To all Minifans!

A story about what can go wrong with classic cars..

"I think theres a lesson to be learned from that" ("Monty Python")


My Austin '69 MKII hydrolastic have been pullling to the right since I
bought it 4 years ago.

Its a nuisance - so different mechanics have tried their guess -
without success... Also tried wheel alignment, toe-out and so on...
Tyres wore quick and uneven.

This spring a Mini-mechanic with specialty in rebuilding classic car
bodywork looked at it.


He examined it closely and found not one - but FOUR major errors:

(Previous I had found out, that the right side of the car was at least
1 cm shorter than the left side - from hub to hub.)

1. The car have had an accident many years ago - the right side of the
car is 5 mm. shorter (he looked at the doors!). Bad bodywork.

2. The subframe is NOT mounted precise - it is around 5 mm. wrong -
probably because of the accident damage mentioned in 1.

3. The front "eye" for the right tie-bar arm had been welded - but not
exactly in the same place - it was slightly bent backwards toward the
rear wheel.

4. The unexpected error - the RIGHT hydrolastic arm had another
profile and length than the left - he had never seen anything like
that - he had to make a cardboard profile to be sure. But the upper
right hydrolatic wheel arm IS different. Maybe an arm from a Marina
or another hydrolastic car? If any knows about different hydro upper
wheel arms please tell!

ALL the errors pulled the car to the right! And the errors sums up to
around 2cm!

The remedy - ideally the front subframe should be removed - new holes
made for bolting the subframe to the car. New subframe. Restored
bodywork.

WELL - until my funds are big enough (!!!) - I have done the quick
fix - ADJUTABLE TIE-BAR ARMS from Minispares.
And I must say - there worth every EURO! These adjustable arms have
made the car much, much more fun to drive! With a little trimming and
careful adjusting they can help tremendously - and costs less than one
hour of mechanical service..!

So now the car runs happily until funds are sufficient for that
rebuilding.

Best regards and many happy mini-trips to all Minifans from cloudy and
rainy Copenhagen!

Henrik S. - Austin Mini MKII Hydrolastic - in red.

5mm difference side to side is practically nothing in a Mini. The
factory subframe mounts can be off that much or more. You could
probably loosen the front subframe and twist the subframe in place and
make up most of the 5mm. A little shimming of the rear subframe and it
should finish the job. It's certainly not necessary to drill new
mounting holes.

I'm not absolutely certain from your description what the difference
is that you're measuring in the right-hand upper arm. BUT, the
hydrolastic and dry (rubber doughnut) suspensions use arms with
knuckle locating holes in different positions. It's possible that
after your Mini was wrecked someone installed the wrong arm on the
right-hand side. If this is the case it is probably worth finding the
proper arm and replacing the current one.

Cheers,

Kelley

On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:47:24 +0200, Henrik S.
<henrik_sodermanvæk (AT) online (DOT) pol.dk> wrote:

--

That wrong arm wouldnt have come off a Marina, they share front suspension
with the Morris Minor.
If the arm is a differant length as you say then it could be off a BMC
11/1300, but as ive never worked one it would be hard to make a comparison.


Jono


"Kelley Mascher" <mascherk (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Hi.

Kelley - You're absolutely right.

The question is if it is necessary for other reasons to have the
bodywork repaired. I think it is. The front subframe is possibly bent
and rusty - have already bought a renovated, powder-coated front
subframe. And of course the arm should be changed to the correct mini
arm - I already have bought two complete identical renovated arms with
new bushes - because it is easier to do a complete good job when
working on the front. I have also bought the MS73 set from Minispares
to adjust the rear wheels regarding to camber/castor and toe in/out.

After all these steering problems with I want it to be solved
completely - better to do too much on the car than too little.

I've been surprised how much correct steering adjustment actually
means for the quality of the drive... I remember when I bought the car
and drove it 100 km home with completely worn down knuckle joints -
the car was floating on the road..

Best regards from Copenhagen - 20 C partly clody/sunny



On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:19:49 -0700, Kelley Mascher
<mascherk (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote:

Good luck with the restoration Henrik, but I agree that the heavy duty
adjustable tie-bars are very good and i've got a set fitted to my Mini
and they made a big difference to the handling and braking too. Plus
their far beefier than the standard tie-bars, so their also less prone
to kinking/bending by the spanner monkeys at garages.

Taffy