Trumpet Lengths

[carockwell]

This question has probably been answered before. My apologies in advance.

Is there a chart somewhere on the internet that shows what the stock suspension trumpet lengths were? My MK III has the adjustable trumpets which I bought many years ago so that I could get proper corner weights on the car. Now with the advent of the internet I have learned that the cones compress so much in actual driving and use that trying to get the precision of corner weighting is just a waste of time. The suspension will compress and the corner weight will go out of adjustment very quickly. So I thought just set it to stock, drive, and forget the corner weights. The only problem is what are the stock trumpet lengths? The new EVO cones are going into the car.

[MiniDave]

I gave all my stock trumpets to Paul (cstudep), he'll have to check them for you....

But your point is interesting to me....your suggesting the rubber cones don't reach a stasis point?

I always start out with the adjusters set the same length side to side, then adjust to get the ride height I'm after, after driving it around some of course.....which to me is the whole point of the height adjusters?

I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Evo cones after you get a few hundred miles on them.

[MPlayle]

Actually, the factory rear trumpets had different lengths usually based on the model/body-style.

The earliest trumpets were slightly welded and the rears were slightly shorter.  They were replaced by the cast ones.  Initially the cast ones were the same lengths as the welded.

The Pickups and Vans got slightly longer rear trumpets to support their higher load ratings as "commercial" vehicles.  These longer trumpets supposedly drifted into the Mokes at some point about mid-way through production and later were standardized into all Minis.

A common "budget" way of lowering Minis used to be shaving some off the narrow end of the trumpets.  This often led to mismatched sizes.

When changing from the factory trumpets to the adjustable types, I do similar to Dave.  I try to set mine a bit more by the "tension" initially as there is sometimes a variance in the rubber cones.  I try to get the fronts under equal tension side to side and do likewise for the rears.  I start by adjusting them just tight enough to hold everything in place under full droop of the suspension.  That way there is minimal chance of something slipping out of position when crossing a pot-hole or bump that lets a wheel go to full droop.

After that, I adjust each corner for the desired ride height.

[cstudep]

Sorry gents was out in the shop all evening and just now saw this. I will give all the Trumpets, both front and rear, that Dave gave a measure in the morning. There were a couple different sets of both front and rear I believe.

[cstudep]

Ok here are the trumpet measurements. I have 2 sets of rears, one with the ball in the end and one without. They both have the same housing length of 12.5". I have one set of fronts and they measure 3.5". It's kind of hard to tell in the pic because I am not at the best angle but the one with the ball is actually closer to 14-5/16" in real life, not the just shy of 14-1/4" you see in the pic. Measurements were taken as shown.

[carockwell]

Thanks for doing, that is really helpful!

[cstudep]

no problem, glad to be able to provide help for a change. 4.gif