unless they hit the rotor. Seems the caliper dimensions are somewhat soft, and even on the R53, they are sloppy. But you could always get some, and have another groove put in.....

Matt

 

I'd really like your impressions on the frt arms after time. I've heard a few stories about them breaking or cracking in track and street use. M7 sold them a few years ago and took them of the market if I'm not mistaken.

 

I can't speak for the M7 arms but the Madness arms are tig welded tubular chromoly steel. They are clearly over-built. I would be more concerned with the mounting points then the arms themselves. Even a direct hit at speed would have little affect on them. Fingers crossed.

 

I'd still like a long term impression. I heard both have suffered problems. How much track time do you do with your car other then autoX ? Thanks

 

50/50 track/auto-x. I will report back as requested. I first need to finish the rears and get blumini back on the road.

 

Thanks

 

To newbs49:
I just realized who you are. All your posts on this topic have had a rather distinct negetive tone to them. At first you questioned my pricing and even went so far as to insinuate that I've ordered the wrong parts. Now that the rear arms are delivered and installed you've decided to aim your negetivity at the front a-arms. What's with all the negetive vibes dude? Got anything positive add to this topic? We are all like-minded individuals with similar goals; To bring out the very highest potential in our Coopers. Quite frankly and respectfully you are a buzz kill and you are giving GP owners a bad rap. Fortunately, I have friends that drive GP's and they are the first one's to lend me a hand or word of encouragement. Try it sometime, with practice it can become contagious and hopefully habit forming.

Rob

 

Maybe you should check back into posts about the frt arms over the past few years. They have had their problems. Maybe the quetions about the arms are to see if they have improved. I'd hate to see owners spend money on products that don't last or cause accidents as early arms have. Just wanting to see if they have changed over the early units. If they were so great alot of NAMer's would have them and they don't.

Sorry DUDE, and by the way you don't know me at all.

Good luck with your project
Larry

 

You are correct Larry, I only know you by your negative coments on this topic, which have become tiresome. I've labored far too tirelessly on this project to have neysayers like yourself question every move I make. After all the work I've put into this project you finally reached my limit. Your intentions may very well have been constructive; I am merely highlighting my perception of your criticisms.
Hopefully my labor bares fruit and my desired affect is achieved.

Thanks for the good wishes and for trying my constructive advice.

 

Congrats blumini on everything coming together for you... minus some bolts of course!

So, what can you share about the install? Did it alone, time, anything particularly difficult?

Just got back from Cal (final spring practice)... Thanks. Oh, don't forget an alignment!

 

Just to clarify something about the tubular front arm, the only failure I have heard about was when the arm was used in conjuction with a
solid Delrin bushing.
The reason for this was that the bushing was not allowing the arm to move in the correct, factory engineered motion/arc.

From the pic that blumini posted of the Madness arms...


...clearly shows a bushing that will allow the arm to rotate freely in it's intended manner.

If you look at this pic of Greg's (onasled) subframe...

...there is a solid Delrin bushing on the left, and Greg's custom aluminum bushing on the right, (which looks very similar to the Madness bushing,btw)
notice how the Delrin bushing is holding the arm up and not letting it flop down like the arm with Greg's bushing?
The Delrin bushed arm also had less than half the travel than the one on the other side before it started to bind up. That binding will eventually cause the arm to fail.

I don't think blumini will have any problems using the Madness arms with their aluminum bushings.

 

Thanks for the relevent info Partsman and the vote of confidence.

Thank you! Tony.
Yes , of course I had plenty of help. I would not attempt this work at home. I've got a "very special relationship" with Steve @ Steve's Auto Clinic. He lets me use his rack, tools and brain. I did the fronts mostly on my own but the rears were another kettle of fish. We needed to tap some holes and chase a lot of nuts and bolts down. Pretty straight forward stuff. They really do bolt on as long as you have the right hardware included. Once we're finished I'll post pix on the rack, but not until she's done. I am pondering whether to market a kit for this retro fit. I may put a feeler out for a group buy once the job is finished and of course aligned and corner balanced. Thanks again to all for your encouragement. It is most appreciated.

GO BEARS!
Nobody Beats Berkeley

 

I think you should!

 

Thanks Joaguin. I'm glad someone remembered the problems with the front arms and the bushings. They also did have cracking problems. I know Greg will re-engineer any problem areas before the car see's the track.

