28 replies to this topic

[adam c]

Forgot to show you what it looked liked when i brought it, i had no idea how bad the rust was but it turned out to be easy to clean with some WD....

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[adam c]

Just to keep you posted, have removed the master cylinders and stripped them ready to be rebuilt, I have also stripped the cylinder head ready to refurb it myself. Luckily it looks like its unleaded already so I just plan to clean it all and then lap the valves back in. Some pics..

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[adam c]

after removing the valves and all the grease and oil with parafin...

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[adam c]

...

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[Pavel]

did ya use just a cloth with WD40 to clean up the block or did u use a wire brush or something else abrasive?

[adam c]

The cloth worked on the very slight surface rust but some of the slightly deeper stuff i used a bit of wire wool, i wouldn't recommend this though since it leaves bits off wire in all the holes in the block, luckily i just blasted it all out with my parafin gun at high pressure but obviously you couldn't do this if the engines in the car!!
WD makes a great polish for bare metal and other stuff in the engine bay because it dissolves all the grease so brings it up shinin...

[Pavel]

Might give it a go with some cloth.. maybe even that scruffy stuff on kitchen sponges that's still relatively soft

[adam c]

OK then mate, it should be ok..

Anyways have done a bit this afternoon, cleaned up the head and also started on roof gutter..
So the gutter before...
a small hole but not bad i thought...

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[adam c]

so i got onto it with a wire brush in a drill and found lots of filler, also pulled the headlining down in that corner and found it had taken most of that out too, the pilars gone at the top and the whole corner seems to be knackered. arghhh!! Also there is rot all the way down the front of the gutter so i'm not gonna start on the other side till i'm ready to repair it all just incase me whole roof falls down!!

Luckilly i have the full roof and three quarters of the pilars from my mayfair and its sound apart from a little rust on the lip that runs round the edge of the gutter so hopefully i can use bits of that...

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[adam c]

Also cleaned the head up, the carbon build up was not too severe after all so i cleaned all the carbon off very carefully using a wire brush in a drill and then scraped the gasket face using a very flat, sharp wood chisel before finally wiping down with WD and a rag.

Next job is to lap the valves in...

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[siggy]

Good luck with the roof.

I think the roof on your other shell will be different, look at the lip that 'falls' down from the gutter on the 73, they stopped fitting it on the later cars

Siggy

[adam c]

Yeah the gutters are slightly different but i should be able to sort that out and will have to since theres no chance of sourcing a sound roof from that age of car.

Cheers for the good luck, i need it since i think this job would probably scare a proffesional off and i'm only a begginer!!
This projects bigger than i thought :sad:

[adam c]

Just picked my gearbox up yesterday from mini-mine, the whole diff cage and bearings were knackered so the total bill was £288 so not bad really. I also brought all the gaskets and bit to bolt my engine back together, inlcuding cam followers, copper head gasket set, engine gasket set, water pump, timing chain and tensioner and the water pump by-pass hose. All in all cost £51 so not bad.

The shells been stripped ready for the roof repair as well now.

Would post some pics but my computer has died .....

[Mincento]

well while everyone is on about Mini Mine they are rubbish in my oppinion because i went there to look at a mini that was for sale and ended up buying it, i was warned about this place saying that he does not sell good stuff for cheap prices but when i saw this mini the man in charge said " it just needs a few panels doing to it, its a an easy project", so i brought it checking it myself as much as i knew but not knowing much about minis anyway got it home to find out its been in a front crash, a rear shunt and nearly all the panels need replaceing.

And my mate at college used to have all his mechanicals done on his mini there but after a bad deeling once he now does it himself

BEWARE :fear: