While looking at the front of the Mini after I removed the engine, I realised that the tie rod mounts on either side of the car were not at the same height. I made sure the shell was level and measured the height of the two mounts, and found that the difference in height of the two mounts was 7mm.
The tie rod mounts are the round holes at the front of the (rusty) lower subframe bars in this photo, just under the front apron panel.
When I first welded the tie rod mounts on, the subframe was out of the shell so this discrepancy probably occured many years ago and I had never noticed until now.
I cut away the passengers side bottom brace bar from the front mount and ground back the welds.
I (unsurprisingly) found that there was no way to easily bend the brace bar to drop the tie rod mount 7mm so I cut a piece out.
After making a couple of relief cuts in the brace bar tube to achieve the necessary adjustment, I measured the tie rod angle on the drivers side. Once the tie rod mount was held at the corrected height on the passengers side, I again measured this angle. It was a 0.8 degree difference between driver and passenger sides. Not perfect but the angle of the tie rod changes significantly as the wheel/suspension moves up and down anyway.
With the passengers side mount now at the correct height, the pieces were then welded back together.
The tie rod mounts are the round holes at the front of the (rusty) lower subframe bars in this photo, just under the front apron panel.
When I first welded the tie rod mounts on, the subframe was out of the shell so this discrepancy probably occured many years ago and I had never noticed until now.
I cut away the passengers side bottom brace bar from the front mount and ground back the welds.
I (unsurprisingly) found that there was no way to easily bend the brace bar to drop the tie rod mount 7mm so I cut a piece out.
After making a couple of relief cuts in the brace bar tube to achieve the necessary adjustment, I measured the tie rod angle on the drivers side. Once the tie rod mount was held at the corrected height on the passengers side, I again measured this angle. It was a 0.8 degree difference between driver and passenger sides. Not perfect but the angle of the tie rod changes significantly as the wheel/suspension moves up and down anyway.
With the passengers side mount now at the correct height, the pieces were then welded back together.
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