fitting new cones - few issues again!!

[AndyPen]

Ok so I have have recon arms and original full length alloy cones. New subframe too in case that matters? Car is upside down on a spit.

Fitted new doughnuts and had to lift the arm up very high (until it touched the subframe) to get them in.

Opened my new box of SPAX shock absorbers - green not yellow as expected btw (gggrrrr), fitted one on and guess what, it only just touches the hole in the arch.

Shall I wait until I turn it over and have some weight on the rubbers - to try jacking up or something???

I don't really want to cut the original alloy cones, nor do I want to fit hi lo... so any thoughts welcome please??

[TECH396]

Is it possible Andy, that the shocks are designed specially for a lowered car?

[AndyPen]

They say standard on the box Paul - maybe worth measuring them. The angle of the arm suggests over extension too, as the car would ride rather high!!

[GraemeC]

Some thoughts:
Standard cones presumably?
Have you pulled the shock to make sure it’s fully extended?
Are the trumpets saloon or estate/van ones which I believe are longer?

[AndyPen]

Ah I hadn't considered that they might be van ones - will check the part number on them - thanks.

Yes pulled the shox down, at first I thought that too

[Oneball]

Sounds normal to me if I’m reading it right.

[Polarsilver]

Had the same sort of issue one time .. I checked the height dimension of my new rubber cones & shocked just how much /bigger / longer in size they were as a comparison to my various selection of used rubber Cones .. solution i picked the best matched pair of Used Rubber Cones and re-used them .. on road suspension /ride height / set up / stance was never a problem then with standard alloy trumpets.

Agree with you about Green Spax & why do i need Kripton Gas whatever that is

[AndyPen]

Must dig out my old ones and compare - silly not to do so. I had intended reusing them and painted them too!!

[AndyPen]

Been trawling the net and the 'normal' alignment seems to place the shock absorber mount pretty much next to the lower rib of the subframe. On mine the brake adjuster is more in line than the shock mount, so that suggests a good 6 or more inches difference!!

Found some trumpets for sale online with a helpful sketch of the sizes... will report back.

[AndyPen]

OK, here we go...

First of all the trumpet length has been the topic of discussion on here before, at least twice...e.g. http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?t=23357

I was blissfully unaware that there were so many with the same part number, but with variations (Minispares info is one good source I'd suggest - http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... CBack%20to)

21A 1031, are early Cooper. At some point 21A 1032 were introduced for the S with a larger spring seat. Spider mentions these in one post as well. As yet I've not found any of these, so will do a quick ask in the wanted section.

'Standard' lengths range from 307mm to 315 from rubber joint to knuckle.

Having looked at just about every video and every picture I can find online and in my files, I suspect that (One Ball may have already been on to this), once the car is inverted and has some weight on it to compress the new rubber cone, the shock absorber will poke through the mount hole in the arch.

... I hope!!!!

[Andrew1967]

Have you measured the height of the cones ?
I have some NOS Rover ones here can measure to see if problem is there ?

[AndyPen]

Hi Andrew and yes I’ve measured them and they are within spec at 12 1/4 inches. I have the early 1683 type and Cooper 1031 types here and the length is almost identical. The Rover ones may be a bit longer from what I’ve read?

[Andrew1967]

Sorry, I meant the rubber cones rather than the trumpets.

[Oneball]

Having looked at just about every video and every picture I can find online and in my files, I suspect that (One Ball may have already been on to this), once the car is inverted and has some weight on it to compress the new rubber cone, the shock absorber will poke through the mount hole in the arch.

... I hope!!!!

That’s how I always do it. But I can’t actually tell you why! I think it’s because I’ve found the shock doesn’t always reach but it’s lost some point in the past.

[gazwad]

What knuckle joints have you used - i believe the later type has a built in spacer to increase the ride height?

[AndyPen]

Cheers for that - NOS old ones that I had stored away, but worth comparing if I can find my old ones now.

Andrew - will measure but the old ones are definitely compressed a fair bit.

[AndyPen]

Sorry, I meant the rubber cones rather than the trumpets.

The old doughnuts are about 1/2 shorter and the NOS joints don't look like the extended ones to me?

The rubber cone appears to be well seated in a dry subframe.

What I did discover is that the newly repainted spax are about 7mm shorter than a really old shock I pulled out.

cone-heights.jpg

nos-knuckle.jpg

rubber-cone-seat.jpg

[bwaminispeed]

It was always my understanding the the Trumpets were all the same length, the only difference, was, that the vans and wagons had a larger diameter spring seating face........this allowed greater surface area for the spring to compress against, giving a larger load capacity for the vans and wagons, while maintaining similar unladen ride heights......

[Oneball]

Your new cones are the Minispares evo ones. They’re a different shape and height to the standard ones so a direct comparison of measurement doesn’t hold true. Still don’t think there’s anything odd going on.

[GraemeC]

The two new cones don't look the same?