Finished installing the Frontline kit and it turned out to be pretty much a
bolt on, even with the "B" calipers, but does require some fitting.
The lower shock mount attaches to the A-arm at the sway bar mounting holes
but does not preclude the use of a sway bay. The mounting brackets on the
lower mounts may require some manipulation to fit your particular arm. I
tried them on several old arms and the fit pretty close on all of them. The
new arms are a different story (installation instructions warn of this
possibility). One side fit with a minimum of manipulation, the other side
took maybe half an hour of fiddling to fit. It's easier to do the fitting
with the arms out of the car if you can. I was installing new arms so had
them on the bench during fitting. I would not remove the arms from the car
if they are already installed, it's not that much easier. They have to be
removed from the arms prior to installation on the car because they
interfere (block) the installation of the springs. There are four groups of
three holes where bolts are required, and all three holes lined up in only
one of the groups. The other three had two holes that lined up and one that
did not. A little reaming was required. All together, not bad.
The upper arm mounts using four bolts instead of the three used by the stock
shock and requires drilling the forth bolt hole.
The brake line requires rerouting to clear the tube shock which mounts at
the rear of the A-arm. I drilled the new brake line mounting hole through
the inner fender even with the top of the old mounting tab, making sure that
I had clearance from the upper arm pivot bolt on the inside and also enough
distance from the rolled edge of the inner fender to get the nut and fixed
brake line on. After talking to Don Racine at Mini Mania, I purchased a set
of braided banjo fitted lines for a standard Spridget. He tried fitting them
on a "B" caliper and told me it may take a little grinding to get the banjo
to fit flush with the mating surface on the caliper. As it turned out, they
fit perfect. Installed the line with it pointing at the spring (about a 45
deg angle from the caliper) with the wheels straight ahead and a slight loop
in the line as it goes to the mounting hole in the inner fender. They clear
the shock and the rotor with no problem. The brake line installation would
be about the same with Spridget calipers. It's possible a non-banjo line
will work with the Spridget calipers.
The total installation took about 4 hours spread over a week because I did
not have the proper brake lines.
At this time I have not completed the "B" brake installation, maybe this
weekend. I will detail that installation for the list when finished.
Larry Miller
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