Snowfruit
31 posts
Joined: 29/11/2004 15:18:22
Location: Killarney Ireland (S.)
Adjustable Suspension
I need to replace my suspension and while doing so I thought I might upgradfe to a fully adjustable set up , GAZ dampers, hi-los, lower arms and tie bars. Which items would be recommended for each of the above? Alos I see there are regualr dampers and damperes for lowered cars. with 13x7 wheels on Irish roads (for Irish read, very uneven) how low should I go and which of the two types of damper should I fit?
Posted: Jun 02, 2005 10:31 AM
Fat Kev
58 posts
Joined: 19/04/2005 18:16:21
Location: Newmilns United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
For road use, I beleive, all you need are fixed negative bottom arms(1.5 degress), heavy duty adjustable tie rods, and the rear adjustable camber\tracking plates. If you insiste on adjustable bottom arms, there is a kit MiniSpares sell - MSSK3013 For £100, you even get the right uprated bushes. As for shocks - why go adjustable? Do you even know how to set them up to suit you car\prefrence\driving style? It just complicates things to be honest - more adjustable stuff, more stuff to play with, more chance of making you Mini handle poorly. I think Keith Calver recommends for fast road use the KYB Self Adjust ones. So, the following kit is ideal - MSSK3004 Hi-Los, and KYB Slef Adjust dampers. Less than £150, cant beat that. As for the type of damper, lower and standard, well thats a tricky one. According to Kalver, most damper manufacturers are still basing their dampers on 10 wheels! Think Kalver gives guidelines on deciding what type. I think the KYBs are good, unless youre thinking of dramatic lowering. And lets face it, for road use, dramatic lowering is for chumps... better spending your time trying to get the driveshafts to be level with the road (10 wheels ideal suppsoedly). Why not rehaul both subframes and all the mounts\bushes? If you can handle the additional noise solid mount that subframe to stop it flapping all over the place. Bits like C-STR640, C-STR641and C-STR642 are handy. Also, get all the engine steadies you can and stop that engine from rocking about. Replace the rubber springs if they are old - FAM3968. Or if you are serious, uprate them to something like C-STR688. I also highly recommend reading Kalvers Corner - many good suspension articles in it. However I would recommend visiting minimania.com (or whatever their site is) as their article section is better layed out. These are my views and opinions so Im sure some people will say otherwise :D Kevin
Posted: Jun 02, 2005 10:52 PM
JK
11 posts
Joined: 15/09/2004 16:53:23
Location: WESTCLIFF ON SEA United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
ADJUSTABLE LOWER ARMS / TIE RODS + BALL JOINTS
OK. HAVE LOOKED ALL OVER THE INTERNET, AND READ EVERYTHING I CAN BUT IVE DECIDED I AM THICK. i got these s/hand rose jointed lower arms, and new adjustable tie bars brom minispares, along with the caster/camber gague. now does the bottom ball-joint have to be in front of the top one? that is having the ball joints at the 5 o clock position?? or behind at the 7 oclock position?? i have camber set at 1.5 degrees both sides, and have been able to adjust the o/s side caster to the book setting of 3 degrees, eventually i will go to 5, however the ball joints on this side are at the 7 o clock position; the other side i cant seem to get anywhere with. any ideas im stuck :0(
Posted: Jun 04, 2005 05:43 PM
knutspeed
17 posts
Joined: 13/09/2004 22:14:01
Location: Sarpsborg Norway
yea..adjustable one
Hey Blox, I run a 65 S in historics, and fitting the adj rear bar along with stiffer front cones transformed the car. I would recommend the adj. one, especially if you are running a LSD. I expect you dont get much temperature in the rears hillclimbing, so it could be an advantage to be able to soften it somewhat. Its very good for low-speed corners, high-speed twisty bits can become a bit unnerving on cold rears with an arb, but there are ways to compensate (tire pressure is the easy route). Birg
Posted: Sep 20, 2005 09:35 PM
SimonJ
49 posts
Joined: 31/01/2006 11:40:27
Location: South Glam United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Adjustable brake limiter valve
Hi, Some time ago i read an article on minispares (the older website) where Keith Calver said to bin the brake reducing valve that was problematic and replace it with an adjustable valve and the bigger bore wheel cylinders. I have done this (Car not on the road yet) but how to i achieve a ball park setting?
