Given how bad my diff mount insulator was and the extra torque the L28 with “show and go” is throwing at it, I felt the need to protect the new one from the full stress of the diff lifting, to prolong its life - i.e. to never need replacing again in my ownership.
Remember this?
The R/T mount is a tried and time honoured way forward but there are two things I don’t like about it:
1. Price to the UK is about £120
2. The price to the UK
https://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html
So I made the AK mount for about £17 and a couple of hours of effort + stressing over perfecting the angles. Now I know it will never be as strong as the R/T but it will do a heck of a lot more than a giant rubber band above the diff!!! Have you ever tried to bend unheated 3mm steel? Also I’m not rallying the car so it will be plenty strong enough for my usage.
I am writing this up in case anyone else is interested in making one. But if you do, I expect to hear about it and see your creation posted here.
What you need is 400mm x 40mm x 3mm of bright mild steel, a suspension bump stop of your choice, a vice, a bloomin great hammer and a couple of rubber washers.
The pics will tell the story:
I used a threaded rod to keep the same separation as under the car and modelled it using CAD - Cardboard Aided Design.
Then got the dimensions (that should be 393 total length, I was high on fumes from painting the petrol tank [emoji1787]).
The angles ( edit: updated photo with angles in the right place [emoji6] as well as dotted line showing alternate bend per the CAD model).
The mounting holes - they align with the bolt holes on the rubber strap brackets so as to keep the brackets on the car.
An M10 thread is tapped at the top to allow the bump stop to screw against the mount. That way the lock nut will be, erm, a lock nut! I may have to go 11mm if it transmits noise so that the rubber can move more.
I added a couple of rubber washers as the red poly bump stop is pretty solid and the rubber will take out some vibration / noise. You can use the original Mini’s suspension rubber bump stops if you prefer a softer less NVH intrusive solution. I wanted the hardness of the poly in stopping the diff but with a bit of give in the rubber.
Fits like a dream under the car and when the diff is bolted up, I can trim the red stop if it’s too tight.
Next, it needs a 60mm steel washer above the rubber washers, ‘cause I’m fussy; and some POR15 rust preventer nasty ass chassis paint to protect it.
Oh and those brackets need a bloody good clean up!!
I’m very pleased with how it turned out and how easy it was to fabricate. It feels utterly solid and is absolutely ROCK solid when bolted under the car, so I doubt the diff will be able to distort it in any meaningful way. Time will tell and I will update this thread after a good few months of thrashing, sorry, I mean my normal driving.
Remember this?
The R/T mount is a tried and time honoured way forward but there are two things I don’t like about it:
1. Price to the UK is about £120
2. The price to the UK
https://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html
So I made the AK mount for about £17 and a couple of hours of effort + stressing over perfecting the angles. Now I know it will never be as strong as the R/T but it will do a heck of a lot more than a giant rubber band above the diff!!! Have you ever tried to bend unheated 3mm steel? Also I’m not rallying the car so it will be plenty strong enough for my usage.
I am writing this up in case anyone else is interested in making one. But if you do, I expect to hear about it and see your creation posted here.
What you need is 400mm x 40mm x 3mm of bright mild steel, a suspension bump stop of your choice, a vice, a bloomin great hammer and a couple of rubber washers.
The pics will tell the story:
I used a threaded rod to keep the same separation as under the car and modelled it using CAD - Cardboard Aided Design.
Then got the dimensions (that should be 393 total length, I was high on fumes from painting the petrol tank [emoji1787]).
The angles ( edit: updated photo with angles in the right place [emoji6] as well as dotted line showing alternate bend per the CAD model).
The mounting holes - they align with the bolt holes on the rubber strap brackets so as to keep the brackets on the car.
An M10 thread is tapped at the top to allow the bump stop to screw against the mount. That way the lock nut will be, erm, a lock nut! I may have to go 11mm if it transmits noise so that the rubber can move more.
I added a couple of rubber washers as the red poly bump stop is pretty solid and the rubber will take out some vibration / noise. You can use the original Mini’s suspension rubber bump stops if you prefer a softer less NVH intrusive solution. I wanted the hardness of the poly in stopping the diff but with a bit of give in the rubber.
Fits like a dream under the car and when the diff is bolted up, I can trim the red stop if it’s too tight.
Next, it needs a 60mm steel washer above the rubber washers, ‘cause I’m fussy; and some POR15 rust preventer nasty ass chassis paint to protect it.
Oh and those brackets need a bloody good clean up!!
I’m very pleased with how it turned out and how easy it was to fabricate. It feels utterly solid and is absolutely ROCK solid when bolted under the car, so I doubt the diff will be able to distort it in any meaningful way. Time will tell and I will update this thread after a good few months of thrashing, sorry, I mean my normal driving.
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