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Home > Help Needed / General Tech Chat > Cracked bulkhead at subframe mounts - what would you do?

Prawn

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basingstoke

Evening chaps,

Having just got mini back on the road, I was under it this morning trying to find a small oil leak, when I noticed something looking rather off with my front subframe rear mounts....



Yea I know, my exhaust is utterly fucked. a replacement is due ASAP, but as I'd planned to be turbo'd by now, I hadn't bothered.

Passengers side mount:



Drivers side mount:



So, what's the usual plan of action? I'm thinking that on a ramp, I should be able to remove the subframe mounts, drill the ends of the cracks and seam weld them up. THen I assume I'd weld a big plate onto the inside on the shell then redrill the mounts?

I'm off to the ring in 2 weeks time, So I really need to get this sorted ASAP!

Cheers

Nick

Mr. Prawn, the friendly Crustacean- slowly making steps towards forced induction.


apbellamy

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16540 Posts
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King Gaycharger, butt plug dealer, Sheldon Cooper and a BAC but generally a niceish fella if you dont mind a northerner

Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Sounds like a good plan

On 11th Feb, 2015 robert said:
i tried putting soap on it , and heating it to brown , then slathered my new lube on it

*hehe!*


maccamcvey

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Worral Sheffield

sounds good if you remove the mount you should be able to get a plate on the inside and out belt and braces?


Tom Fenton
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Fearless Tom Fenton, Avon Park 2007 & 2008 class D winner

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TM legend.

Rotherham South Yorkshire

Common, you can try and weld up the cracks but when I have repaired them before I cut out all the cracked area and seam welded in some 1/8 plate. Then redrill the holes.


On 29th Nov, 2016 madmk1 said:


On 28th Nov, 2016 Rob Gavin said:
I refuse to pay for anything else


Like fuel 😂😂


Sprocket

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Preston On The Brook

Those solid mounts do not help. Fit these instead http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?ty=pb&pid=34759

On 26th Oct, 2004 TurboDave16v said:
Is it A-Series only? I think it should be...
So when some joey comes on here about how his 16v turbo vauxhall is great compared to ours, he can be given the 'bird'...


On 26th Oct, 2004 Tom Fenton said:
Yep I agree with TD........


Mr Joshua

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Luton Bedfordshire

I did exactly what Tom suggested on GinoR32's mini a few months back. The only sure way is to replace the damaged metal with a beafier section.

Own the day


graemec

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Carnforth, Lancs

Does the bigger base plate on those make them that much better Sprocket?


Sprocket

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Preston On The Brook




On 16th Aug, 2010 graemec said:
Does the bigger base plate on those make them that much better Sprocket?


Yes as they spread the load better with four less corners to cut into the steel.

Look at the cracks, they follow the shape of the bracket. I had the same on the driver side, but I did find the area had been weakend with rust. you couldnt see much rust on the surface, but there is a fairly big void in that joint, it just fills up with water and rusts from the inside out.

While welding up the crack is possible, you cannot however weld up rust, and if like mine, it is rusting from the inside out, as soon as you strike up, the metal will recede like Moses parting the red see.

If you can manage to weld up these, weld a spreader plate onto the outside that covers a fairly large area. And change those mounts

On 26th Oct, 2004 TurboDave16v said:
Is it A-Series only? I think it should be...
So when some joey comes on here about how his 16v turbo vauxhall is great compared to ours, he can be given the 'bird'...


On 26th Oct, 2004 Tom Fenton said:
Yep I agree with TD........


Prawn

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basingstoke

Cheers colin, I guess I won't find out until i pull the mounts off and see what lies underneath. Would you put the spreader plates on the underside, or inside the car on the floorpan?

Mr. Prawn, the friendly Crustacean- slowly making steps towards forced induction.


graemec

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Carnforth, Lancs

Thanks Colin - makes sense. Must check what are on mine.

As for strengthening - inside the car surely? Otherwise you are altering (admittedly only slightly) the mounting dimensions of the subframe.


Sprocket

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Preston On The Brook

Outside. I have welded plates on roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper. they almost meet the steering rack mounting, and go right down to where the toe board meats the floor. I'll try and find a picture later. its only 0.9mm steel, so hardly noticable.

On 26th Oct, 2004 TurboDave16v said:
Is it A-Series only? I think it should be...
So when some joey comes on here about how his 16v turbo vauxhall is great compared to ours, he can be given the 'bird'...