Posted: Feb 11, 2006 04:25 PM
Peter
Joined: 13/10/2004 21:44:55
Location: Brightwell-cum-Sotwe United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Adjustable brake limiter
Hi Simon , There is no substitute for setting it in the middle and testing it on the road until you eliminate rear wheel lock up. I am not sure about the big cylinders as I use the small bore ones to reduce the pressure at the rear , but this can all be dialled out with the adjustable valve.Hope this helps. Peter Horsburgh
Posted: Feb 11, 2006 06:51 PM
Favno2
38 posts
Joined: 24/07/2005 11:01:07
Location: Bracknell United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Adjustable Tie Bar set up?
Hi all, I have just fitted hi-los, Avo adjustable shocks & 1.5 degree negative camber arms..... I also have a new pair of adjustble tie bars but am un sure as to how they should be set.......... Any advice would be great. If they need seeting up properly by a specialist, could you recommend any in the Heathrow area? (By the way I refuse to use Minispeed as Matt who runs the place like to rip people off!!!) Regards
Posted: Feb 28, 2006 12:04 AM
Rob
50 posts
Joined: 01/10/2005 23:57:53
Location: Bridgwater United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
adjustable brake proportioning valves for single line systems..........
looking for the proportioning valve for a single line system with 7.5s and drums on rears, the car wasnt originally disc. i have come into a problem. is there a difference between the MK1/2 and MK3 cooper s one and the MK 3 non cooper s?? i only ask because i want to make it adjustable with a threaded bolt on the spring and i cant work out whether itll make a difference........ Cheers Rob
Posted: Mar 30, 2006 07:21 PM
Mini Mayfair
13 posts
Joined: 24/05/2005 05:52:52
Location: Mgarr Malta
Spax Adjustable Dampers - Help Needed
Dear All,
I just bought a set of Spax Adjustable Dampers (the blue ones) from Mini Spares. However, I have a small problem to understand how these are set up. The instructions dictates that by turning the nob fully anti-clockwise you end up in the softer setting. What I did not understand is how much should I turn it anti-clockwise cause it keeps turning. On the instructions there is that these shocks have 28 settings. Furthermore, once you have found the softest setting it is recomended to harded the shocks up gradually by incrementing 4 clicks on the knob.
Thanks for your help. Ray
Posted: May 12, 2006 05:42 AM
Chris
131 posts
Joined: 18/02/2005 08:56:10
Location: Leamington Spa United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Good afternoon,
I was under the impression that the nob would eventually stop at the softest setting, however I may be wrong.
Can anyone else either clarify this is the case or offer further assistance.
Posted: May 12, 2006 12:39 PM
D. Allan
2 posts
Joined: 20/03/2006 16:50:18
Location: Kingsbridge United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Hello Ray, My Spax dampers have the knob, but it eventually stops when turned to softest settings. Recommendations from most users with road cars are about half way (14 clicks) for the front and softer on the rear (8 clicks). Then you can adjust to taste from here.Ride quality will depend on wheel size, tyre type and size, condition of ball joints etc, castor/camber settings, and ride height of your Mini. Hope this helps ? Best regards, Pete Allan (pda49184@aol.com)
Posted: May 12, 2006 03:33 PM
K. Calver
173 posts
Joined: 13/09/2004 07:56:05
Location: United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
The upward adjustment (i.e. making them stiffer) should be accompanied by a definite 'click' as the adjuster goes 'home'. These are at half rotation increments. So the first definite 'click' you feel should be the first adjustment level.
Contrary to what a majority seem to thinks is good, go to 30% setting on the front and 20% on the rear. These adjustments merely stiffen the ride, mainly to allow for oil degredation over time. If you 'bounc' the car at each corner and only the tyre distorts rather than the suspenion moving, you've got it way too stiff for road use.
KC
Posted: May 12, 2006 07:50 PM
Thanks guys. It took 3 1/2 turns to go from the softest setting to the harder one.
Thanks once again for your help.
Regards
Ray
Posted: May 15, 2006 05:41 AM
miniswordsman
214 posts
Joined: 11/12/2006 18:57:13
Location: Colorado springs United States
Heavy duty adjustable tie rod nut
Hello all,
I was just wondering if anyone knew what size nut fits on the heavy duty adjustable tie rod nut from minispares? I'm having a beast of a time with it. Thanks!
-James
Posted: Nov 07, 2008 01:26 AM
minibreakdown
6 posts
Joined: 07/07/2010 14:40:51
Location: Autevielle France
brake limiter valve/brake regulator adjustable valve
Hello all I have a 1989 998 mini flame that has just failed its French MOT for the rear brakes only have 20kg of pressure on each side. The front brakes work fine.
