| Page viewing: Fitting suspension |
| Steering |
| The steering rack needs to be bolted to the subframe before fitting the subframe. The mini steering column is shortened slightly and the metro U/J is welded to the end. |
Std steering column |
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Column clamped in place to see were it needs to be cut, new stronger top bracket has been fabricated. |
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Column being slotted |
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Bottom of the outer column being cut |
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U/J welded to the steering shaft |
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Sleeve welded over joint to add strength |
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Here it is in primer |
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Trial fit of column |
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Trial fit of column, brake pedal just hits the U/J when depressed. |
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The new top bracket |
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| Brakes |
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I am using Rover MGF vented brakes and calipers with EBC green stuff brake pads, they are the same as Rover Metro GTI MPI and Montego brakes.
I will not be using a servo and so using a master cylinder with the correct bore size is essential to get brakes that work efficiently.
Some members of the 16 Valve Mini forum have had success with using a Girling 0.625 bore master cylinder, I have ordered one from Merlin Motorsport. Total cost £95, this includes all associated parts - resevoir, resevoir bracket, resevoir hose + fittings, adjustable clevis pin and P£P I will also be using the smallest bore rear wheel cylinders (part No GWC 1126, bore 12.7mm) in an attempt to balance the braking without the need of a brake front/rear regulator. For info rear wheel cylinder bore sizes: GWC1126 - 12.7mm GWC1131 - 14.29mm GWC1101 - 15.88mm GWC1129 - 17.46mm GWC1102 - 19.00mm |
Modified brake pedal |
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Modified brake pedal |
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Modified brake pedal |
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Modified brake pedal |
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Pedal box and steering column fitted |
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Pedal box and steering column fitted |
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Pedal box and steering column fitted |
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Mini master cylinder and new master cylinder comparison |
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Picture shows which brake union is needed for front brake pipe to brake hose connection |
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Picture shows the correct brake pipe flare needed for front brake pipe to brake hose connection |
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Brake hose bracket hole needs enlarging and shaped so that hose fits through it |
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Brake pipe flaring tool kindly loan to me by Steve, highly recommended if you need a flaring tool |
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Master cylinder fitted |
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Difference between old mini master cylinder and new |
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| Suspension |
| The Watsons kit uses coil springs in place of the original metro hydrolastic units. |
Suspension being fitted, spring cover removed |
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Fully fitted front suspension |
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Fully fitted front suspension |
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Here you can see the wide track of the metro frame and why the wheels will stick out a lot from the bodywork |
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Trial fit of the wheels |
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Trial fit of the wheels |
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| Driveshafts |
| The metro outer CV/driveshaft utilises a circlip and spring clip, the new Watson driveshafts only uses the spring clip. The Honda inner CV/driveshaft utilises two circlips which are also used on the new driveshafts. |
CV'c fitted to new driveshafts |
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