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1380 Bayside Blue :)

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#1 ryan13mt

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Posted 17 June 2016 - 05:26 AM

Hello i am Ryan from sunny Malta :)

 

This will be my first project post on this forum and you can expect a very pic heavy and frequently updated thread coming up. I have just pulled the trigger on a ready restored 74' Mk3 with loads and loads of new or refurbished parts that come with it. 

 

The car is painted in the Nissan Skyline R34 Bayside Blue. Having owned 2 minis, which i sold 6 years ago, i always thought if i had another one i would paint it some shade of metallic blue... who would have known this would turn up.

 

Now to the good stuff. The engine the owner gave me with the car is a freshly rebored 1380 Metro engine that has the Mg metro turbo head, some type of weber and lots of upgraded stuff which i still need the owner to write down for me. The engine has never been started after it was rebuilt with the new internals so i'm pretty scared about that, don't want it to be a Pandora's box. 

 

It has loads of upgraded parts like new discs, reconditioned calipers, mini fins, new master cylinders, 13x7 wheels, carbon fibre mille miglia arches, reinforced front subframe to handle the new engine and many many more.

 

The only problem?

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13170599_1180041232030032_1017500526_o.j

13184545_1180041245363364_950999567_o.jp

 

 

It's all dismantled... :( Well this could actually the best thing that could have happened. This way i can do a nut and bolt restoration with all the dirty, greasy and muddy work done by the previous owner. I now have a shell that is 100% complete and i can start assembling as soon as the owner delivers the car and parts to my garage.

 

That doesn't mean it won't have it's challenges and swear moments. All the nuts and bolts the owner took off are all inside a tin cookie box so that is going to be a pain to find the right component(probably will have to source new nuts and bolts for everything).  To do this i will have the help of my girlfriend who seems to be more excited than i am about the thing.

 

There are some parts that are missing from the car, like the window mechanisms, the boot since the one the owner had was a carbon fibre one and i told him to keep it to reduce a bit the price, no exhaust(including manifold), and probably a lot more stuff i'm not thinking about right now. But I made a list of what parts the owner will give me, and all the major components are there. 

 

 

 

Now.... to some questions....

 

1) Is there any sort of guide on the steps to build a newly restored shell from the ground up? I already have the Haynes Restoration manual and the Haynes Service manual. But they both show specific instructions on a certain part, not the whole process. 

 

2) Should i fork out and buy loads of soundproofing material to cover the whole inside of the car?

 

3) What challenges do you think i will meet along the way?

Attached Files


Edited by ryan13mt, 18 June 2016 - 04:27 PM.


#2 James_eaton_thewholething

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Posted 17 June 2016 - 04:36 PM

It's a mini so all challenges are possible. Looks like a good starting point wish I had this lol. I would try to look through people's build threads and also ask bits of questions. To be totally honest putting stuff together is pretty obvious and straight forward

Best of luck

#3 pootis spencer

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Posted 17 June 2016 - 09:02 PM

This would be my ideal project. It's already had the shitty rust work done and it's painted in the most beautiful blue I have ever seen. I always wanted to do a mini project and have it in blue. This looks stunning. Good luck with it all. Will be following this one...

#4 ryan13mt

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Posted 18 June 2016 - 04:25 PM

The day came and we managed to transport all the parts to my garage. Here are a few pictures of the mini in transport and when we organised everything inside.

 

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13493631_10155019652950550_1991537332_o.13467700_10155019652760550_1409408988_o.13467824_10155019653365550_2057232936_o.13461103_10155019653335550_738309286_o.j13493463_10155019653140550_695898446_o.j13493207_10155019653275550_568475145_o.j13467492_10155019653190550_1586992913_o.13461136_10155019653245550_298295171_o.j13499922_10155019652935550_1041843053_o.13479246_10155019653000550_1672501881_n.13473933_10155019653065550_928508877_n.j13493647_10155019653075550_1208074647_o.

 

As you can see there is nearly 3/4 of the parts new and still in plastic. 

 

 

What do you guys think?

 

Opinions?

 

Suggestions?

 

Everything is welcome :)



#5 dyshipfakta

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Posted 18 June 2016 - 07:52 PM

Your method of transport was abit excessive. Other than that looks like a great project.

#6 ryan13mt

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Posted 18 June 2016 - 09:05 PM

Your method of transport was abit excessive. Other than that looks like a great project.

The previous owner owns a construction company which has a lot of these vehicles in it's fleet. Didn't cost me anything so i cannot complain :)



#7 ryan13mt

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Posted 21 June 2016 - 05:03 AM

Ok so this is a 74' mk3. The previous owner gave me a new single line master brake cylinder. But with the old stuff their is a dual line master cylinder with the yellow tag. I was thinking of buying a new dual line master cylinder and change everything to the dual line front rear split. Will this system fit my car? I have 4pot metro discs on the front and normal drums on the back. 

 

Will the wilwood Combination Proportioning Valve work with this new setup instead of buying this( http://www.minispare...ic/FAM7821.aspx )? which is out of stock and more expensive than the wilwood one.  

 

Also anyone has any bad reviews from on http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/ before i buy from them?



#8 ryan13mt

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 06:01 AM

I bought my car fully dismantled with an already restored body. Yesterday while i was fixing the brake and fuel lines i tried to see where the rear subframe mounts to the body. I found the 4 holes where the rear trunnions attach but could not find the front mounting holes.

 

When i looked inside i found that the previous owners probably had that panel rusting so they welded a new one on top of it. 

