rear hubs & frame

[MarcE30]

I was wondering what the easiest route to take with regards to the rear suspension set up?
Do I try to fit the metro beam axle, radius arms and hubs to the mini (using some sort of coil over suspension), or is it easier to keep the mini subframe and suspension and try and find some modified hubs to fit the metro wheels (do Watsons do these?)

cheers
marc

[Geehawk]

Watsons do rear hub spacers which giver the correct track, and PCD for Metro wheels (or 100mm PCD). Some people dont like the idea of these as they believe they put extra stress on components. In reality I dont know how true that is, as they in effect just correct the offset of the Metro wheels to suit the Mini hubs. Many 13"x7 mini wheels without these spacers stick out as far so they will put a similar strain on bearings etc. I have never heard of any failures, and they are used on quite a large number of kits now. This is by far the easiest method.

Alternatively I believe it is possible to fit Metro radius arms to a Mini, although some modification may be necessary. For instance there is no damper mount on them.

Another alternative would be to fit the rear setup form something else. Minimivic has grafted the rear suspension from a Renault 5 onto his Vtec conversion for instance, but this is always going to be the hardest option.

Graham