Koni Adjustables

[Edward92]

Hi,

Just got a 64 saloon and was wanting to upgrade my shocks and lower it in the process, i was wondering where and how much are Koni adjustables for the minor and does it require any modification or will they go directly on?

Cheers

[chrisryder]

they won't go straight on. a minor has lever arm dampers as standard, as opposed to telescopic ones. however it is possible that yours could already have tele dampers fitted.

if you've just got the lever arms, damping can be improved by draining the existing dampers and refilling with SAE40 oil.

if you really want teles, most kits on the market use spax dampers, and JLH use Avo's i think. Both are adjustable.

[Edward92]

The car is completely standard as it currently sits, how much work is required to fit telescopic ones? And is it particularly difficult and time consuming? I also read somewhere that people rate Koni much more than spax? Or they a lot more expensive?

Cheers, Eddie

[chrisryder]

no idea i'm affraid. dampers are about the only things still standard on my minor!

some kits bolt on, some require welding. most require a bit of drilling at the very least.

[Edward92]

Thanks anyway

[bmcecosse]

Bolt on kits are generally inferior.....if you really MUST do this - research the market and get the proper weld - on kit. But as above - the dampers (not 'shocks') can be usefully improved with more viscous oil. You can't lower the car to any great degree without the front suspension battering the inner wings - and most Minors have settled enough at the back to have the bump stops far too close to the chassis anyway.......... In general - Koni dampers are very good, but they tend to only damp on the rebound stroke. I had them on a couple of my Minis - and I liked them well enough, and they lasted well, but others preferred different makes. The top priority for any Minor is better wheels and tyres - along with the SAE 40 oil in the dampers it will be much improved.

[Edward92]

Well i cannot seem to find Koni ones that fit but after having read up the Spax ones are probably adequate for my just day to day driving use and i only want to drop it an inch or so, if that is possible


I was thinking of getting these
http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... df3639d71a

Just need to see how much work it requires & the difficulty/labour cost

[Innovator]

Dampers work best iwhen they are displaced. In other words the damper will be most effecient if as much wheel travel as possible is translated into damper movement. So the aim would be 25mm of wheel movement will give 25mm of damper movement. This is better than if the setup gives 12mm of damper movement for 25mm of wheel travel. Many racing cars actually go further where 25mm of whell travel will give 30mm of damper travel.

What this basically means is that the damper should be mounted as close to the wheel as possible and be as upright as possible....

I used to make my own rear damper conversion where the damper was mounted close to the wheel and mounted in a tower in the boot floor. Even better is to have the damper mouted upright inside the wheel arch.

[Alex'n'Ane]

Well i cannot seem to find Koni ones that fit but after having read up the Spax ones are probably adequate for my just day to day driving use and i only want to drop it an inch or so, if that is possible


I was thinking of getting these
http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... df3639d71a

Just need to see how much work it requires & the difficulty/labour cost

Labour cost? There are no specific skills involved in that kit such as welding, its just a bit of cutting, drilling and lots of bolting. People have reported that this kit is superior, but is more to fit http://www.jlhmorrisminors.co.uk/store/ ... roductId=3

[Edward92]

So fairly simple/quick to undertake then?

Is the greater price worth it when it's just for daily commuting?

[bmcecosse]

Seriously - for daily commuting just drain the standard dampers and refill with SAE 40 oil - the improvement is amazing and the cost is negligible. The standard dampers on the car are just folded up teledampers anyway - with the advantage that you can 'tune' them by changing the viscosity of the oil. It works.

[Edward92]

So by changing the oil type and putting new oil in i could lower the suspension?

[Innovator]

The dampers do not alter the ride height, though they must be correct for the suspension travel.

The ride height is (normally) adjusted on the springs. At the of a Minor this is normally done by taking one of the arms off the torsion bar splines and putting it back on one spline round. Sounds simple in priciple but can be awkward if corroded.

At the rear there are a few ways to lower. The most common is lowering blocks between the axle and spring. You can also soften the leaf spring by removing a leaf or more radical move the leaf spring mounts upwards into the body and alter the chassis rail to give more axle movement.

All suspension is a compromise. Go lower and you reduce travel (unless you get serious with the modifications), if the travel is reduced then you should go stiffer on the springs, or drive only on smooth roads with a lightly loaded vehicle. Go stiffer and you reduce comfort.

On a Minor it is normal to go 1 spline at the front, (we used to reprofile the bumpstop to increase travel slightly) and at the rear 1" or 1.5" lowering blocks (again with reprofiled bumpstops but laterly reprofiled chassis rail). We also improved the damping.

However other people may advise differently as they perhaps have different requirements to us.

[bmcecosse]

Why do you want to lower the car? Is it for daily road use - or as a track car? Lowering for road use is generally a mistake - unless you have better roads than we have up here in Ecosseland ! Do the oil - it costs almost nothing, and makes a huge difference.

[Edward92]

I just wanted to make the car looks a bit by making it a bit lower and putting some nice superlite wheels on

[bmcecosse]

Do 'Superlite' make wheels for the 4" pcd Minor ??? You can lower it slightly at the front - the torsion bars are adjustable. usually the rear has sunk down all by itself......

[Edward92]

Well i was looking at settling for 13" which they make for the Mini which as far as I'm aware is the same PCD? Are the torsion bars easy to adjust? And my rear sits very high, a lot higher than the front

[chrisryder]

they'll be the right PCD, but the offset could be way off.

you want the wheel to be no wider than 6 inches, and have an offset of roughly +1inch/25mm