 

But lots beat Berkeley! When one of the Stanford Nobel winners was asked if they got a "parking space for life" like the Lauriates at Berkely do, he responded "No, there are too many here and we need some space for the students!"

Needless to say, My Dad ran SLAC here at Stanford, my wife works in the hospital, and I went there for grad school.... Maybe a bit of bias! But that said, even I can like a Bear fan... I took Tony to one of the Stanford Basketball to watch Stanford loose to Cal for the first time in 13 years at Maples pavilion......

Now we will return you to your normally scheduled banter!

Matt

 

I've heard very good things about Steve, and this just further validates that info. Good to hear. I'd be doing this at home, on jack stands, thus the questions... AND, I too would be quite interested in such a kit! Keep-in-mind, there are differences in the earlier and later model R53 trailing arm bushings that we have, and how that might factor-in. I recall a larger bushing was used up to March 03, then a smaller one, which you would have for your 04...

Parking at Cal... is a bear! I would venture to guess that if it were equally challenging at Stanford, such a perk would mean something, and be extended...

Attracting (and keeping) talent at a public school, as compared to a private one, is different. Cal has been doing much better lately in creating very competitive packages to lure the likes of Nobel Lauriates. Their NL affiliations is in the 60's, behind Columbia, Cambridge, Chicago, Harvard and MIT. And what Cal is doing exceptionally well is not so much getting, but giving... by having I think 26 NL with Cal degrees.

Here is a cool read on this topic:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/educati...als/index.html

Bias understood, and totally accepted. Blue & Gold runs in the veins here as my high school, undergrad (Cal) and grad schools (SJSU) sport those colors! That game was the highlight of Cal's season; one full of too many obstacles though. Thanks again Matt.

I could not refrain... Yes, back on track! blumini, pictures and more info, when you're ready would be awesome. I'm really quite interested in this...

 

the bushing mounts new to old were different. But I think the moutning holes are the same! You may just ahve to get a new bushing mount..... But I may be wrong here, then the kit for early cars would have to have another costom part.

Matt

 

Alain (J Propane) has an older one, like us Matt. He might have already provided that info, but if not, I'll sure he'll chime-in. Crap, I'm doing taxes (amended returns) on this beautiful Sunday. Almost done though!

 

Biased?

I'll speak very slowly and use little words for you Stanford guys, or is that just an SC thing? I always get your colors confused... J/K
I might be just a tad biased myself. 3 post grad degrees and a retired professorship might have something to do with that. Remember; there's only one University of California, established 1868... the rest are just satellites and upstarts.

BOT I'll be working closely with Steve on a retro-fit kit. I couldn't have a better consultant on the nuances between the years. Bottem line is we all 'need' to have these arms on our cars and I'd enjoy assisting anyone interested. Stay tuned for that too.

 

I'm sure you found this in grad school. It's totally decoupled from the undergraduate experience. We had real work to do!

Matt

 

Hey chaps,

New user here (used to have a login and chatted on the NAMAHAC thread but forgot what my username was - oops).

I have been following this thread with interest as I have been keen on sorting out some alloy rear arms myself. They never sold the GP in Australia (DENIED!) so the dealers here have no record of the GP part numbers.

The main questions I had in mind were -

1. The length of the arms from pivot to wheel bearing carrier (were they the same?) This will be answered when the pics from the side of the car are posted - I guess it will be obvious if the wheel is sitting too far forward or back in the wheel arch.

2. I had noticed at the dealer that the rear calipers on the R56 are a different caliper - so I was wondering if the old calipers mouonting bolt dimensions are the same as the new ones. Again the pics posted so far seem to indicate that they do fit. Was there any tricks/hidden traps to that?

Thanks for your help guys.

Stu.

 

The lenghts are the same, as far as I can tell. But I haven't actually measured them.

The JCW brake kit bolts up to the same caliper carrier bolt locations on the R53, so they should be the same on the R56, but this is an assumption. Maybe a trip to REALOEM will give some insight by looking at partnumbers?

Matt

 

To Blumini,

The wheel speed sensor of the R53 is smaller than that of the R56. Did you have to fabricate an adapter for your existing speed sensor or did you utilize a R56 wheel speed sensor that was modified?

 

^^Plus 1^^

The R53 & R56 arms are the same spec & demensions.

 

Easy fab. A spacer and some silicone was all that was needed to adapt my 04 sensor.

Fingers crossed we might have the hub bolts in today!
Thats all we're waiting for