Mmm 12"x6" Deepdish!!!

[GruFFnuTT]

Hi all,

Been a little while since my last post after my disaster with the oil cooler cracking during my effort to get my Cooper Si up and running. The mess is mopped up now... nearly!!!

I've been doing loads of little jobs. They seem never ending...

Anyway, I've managed to pick up some nice Supalights and tyres... Saw them on Gumtree and they looked nice in anthracite with a polished rim. Paid the man £150 as two of the tyres need replacing (anyone with a couple of decent partworns please PM me ) Turns out they are 12"x6" Deepdish. They look proper wide and I've been having to tease the arches away from the rubber on full lock. I have no idea how well they will drive yet?

Also, I think I could do with dropping the rear of the car an inch to hug the wheels better. I've seen that you can "trim the trumpets"? Can anyone tell me what this is? I have orange Koni's. Is it possible to lower these without forking out for coilovers?

Hope to get on the road soon... The MOT looms closer...

Cheers.

[DanGT]

The cones are the part that sits on the subframe and attches to the swing arms. The best way is to get ajustable ones (hilows). The shocks are normaly ok but some are avaleble and made for lowerd cars. Coil overs are a hold diffrent thing.

[GruFFnuTT]

Hmm, I've lowered a couple of cars on the rear with ajustable springs/coilovers which was reasonably straight forward.

Will trimming these cones do the trick or is it best to just fit some lowered shocks and leave the cones alone? Is it actually as simple as that?

[GTRMikie]

GruFFnuTT said:

Will trimming these cones do the trick or is it best to just fit some lowered shocks and leave the cones alone? Is it actually as simple as that?

If you have standard mini suspension, fitting lowered shocks will not lower the car. As Dan says, replace the standard cones with adjustable ones (Hi-Lo's or one of the many equivalent brands readily obtainable from mini spares specialists). If you do lower the rear by a significant amount, you will have to fit shorter shocks.

If you decide to trim the cones, by cutting metal squarely from the narrow end, the ratio for the back is about 5:1. i.e. cutting off half an inch will lower the car by 2.5 inches. The ratio for the front is 3:1.

[DanGT]

I have cut them befor and it worked well, the only problem is if you end up two low then its hard to put metel back. With Hi lows they are not to hard to ajust and you can change your mind.

[GruFFnuTT]

Nice one chaps. Cheers. This gives me something to look into. The rear does seem stupidly high compared to the front. I've never really inspected the suspension set up. All I know is that I have Koni shock absorbers and there are some rubber things. I'm guessing try Hi-Lo's and then lowered shocks?

[GruFFnuTT]

Also, just put the original black plastic arches back on the car and these 12" x 6" wheels stick out nearly an inch!
Is this going to be MOT failure land? If so, I've seen that Group 4 arches are the way to go, but blimey they're expensive!!!

[GruFFnuTT]

Hi all,

I've been tinkering again today with the mini...

Got two new tyres on order for the 12x6's so they'll be legal.

Test drove the car with the 12x6's on the front and with just my weight in the car the tyres scrub the bodywork on full lock, so I'm going to have to sort this properly!

I've heard about "templates" in order to cut the arches and that I'll need to remould the lip, but I can't find any information on the correct process or how to reinstate the lip once the arch has been cut? Is there such a tool that will bend the lip back?
Can anybody point me in the right direction please so I can establish if this is something I can do myself or if I'm going to have to employ someone to do this for me.

Having researched suitable arches for 12x6's, I would like to use the wider Group 2 race ones. Will these fit even though the arches have been cut?

And also to rub salt into my wounds, I discovered that my passenger side floor pan is rotten through... The MOT is looking further and further away!

Wish I hadn't even started this mission now, so any motivational support will also be greatly recieved...

Cheers.