I did three cars this last fall and early spring one, is used almost exclusively for the Dragon doing the mini thing there each year. My approach is to leave nothing to chance. I remove the front sub frame send out for sand blasting then depending on how serious the owner we weld the sub frame in a number of places followed by powder coating. As for springs there are several options, std replacement rubber, up graded rubber and steel in several rates. New springs, Hi Lo s for ride height adjustment. Working out The MSC lower on car adjustable control arms are very nice and come in either std bushings or Rose jointed for the very serious. There are several suppliers of adjustable on car tie rods which can also be bushed in a couple of grades of bushing or again Rose jointed. The upper arms can and should be rebuilt with new bearings, seals and shaft. There are a couple of grades of bump stops and the droop stops should be replaced. Strip clean and rebuild the hubs to include cleaning and reworking the ball joints replacing the lock tab and seal or installing all new ball joint kits. New front wheel bearings ( do not go for the cheaper ones ) taking care to adjust the bearing pre load. Check the rack for free play the later ones do not have adjustable inner ends and the off side ( for me the non driver side ) are prone to wear as well as the rack bushing for that end. If all is well replace the rack boots and go with the longer steering rod ends helps when setting toe after getting camber and castor where it should be. Mounting the later rubber mounted subs can be done several ways. Std rubber mounts all positions, rubber under floor, poly mounts at top of towers and alloy tear drops. Our serious car has solid mounts at all positions. This did not create as much noise as I expected. I have invested in the Dunlop alignment tools for castor, camber toe to a very high std. I also have electronic scales for getting ride height and corner weight correct. 

The rear sub comes out gets a little welding and powder coating. I mount mine in a jig on the frame machine once swing arms are rebuilt with new bearing and bush align reamed. With adjustable camber and toe outer brackets mounted I locate the outer bracket with the shaft centered then check alignment looking for zero toe and camber. It won't be so I file the inner hole till I get zero toe and camber. Once done a thick flat washer is placed and welded. It's a real pain to install adjustable brackets on car and find they will not allow the setting you are looking for. I have alloy disc the size of 10 inch wheels and tires 5/8 thick drilled with bolt patterns. These give me a good flat surface to take measurements from. Also very helpful getting the rear correctly aligned behind the front. You only have toe and camber at the rear and you'd like the toe to be evenly split between the sides to avoid crabbing. As I mature and tire of working under rusty cars I'm thinking of doing subs complete and shipping. With my frame machine I can get camber and castor correct in the front and camber and toe at the rear leaving toe at front once back in the car and ride height is corrected. At the front ride height changes all settings. Having bought my first mini in 68 at an autocross, followed by years of solo two then came Vintage racing followed by Vintage race support I can figure out alignment for most anything you want to do. Steve (CTR)

Where to start! Easy answer would be anything that has anything to do with the suspension (front and rear) needs to be checked.

Front and rear wheel bearings.
Tie rods (often bent) and tie rod bushings.
Knuckle joints.
Upper arm rebound buffers
Upper arm bearings.
Lower are bushings.
Steering tie rods.
Shocks.
Make sure front toe out is set correctly.
Trailing arm shafts/bushings/bearings.
Grease: knuckle joints, upper arms, trailing arms
And probably a few more...

Brakes, shocks, etc. are on order! What should I look out for on the suspension?

Brakes then suspension (including steering). Should be first and second on the list before engine work.

Don't get me started on roll cages in street Minis.

Agree with Bill....BRAKES all the way !

brakes.. I am also in NC.. later bc

Hi everyone,

I've finally finished putting my 998 engine in my '84 back together. It runs like a dream, but now I'm trying to figure out what's next. The previous owner didn't know a wrench from a hammer, so I've been working to put some of the mess he did back right again. I've installed a "Stage 2" tuning kit for the car, but am trying to decide whether suspension, a roll cage, interior, or brakes should be next on the list. What are your thoughts? I'm not looking to race the mini, but rather putt around town and take it up to the dragon every couple of months (I live in NC).