66 replies to this topic

[johnR]

Like the black and white shots of the engine - very atmospheric! keep up the good work!
JohnR

[t@z]

Like the black and white shots of the engine - very atmospheric! keep up the good work!
JohnR

 

thanks, its a bit hard off late to keep up the arty arty but main thing is car is getting completed

[t@z]

So little update.. geeee its been a while!

 

I've been a bit slack mostly cause i went away to NZ for a long holiday late last year.  When i come back to work it was full swing and hell.  Not sure why they call it a holiday as all your work is just stacked up for when you get back  

 

Anyway a few pictures

 

Wild Stringray in near Auckland harbour

 

Flying to Queenstown

 

Flying over a glacier on the heli hike

 

Drive up from Queenstown to Greymouth

 

Some cool street art in Christchurch, this is before the lastest round off earthquakes

 

Hobbiton

 

Last dog walk near Auckland where my family live who i was staying with for some off my trip

 

Back to the car!

 

Things i have done since then.

 

- wired up the Nodiz (fingers crossed the thing works)

- made spacers so i can use poly exhaust mounts on the gear shifter hanger thing.

- ordered some ali and made some new engine steadies.  I did order one from force but i wasnt really happy with it as was too long and also the threaded holes were a bit off centre which was bugging me.

- finally mounted radiator

- eventually found a fan belt the right size... took 3 attempts... dont ask!!

 

Things i am in process doing.

 

- making bracket to hold the small oil cooler

- wiring water pump and controller

- working out the logistics off routing the water hoses as it is pretty tight with the bends.

- bleeding clutch/brakes

- wiring the starter and alternator

 

Quick snap off the wiring in process.

 

Hopefully they will come more quickly now as i have to shift the car from its current location and really i would like to drive it not trailer.

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

Got a few hours in yesterday.

 

Although this seems quite pathetic in the sense that it isn't much.  The number off times i had to put this bit off carbon on the cooler, off the cooler... put the rad in, take it out.... just to make sure that it was fitting how i wanted it.  

 

 

The cut out for the bonnet strap isnt as tidy as i would like it and if i had to do it again i would cut it smaller and sand it out bigger.  However it all is done and doesnt look to bad.   I need to have a 90 deg for the return to block so will get that friday from thinkautomotive

 

This is the view kinda top down.  I know i dont have the I/C in yet (although going in wing) but i cannot help thinking i have to much space in the front and that there should be less.  The engine is not fully in its place yet so maybe might bring it forward more.

 

 

 

This weekend i'm going to finish off the wiring as this is the main thing that is stopping me starting it.

 

[t@z]

More wiring at the weekend.  

 

completed the starter motor and the alternator and routed all the wires and where they need to go.  had to place an order for a new relay with a mounting point so i can get it that all tidy on the wing.

 

 

Popped to thinkautomotive as well friday afternoon to get some bits for the oil catch tank... think i maybe have gone a bit overkill so will pop back there and swap some parts.  That said i did get the remaining parts to finish the loop on this, although i had to take it all out once i got it complete with unions etc.

 

 

 

Last thing i did was make a blanking plate out off some spare carbon to block up the vent hole that used to feed the heater matrix.  i must say was pretty easy to do really, although dusty.. yay for dust masks that is all i can say!!

 

that's all for this weekend anyway.  

[bpirie1000]

Nice..

[t@z]

I've been busy working on the mini when i have time.... or least i feel like i have done a lot even though it doesnt look like a lot has changed.

 

So....

 

I finished all the wiring which took a few weeks off faffing.  Everything is wired in, starter, alternator, Nodiz, water pump, controller and fan!   I am not the world biggest wiring fan so hoping it works :/

 

A few weeks ago i took the gear linkage to Lees work to clean, ******* was it dirty! anyway i rebuilt that after a trip to the NY and finally fitted the 3 new engine steadies on so that i could get the engine in its final form (position).  This took some back and forth to get the clearance on the down pipe to work and make sure all the piping (water/oil) is all tightened up.  Getting this done felt like a big milestone, dont ask me why but it meant i could now fit everything back to the car.

 

In the time that passed i thought off what colour i could do my rocker cover, i went with Matt Brown to honour my agreement with Lee (no stupid colours).  Not sure on it yet and the finish is odd but we will see how it wears as i cannot be bothered to redo it.

 

 

In the process off other thing as well i made an alternator bottom bracket thing as there is no movement hardly so could not use rose joints  for tension as most people have.  Seems to work ok for now.

