38 replies to this topic

[jonlad]

Ahh I can see the shock stud in the pic. Looks like that's going to be interesting to get off.

 

I know what you mean Steve I was sorely tempted to wedge up and buy new, but i do love a challenge and am lucky enough to have a lathe and lots of engineer friends at work. I'm sure one of them will have a reamer.

 

Then the money i save on arms can go on other bits that I am missing. That's the plan anyway it might go out then window if anything goes wrong!

 

Speaking of other bits I was looking at the 7.5inch brake conversion kits, the lower cost ones without hubs included. Will these fit onto the original sprite hubs that were intended for 8.4inch discs?

 

Thanks all, happy weekend!

[James_eaton_thewholething]

The brake kit roll got into 8.4 hubs. I did it a while ago. The kit with the hubs is only needed if going from drum brakes. The minispares calliper a are pretty good too, unless you want the AP ones

[jonlad]

Not a huge lot of progress on the project recently as I have been doing work on the house (new kitchen!) but I wanted to share some of the minor bits and bobs that I have been doing as it may be helpful or education to some. It's certainly a learning experience for me! I am still trying to re-use as much as possible to keep cost down and because I believe too much in this world is 'disposable'! 

 

First epiphany I've had on this project was vinegar. Bog standard 39p a bottle vinegar! I never knew how good this stuff was at cleaning up old parts. Thanks RYOMINI for the tip!

 

Handbrake quadrants were the first to go in, from this:

 

to this

 

 

using this:

 

 

 

Ok so I had to let it soak for over a week, but is remarkable how clean the bits come out. I would definitely recommend this as a first 'muck removal' step before more thorough cleaning and prep/paint/etc on any parts!

 

Now remember the 'butchered' shock absorber mounting... well again trying to save as much as possible rather than buying new, I spent 45 minutes attacking the nut with blowtorch, a file (to create some new flats), WD40 and the trusty mole grips...  ...and success!!

 

 

This is going to be a very slow rebuild at this rate!!  hahaha! I better get a move on! 

 

With things going so slowly I decided to buy at least a few new bits to cheer me up...

- new brake hoses (didnt realise I need to order locking nuts and washers separately doh!)

- new pipes (just the ones to the wheel cylinders so far)

- radius arm rebuild kits

- new adjusters and tappets

- new slave cylinders

Thankfully the old shoes don't have much wear on them and the bearings seem fine so I'm going to try leaving them alone!

 

some of the above awaiting their time to shine...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ryomini]

Well you are still into it

Take a lot of care with the threads

everything you clean needs to be painted or treated (zinc is very good for small parts)

sometimes you can pick up a used part in good nick for cheaper than it will take you to fix up some bad parts

you certainly have some work to do there

[jonlad]

Well its time for a mini update (no pun intended!). Unfortunately as with so many other projects on here, progress has been painfully slow. With doing up the house, working full time, summer holidays away etc etc, I've really not had a lot of time to spend on the car.

 

However, I did manage a rare day in the garage a week or two back so thought I'd post some piccies of what went on.

 

Firstly I'm STILL cleaning up the rear subframe which was pretty rusty. it's all surface rust though, so nothing too serious. I'm still learning and managed to try out the Bilt Hamber rust removal gel for the first time. I think I was expecting miracles based on what other people have said so was a bit disappointed to have to do a second application, even after wire brushing (with a knot wheel) first.

 

Having said that, there is still 7/8 of the bottle left so I really didn't use a lot!

 

I hope to get this painted and built up in the coming weeks if chores allow

 

I also started on the bodywork as the slow progress on the subframe was annoying me. First was to fill the big hole in the bulkhead that the previous owner had cut to make room for his Vauxhall engine, and also add the engine steady bracket that he'd removed.

 

Heres a question for you guys - I bought a new poly bush set for the engine steady and it only came with one metal sleeve and two sets of bushes. I am assuming I use the sleeve at the bulkhead end but not sure why there isn't one at the engine end? Is a shoulder screw used or something? I don't have an engine at the moment so I don't have anything to look at! If anyone has a 1275 lump in the northwest get in touch!

 

[/URL]

 

It was really nice to get back into welding and after blowing a few holes in the metal I got the settings dialled in and it became a bit easier. A great tip I got off the forum was to use a flattened piece of copper pipe as a backing plate. This worked great and allowed me to fill the holes I'd made at the start. THANKS TMF!

 

 

 

 

with all the welding done for the day I gave it a quick coat of etch primer. as you can see I have plenty more to do!  Next is a small patch needed in the heel board just inboard of the captive nuts, so *should* be an easy one - haha famous last words!  also there is a grotty looking patch in the toe board around the dirvers side subframe mounting where somebody has left the weld without flatting it back. it seems solid so I might just make it look a bit prettier and leave it be.

