Anyone know anything about the type of Coupe rear suspension that uses an "A" frame. Were they any good? I'm looking into getting a set, but I'm not sure if they are worth getting.

Of the 2 Coupes I've had the best handling was the one which ran A arms. However, it also had the steering lock arms, rose jointed front end and ran a rear geometry similar to that which West put on the old forum.

I am dropping the A arms for the rebuild, and just sticking with the lock arms, but will be using rose joints rather than ball joints.

Mine has the reversed wishbones at the rear and I'm very happy with it. The inner end has polyurethane bushes but they are standard Mini upgrades. the outer bushes could not be identified so I made my own from polyurethane bar.

You also need the matching brackets which bolt to the swivel hubs though.

a bit of idea i am playing with on my rear suspension

I'm pretty sure that mine has got some sort of rear a-arm - i'll get pics.

Well they certainly won't steer with that lower wishbone. How's the geometry and roll centre work out with that set up. Upside down swivel hubs will put the lower pivot further inboard than the upper pivot, which is the opposite of a conventional Mini set up.

It'll depend on the inboard pivot point of the top arm. If taken straight to the upper member of the frame adjacent, it'll cause increased camber under suspension compression as the effective wishbone length will be different top/bottom. Whether this would be a problem - I dont know.

I'd be dubious about putting a mount into the middle of the upper member also - but i'm assuming that has already been taken into account.

[attachment=1]gtm build 001.jpg[/attachment] thrown plans out the garage again, mk3 version

Simular to a tarrapin

Also i have a design on simular lines, to sort out the toe stiffness issues especially seeing i will be winding the wick up even more on my car this year

But i was not planning currently to spin the upright upside down.


WEST

My coupe had the reverse A arm suspension on the back but I was going to ditch this and use STD adjustable mini bottom arms and use some sort of rose joint locking arm off the steering arm back to the subframe. Can anyone show me drawings or photos of similar setups and/or a position to mount the lock arm on the subframe or advise of an alternative. I'm not sure which is better so any advise would be appreciated. I'm worried about bump steer caused by the changing angle on the lock arm.

Andy,
I'm using the reversed A frame and I'm quite happy with it but if you want an alternative Alan Britton (rossabitz) is near to completing his latest locking system which should pretty much eleiminate bump steer as we know it.
It looked really promising at Newark last year.

I was going to use the A arm system but I just didn't like the system that attaches it to the hub, the lack of adjustment and also the way the toe in/out was fabricated. I have built my own adjustable bottom arms which are rose jointed and adjustable on the car. Much better than the ones minisport/minispares sell, I have also fabricated up my own caster arms as I found the frame is not exactly square and it allows me to take up the adjustment in the arm. I have now built rose jointed link arms that extend from the top arm pivot bolt to brackets I have fabricated on the steering arms, it effectively makes the top arm a wishbone with toe in/out adjustment. So far it does not appear to have any noticable bump steer angle change. Once completed I will post some photos. Thanks for your responce.

is this simlar to yours

This is my setup and its working perfectly now, took a little time to sort out the angles to remove the bump steer charactistics, lock arm now is in same alignment as top arm so now it works as an adjustable wishbone. I had help from a single seater race car engineer. Can supply advise on how to do it if you can't follow the photos.
http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... mSmall.jpg
http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj25 ... 1Small.jpg

Has anyone seen the newly engineered tie bar produced by Alan Britton, Coupe and Rossa owner and proveyer of Rossa parts. The prototype, see picture attached, was seen at Newark last year and I believe that the final design may be available this year from Alan. The member ensures that the tie bar is positioned between the top arm fulcrum axis inboard and exactly in line with the centre of the top ball, outboard which should ensure no bumpsteer whatever.