Irish Mini Owners Club

I fitted a set of sportspack archs to my mini and i put on a set of 13 x 7 superlites today and the front wheels are getting caught in the front sportspack archs. Did anyone ever have this problem. i cant even turn the steering a half a turn.

Did you cut the front wings.

i have the same problem but i only hit them on full lock to the left

Sportspack archs need the arch cut at the front for clearance as it will rub every time you lock it

Ya i have the wings cut back. I have plenty clearance wing wise but i cant even turn the wheels in under the sportspack archs. They are getting caught in the front of the fibreglass arch after turning the steering wheel a small bit. The archs were trimmed back when i bought them. Thats the way they came from minspares.

No u need to trim the front panel to allow for clearance

The front panel has been trimmed as well. The original body i.e. wings, front panel, etc, are not stopping the wheels from turning atall. Its the arch that is the problem. If the wheel is pointed straight ahead and you look at it from the side of the car, it appears to be more towards the front of the car than the back.

Post up some pics as it may help to give a better idea of your issue.

Tony

did you just fit the arches as they were or did you stretch them out a bit to fit the cut away of the arch?
first set of fibreglass arches I got I had to "position" them properly for a good fit,
failing that, your castor angle may need to be looked at?

Did you use the templates to dill the arch fixing holes?
Are you using adjustable bottom arms or tiebars?

No i didnt stretch the archs too much. I lined them up with the indicator, sill/step joint and the front bumper and i drilled the holes then. I downloaded the template from the minispares website and when i put it on the car, the holes on the template were nowhere near the holes on the archs so i just lined things up myself. I have uploaded photos onto flicker and you should be able to get them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77657385@N05/page2/

I uploaded a few photos of the rebuild too while i was at it. The pictures of the problem with the wheel and arch are on the second page on flicker and i have given them a caption to help people find them. Someone might hopefully know whats wrong from the photos. I cant do a thing with the car now until this is sorted and i was hoping to have it out for paddys weekend so hopefully someone will have a solution. Just to let ye know too, the car is fitted with hi los, has new suspension cones all round, has new knuckle joints all round and has 4 new spax adjustable shocks so these shouldnt be the problem causing the rubbing. I have the front lowered as far as the hilos allow and the back is lowered about three quarters of the available adjustment. i know that lowering the front the full amount is prob a bit much but it is still sitting ok and doesnt seem excessively low to me. Even if i raise the height in the front, the drivers side is still catching and the passenger side clears by the skin of its teeth but then the mini looks like very high.

Are you running 13x7's ?

If so, your track will be wider than the standard Sportspack 13x6's and clearance will be less than the norm.

Ya they are 13 x 7s. I was just looking there now and it looks like the wheel is slightly sticking out in the top compared to the bottom. Should it not be tucked in on the top and out in the bottom. I wont be too familiar with geometry.

bump