 

Then its on to the front wings and front panel which is when it starts looking like a mini again!

[jonlad]

Well it's time for a long overdue update - progress has been ticking along slowly while I have been busy working on our project house and other vehicles in my spare time. We were very eager to have the mini back on the road at some point this summer but every job seems to take longer than expected!

 

First off I've done a little more work on the shell. The rear valance is the worst part of the shell - apart from the missing front end - so I thought I'd start here. It had rusty holes in each end and I figured with panels being so cheap it'd be easier to replace than patch. 

 

 

I got a pattern valance and a couple of new closing panels and set about drilling out the spot welds along the rear seam. This worked well apart from the rusty section of boot floor that came out when I started chiselling one of the spot welds away. That had been hidden well with paint! So anyway out came the metal and tin snips!

 

 

much welding and a little grinding later...   (needs more grinding, I got bored and it got late so I just sprayed some etch primer on it for the time being)

 

I really need to get on and finish this so that I can get around to putting the front end back on, but I try and avoid making noise (grinding) on week nights and only get so many weekend days to work on it. With that in mind I have been working on some other items where grinding isn't required, more to follow...

[jonlad]

To try and progress things a bit and keep the neighbours happy with grinding noise, I started working on the mechanical parts in the evenings.

 

You may remember I started work on the radius arms some time ago!  Well these were the first items to get finished.

 

I managed to find a length of steel tube at a similar diameter to the pivot pin - I think it came out of an old ikea wardrobe. I put this inside the old needle bearing roller race and tack welded the two together. Then it was easy to pound away on the other end of the tube with a large hammer and hey presto - out it came.

 

 

With that out of the way its pretty easy to heat the arm up (10 mins at gas mark 8) hammer the old bushing out using a long chisel (screwdriver  ). The bushing looks a bit gnarly as I'd already tried the 'cut some slots in it with a hacksaw and use a punch to separate the segments' method lol that was time consuming!

 

 

Funnily enough the plastic tubes were also difficult to get out! Did I take them out of the wrong end I wonder...

 

 

Then I cleaned up the radius arm itself using some bilt hamber deox and a wire wheel and gave it some primer.

 

Next came the new bushing and the bearing. and then the bushing was reamed - hey presto a refurbed radius arm!

 

 

With that done I started stripping an engine I got off GraemeC on here - what a nice chap he is too

Its a 12HD09 lump out of a metro and I think will only need a light refresh before going into Kubby. I started with the head, inside the combustion chambers looked a bit black with carbon and the valves similar. Can I clean both up using a wire brush? perhaps a brass wire one as its softer? Also that valve seat doesn't look too clean...

 

 

Also I noticed that there are only 4 valve stem seals on the head. Is this normal? I thought there should be one on every valve, like all other engines I've rebuilt, but then I had a look in a gasket set that I have lying around and there are only 4 new ones in it!?  Is that just a weird coincidence or is that by design?????

 

 

 

Edited by jonlad, 01 May 2017 - 04:13 PM.

[jonlad]

Well I've done a bit more since May...   ...but not a lot!

 

That rusty rear valance is off and the new one tacked on, though no pics of the new one yet!

 

I also patched a small hole which I think you can see in the heel board an inch or two away from where the trunnion mounts.

 

The head got cleaned up, valves lapped in, new stem seals, painted and re-assembled. I love this BMC green paint. I know its not right for a 90's mini but I don't care, it would be on the scrapheap otherwise...

 

 

She will be getting 10" rims and no arches eventually, maybe even centre clocks as I love the classic look. Mk1 rear lights might be a step too far for me though

 

And continued with the engine and gearbox. The 1275A+ that I bought off GraemeC was pretty good but I thought it might as well get some new rings, main and big end shells, new oil pump, camshaft and followers, etc etc    anything that I can think of to throw money at! haha

 

 

 

I keep watching Bill Sollis' engine builder DVD to see what I should be doing

 

 

I also put a new chain and tensioner on and slapped some green paint on here too

 

 

The block is all back together now with a green timing cover and looks amazing. I have a pile of bits ready to go back on, fuel pump, water pump, mega-tarty DSN water pump pulley *BLING* and an orrible yellow fan    I believe the plastic ones work better than the metal so it will just have to be like that!

 

I have currently got the gearbox in bits waiting on some new bearings for the mainshaft etc and I have new baulk rings etc ready to go in too.  Not long now and I think the engine will be back together

 

its a bit dirty...

 

 

The manky black sludge at the bottom of the gearbox does happen to come out really easy with a quick spray of Bilt Hamber FerroSol.  Wonderful stuff!!

