Hi all
I had some rear camber-caster brackets supplied with my Moulton Smootharide kit from Minisport UK and another set with my adjustable suspension kit from Minispares UK.
Today I decided to fit the Minispares ones as I believed they had the better control of adjustment.
On investigation of the brackets compared to the original brackets I found the following.
Lined up below are from left to right, minisport, original and Minispares.
I lined up the camera with the mounting face for the trailing arm and you can see that the Minisport one is bent to the wrong angle, also the Minispares one but not too bad.
Also look at the bottom mounting holes where the bolts go into the bottom of the subframe.
The Minisport ones are the right direction but out of position, the Minispares ones are the wrong direction.



I started modifying the Minispares ones but realised that the simplest method is to fit shims behind the Original brackets and file the hole for the trailing arm spindle to change the camber.
While the Original brackets are not "adjustable" at least they fit
It's not that difficult to remove, file some more and refit or do some simple calculations and file it once.

Very disappointed with both of the commercial ones.
Have others had similar issues ?

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

A friend fitted Minisport ones years ago and had problems, one broke.
I moddecd mine as you have. .

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Don't waste your time . Go and buy KAD or MED ones . They are properly engineered
Never had a problem

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Mk1 Cooper S
Mini K Rally car

I've bought minispares brackets. I didn't notice the holes were ovalised in the wrong direction; the bolts went through them so I was happy. They seem reasonably well made but perhaps a little fiddly in their adjustment. I don't know about 'wasting your time'. Minispares £35 vs £117 for KAD. Having said that if anybody has had problems with their minispares one then I'd be happy to change! KAD is kind of you get what you pay for....

Jon

I know of a KAD broken rear bracket.

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The bitterness of poor quality (or Crappy Workmanship) remains LONG AFTER the Sweet Taste of Low Price is forgotten.

I have just fitted a set of the mini spares ones to a mates car and in doing so started thinking about whether these would ever need to be re-adjusted once you find the sweet spot? So I can see a lot of positives in altering originals so they are now permanently set.

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"Investing my Super in a Cooper" &
"Re-living my Surfing Past in a Woody"

in terms of fit, if the holes fit, then could the angle be a function of adjustment... ( ie each could actually still be correct ???)
eg

the original is set at .0 neg camber, the minispares at . 5 etc , and so the adjustability takes up the difference..... different roads all can lead to the same place????? just a thought...

i am an advocate of beefier is better, after seeing the results of one collapse at a race meet

Of the two suppliers I think the Minispares has the best concept, it just has a few shortcomings.
The other problem I faced was that you can't do up the bottom of the two bolts that go into the sub frame above/below the trailing arm.
The welded on nut for adjusting the camber gets in the way of the 1/2" socket that you need to do up the bolt.

I was going to grind a little of the face of the nut to provide access, but I also realised that you can't change the Toe without first removing the camber adjusting bracket, see image above.
If the nut was welded to the bottom side of the bracket it would be a better solution.
Admittedly, once it's all adjusted the way you want, it would not need to be played with any more. But it's the same for modifying the original BMC bracket.

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

Yes I used a socket head screw for those two bolts (and washer etc), provided you have a long 1/2" adaptor. Jon.

That's good thinking Jon
Perhaps Minispares should supply them in the kit

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

Yep, or maybe modify them so that the adjustment screw is 10-15mm further away from the corner of the bracket.... Does make you wonder how often they fit these themselves...!

I just elongated the holes in the original brackets (as shown in one of Clive Trickey's books).

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)