Has anyone thoughts on the difference in handling between Metro and Mini hubs, i believe the Metro balljoints are further apart and suposed to not handle quite so well. My coupe has Metro items but i have Mini ones here, i do'nt think the rear ones would make a difference. Thoughts please

I'm using mini ones. I am pretty sure that my old Coupe had mini ones too and that handled superbly.

As you say, the rear shouldn't make much difference. On the back of mine, I am using mini hubs, with metro drive flanges, but that is to do with getting my rear brakes to line up with the disks.

Metro swivel hubs are very different in geometry to Mini ones. There are problems associated with fitting them into Mini suspension.

The different positions of the ball joints messes up the camber if you fit them into a Mini, the suspension arms work through different angles AND, front or rear, you will get bump steer as the position of the track rod (or rear locking link) is now no longer correct relative to the suspension arm outboard pivot points.

Not only are the ball joints in different positions but, on all but the earliest hubs, they are a different taper too. The later ball joints have a metric taper size and a different taper angle, so although they look as if they are locating OK only a small part of the taper pin is actually in contact.

The Metro ball joint pin is also weaker than the Mini one (I am told by a friend who Rallycrosses) although for road use I can't see that this would show up.

In the early days a few people fitted complete Metro swivel hubs to Minis as an easy way to get the ventilated discs and 4 pot calipers but that's not done anymore for the reasons outlined above. It's not a swap I would do.

If you have Mini subframes and suspension arms then you should use Mini swivel hubs too.

My first Coupe had the Metro hubs and I had no problems with the handling, but then it was rose jointed throughout. My second had the Mini hubs, but the whole suspension set up was knackered so it handled like a pig.

Gtmdriver is correct about the later ball joints have a different taper, but any hub can be used as the hub thread is identical, so you just need to buy the early ball joints to suit the Mini arms.

Dug through all the info that came with my Coupe, including the build receipts ( it cost £5500 to complete in 91, i paid less than a tenth of that in 05 ) The guy did indeed buy early Metro hubs with the solid discs and 4 pot calipers which explains the extra long bottom arms. In fact i have here the GTM owners club technical manual of the period which promotes the fitting of Metro hubs. So check what you've got
Thanks John you've confirmed what was tucked away in the back of my mind, to which end i sorted through my Mini info, and found much as you've said. The silly thing is people fitted these hubs to get the brakes, the calipers will fit straight on to a Mini hub if you use longer bolts.

The only things you have to watch out for (apart from the plumbing) is

1. bolts securing the calipers are 3/8" UNF on the Mini and 10mm metric on the Metro so there is a little free movement of the caliper against the hub. Minispares sell the correct bolts as ERA caliper bolts Part No. ERA1128.

2. if you don't want vented discs you can use the standard Mini ones and just change the caliper to Metro non-vented 4 pots. You can even use the Mini dust shield if you trim it a little around the ends. Shim washers may be needed to centralise the caliper on the disc.

Also to add from memory some Metro Vented discs will need a little material removed to allow them to clear the mini Hub i seem to remeber, and as john says the correct bolts are available form minispares.

WEST

Just to add that if you fit metro swivel hubs to mini suspension then remember to change the steering arms to mini as well. Unless you like a bit of tyre squealing on the tight corners.

And my rossa had some really bad bump steer on the back with standard mini parts. I used to set it with a laser level across the face of the wheel. Try it. Then jack the car up and see where it points. A bit extra toe in and it never showed though.

If you use any metro calipers and discs on either type of swivel then I would use the metro drive flange to line them all up. There is a difference of a couple of mill' between mini and metro. You might need to remove some wheel locating lugs off the face of them, but its a common mod' with minis.

There is an unconfirmed rumour that the very, very, earliest metro hubs are exactly the same geometry as mini. However there is no record as to when they were changed and casting numbers are apparently the same also. I have a pair from an X reg Minimetro that are as near as I can measure spot on. I was going to use them due to the poor quality mini balljoints on the market these days. But then I snapped a track rod end. So now I am thinking K3