 

 

Thanks for reading this far, sorry I don't take many photos, I will put some up when I have put the engine back together! 

 

In the meantime is there any recommendation what dizzy I should get? The car is a 92 sprite. The engine is from a metro, 12HD09. Should it be a 65DM4 electronic jobbie and if I get one from mini spares, will it have the right curve for a standard engine?   Well I say standard, it will have a HIF44, pancake and sportier exhaust.

 

thanks in advance

Jon

[jonlad]

PS can you still see the photoF*cket pictures in the earlier posts?  I can still see other peoples after a minute or two of the 'pay up or else' icon.

 

Please let me know or I might put the earlier pics onto Imgur too

 

thanks

[panky]

Looking great

Yes I can see all the old pics, Deathrow's work around did the trick. I also down loaded another hack and now I can see photobucket images on any forum. Only works on Chrome though.

[jonlad]

Thank you Sir!

[73MkIII]

Nice work.like it all.

[ga2davt]

Looks great, nice to see you are doing it properly and the car will be good for years in future.

[jonlad]

Thanks for the kind comments. I'm doing it how i want it, so its cool to hear it meets with others approval too!

[jonlad]

Well things are still progressing....              ...S   L    O    W   L   Y!

 

much too slowly for my liking, but i've been spending time on a few other projects including house renovations and a daily driver that's caused me a few issues recently.

 

Anyway, i finished the gearbox rebuild and mated the block to it, after first cleaning the mating faces like 100 times     just to make sure! i don't remember any issues with this. I did use screws all round instead of the studs at the back of the block, just becuase i did'nt know that they should be studs at the time.

 

 

Then after much more cleaning of mating faces, in came the head... The assembly is being done in a location accessible easily by an engine crane as I won't be lifting this any more...

 

 

I could then start adding the shiny bits that I have been collecting - water pump (MS evo) and not shown in the photos are...

- fuel pump (mechanical SU),

- dizzy (65dm4 recurved by Mr Dodd)

- new 45A alternator off a 998 A+ i got cheap locally for parts

- larger bore thermostat housing (suited to a late carb cooper). The one fitted in the pics above is off the 998, though i was concerned it'd be too small.

 

I'm still to find the correct length bolts/studs for the larger bore stat housing without the sandwich plate bit i have really tried (just lazily searched MS website    )

 

Also the crank taper looked slightly grotty but i knew that there was no serious rust or gouging. So out came the fine valve lapping paste and it cleaned up a treat within a couple of minutes. Again apologies i don't take many photos... a quick one of the flywheel and clutch in place...

(and just noticed the aforementioned goodies sneaking into shot along with the block oil pipe which had a new banjo bolt and washers)

 

 

The keen eyed among you might spot that i haven't knocked the flywheel bolt lock washer into the slots in the flywheel boss yet. While on that topic, the washer was a bit too big and

a very tight fit in the boss. the boss actually removed some material from the outside of the washer as i first tightened it up. So i took it off again, cleaned off the swarf and tried to knock in the sides of the washed a bit and refit. Don't know if mine was on the high side of tolerance or they are all like that?  This was a new one from MSpares.

 

Next of course is the clutch cover and actuating mechanism.  Now the one i have is a bit manky and i've got my work cut out...

 

 

 

As a minimum, i can see that a new bearing, o-ring, verto lever, actuating pin and the middle boss that slides in the casing will be required. These things ALWAYS turn out more expensive than you were thinking!

 

Oh also, the pivot pins that everything swings off have large steps worn into them and i don't appear to have a verto slave cylinder with the 998 so i will need one of those too. Gotta love MS 7.5% discount! 

 

Other than all of that going on, i haven't touched the body. I did buy a good second hand pair of lights off Marco on here though as one of the old ones is seriously cracked. 

 

I've also been cleaning up some of the brackets that hold stuff onto the engine, with bilt hamber deox C (amazing stuff if you follow the instructions).  all now cleaned and painted in BMC green 

 

 

I am a bit confused about the mounting of the coil though. I have torqued the head down correctly with new studs and there doesnt appear to be sufficient thread length to get the coil bracket under the nut on the LHS of the head whilst still keeping a full nut's worth of thread engagement...

 

any thoughts?

 

Well as the engine build is coming to an end, I am running out of things to do that arent bodywork related. Next job is attaching new front wings and front panel. I'm thinking i might hire a spot welder to make this a bit easier.

 

I've seen a few good posts about how to line things up, clamp things together and then remove wings &  front panel for welding etc. Any other tips that you lovely gents can provide?

 

Thanks all for the continuing help and advice

bye for now

Jon

Edited by jonlad, 28 December 2017 - 09:02 AM.