AVONBAR

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Re: AVONBAR

Postby Jin » Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:45 pm

That fan look's spot on, if only I'd seen it 2 months ago....
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby axshack » Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:23 pm

Jin wrote:That fan look's spot on, if only I'd seen it 2 months ago....



oops, sorry about that...I have had the fan for years - from another project - !!

Today, I received a replacement subframe, to which I will be fitting coil-over suspension before it goes in the car...with a bit of luck the new engine should arrive just in time to be fitted to this subframe !!
:)

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Re: AVONBAR

Postby Jin » Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:41 pm

Ahh coilovers, that's exactly what I'm up to at the mo,
It's nice to be busy :)
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby axshack » Tue Feb 09, 2016 6:05 pm

Jin wrote:Ahh coilovers, that's exactly what I'm up to at the mo,
It's nice to be busy :)



I hope you are having more success than I am !!

My solution would require far too much cutting and pasting of the subframe to work, so am considering fitting to the roof of the wheel arch as the original dampers !
Now, while I know that there is a lot of glassfibre in this area of the body, I wonder if the factory also glassed in a steel plate to help it out?
I think I might add a steel plate to the wheel arch and attach the coilovers there.

What is your solution Jin?

Dave
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby streetsy » Tue Feb 09, 2016 6:48 pm

Have you considered using the mini rubber cone replacement coil over, that only needs a top hat welding on to the subframe, or, if the mgf coilover conversion, like the mini one but top hat containing the spring bolts in place of the hydrogas displacer, expensive though, or, a combination of the two.
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby Jin » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:34 pm

I've been planning this conversion since I bought the car and naively thought that there would be an off the shelf solution I would be happy with ...but i was disappointed.
I've viewed every possibility intensely for far longer than is healthy and have made many conclusions including the following,

The MGF suplex units have 2 major drawbacks.
1 they are fixed so non adjustable in terms of rate.
2 more importantly they will not support the rear of a metro due to the differing wheel / spring ratios .

The weld in conversions look downright shoddy not being supported around the full periphery.
Even if you have access to some of the highest skilled welders in the world to carry out the work for you (luckily I do) I still wouldn't feel happy bouncing up and down all day on these esoecially if you consider the immense force acting in this area (around 20 times that of a similar sized vehicle) and again spring choice is limited. Also I don't like the thought of chopping and welding the subframes, I like a nice neat bolt in conversion that can be reversed/ transferred / replaced if needed.

To cut a long story short I've designed and drawn up 2 bolt in conversion platforms (2 front and 2 rear Metro or 4 identical on the MGF that fit exactly as the hydragas units do along with the custom lower spring plates and the adjusting mechanism.
As mentioned above the rears are the problem in terms of rating and there are no off the shelf springs that will fit in and support the rears, so those springs will have to be custom made (designs completed and costings done).
The real beauty of my setup (more for MGF owners) is the front conversion platforms (front and rear on MGF) have been designed to take off the shelf coilover springs giving not only a wide choice of rates but also price.

The other benefit is they will be fully height adjustable by simply opening the bonnet / boot or reaching under the rear bumper (metro).

So far the machine shop is already working on the machined items (may even be finished, I'll have to check tomorrow) and the spring manufacturer is waiting on my instruction to proceed.
In all reality I expect to be on the road with them in 6 months pending no disasters, it would be sooner if I didn't keep distracting myself with mounting DVD players In The dashboard and making stainless battery trays ....
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
Jin
 
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby axshack » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:53 pm

Jin wrote:I've been planning this conversion since I bought the car and naively thought that there would be an off the shelf solution I would be happy with ...but i was disappointed.
I've viewed every possibility intensely for far longer than is healthy and have made many conclusions including the following,

The MGF suplex units have 2 major drawbacks.
1 they are fixed so non adjustable in terms of rate.
2 more importantly they will not support the rear of a metro due to the differing wheel / spring ratios .

The weld in conversions look downright shoddy not being supported around the full periphery.
Even if you have access to some of the highest skilled welders in the world to carry out the work for you (luckily I do) I still wouldn't feel happy bouncing up and down all day on these esoecially if you consider the immense force acting in this area (around 20 times that of a similar sized vehicle) and again spring choice is limited. Also I don't like the thought of chopping and welding the subframes, I like a nice neat bolt in conversion that can be reversed/ transferred / replaced if needed.

To cut a long story short I've designed and drawn up 2 bolt in conversion platforms (2 front and 2 rear Metro or 4 identical on the MGF that fit exactly as the hydragas units do along with the custom lower spring plates and the adjusting mechanism.
As mentioned above the rears are the problem in terms of rating and there are no off the shelf springs that will fit in and support the rears, so those springs will have to be custom made (designs completed and costings done).
The real beauty of my setup (more for MGF owners) is the front conversion platforms (front and rear on MGF) have been designed to take off the shelf coilover springs giving not only a wide choice of rates but also price.

The other benefit is they will be fully height adjustable by simply opening the bonnet / boot or reaching under the rear bumper (metro).

So far the machine shop is already working on the machined items (may even be finished, I'll have to check tomorrow) and the spring manufacturer is waiting on my instruction to proceed.
In all reality I expect to be on the road with them in 6 months pending no disasters, it would be sooner if I didn't keep distracting myself with mounting DVD players In The dashboard and making stainless battery trays ....



Wow, sounds like my amateurish efforts pale alongside this level of application...!!! I might just have to roll with the hydragas for the time being and await your outcome !!
cheers
dave
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Re: AVONBAR

Postby streetsy » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:38 pm

My turrets have approx 6" of weld, about 5mm (0.2") throat giving 1.2 square inches. I welded them on using 7018 rods, which should give (ideally) 70,000lbs per square inch of weld. 84,000lbs straight pressure to shear them. There will of course be some side loading thus lowering this figure, but my springs are 1200 lbs/inch, 1/70th of the shear factor. I think the suspension loading is 3:1 on the metro front same as on the mini. So all being perfectly formed the spring could compress 70 inches before shearing (assuming no side load at all), given that 3" of wheel travel is 1" of spring movement that's a long way to move the wheels.
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AVONBAR

Postby manifold » Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:14 am

I drove mine with Watson springs and top hats for 7 years as a daily driver. Often loaded up with stuff in the back and used a trailer too. Top hats were welded on with an arc welder. Might be agricultural but never had a problem with this conversion whatsoever. You do know the top hats have an inner retainer ring to stop the top of the spring wandering?


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