Red spot cones

[mgcm1598]

Having returned from another fabulous Blyton, I'm looking at some handling improvements and first on the list is probably going to be a set of red spot cones. I've red the blurb on MiniSpares about having to shorten the threaded part of the HiLo, but does anyone have experience of whether or not the aluminium part typically needs to be machined as well? The car is on 10" wheels and is moderately low (2 fingers between tyres and unmodified arch at the front, 3 fingers at the rear - it's the Aqua Clubman that was at Blyton if anyone is familiar with it). I'd probably look to keep the ride height similar.

Additionally, with standard cones I've never needed to use a cone compressor, simply winding the HiLo to its shortest before removing the top arm pin. Does anyone know if this method is likely to work with red cones, or will I need a cone compressor?

Thanks in advance,

Malcolm.

[Richspec]

ive got red dots on two of mine, both fitted without the cone compressor (IIRC i couldnt get the thread to engage in the car, fine on bench test) and I've not done any machining to the hi lo's?

[Spider]

It depends on the Hilos as they are all made to their own specs.

I had to machine some off the length of the bolts for a friend, but equally, you could cut them with a hacksaw and dress them with a file.

[Richspec]

Fyi. My Hilos are Minispares ones. I do seem to remember something odd or that needed altering with the locknuts, but cant recall what!

[mk1]

I am fairly sure that it is worth taking a bit off the alloy bit & the bolt when fitting red spot cones.

[LuisM]

As said before, some Hi-los ( as the black minispares ripspeed type ) will require machining of the hi-lo body and bolt . About 8 to 10mm will be enough.

[mgcm1598]

Gents,

Many thanks for all the replies. My HiLos are genuine ones bough from MiniSpares about 10 years ago, so I definitely expect to require some work to the steel part. If the alloy needs machining too, so be it.

Off to order some red cones now.

[kit of bits]

There are different sizes of hi lo’s from mini spares. (Not inc cheap copy’s)
I have new style mini spares ones in the rear of the moke and old style in the front.
The new ones have a shorter body, the older style have longer body.
The front (long body) are to long and on full low the screw thread hits the centre of the rubber cone, with new Rover cones fitted its way to high hence they need machining down or changing for short body ones..
The red spot cones aren’t as deep in the centre so even with short body hi lo’s you may still need to reduce the thread length.
Not my best bit of explaining (poor schooling!) so I’ve included some poor pictures.
Hopefully this will be some help.
D

[mgcm1598]

Kit of Bits, that's a great help. I have the HiLos shown on the right of your picture. I'm going to start by shortenting the "screw", assembling everything to see where I'm at and then if necessary I'll machine the "trumpet".

After reading on another thread that MiniSpares have been having computer problems, I rang York, spoke to Andy and the stuff was despatched last night. Great service once again.

[Fanfaniracing]

Hi all!

I have experienced exactly that Problem tonight. Fitted new red cones to the front subframe with the hilo‘s like the ones on the left side in the picture.

With the tread maximum in, there is still five fingers space on the front wing...

Need some machining then...

[Fanfaniracing]

Changed now from the original Ripspeed to the Ripspeed/Minispares trumpets but there is not a big difference...

Does anyone know if the red dot cones settle down a bit?

Cheers

[gazwad]

the aqua clubman seemed to handle pretty well -I was in the white k series mini and couldn't loose you on the bends! My ride height is higher than most as there are a lot of bad roads where I live so i'm sure that doesn't help but i've been considering red dot cones for the front but my concern is it will make it harsher on the road and it's 99% a road car with the occasional track day (mainly blyton). How do they compare to good (new) standard cones in terms of harshness?

[mgcm1598]

Having now fitted the red cones all round I can say that ride quality is absolutely fine with no harshness whatsoever. They have settled in a bit and I have the car sitting at a similar ride height to how it was at Blyton. At the rear I have scope to go up or down, but if I want to lower the front any more it'll need to come apart to machine the HiLos. I suspect they may settle a little bit more, however.

[gazwad]

how old were the standard cones which you have removed (just trying to gauge what the ride would be like compared to relatively new standard cones as mine are not very old)?

[mgcm1598]

Front cones were from Mini Spares about 10 years ago and showed fairly noticeable deformation. Rears were on the car when I bought it approx 12 years ago, but can't be original as the car would have been hydrolastic when new. they certainly look quite old and have Dunlop markings on them.