absorbers get fitted from factory ?

Also for the ultimate in smoothness and comfort for daily street use. NO TRACK NO PERFORMANCE BASE suspension either.


So far the shopping list is
*Hi-Lo front and rear. (Mini Spares supplied)
*Rubber Cones (Mini Spares supplied)
*Suspension Cone Compressor tool
*Heavy Duty Adustable Lower Arm set pair

im considering only adjustable shock absorber in height and damper.. I understand there is so many on the market.
Who has what and how do they feel like. For smoothness and reliability.

_________________

Rover Mini Cooper 99'
Factory Standard.

Well, I'm still waiting on the new swivel pins to arrive. Which really sucks, because I sat around all weekend with nothing better to do. I've now had to re-schedule my alignment appt, and annoy the boss cancelling my requested day off. This one really is the impossible project. I just hope I can get it back under me soon, as I'd really like to shake it down and re-torque everything at least once before my 10 day road trip through Tassie. Hurry up and wait!!

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Hooray! It's going to be a loooong day at work - I just want to go home and get the Mini back on it's wheels!


I must say, these NOS pins do look and feel a bit different than the "new" ones I've received from various vendors. But the grease channel seems almost non-existent on one or two of these. The channel is there, it just seems very, very shallow.

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

It doesn't need much to get the grease around. With a thousand PSI of grease pump behind it, it will get there.

Add the grease on your final assembly after working out your shimming to ensure it gets everywhere it needs to be.

_________________
SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

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

Hi all
After reading the comments about ball joints I took one of my new ones to John's this afternoon for comparison.

The one on the left is my NEW and the one on the right is one of Johns.

I then rubbed both of them around in a ball joint nut.
The left hand NEW one was not smooth in operation and you can see that it only only polished the tops of the machining which is not particularly smooth.
The one on the right has a far better finish and polished up over a large area and felt very smooth in operation.
If your after ball joints I would recommend giving John a call. He was really helpful to me today.

_________________
Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

I bought 6 off John some years ago , just in case i needed them down the track .

I'm thinking about metro hubs and ball joints on my car.. They're sealed units takes some of the guess work out of it

_________________
Potato

metro hubs have a differend geometry. you will have to use longer/adjustable lower arms and tie rods. and than you still have a more positive scrub radius than with mini hubs, IIRC.
and the quality of the ball joints is far from better. you have to search for good parts and they get quite rare as you would need the MK1 ones. the later MK2/Rover/MGF ones got a bigger cone that doesn't fit to the mini correctly

_________________
Rover 214 atm ....

I did also, I got 4. I've used 2 on the RH hub, and am about to do the LH side.

I'd buy some NOS balljoint pins off John whilst you still can...

I recently saw some balljoints at Karcraft (from a different UK supplier) which spun smooth in their cups and seemed very well made. They were looking at bringing these in, it might be worth checking if available yet.

_________________
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.