On 26th Oct, 2004 Tom Fenton said:
Yep I agree with TD........


Paul S

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Formerly Axel

Podland

I've just found a similar crack on the 998Ti - MOT is on Friday.

I'm just going to weld the two sides of the crack back together. It's not like corossion where you need to get back to good metal.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


wil_h

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Betwix Harrogate and York

This is what I have done on all my race shells. Maybe etreme, but this panel is a bit floppy. the Mk1 attachement on the floor and bulkhead join is a much better idea.

Edited by wil_h on 31st Aug, 2010.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

On 2nd Jan, 2013 fastcarl said:

the design shows a distinct lack of imagination,
talk about starting off with a clean sheet of paper, then not bothering to fucking draw on it,lol

On 20th Apr, 2012 Paul S said:
I'm mainly concerned about swirl in the runners caused by the tangential entry.


Nic

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First mini turbo to get in the 12's & site perv

Herefordshire

On my first mini it cracked here, we put some monsterous plates in and I swear it helped keep the car in a better state when I crashed it.

Infact I was so convinced we put a slightly thinner version into my car when we rebuilt it


John

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Mongo

Barnsley, South Flatcapshire

^ I like that idea!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.


apbellamy

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King Gaycharger, butt plug dealer, Sheldon Cooper and a BAC but generally a niceish fella if you dont mind a northerner

Rotherham, South Yorkshire

I had planned to do somethim similar, but not quite so large to mine. I was planning to plate up both sides though.

Wil - would that hand break lever pass an MOT??

On 11th Feb, 2015 robert said:
i tried putting soap on it , and heating it to brown , then slathered my new lube on it

*hehe!*


John

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Mongo

Barnsley, South Flatcapshire

Would it need to?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.


wil_h

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Betwix Harrogate and York

Was a bit too light that one and it bent. It has a standard one on now.

Of course it'd pass an MOT, the tets is on the braking force, not the handle.

But as above, it broke, which probably would be a fail.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

On 2nd Jan, 2013 fastcarl said:

the design shows a distinct lack of imagination,
talk about starting off with a clean sheet of paper, then not bothering to fucking draw on it,lol

On 20th Apr, 2012 Paul S said:
I'm mainly concerned about swirl in the runners caused by the tangential entry.


apbellamy

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16540 Posts
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King Gaycharger, butt plug dealer, Sheldon Cooper and a BAC but generally a niceish fella if you dont mind a northerner

Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Where did it break? Just looking at where I can/can't at lightness to my car...

On 11th Feb, 2015 robert said:
i tried putting soap on it , and heating it to brown , then slathered my new lube on it

*hehe!*


Paul S

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8604 Posts
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Formerly Axel

Podland

Mines a bit worse than I thought:



Still going to clean it up and weld it back together.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


Rod S

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Formally Retired

Rural Suffolk

I have to say I really don't like the later design - it's only moved up to the weak/flexible toeboard to fit the rubber mount in.

The MK1/2 design, which is what I've used (2 bolts per tower and all solid by design) is so much better meeting the floorpan and toe board where they join (so is thicker and is at a change of section where the strength comes from the two different angles).

If I cold get hold of a Mk1/2 subframe at a sensible price, I'd do it again on my second shell.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???


Paul S

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Formerly Axel

Podland

Welded and painted:



The crack actually extended up the side of the strengthening plate behind the subframe, so I had to weld it on the inside as well.

I only did the welding. My apprentice did most the hard work.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


Paul S

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8604 Posts
Member #: 573
Formerly Axel

Podland

Well, it was good enough for the MOT guy - got a new green one *Clapping*

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


John

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Mongo

Barnsley, South Flatcapshire

I had a quick look at my SPI shell last night and it seems to have got some little spreader plates from the factory on in inside of the car. Is this the case with earlier one's too?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.


apbellamy

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16540 Posts
Member #: 4241
King Gaycharger, butt plug dealer, Sheldon Cooper and a BAC but generally a niceish fella if you dont mind a northerner

Rotherham, South Yorkshire

On 3rd Sep, 2010 John said:
I had a quick look at my SPI shell last night and it seems to have got some little spreader plates from the factory on in inside of the car. Is this the case with earlier one's too?

Yes, mine has them too.

On 11th Feb, 2015 robert said:
i tried putting soap on it , and heating it to brown , then slathered my new lube on it

*hehe!*

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