I have just returned from the garage where he has said it is a problem with the brake limiter valve FAM7821 and needs a new one but suggested a good idea would be to fit a brake regulator adjustable valve MS72.
I asked if the adjustable valve replaced the brake limiter or was fitted into the braking system and the both worked together. He said it would replace the brake limiter but I needed to find an adjustable that has the correct brake pipe connections as the limiter after showing him a picture of MS72 on line at the garage.
I have researched the forum and the technical manuals to see how these parts work together or not!!!
This may be a case of lost in translation between me and the mechanic.
Could anybody please let me know should I replace like for like (FAM7821) or try and fit an adjustable brake regulator? If it is fit the adjustable, what parts do I need and where does it go in the system?
Posted: Jun 26, 2014 12:39 PM
Tim
1849 posts
Joined: 18/10/2004 09:40:59
Location: Bournemouth United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
If I remember correctly, that brake limiter (FAM7821) is mounted on the bulkhead and has two pipes going in from the master cylinder (because it's a dual line system) and two pipes going out - one to the front brakes and one to the rear.
The simplest thing would be to replace it like-for-like, but it's not cheap.
If you decided to fit the adjustable (MS72), then that works on the rear brakes only and is fitted on the rear subframe, where you would normally see a simple 3-way union. You would have to get rid of the brake limiter on the bulkhead, and join the two sets of pipes somehow.
Personally, I don't like limiters of any sort and on my 63 Cooper I disabled the limiter on the rear subframe by removing the insides, so it just acts like a 3-way union. I haven't had a problem with the rear brakes locking up, except on very wet or loose surfaces.
If it was my car, I would try and do the same and disable the limiter on the bulkhead. I don't know if it's possible to take it apart and put it back together again without leakage, but it's worth a try. Failing that, you can just remove it and replace it with two female-to-female connectors.
Posted: Jun 26, 2014 08:44 PM
Thanks for the comprehensive reply Tim and I now understand it a lot better.
I think that I will be replacing the brake limiter like for like and not add the adjustable onto the braking system or removing the limiter completely. Reasons for this are my son drives the car and he hasn't got the driving experience if the rear brakes locked up and I don't want some dodgy mechanic in rural France messing about with the brakes too much. Also I would like to keep the car pretty standard.
Once again thanks for the info
Posted: Jun 27, 2014 07:22 AM
OK. As per my previous post I bought a new brake limiter (FAM7821) from this fine online shop. Had it fitted at the garage and I went to pick it up this morning. To be told that the problem still exists and the rear brakes are still only getting 20kg of pressure which is exactly the same as before. I now have a spare brake limiter should the new one ever fail. I asked it it could just simply be a partly block pipe from the limiter to the rears but he doesn't think it is as he gets a good flow of brake at the rear brakes.
To pass the MOT for the rear brakes, on the rolling road test, he has suggested loading up the boot and back seat with 3 or 4 sacks of cement to see if this extra weight will increase the force on the rear wheels somehow.
If this does work, great. But in anticipation of a spectacular still only 20kg and another fail would anybody have any ideas what the problem could be? The system seems quite simple.
Tim I am seriously taking up your earlier suggestion of removing the brake limiter altogether or as the French mechanic suggested, swap over the rear and front brake outlets for the MOT then change them back after. That would make for a fun drive there and back! Would rather do things properly though.
Thanks in advance.
Posted: Jul 10, 2014 12:50 PM
I'm afraid I don't really understand what 20kg of pressure means, or whether adding extra weight to the rear of the car would make any difference to it.
One thing that you need to establish is: does the handbrake work properly? I ask this to establish if you're certain that the brake shoes themselves are OK - quite often on the rear brakes you'll find that a leaking cylinder has smeared brake fluid all over the shoes and no amount of brake pressure will make them work effectively.
On my mini, the handbrake will lock the rear wheels solid when going down my (fairly steep) driveway on a damp morning.
It's difficult if you have to rely on a garage doing all the work - especially if they don't really know what they're doing!
Posted: Jul 10, 2014 01:50 PM
Thanks again for the reply again Tim. I will try the hand brake out to see what happens.
Both rear wheel brake cylinders were replaced some 2 - 3 years ago so are hopefully OK.
I don't understand the 20 kg pressure either. I know that to test the pressure they took out the bleed nipple and screwed on a pressure gauge and then pushed the pedal, showing how much pressure in Kg's is getting to the rear brakes. One thing for me is that both sides have the same amount of pressure so I would have thought it would have been the limiter.
I'll go and try the hand brake this afternoon and see what happens.
Posted: Jul 11, 2014 12:59 PM