 

Here are 4 pictures. 2 Are showing the rusted old panel which was still left there....

 

Attached File  13515279_10206759374804111_1632883064_n.jpg   31.19K   26 downloads

Attached File  13530300_10206759374644107_671042029_n.jpg   34.11K   18 downloads

 

And the other 2 are where the 4 holes are supposed to be.

 

Attached File  13493680_10206759374484103_2124632860_o.jpg   38.77K   31 downloads

Attached File  13493722_10206759375244122_1751175457_o.jpg   35.3K   26 downloads

 

Any suggestions on what i can do? I am really panicking and thinking i've bought a bad shell. Is it fixable?

 

I was thinking that the nuts are still there, they probably just welded a new piece over the old ones without bothering to drill the holes. So my idea was to drill a small hole in the approximate area of where the original should be, then continue do bigger holes until the old ones are completely uncovered.

 



#9 zeemax89

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 01:05 PM

you need to take the paint off the bottom two and see if the captive bolt holes have accidentally been filled or seam sealed over.  You could use a sharp chisel or wire wheel on a grinder.  Worst case someone has just filled over a corroded heel panel and might need some welding to rectify it...

 

 

 

 

bought my car fully dismantled with an already restored body. Yesterday while i was fixing the brake and fuel lines i tried to see where the rear subframe mounts to the body. I found the 4 holes where the rear trunnions attach but could not find the front mounting holes.

 

When i looked inside i found that the previous owners probably had that panel rusting so they welded a new one on top of it. 

 

Here are 4 pictures. 2 Are showing the rusted old panel which was still left there....

 

attachicon.gif13515279_10206759374804111_1632883064_n.jpg

attachicon.gif13530300_10206759374644107_671042029_n.jpg

 

And the other 2 are where the 4 holes are supposed to be.

 

attachicon.gif13493680_10206759374484103_2124632860_o.jpg

attachicon.gif13493722_10206759375244122_1751175457_o.jpg

 

Any suggestions on what i can do? I am really panicking and thinking i've bought a bad shell. Is it fixable?

 

I was thinking that the nuts are still there, they probably just welded a new piece over the old ones without bothering to drill the holes. So my idea was to drill a small hole in the approximate area of where the original should be, then continue do bigger holes until the old ones are completely uncovered.

 



#10 zeemax89

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 01:06 PM

looking at it,  I fear the later....



#11 geachy87

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 03:40 PM

The left hand side looks like it's full of filler, I'd do a bit of digging to see what's hidden underneath if it was mine..

#12 ryan13mt

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Posted 26 June 2016 - 07:15 AM

Leaving the issue of the subframe mounts aside here is some more progress pictures. Managed to get the shell on some old plastic beer cases with the help of the family. 

 

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Then i started work on fitting the new brake and fuel lines I added some rubber in the inside of the metal body clamps to avoid any friction that might happen. These pipes where bent by hand but i have ordered a bender for future use. When routing the fuel line i think i bent a piece a bit too much and it has a slight dent in it. Don't think it will effect the pressure but my OCD still won't let me forget it so it might have to be changed again. 

 

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Also bought some tools like the pipe bender, pipe cutter and flare tool. The flare tool is marked as a metric flare tool. Do i need anything special since this car uses imperial fittings?

 

$_57.JPG

 

$_57.JPG

 

 

While my dad is repainting both subframes, i fitted the new steering rack. I did not have the plastic things that go in the U-bolts and the foam thing that goes next to the splines so i made some out of an old rubber tyre insert.

 

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When fitting the U-bolts i added a washer and a spring washer. But i would like some opinions on if this is safe or not due to the threads not sticking out of the nuts.

 

13518185_10155043549400550_1636809079_o.

 

13523968_10155043549435550_722502109_o.j

 

The car was going to be done with a single line brake system but due to safety i am opting for a dual front/rear split system. I am waiting for a supplier that will be having a dual line master cylinder this coming week and have ordered a Wilwood Combination Proportioning Valve from RallyDesign that should arrive this week as well. The wilwood valve actually came cheaper than the original mini brake limiter valve.

 

CH29049-lrg.jpg

 

 

 

So today i am going to sort out all of the parts i have and divide them into categories so i have a close idea what i need to buy or not.

 

So a recap of the questions:

 

1> Do i need special flare dies for mini brakes?

 

2> Do the nuts holding the U-bolts look safe like this?



#13 ryomini

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Posted 26 June 2016 - 07:24 AM

Hey

 

I did it all like this myself from the shell up

as you asked here's my 2 euros worth or two pounds worth if you prefer now ;)

 

boxes, bags, shelves, lables, boy does stuff get mixed up when you look in one box or show something to someone, but when it comes to putting it back

time - it can be heard having to shelve everything else

threads - I found for me, never hit anything threaded with a hammer or a piece of wood under a hammer, once the thread is damaged it takes forever to straighten out and parts are not cheap

 

should make an amazing car and you should enjoy getting it all back together!



#14 GraemeC

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Posted 26 June 2016 - 07:24 AM

No need for spring washers on the U bolts - the nylocs are the locking device, but these do need full thread engagement.
If they feel too easy when tightening up then they'll probably need replacing with fresh nylocs

#15 ryan13mt

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Posted 26 June 2016 - 12:04 PM

Removed the spring washers :) Now the nuts tighten much more.

 

Another question. I need to buy 2 new rubber cones and was thinking about upgrading to coil springs. Tried searching for the minitastic ones but the website does not seem to be functional anymore. Have they gone out of business? Are the minispares ones good as well? 







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