 

Fitted the oil catch tank on the wing. It is almost in a perfect position for the breather system i have so mega chuffed and way more tidier than my last set up!

 

 

Then off it come again for me to spiral wrap the wiring.  I mean its not the prettiest but it is out off the way and the best i can do really with the means and timings i have.

 

 

At this point i thought i would fit my point pressure gauge and realised that my 1/8 NPT > -4 T piece was rubbish as the oil gauge feed was 1/8 bsp.  An oversight on my part i guess so i have ordered a fix for this which hopefully will work still.  Lesson learned on that one!!  You cannot buy AN-4 to BSP fittings!

 

Time now to fit everything in the car to see how it all lines up now the downpipe is perfect.  What do you know nothing bloody fitted.  I took all bar 1 engine mount off an wound it back and back until i could get the rad etc in and decided i needed to get back to cutting again *sigh*.

 

Roll on a few days off cutt, fit, cut, fit, file, fit.... you get the jist over Easter (so was only an hour here or there) and the result is something that looks like this albiet the rad is now more under the slam panel.  ps the oil cooler is not fitted yet just test fitted to the car for now, silver hose will go in final fitting.

 

The front doesnt look to bad i just had to make sure the top had space rather than fowling.  Fingers crossed not to much will interfere with the grill.

 

 

The last thing i checked was just to see if the water pump etc still fitted.  i mean its dam close but if all that works without fowling i will be one happy camper.  Its like a perfect hole for the pulley to sit lol

 

 

Happy reading!

[t@z]

Saturday i went and fetched lee so he could come help me with things that are just easier with 2 people. 

- Fitted new front heated windscreen (this took a surprisingly longtime however this story is embarrassing so i wont go into it) 
- Bleed brakes and clutch 
- Used a laser spirit level to get the wheels straighter 

Lee also noticed that i couldn't get reverse since rebuilding the gear linkage. Turns out i had the bottom plate on the wrong way around. I have to admit i didnt really think when i put that on to much just wanted it on the car. Another reason why you have friends look over your car lol. 

So the car finally saw wheels for the first time in over 1 year, forgot how low they are! 

Sunday i fitted the battery and tested most off the electronics. Main think i needed to do was ensure that the Nodiz and EWP80 all worked. At first they never but turned out i hadnt had the correct switched live spade terminal from the original coil feed on the loom. Once that was corrected things started to light up... good news! 

Also after an hour or so faffing with laptops i finally got it to speak to the Nodiz so i converted my old MJ Map using the new software and loaded it onto the unit. 

Thats all i did this weekend. This week i suppose its time to get it ready to start and bed in the cam.

[t@z]

been busting my balls this week with nearly every moment i can spare between work and the misses trying to do the odd task here and there.

 

so with a deadline to move the car looming i was stressing about what to do about an exhaust.  i have a bike can and want a custom stainless jobbie but just was a bit off a nightmare with the car not being road worth and just not having time.  Lee had a good idea and i dragged the old exhaust out from the garden, wire brushed it, bit off paint.... and tada it actually scrubbed up pretty dam well and even fitted.  So it will do for an MOT and to drive it to a place where i can get something better made up.

 

 

 

I made a few enquiries about getting an intercooler made, out come the DT child in me from school

 

 

I then took this box to the car, an hour..... cutting and angle grinder fun later

 

 

 

yay it fits!! even with steering on full lock, this isn't final just seeing what clearance i have.

 

 

So today i started and had a few things i wanted to do.

 

random picture to start!

 

 

- tidy up wiring

- make new longer rad bracket now it sits further forward after last weeks cutting antics 

- finally fit the rad (with the intention off not being removed)

- get cooling system all plumbed in

- test pump

- finish intercooler ducting templates

 

i managed to do all bar test the pump and do the ducting templates, this will have to be mondays task.

 

pictures below.... took a bit longer than i expected as i wanted to make sure everything fitted perfectly.

 

 

Finally doing the more complicated end off the plumbing trying to get around the pulley.  At the moment there appears to lots off room and as you can see now testing the pump because i cannot count how many clips i needed when i went and bought some.

 

 

 

This is the space i have to for the ducting, more than i thought i would to be fair but i'll see how it develops.

 

Top down pic off how the day ended.

 

 

T

[t@z]

So in the spirit off keeping this updated to keep me motivated.

 

on the weekend opened the garage to be be greeted with this sorry sight.

