I just noticed that Moss Mini has a sale on (discount & free shipping) and as I am in the process of rebuilding my '79 RHD mini, I have a couple of questions. Plus the sale ends tonight! I have/will have the entire front and rear suspensions (including the subframes) out of the car. How far would you go on replacing parts and what would you buy - rubber or poly???

Subframe mounts?
Shocks?
Cone rubber?
Bump stop?
Swivel joints?
Bushings?

Just looking at some of these items, it is hard to tell if they should be replaced. I have no idea how old some of the parts are! I guess part of this is what is nest to do when you have it all apart vs. staying on a conservative budget as I am redoing the shell/engine. BTW the car has 31K miles on it!

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

if your gonna get into that project, replace it all....might as well once you have it all apart....

 

Ooops - deleted a partial message

 

Big Norm,

Couple of other questions:

• I see there are options between replacing the subframe mounts or going with a "solid" mount system - seems to me to that this is an option for people that are racing Minis rather than driving Minis? Any suggestions?
• Looking at cost, I see that poly bushings are cheaper than rubber on some parts and vice versa on others. Is one better than another? My car is for driving so my thoughts are replace with rubber and because everything is new I will be fine.
• Is there any advantage to the small coils that are a replacement option to the rubber cones?

My last question is about replacing the rubber cones. I have everything stripped out of the front end except dropping the subframe. I have the car on jackstands that are under the frame. I am planning to lay a 2x6 under the car across the reinforced jacking points and moving the jack stands to those locations. Then I plan to place a piece of wood across the subframe and support it with a floor jack and lower the subframe out after undoing the bolts between the body and subframe. I assume this makes sense?

I also am seeing a cone compression tool in the catalogs? Is this necessary if I am lowering the subframe out or am I going to find the system under compression still after I drop the subframe. Excuse my ignorance - I have not take a Mini apart to this extent before. I have dropped coil/shock suspensions out of an MGB and I used a floor jack to lower everything out and put it all back. It was a little odd to gaze at this system the first time and see no coil

Thanks all for any help.... If taking everything apart has been an adventure, then my son thinks I am in for a rude awakening in a few months when I have the body back and it is time for reassembly

 

go with poly-bushings everywhere possible, you wont regreat it, if your mini is strickly gonna be a daily driver than stick to the basics when replacing parts. (can cheaper that way too)...i've never used springs so cant give you any insight on those, but i feel the rubber cones are fine.....getting new rubber cones in can be a real pain.....get the compressing tool and save yourself the prying and praying to get them in correctly......also suggest Hi/low suspenssion, that way you can adjust your ride height.....you will notice over time that the side that is sat in more often will sag ( overtime ) with hi/lows you can adjust that, and it's easy to do......it's easy to take apart, but can get confusion putting it all back together.......when i started doing minis, i would only do one side at a time, and use the other side as a referance......the haynes manual comes in really handy as well....

 

Big Norm - Thanks for the advice. I have ordered parts and I dropped the front subframe out of the car today. All I have is the rear suspension & subframe and its off to the body shop

 

You wont need the compression tool if you have the upper arm out. And you will want to take that out if you rebuilding everything. The compression tool is for when the subframes are in the car and you arent going to take everything apart. Save some money there. The rubber cones are great, replace them with rubber, they were designed that way for a reason. They had springs available to them if they wanted to put springs in them from the get go. Now if the rubber cones wern't available and you were replacing old hard rubber then springs would be a great option. It is a matter of choice though, I am sure the springs work fine. Poly is a good way to go as well, it does however stiffen everything up and you can tell. The Mini is stiff to begin with so the difference is negligable in the ride difference and the poly lasts alot longer. Check for wear on the pin that goes through the upper control arm too for excessive wear.