t16 vitesse

ok i'm going with evo's suggestion, a metty subframe with mgf shafts and box mount with my vitesse engine and pg1 box, mainly because my 620ti has well bent chassis rails at the front making them useless, whats the best way to secure the frame to the car, my vtec just bolts onto the coil over suspension, and has 2 flimsy looking brackets made from box section that bolt onto the lower back section of the subframe, and bolt onto the floor of the mini, what sort of brackets are you guys using, i think something really substantial is required for this setup considering the weight and the torque etc.
sean.

[evolotion]

well i dont wana be held accountable if it doesnt work! :lol:

someone on here made there own towers on a metro frame to attach it as per a normal mini frame. mayb a we post in the general section to find he person!? also i believe someone else has pictures of the (sae?!) frame which is a metro frame attached to mini towers, retaining the mini suspension etc. whatever route itl have to be bloody strong :shock:

[trickey]

Here is a pic of my frame-

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/hybridkmini/images/0-picture.gif

It was pretty simple to do, just remove the hydragas mounts, plate the tops, and make towers to match the mini ones. for the rear mounts i just welded on some 40mm box section with a flat piece that bolts to the floor.

Remember that the angle at which the frame mounts will affect the castor angles, so i supported the 'shell at the correct ridehight, and positioned the frame in roughly the right place using bottle jacks and whatever else came to hand, then measured the castor and camber angles, adjusting the position of the frame until I was happy with it (i am sticking with metro GTI settings for now).

Trickey.

hmm thanks chaps, thats interesting, erm i already have the metty frame, but i dont have the car anymore so i dont know the relative position of the subby to the car, so i'm gonna have to measure the castor as you say to get the frame positioned correctly, what is the castor angle by the way?.
i cant remember the arrangement the original mini uses for the towers, its that long since i've played with em, i presume its all self contained within the tower spring wise, plating the mettys hydro towers off sounds acceptable, then i could cut the minis towers off too long, then position the frame on the car so it looks right, then shorten to fit and weld on, afterwards i can fit the coil over shocks to suit and adjust the ride height.
i'll strengthen up the metty frame with some 1 inch by 2.0mm box, a couple of runs round the inside will make it a lot stiffer, also build a substantial frame around the top of the frame and then accross to the bulkhead members with triangulation pieces here and there, the t16 fat lump will actually fit the clubby with rad and with room to spare!.
its got more electronic box's than the space shuttle.
sean.

[trickey]

The castor angle on a GTI is 2 degrees positive (according to haynes anyway :D )
that seems a little low to me, but it works on the metro, so i'm using it as a starting point. You could tilt the front of the subframe up slightly if you want more. but I reckon it wouldn't be too hard to make up some adjustable bottom arms to play with once i'm up and running.
I've set the camber to zero for the same reasons, you do that by adjusting the hight of the subby relative to the shell.
You can get cheap camber-caster gauges from mini-spares or demon tweeks or similar, I have a plumb line type, does the job nicely.
One thing I never thought of while doing mine, was asking what settings get used on the Watsons frames, might be worth posting that one in the general section.

Oh, and I dont want to be held accountable if it doesn't work either! :lol:
Tricky

thanks mate, dont worry you wont be held accountable, your ideas are mainly to inspire my imagination, i'd only do something which i understood and made sense to me, your comments do.
it hadn't occured to me that adjusting the height of the frame in the mini altered the camber, but of course it would, the motion of the mettys suspension is not linear but on an arc.
i now need to source mgf drive shafts and box mount to play with.
sean.