G'day,
I have an 83 Mini Mayfair and am about about to whack a set of coils springs into it.
The body has a large headed bolt each side in front of the wind screen, the left side bole is practically under the wiper motor,
now these bolts were TIGHT but not deforming the rubber washer under the heads with leads me to ask should there be a rubber gasket (or any type of spacer) between the cross member towers and the body, my bolts bottom out before holding the body down on the cross member,
see you later Joe J.
PS Probably why there is a loud rattle sometimes like when the clutch shudders.

Yes.

Look at item 60, 61 in the front mountings 1976 on picture http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/eshop/index.php?main_page=page&id=68. 60 is under the top washer and 61 is between the subframe and the body.

I would be looking at a full poly subframe and/or solid mounting kit before putting the coil springs in. Having had a 1999 model with the same subframe mounts, i found that the worn rubber mounts allowed the front subframe to steer the car a lot, especially when the 13x6 tyres were tramlining. Putting in the poly kit for the tower and rear mounts and solid front mounts cured that issue.

After you have sorted the subframe mounts, you will get a better idea of a before and after suspension behaviour with the coil springs.

cheers
michael

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Hi Michael,
thanks very much for your reply, I bet I don't have the rubber tower spacer, now I wonder if I can loosen all the mounts and get a large enough gap to slip a couple in,
thanks again, Joe.

G'day,
I dismantled the left side suspension and sure enough there is no rubber spacer between the cross member tower and the under side of the body cross member, I usually buy my parts from Mini Sports Adelaide but they don't have the rubber spacer, does anybody know where I can get them in OZ,
Joe.

Try Karcraft. They are the importer of all UK car parts anyway.

They probably won't be around until the 4th January though.

Also, stick your general location in your profile (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide whaterver). It will encourage others in your locale to help when these things come up and the regular sellers are closed.

cheers
michael

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Thanks Michael, I'll cool my heals for a while and remove Upper arm needle bearings also I'm replacing the rubber Cones with coil springs, one thing that has me puzzled is what do the front coils register with, seems to me they can move around quite a bit, or am missing something, Joe.

Not sure about that, but check out the conversation in this thread about the rears - http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=91339&start=30

I expect that there will be something similar for the fronts. Anyway, you ask the guys who have converted to coils directly.

cheers
michael

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

G'day, I found after pulling my 83 Mini front end down that the needle bearings and shaft are shot, I notice Mini Sport SA have an upper control arm with Poly bushes, does the arm need machining to accept the Poly bushes? if so to what size and is the original shaft used, Joe.

That will be poly bushes for the lower control arm. Upper arm is always needle roller bearing.

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

G'day mickmini,
MiniSport OZ have these https://d31wxntiwn0x96.cloudfront.net/p ... height=400
in their catalogue A$159, I saw it while looking for needle bearings and thought that perhaps with a little machining Poly's could be whacked in the old control arms, Joe.

The part you are looking at there is a complete new arm. The plugs are just in there to protect for shipping.

I would not waste my time with trying to replace the bearings with bushes. bad idea overall. One of the best contributors to the feel of the Mini front suspension is that there is literally no flex in the axis of the upper control arm. By putting elastomeric bushes in there, you allow significant flex. It will basically ruin the front suspension - wear quickly and allow variable geometry of the top arm.

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

With the leverage ratio acting on the top arm I doubt that poly bushes would last a day. They have needle rollers to handle the extreme loadings.

Thanks Fellas, sure fooled me, Joe.

If you want your late model Mini to handle.... As others said, solid mount the subframes first.
Regarding front coils, they require a seat made from nylon in my case, else they can move around and dislodge. As with any mod you do, it's never as simple as the kit manufacturer says. PM me if you need details, I've been through this before.

The last of the Minis that came from the UK to Canada in 1979 (1980 model year Mini 1000s) had the rubber mounted front & rear sub frames (the rear with a much larger rubber bush in the larger forward trunions - at the heel board). Rubber all in the interest of quieting the ride.

The rubber mounted front sub frames had shorter ears with the bolted on rubber/steel mount going to the bottom of the toe board. These and the rubber tower pads were commonly replaced by aluminum pads and steel adapters bolted to the ear extensions...going metal to metal like the earlier Minis.

At the back simply replace the large front trunions with the smaller size (as per the rear) and use poly bushes at the 4 corners.

Not difficult mods to do but very effective in returning improved handling to the Mini.

In the Attached photo you can see the smaller trunions on the new rear subframe as we fit the new heel board into the current Woody restoration project. (trunions happen to be aluminum though standard would be cast)

Be very, very careful in releasing the 5/16" UNF bolts from the trunion at the heel board. Use a good penetrant, tighten the bolt ever so slightly before trying to back it off. Corroded bolts often snap off. CAUTION is the word - run a thread chasing tap through the captive nuts in the heel board and use a good Never Seize lubricant on installing the new bolts on reassembly.

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Select a gear, bring up the revs and release the clutch...off you go!