I was de-rusting the bottom suspension arms which originally came off the front of my Coupe and I realised that they are non-standard.

They have been cut and re-welded, presumably to lengthen them, but not in the normal way.

The outer end seems to have been cut off and another one welded on. It does not look to me like a normal Mini outer fitting.



The welding has been done very well filling in the 'H' section channel on both sides of the arm for a fair distance.





Has anyone seen one of these before or does anyone know anything about it?

I have just downloaded the build manual for the GTM and in Section 3 its says the bottom front suspension arms are lengthend 9.5 cm and that they could be supplied from the company for an extra charge

surely that must be 9.5mm Orb!

Be very carefull, that figure may apply to using a Metro hub

That must be it then. They are GTM arms. I thought so.

9.5mm or 3/8" would sound sensible on a Mini as each 3mm or 1/8" increment gives 0.5 degrees more negative camber.

9.5cm or 4" each side wouldn't apply to a Mini or a metro hub. I'd need a wider drive!

John, a standard Mini arm is approximately 260mm, (i just measured one ) so it all adds up. My car, (1989, no298b) has Metro hubs (which i plan to change) with very obviously lengthened bottom arms, cut, joined in the middle and reinforced.

3/8 ths of an inch or 9.5mm is whats required to make a Mini setup go to 1.5 degrees negative camber,

WEST

yes sorry mm not cm ... having a moment......... mind you that would definately increase the angle ............ be like that ford anglia in that cigar advert ......... mind you raise the suspension and ...... Monster truck!!!!!!

Well thank you all for the info. It appears they must be genuine GTM modified bottom arms. They are certainly a better quality item than some I have seen. The reason I didn't use them was that I fitted standard arms but moved the pickup points on my replacement subframes to get the negative camber.

I hope the movment of th epickup gave a nice Roll center too, currently looking around this subject, plus coil overs plus all sorts of thing suspension related

WEST

I would be weary of using an exact measurment i.e. cut and weld as a measurement for the amount of camber that the car will achieve. You will never get this exact and also the subframes are never exact either, also if the frame has ever sustained accident damage then the likely hood of the subframe still be square is very slim. You are far better of with adjustable bottom arms then you can presicely set the car up with the amount required. 1.5 deg negitive on a road car is rather excessive as I only used 2 deg on the front of my racing mini. I fabricate my own bottom arms as I don't like to spend the excessive amounts the mini parts distributers want you to pay. Mine are on car adjustabe and I built mine for about 35 euro i.e. the cost of the rosejoint and an LH thread/RH thread adjuster found on a typical small tractor. If anyone wants a drawing of those too then let me know and I will put the design up.

Here's a pic, not the best but it shows the bits.

More info would be great please Andy

I'm just in the process of finding out where I sourced the tractor parts from and what they were off, once I have this I will draw it all up and post it.

Thats great Andy, i'm a farmer so sourcing the relevant bits once i know what they are should'nt be too difficult (famous last words )

I can't find out exactly what the adjustable bar was from as I ordered it out of a parts cataloge a friend of mine had however, don't let this deter you. All you need is a LH/RH thread adjuster large enough to support the stresses but not too heavy. A small tractor must have these on the back arms to correct level/pitch etc. On one end of mine it had a hook on the other an eyelet. I cut both these off and turned down the ends one to suit a female 1/2" rosejoint and the other so it could be neatley welded to a section of the std mini lower arm where the ball joint attaches. So on one end you now have a 1/2" rose joint with a LH thread extending and on the other you have a RH thread with a welded section of the lower arm. The next thing to do is work out the total length of the arm. This is taken from the std mini arm length from bush mount to ball joint mount. The adjuster arm needs to be able to be screwed in slightly smaller than the original arm but should be able to extend up to say 30mm longer than the original hence giving the negitive camber required. So once you have the measurements you need all that is left to do is cut down both the LH/RH threaded sections and also the adjuster bar as well. Make sure you have an equal amount of thread in both that of the LH/RH threads. It sounds like a lot of work but once you have made one then all you have to do is copy it for the others. I will try and find some better pics of mine and maybe pull mine apart to show the different parts. I hope I haven't lost anyone.