I am picking up a 67 mini that I purchased the other day with the intent of doing SCCA SOLO with it. My brother is also interested in racing with me and he has a very nice set of 13 x 10 wheels with 255 hoosiers. I was wondering if anyone else has put anything close to that under a Mini? Just wondering if I am going to have to modify anything.

 

a scan of advertisements will show that the largest wheels typically advertised for Mini are 13x7


IME a wheel this size has clearance issues and requires some body to be cut away and large arches are usually installed if intended for street use. The issues are more serious up front of course for steering. Offset would come into play as well . . .


anything is possible but modifications are almost certainly going to be required to the body and probably the suspension . . .


my two cents: if this is a decent 67 body that's a terrible thing to do to it . . .

 

That's mostly what I was asking. It is a good condition body and I really didn't want to cut it.

 

a similar question comes up in the Q&A section of the August MiniWorld ..


the reply:


The largest diameter wheels that you can fit without body surgery is 12 inches. Anything wider than 5x12 will require surgery to the front panel and lower front edge of the front wing, similar to that required when fitting 13 inch wheels.

 

I picked up a Mk 2 last weekend and we are currently getting it running again ( been sitting for 10 years). I think once we get it running we are going to see about fitting the 13x 10 with some cutting and some arches to cover them.
I must have overlooked that article in the mini world I will go back and read it now.

 

hope I did not offend .. had no idea you were a reader of MW


I wasn't sayin" "read ... dummy"


I was just sayin' here's some writing that confirms what I remembered!

 

Not at all, I just haven't had much time to sit down since I downloaded the latest issue and actually read over it.
Now if only I could find an article on coveting wet suspension to dry, then I would be in business lol

 

would a kit help?


MiniMania has several ... just search their site for 'hydrolastic conversion'


here's one: http://www.minimania.com/part/MMKT09...i--Mini-Cooper


their 'best' includes coil spring hi/los and runs $1400 bucks ..


The guys at Classic Motorsports are rebuilding a 67 S and have a series about it
http://classicmotorsports.net/projec...mini-cooper-s/


Chapter 6 was on the suspension ... they found a place that was able to rebuild their 'wet' bags . . . if you are going to the track, you may not want to try and save the wet suspension but it is worth a read . . .

September 2012 MiniWorld has an article: Fast Road Suspension Options

 

Just got this and wanted to share.


http://www.carsforsale.com/used-cars...o-ca-234835040

 

I don't know if I want the kit from mini mania. I was already looking at them; however, I have another car that I had toyed with the idea of a hayabusa or vtec swap (hope I don't offend anyone). I have most of the suspension out of that one cleaned up already, I really just didn't know if the dry suspension was a bolt on for a wet car or not.

 

to quote a movie phrase ....


"I know a guy . . . " let me ask him .... or you can ask yourself


signup on SunshineMinis.org and then either post the question in the classics how to section or PM "bobbiemartin" ... you can see his posts there. He's built up a couple of Minis and is working on a pickup right now . . . he's helped me out more than once. (I used to drive an hour to his place to get tires mounted on my 10" rims cuz he had bought an old spin balancer that would recognize 10" rims while no one locally had a machine that would!)

 

from my guy . . .


No cutting or welding, but lots of part changing.
It has been awhile and this is from memory (somewhat dangerous) but here goes.
You have to change virtually every suspension piece.
Front, the upper and lower arms are different. Some use the wet arms, but the spring ratio is different as I recall and you have to add shock mounts to the arms (although some wet cars had front shocks added). In theory you can remove the pins and add shock mount pins, but in practice I doubt you will get 50 odd year old pins out, so changing the upper arms is probably what you want to do. I can't remember offhand what the difference in the lower arms is, but as I recall they need to be changed as well. Probably a good time to get 1.5 negative arms and uprated tie bars if you don't have them. You need upper shock mounts, springs, trumpets, knuckles & cups and bump stops. The wet subframe has some ears the displacers connect on to, you can usually bend them over so the springs fit. I can't remember if they are drilled for bump stops, if not you will have to do that. Swivel hubs & ball joints are the same for wet & dry. I'm guessing a barn find will need everything replaced anyway.

Rear the swingarms have different spring ratios and you have the same problem with the shock mount. Again, the same applies, it may be possible to change the pins, but they are probably good & stuck. The same parts are needed with the same ears in the way of the springs. This is a good time to lay in for new swingarm pivots and rebushing the swingarms.


see also: http://www.calverst.com/articles/SUS...wet_to_dry.htm

 

Just for info, we have one of those newer balancers that wouldn't recognize 10" wheels too, I found that by setting the machine to balance a bare wheel only, it worked perfectly on my 10's (with tires, of course)!


The issue for the balancer is that the 10" wheel and tire combo doesn't have enough mass for the machine's preset limits, telling it that you're balancing a wheel only allows it to access lower parameters.