With the Mini Clubman looking superb after its full respray as detailed last issue, it was time to do something about its slightly drag-racer stance – the result of sagging front suspension cones rather than any pretensions to sprinting power.
-
REPORT BY SIMON GOLDSWORTHY
It is time to do something about that droopy front end, with new suspension cones and adjustable Hi-Lo trumpets.
The Mini Clubman has always looked to me like it was sitting a little bit low at the front, and certainly it was lower there than at the back. This is not really surprising even with the low mileage, because during its lengthy years of storage the rubber suspension cones will have been permanently compressed with the weight of the car and the engine/ transmission pushing down on them, and time will always take its toll. As well as looking wrong to my eyes, with the automatic gearbox sump hanging down at the front and looking slightly vulnerable to sleeping policemen, it made sense to get this issue sorted.
Since I have never done this job on a Mini before, and also because you need a special tool to compress the cones, I booked the Clubman in with the experts – Steve Olive at the Sleaford Mini Centre ( Tel: 01529 460049, www.
sleafordminicentre.co.uk), who can do the job in his sleep. The hope was to drive there in the morning, watch the work being done, and then drive home in the newly-sprung car. With this in mind, I ordered up new cones, and also a few extra bits and pieces. Some of these were a bit of insurance in case they turned out to be needed, others because it made sense to replace them while things were apart just to be on the safe side – fortunately Mini parts prices are generally cheap enough to make that an option!
Steve advised that he used to do lots of these changes on cars, but these days it tends to be done as part of a more extensive restoration, so the work is more often carried out on the subframe while that is on a bench, which is much easier. When working on the car, he says that the offside is generally easier because access is better to get the pin out of the top suspension arm. On the nearside, the radiator and brake pipes get in the way more. You also have to work through a small opening in the inner wheelarch splash shield, and every car seems to be a little different on where exactly there is clearance to get the spanner in. Some people have been known to hack out a bigger opening or lever the panel up and out of the way, but that is a horrible bodge and shouldn’t be necessary. The only problem is likely to be if the pin has seized in the top arm. This is not always obvious because the whole top arm pivots in the subframe. If it is seized, then you will have to cut the pin out with an air hacksaw and replace it. With the arm on a bench, the remains of the pin will usually drift out, often bringing one of the needle roller bearings with it, but that is no problem as new bearings come with the new pin kit anyway. On our car, we could see the pins moving when we levered the hub up and down, so we were confident that they were moving freely and not seized.
Steve did advise that most cars sit too high when they are fitted with new cones, and that if you leave the car in the garage it can take six months to settle. He prefers to fit Hi- Lo adjustable trumpets and wind these up initially – this puts pressure on the cones and speeds up the settling process, then after a few days you can wind them down to get the correct height. He added that you want to get the height right because when the car is too high, it puts the camber out and affects handling.
minispares.com
1
The new cones have metric threads to their centres, rather than the UNF ones used originally on this age of Mini. That makes no difference in use, but you do need to take care to use the correct thread in the compression tool when removing or fitting them.
9
With the upper suspension arm now freed from the balljoint on the swivel hub and already released from the damper, it is only held in place by the pivot shaft at its inner end. At the back of this, a single nut needs to be released...
11
The pivot shaft could then be pulled forwards and out of the arm. Our pin came out smoothly with just a little fiddling, and it was in very good shape – seized pins can be a bit of a nightmare. Now the top arm could be twisted out.
10
...while at the other end, the nut on the end of the shaft can be left on, but those two small bolts either side that secure the locking plate to the subframe have to be removed. The inner one goes into a captive nut, the outer one has a separate nut.
3
Steve advised that the car would sit high for some time with new cones fitted until they settled, but that fitting adjustable Hi- Lo trumpets would make it possible to keep the ride height pretty much where you wanted it. The Hi- Los cost £45 for a pair from Mini Spares.
2
Not wanting to risk being left with a dismantled car missing something crucial at the end of the day, Simon bought new knuckles and track rod ends too. The knuckles would be fitted as a matter of course, but the TREs only if the old ones proved to be damaged or stiff.
4
Starting work in the offside front wheelarch, Steve removed the road wheel, followed by the telescopic damper. The damper only needs to be released and moved away from the mounting stud on the upper suspension arm, but it is easy enough to remove it entirely.
5
Inside the engine bay, Steve levered the grommet out of the hole over the cone (later cars had a subframe bolt that has to be removed instead). Our cone still has the manufacturer’s tape on the top, suggesting it is an original as expected.
7
It goes into the hole revealed by the grommet and is wound down to compress the cone. You can often do the job without the tool if you are taking the top arm out, but it can then be tricky to squeeze the new cone through the gap and into position.
6
This is the compression tool, which has interchangeable threads – unified to suit the original rubber cones as fitted to our car, and metric to suit both the version fitted to later cars and all current replacements.
8
Back in the wheelarch, the taper balljoint shank has to be released from the upper suspension arm. First the nut is undone, but not removed right away so that it can protect the ends of the thread when the balljoint splitter is tightened up.
18
This photo was taken on a rather dull day so you will have to excuse the lack of vibrancy in the shot! It wasn’t a deliberate attempt at a poor ‘before’ shot to make the later one look better, but does show how low the front of the car was sitting.
19
And with the sun coming out to celebrate, this is the Mini after a couple of goes with the spanners to adjust the HiLos. To be fair the ride did not feel a whole lot softer, but the car did look better now that it had lost its nose- down stance.
17
Steve removed the rebound rubber to create a little more room for reassembly. This was badly deteriorated anyway, so he fitted a new one. Note also the new seals to protect the needle rollers, and the cleaned- up grease nipples.
16
Weirdly, one of the hardest tasks was to lever the nylon ball socket out of the upper suspension arm. There didn’t look to be anything wrong with it, but they do wear, and new ones came with the new knuckle joints Simon had bought.
12
Now Steve could get to the trumpet. As this is alloy and it sits in a steel housing, it is often corroded in very tightly, but this Mini Clubman has set a pattern of good behaviour and ours came out with nothing more than a good yank – a bit like milking a cow!
15
This is the upper arm as removed, together with the fulcrum pin, thrust washers and retaining plate. There are still seals under the accumulated grease at either end of the arm, protecting needle roller bearings on the inside.
13
Steve then released the compression tool and extracted the old cone. For those who have never seen a Mini suspension dismantled, this rubber cone provides the springing that most cars get from coil or leaf springs, or sometimes from torsion bars.
14
Looking at the old cone against the new one, it is clearly squashed quite flat. It would have been possible to get the height back using Hi- Los, but then the characteristics of the rubber would have been all wrong. And besides, it is 50 years old.