I'm thinking about changing the suspension in my Mini from the cones to the coils with adjustable shocks. My questions are: how hard would it be to do this and does this help with the resale value of the car (if i were to sell it)?

 

Honestly I doubt its going to help resale at all. Shouldnt hurt it, but wont help. Any aftermarket items your going to loose money on. Best way to not lose so much, is when you sell the car, put the original stuff back on, and sell the items seperately. If you want them, get them because you want them, not to make the car worth more. Suspension is one of those things where to have a working car, you have to have one.

 

i wouldn't.....just a standard set of shock and new cones if needed........hi/lows are a good investment that have a good selling point

 

Ok so how hard is it to put on new cones because I'm pretty sure my Mini has the original ones on it.

 

yeah....cones are a pain it the butt.....not sure if there are any trick to doing it but....they suck.....(in my opinion)

 

I have a spare set of suspension trumpets (need cleaning up), and an unused pair of rear shocks for a dual cone Mini lying in my garage right now if you're looking for them.
If you are going to replace the rubber cones, in my research of parts prices, I found that buying cones from MiniSpares or MiniSports (both English Mini parts places) and paying for shipping was much cheaper than buying from any of the north American sites. This wasn't the case for everything, and the price breaks aren't as good with the US dollar in freefall, but I paid about 25 pounds each for cones, best US price I could find was $70. The rear trailing arm rebuild kits run over $30 each here, about 8 pounds for the UK suppliers. If you're on a budget, you should look into which parts it makes sense to order from overseas.

 

contact Dion from www.djminis.com he usually has them in stock and can get them to you quickly......he is a US supplier for www.Minispares.com .......he has some of the best pricing around......

 

How to you change out the cones? I've heard that you have to de-pressurize the hydrolastic suspension or something like that...

 

Your car either has hydrolastic suspension (from the 60's) or cones, but not both. Your car likely has cones.

You need a cone compressor available from any Mini supplier. You need it for the front cones. It isn't necessary for the back cones. It screws into the cone and its action compresses the rubber so that you can disassemble the suspension. If you are a novice mechanic, I wouldn't recommend a suspension rebuild as your first project without some supervision from a knowledgable Mini owner. Buy yourself a factory shop manual and study it thoroughly. You'l also need some fairly large sockets (but you can get them at Autozone or similar) and you'll need a torque wrench.

If you are replacing cones, then you ought to rebuild all components of the suspension at the same time. It is a labor intensive, dirty job and not one you'll want to do again soon if something else goes wrong.

Things to evaluate for wear and replace as you do this job, if needed:

• cones (only buy OEM cones, be careful, there some crap replacements around)
• knuckle joints
• check the inside of your aluminum trumpets for corrosion/pitting
• lower arm bushings
• tie rod bushings where it attaches to subframe
• upper arm bushings
• swivel pins (ball joints), upper & lower
• steering rod ends
• wheel bearings
• outer CV joints
• brake linings

Things to add if you have "extra cash" to burn and want a fully adjustable suspension:

• Hi-Los to adjust ride height
• adjustable lower arms or fixed neg camber arms (allows adj of camber)
• adjustable tie rods (allows adj of caster/camber)
• uprated bushings (polyurethane) *recommended*

As you can see this can rapidly become a very expensive job even as DIY.

Sometimes, one of the hardest aspects is separating the old cone from the trumpet. The cones become corroded to the trumpet and can be a positive bear to remove.

 

Look here:
http://www.minifinity.com/modules.ph...to_fit_hi-lo_s

http://www.minifinity.com/modules.ph...&id=suspension

http://www.minifinity.com/modules.ph...e=doku&id=home



Some how-to videos on ball joints & brakes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyDE4oqbZnc

wheel bearings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qukEDS0uZY

 

Yeah sounds like an expensive and long project. Looks like I'm going to have to start collecting parts one week at a time...