Adjustable lower arms

[Mudhen]

Anyone have a set of these on the shelf and can tell me if I should be able to screw the end all the way in?  This is as short as I can make it.  Haven't had it aligned yet, but just eyeballing it, it looked like it would still have some negative camber which I don't want (which is why I took it apart to see if I could get the end in more).



Thanks!

[94touring]

And why don't you want negative camber?

[MiniDave]

Here's a brand new set I have for comparison.....

[Mudhen]

Here's a brand new set I have for comparison.....

Perfect - thanks!  I thought I screwed them up messing around with them before putting them on - wasn't thinking that you shouldn't turn one side or the other independently, which I'm sure I did.

Just measured my old one and it's roughly the same length but not sure if the old one is stock or not.

Negative camber is bad in the dirt with rally tires - you want 0 or even a little positive would be ok just to get that outer square edge to bite.  I've made that mistake before in the r53 - almost felt like I was driving on ice.



What a shitshow this car has been - seems like every part I bought was wrong or didn't work.  Swapping out the drive flanges so I could use 12" rims took me months.  I had no idea they can have different 'depths' - once I put the new ones in the brake calipers wouldn't mount up anymore.  Still waiting on the 12" tires that I ordered in January so will continue with the old flanges and 13" rims until then.



At one point a couple months ago I thought I was done, drove it up to a local place for an alignment and they burned the starter out and somehow wrecked the clutch slave cylinder - not quite sure how, but I drove it in and they flatbed'd it home for me.   

It was then that I discovered the steering rack was junk...so just getting that finished up.  Praying on an alignment 9/2 and racing 9/21-22.

[MiniDave]

Good luck!

Can you just put a spacer behind the caliper to get it in the right place?

[Mudhen]

Unfortunately no...it's the other way around - the caliper needs to move outward.  The spacer one guy used was between the flange and brake disc...someone else had the inside of the rotor machined but now I'm thinking about it it doesn't make sense to me.

I ordered some non-vented stock flanges to give them a try...

[MPlayle]

What caliper is that?  It does not look like any of the stock 7.5" or 8.4" calipers I am familiar with seeing on Minis.

[MiniDave]

I think it's off a Metro.....vented rotors is the tell tale.

BTW, I have a set of these, do you have the spacers in between the halves of the calipers?

[Mudhen]

What caliper is that?  It does not look like any of the stock 7.5" or 8.4" calipers I am familiar with seeing on Minis.

Supposedly they're pretty rare AP Racing calipers - homologated for the group A MG Metro/turbo.

https://historicdb.fia.com/sites/default/files/car_attachment/1601068801/homologation_form_number_5107_group_a.pdf

I don't think I have the spacer - do you have a pic of it??

[MiniDave]

Mine are from MiniSpares, in the pic you can see the little spacer blocks that go in between the halves of the caliper.......obviously I haven't put them in yet. But you need those both for the caliper to fit over the ventilated discs and to position it correctly where it bolts to the hub. I don't know that you need those, but if your calipers were for non-ventilated rotors, then you do need those blocks. You can buy them separately from MiniSpares.....along with the bolts and little o-ring seals that go in the calipers.

Edit - Looking at your calipers, they don't look anything like these.....maybe you can post some better pics of them for us?

[Mudhen]

Whoa, those are nice!  Mine are single piece so there would be no place for a spacer that I can see.





Pretty cool, though - you can just pull the pins, pop off the top plate and replace pads without removing the caliper.

I ordered the flanges for non-vented discs - boom!  Look to be the correct size (the shorter one on the left).  Oh, but wait...W....T....F...the bolts won't work!  Holy fk give me a break.  The metric bolts that I need for the new rotors are too big in diameter to fit into the standard flanges!  And of course the bolts that do fit are SAE threads.

 



Will just go to the hardware store and get some 10.9s that fit.  Fk this.   

[Mudhen]

Actually, a guy on TMF told me what needed to be done I just didn't understand it at the time - now I've tried it I think I get it, lol.

"There's no need for the KAD alloy flanges, unless you want them. Standard steel mini ones are the same, you just need the ones for 8.4" disc setup, not the 7.5" one's.
You will have to enlarge the bolt holes in the flanges from 3/8" to 10mm to suit the metro discs. Yo will also need someone with a lathe to machine 80 thou from the inner face of the discs bell, otherwise it will foul the end of the hub carrier.
KAD supply the discs ready modified to fit."

So I guess I can scratch the 10.9s, they won't fit, anyway.

 

[MPlayle]

Why not just use the complete Mini 8.4" disk brake set (flnges, disks, and calipers) as they are intended for use with the Mini's 12" wheels?

[Mudhen]

Knowing what I know now that's probably my next step (once I get my 12" wheel/tire setup squared away).  Initially of course I had no idea just how custom this setup is I just didnt want 13" rims.  Clearly it was done before the current off the shelf options were available.

[Mudhen]

Had a successful first rallycross with this car on Saturday - 9 runs and not a hiccup.  Slow?  yes...but hopefully the times will come down as I learn it.

After driving it on the street for a few years and then all the shit that went on since December I was actually amazed at how it handled.  It has always been a handful on the street - whether it was the Salisbury LSD that some say is junk with its associated clunking and hopping when turning on pavement or the alignment - the car tends to go where it wants to - and now adding the quick ratio steering rack that's a bear to turn - not fun.  But at rallycross speeds in the gravel, all that went away.  Left foot braking induced oversteer that was predictable and more importantly catchable, traction that will definitely take me getting used to (the r53 has a Quaife so definitely not the same) I know I can carry more speed which will be important against the Golfs, Fiestas, etc, but maybe my power-to-weight ratio is similar?

It was my sons first event as well, he drove the r53 - did well and had fun, can't ask for more than that!

[MiniDave]

Excellent!