Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Moving from fixed to adj camber plates

Cut him off if he starts asking legal questions.....LOL

 

Unfortunatly the IE adjustable plates fall apart. Literally, I have jacked up cars with them on for a long while and the strut along with the bushing just falls out of the plate. I like IE and use their race plates on my Mini, so I do hate to see this happening. Have never heard of any bad things about their non-adjustable.

 

My coilovers would not work with the Vorshlags, used the Hotchkis instead. I like the way they look under the bonnet compared to the V's

 

Another thing to look at...

is if your struts have a long shaft, make sure that there is good clearance for them in the camber plate. I've had to mill both the RDRs and the Hotchkiss so that I could mount up my Ledas. Another fix was to just use some spacers (think washers) between the upper spring perch and the upper bushing/ball-joint. But this lifts the front end...

Matt

 

What are your options as far as fixed plates go if you have an 03?

Nick

 

Fixed plates will work well on an 03. All Minis can use more negative camber than stock so adding fixed or adjustable is good. The only issue with fixed plates is that there is no adjustability. Which can be important if you want to change camber, such as increase negative camber for an Auto-X, then decrease it for street driving. Adjustability can also be nice if the stack camber is way different from side to side. Most people never adjust the adjustable plates once aligned to their spec so fixed plates make more sense for most people.

 

Ireland Engineering makes fixed plates.

Fixed plates tend to be less expensive and less robust than adjustable plates.

 

Well on the wmw website it says that the ie fixed plates do not fit anything before an 04. I am interesed in the fixed plates cause I know I will not adjust them if I had the adjustable ones.
Nick

 

The IE Fixed plates should work on Gen 1 cars from 04/2002 through 2006. I believe Mini changed the suspension about April 2002 and then it was the same all the way through the Gen 1 build.
Here is a link to the IE site:
http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=ireland&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=375515162&Count2=292655587

 

Might want to check the ID's of the umbrella girls, couple counties in TN have laws against saying 'vorshlag' to minors :ihih:

 

Only if you transport said minors on the Dragon and across state lines.

 

Is there another untold story lurking here?...inquiring minds want to know :devil:

 

Got my fixed plates on Saturday an got it aligned today. -1.2 L -1.7 R
But after reading here I guess this is normal to have them unequal. I have thought about filing the holes a little to try and even it up a bit.

 

The left camber will go more negative with you in the car, so might not be too much different.

 

Nope I checked that before I put them on and on the other set I have here.

What does anyone think about filing the mounting holes a little?

 

The car handles fine and goes straight. Haven't had a chance to push it yet. Too much work to get done.

I'll do the white tire mark test on our drive Saturday.

 

Back in the olden days showroom stock racer's would put a car on a frame rack & bend them to get camber. Could be a way to equal things out.

As far as chalking tires, that drive isn't twisty enough or high speed enough to get a good reading. But it's worth a try. :wink:

 

Unequal right/left front camber is a Mini thing... for practical purposes, unless you're a hardcore trackrat (and I mean hardcore enough to run slicks), it's not going to matter. Though being limited to only 1.2/1.7 will make a bigger difference long before the 0.5 delta between the sides will.

I'm not a hardcore trackrat... but I ended up with adjustable plates and equal camber anyway. Because I wanted more than 1.2 on the weak side.

 

^^^^ Yup when I got mine aligned recently the front was off a little...and I don't have any camber plates. Only proper way to get it perfect is adjustable camber plates...

 

I felt pretty lucky to end up with -1.9 & - 2.0 on my MINI with the IE fixed plates. For me the cost of Vorshlag plates was a bit much. That's why I went with fixed.