 

 

I have then spent what has felt like hours trying to perfect this....... no words can explain how many times i have cut friggin card out.  It has also changed from the picture to enclose the top as well to help with trapping air.

 

 

i then got bored a bit and decided to test fit the gauge after some advice on my help thread.  i think it looks ok.  Will look better when all the dash is back in covering up the wires.

 

 

I also went to thinkauto to get some fuel hose.  I went with 6/8mm cloth coated fuel line and asked them to give me similar.  They supplied -4/-6 reinforced fancy fuel line hose.  Great i thought.... how wring i was. The stuff was a ******* to work with and get over the reg.  Few hours later and red, sliced hands from the wires its all plumbed in ready to be filled up.

 

Once i have wired in the rev counter and heated screen it can go back. then its just the I/C to get made.  Oh and some seats, they are important as well.

[designermatt]

Amazing build , hope it goes really well, probably one of the best minis out there when it gets finished

[t@z]

Amazing build , hope it goes really well, probably one of the best minis out there when it gets finished

 

thanks for the kind words.  i wouldnt say best as the shell needs some TLC but thats for a later date.

[t@z]

Another weekend can only mean more cut fingers :)

 

Didnt really have much in the way off time yesterday maybe 2-3hrs.  First thing was to get the rest off the dash wired in.

 

The Stack tacho was amazingly easy to wire. 1 pin from the Nodiz, switched live and earth.  I am assuming it will work albeit at the moment i have only set the no. off cylinders not turned over the engine.  

 

 

Another plus was that i was able to piggy back the heated rear screen switch on the loom i got made up ages ago.  I checked the wiring diagram from the haynes manual and it was just live to earth on each side off the screen.  I wired it to the same earth as the Stack and well time will tell.  

 

In other news i had a bit off ball ache fitting the rest off the items in the engine bay.  i mounted the fan using the fitting kit.  Was glad to get this done however in my haste in trying to get it started today i forgot a few things.  

 

I'd forgot to fix the strap on the slam panel to hold the bonnet down (obstructed by the rad) and also struggled to locate the water pump plug as i had tried to keep everything tidy (tight under the rad).  After faffing around for ages fighting with wires, small nuts and my fingers in tight places i eventually got there.

 

Next step was to prime the pump.  I used a spare battery to use to pulse the pump while i was filling up the little header tank.  Once that was done i plugged it all into the controller.

 

I put the new battery in the car and turned the key.  Things lit up which was good and something odd happened. The EWP80 controller was reading the temp off 100 deg and the pump and fan were on.  I mean i'm happy they were but its not really as i was intending.  I am hoping it is the current temp sensor i am using as i noticed that i am using a bosch one that i bought for the Nodiz and this is a different colour to the one that comes with the kit.   Maybe i am just hoping here if not annoyingly i will have to drain it and remove the rad.  

 

However for first start and bedding in the cam i will leave this as is as i would prefer to have flowing water and air while i run it for 20 mins, then i will do some digging.  

 

Also random one is that my alternator seems to get warm over night i've forgotten if it is just with the battery connected or the ignition on.  I have this item http://www.powerlite...roducts/rac068/ can someone just confirm that the alternator should be live all the time or be switched?

 

Picture off everything installed (fan and oil cooler) minus the I/C and some breather pipes.

 

 

In the end i never got around to starting it as the throttle cable i bought from minispares turned out to be a pile off poop.  For start the nib that sits in the throttle pedal was a round sphere not a tube type shape. This meant it was to big to go through the bulkhead hole, then when i grinded it down there wasnt enough wire on the other end to stop the retaining clip from falling down the pedal.  I also then realised that i dont have a dipstick so it was at this point and as it was the end off the day ish i called it one and packed up.

 

On to next weekend!

Edited by t@z, 22 May 2017 - 09:16 AM.

[Twilton]

Getting there mate!

What type of brake line that is your using? And where did you get it from?

[t@z]

Getting there mate!

What type of brake line that is your using? And where did you get it from?

 

all my brake lines, breather pipes and oil cooler set up if from these gents..... http://www.thinkauto.com i would highly recommend them to anyone!!

[Twilton]

 

Getting there mate!

What type of brake line that is your using? And where did you get it from?

 

all my brake lines, breather pipes and oil cooler set up if from these gents..... http://www.thinkauto.com i would highly recommend them to anyone!!

 

 

Thanks for that, I don't suppose you remember the name of the pipe/connections? If not no worries, ill give them a call.