140 replies to this topic

[buddylove]

Resurfaced rotors from Autosport.

 

 

Playing around with the idea of putting extra lights up front, since I have them laying around.  I like the look of them, but thinking that I probably won't do it as I would have to drill the body work.

 

[buddylove]

What a find.

Looks great but we need more pics.

Don't worry about it being dirty,better than rusty lol.

 

ha ha, it is a bit rusty.  There will be more pics once I have it back on the road.

[buddylove]

For those that are interested, there are a lot more pics here:  160+

 

http://smg.photobuck...e?sort=4&page=1

[Blitzman]

Great photo's.

That is a cracking car.

The body is in such a great,original condition.

Interesting how it's got an Austin America 1300 engine with rod gearbox.

Can see now why you want to fit discs lol.

[buddylove]

Thanks, ya, the previous owner did the swap from the 850 to 1275.  The actual bore of the motor is unknown, but it seems to be pretty healthy.  Since I also plan to bump up the horsepower a bit more, I definitely need to get a better braking system installed.

[buddylove]

After taking a couple weeks off because of spraining my thumb, I was able to get back at it for a couple hours tonight.

 

Lisa started cleaning the headliner yesterday.

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

No afters yet, as she wants to spend more time on it.

 

Pulled the rear suspension out of the clubman, and pulled the front disc setup as well.  I was able to pull the driver side suspension out minus the lower arm / tie bar, as its not high on my priority list right now.  Tomorrow I will be pulling the radiator, so I can get to that side of the suspension easier, and I also want to swap it over to the '61.

 

 

 

 

 

Decided to also pull my front slam panel off on the clubman, just to see how it works, as I haven't had another Mini with that option and as far as I know, they only did it on the Australian Clubmans.

 

 

 

 

Plan for the Hi-Lo's is to remove the lock nut and cir-clip,  then get the big bolt shortened 3/4", so that I can get more low!

[Chris1992]

whichever route you take this car down, its going to look amazing either way... the patina is awesome!!! wouldnt be able to get anything like that in the uk, bloody rain 

[buddylove]

Thanks    Nothing too crazy, but it should come out nice.

[buddylove]

Just had a little bit of time to work on things, slow and steady right? :)

 

Removed the radiator and hoses as they needed to come out anyways, and it makes it much easier to get to the top arm bolts.

 

 

Top arm, Hi-Lo, and rubber donut is out:

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll clean up all of the Hi-Los and disassemble them, so that I can take them over to Autosport in the coming week and see if they can cut them down 3/4" and make sure the threads are still good.

 

After that, the dis-assembly of the '61 coolant system and suspension should commence.

[buddylove]

Yesterday, Lisa dropped the HiLo Adjuster Bolts off at Autosport Seattle, so that they can chop them down.  I should be able to pick them up sometime next week.

 

Today, I removed the carb, exhaust manifold, and exhaust from the Clubman, as well as the exhaust mounts.  I installed the exhaust mounts on the '61 and removed the rear suspension out of it.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll start the process of removing the cooling system out of the '61 and the front suspension, then hopefully wrap it up on Sunday.  At that point, all that will be left for the '61 is to put it back together.  I'll most likely be held up by the MiniSpares order that I placed last week, as I want to replace the water pump while everything is apart.

[buddylove]

Sunday, I finished pulling the front suspension.  The left side HiLo would not come apart from the rubber donut as they had basically rusted together.  After about 30-40 minutes of beating on it and prying every which way, it finally came apart.

 

 

 

I have only ever bought the genuine HiLos and have never experienced the Ripspeed HiLos.  The front of the Mini had these HiLos on them as its a pretty common fix to just get HiLos to fix the issue instead of replacing the donuts and the trumpets.  I am not too impressed with the RipSpeed type as it seems that they need to be adjusted off of the car, and that creates a ton more work.  Not sure what I am going to do with them, but if anyone wants them, they are welcome to them.  They need a little TLC.

 

 

 

 

Today, I swung by Seattle Autosport and picked up the cut down adjuster bolts for my HiLos.  It is always fun to talk with John and Brad.  While I was there I picked up some Kendall 20w50 oil with zinc.  Once, I got home, after spending some time with Parker, I set to work on the cooling system.  I first pulled the water pump, as that was the main reason why I took everything apart.  I was pretty glad that I decided to replace it, as it didn't look all that great.

 

 

 

 

The water pump that I ordered, was setup for the bypass as my Clubman had that setup, and I didn't think to check the head on the '61.  It turned out that the head on the '61 was not setup for a bypass.  After looking at McLendons and Lowes for the past couple of days, I came up with my own solution of cutting down some rubber hose and using a bolt to block the hole.  I made sure that the bolt didn't extend into the main channel, and I just hope it holds till next year, when I swap the motor out.

 

As the Mk1s have the box in front of the vent on the wing, it made it rather difficult to fit the Super 2 Core radiator.  I disassembled the shroud, and put it back together in the engine bay, not with a decent amount of grumbling with trying to get one of the back bolts in.  

 

Next, I removed the thermostat housing, only to find that they just used RTV to seal it with no gasket, and just used the sleeve that racers tend to use instead of thermostats.  I cleaned up everything, and replaced it with a mid range thermostat.

 

 

 

Now since the cooling system is back together, hopefully I can move onto re-installing the exhaust, downpipe, and carb tomorrow.  That will just leave the suspension and brake system left.  The 26th is a little over two weeks out and I hope I can make it...

[buddylove]

Finished up most of my goals for today.  Installed the carb, downpipe, and exhaust.  The exhaust is under a bit of tension from the rod change, so I am going to have to play around with it to try to get it to clearance a little bit.  I also played around with the back end a bit, as I found a badge in a random box of parts.

 

Before:

 

 

 

After:

 

[buddylove]

Yesterday, I picked up some new wheels.  I guess you can call them "New Old Stock?", Cosmic MKII's.  Thanks to Kelley and Chuck for keeping them around.  They are pretty much my most favorite Classic Mini wheel, and I am even more excited that they have the rare red caps with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[megamini_jb]

Very nice!

[buddylove]

Thanks! :)