450 replies to this topic

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

just got home from derbyshire got this bonnet for £13

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

been a busy 2 days yesturday had my interview for uni which has ended in me being offered a place at leeds uni next year meaning i am a step closer to being an engineer

today has been very busy firstly i remove the master cylinder as it ws full of grime and genral crap from however many years of neglect

so removed the washer tank undo the pipes then disconneted the split pin which was a real farse had to get a friend to pull it out as a 6ft8 fram struggles in tight spaces lol

removed and found which what i can only describe as the contents of a smokers lungs black tar like snotty slime

so syphoned the fluid and then removed and looked at seals where all fine so i filled it with brake fluid and made with the shakin
then fluid drained out then repeated 4 times then got an air line and blew all the crap out and then another or luck

i then cleaned the ouside of the cylider with wd40 and made it look pretty and new i then cleaned the bulk head where it sit and put some instant gasket down bolted in place reconneted every thing fitted a new split pin and then filled with fluid

i then atempted to clean the washer tank which is eaiser said than done the majority of the crap is gone but the slime wont budge so a job for my wheel brush when i can be bothered

so refitted the bottle, i then lubricated the carb linkaged and i then did my k&n service trick you start the car and rev the engine whilst spraying wd into the air box this cleaned the filter and oils it, cleans inside the carb and the manifold and takes some of the crap off the valve seat and plugs

when i removed the plus to check the gaps they were all white deposite so means its a lil lean on tick over i already guessed this from the rough tick over when cold
so i reset the plugs to 0.80mm as autodata advises and then did a compression test on all the ports from the flywheel which is cylinder number 4 I had 140, 130, 120, 130 so the number 2 has a less compression than the rest for whatever reason i put it down to the piston rings as i get some blow by known as the crank case breather does have a lil bit of a puff

so all was well there i then refitted the plugs started it up and the ticke over was 5% quieter / smoother so i think my mini check over did some good i then re oiled the door locks and mech, i oiled the bonnet catch i re greased the front grease nipples and the rear beam nipples and then check over the supension for play wasnt too bad but the driver ball joints want replacing as the grease nipple of the top os was not letting any grease through so ill be redoing the ball joint when i overall the supension anywho i also tested the coolant sytem for leaks with a pressure tester and i tested my rad cap all fine

by this time the ramp was free as mark wouldnt let me move the omega today even though no one was working on it doh

so got the mini on the ramp and got my not so beautiful assistant to jump in after 30 mins of pump, stop, pump, stop, hold, pump, stop, hold

i have a very good brake pedal so very happy with that mark then showed me how to adjust the drums on the mini which i was suprised by as with fords you just use a screw driver and pry the shoe outwards till it clicks and then re attach the drum needless to say only one adjuster work driver rear so have good pedal all round but i still need to adjust the rest so tomorow will be eventful

so took the car down and went on the car park for some brake testing basically i drove the car up to 15mph and then slammed on whilst steerin 3 wheels locked so i was very happy and they kick in alot lot faster

so took it to my garage gave it a clean fixed the dodge window and had some cold pizza yummy, tomorows plan service the passat for mark and then remove the drums and fix the adjusters

ill post pics tomrow im also going to paint the drums so post you suggestions, options are, blue, black, white, grapite grey or matt black put your answer on a stamped envelop to bb6 7pt and the winner will be chosen at random by MEEEEE

Edited by Saxo-Fiesta-Mini, 25 February 2009 - 08:00 PM.

[mimi the mini]

Your mini looks ace, i love the gold alloys, i wanted some but they wouldnt go with bright red!

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

lol red and gold wouldnt be the best combo

been busy last 2 days went mini tech to get a twin set of h2's got advised nooooooooooooooooooo better with a single hif44 so i said right ill wait for that one needless to say got a set of door hinges and a window mech

got back to my garage had the door off in a matter of mins and then took the wheel off and went to get the sprogs from school (not mines sisters LOL)

so got back and freed the hinges and wired up my new garage light a 500w ring flood light ohhhh yeah i have light lol

so got back to fit the hinges to find i had been sold a passenger side top hinge argggg i hate when people sell me the wrong parts

so took the hinge apart and made a good hinge out of the 2 bad and one good hinge needless to say i have 2 bottoms hinges and doesnt shut right now arggggg

so today i stripped the track rods fitted the new ones and then found the gaitors are shagged argg

also i freeded up the adjusters on the drums and inadvertently stray the lot with grease not brake cleaner so redid that and then set them up and coper greased the lot


so fitted them and then made myself a blanking plate to cover where the air box is in the wheel arch since i never use the heater and its crap anywho

thne i redid the reverse switch which is no bob on

then checked the engine for the imfamous leak !!! and all the areas i suspected *melons* all argggg my mate dan recons its the timming chain cover seal, derek recons its the clutch casin seal and i know the did housing seal and gear selector ones are all pretty bad

so left that i then had another play with the Ht leads i love the engine struggling on 3 plugs lol that was my sadistic plesure of the day

so then went to use the laser alignment kit which i love to find wont fit 12" wheels only 13" plus awwww

so had to use the old mirros piroscope style kit which ended in the wheels facing the completly wrong way

so redid the tracking and then got it a fair bit better but still off center

i then cleaned up and went to dumb my tools back at the garage theres todays update so as a result of my day i need

steerin rack gaitorsx2
ball jointsx3

and im gonna get some 1.5degree camber arms and adjustable tie rods

[jkjaxor]

thats a real nice mini youve got there!
the color goes realy well with the wheels
(H5)

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

lol cheers on the high 5 off to get my disc brakes first thing tomorow and then ill be buliding them up and going for a spin

also going to be changin the fluid and may get camber arms but the petrol cap is a deffo

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

busy couple of weeks firstly i got into leeds uni so ill be doing an engineering degree althought i have to do a foundation year first but should be good

recently stripped the mastercylinder and cleaned it out as 25 years of grim and crap were residing inside lol


I also cleaned the washer bottle out


here are some nice picks when i fitted the new bonnet




i have been ummin and arrin about what was the nect thing to do but since i needed new ball joints and cv boots i was going to just buy a set from mini sport and be done with it

so anyway was lookin on ebay and complete new disk hub assemblies had just been put on the day before i hatched a plan i emailed the fella and offered him 35 pound he replied and said u can have for 50 and ill throw in the pads, shims and inner cv joints

so for 50 I got disc hubs, drive flanges, cv joints, drive shafts, cv boots inner and outter, calipers with new seals, discs, ebc pads, shims, new split pins, new bearings, new grease, new ball joints im soooooo chuffed with myself

all i needed to order were some caliper pistons mini sport said not for 3 weeks, mini spares said £38 pound with discount, harrogate branch didnt answer and BIG RED BRAKES (my best friends) said £35 posted and i may have them in the morning

im sooo happy






so i then went to take my air compressor to my best friend alan at woodfeild garage my old boss (and adopted father)
i had fitted a new pressure switch but that was it the rest was missing after alan made me a new link pipe, he made me a blanking plug, gave me a air coupling and a ball valve cleanned out all the crap rewired it and tested it (it works )

so had a play with it and then went to by a safty valve and a pressure gauge i went to an air compressor company near st marys college blackburn and said i need a safty shut off valve he has a look and said none in ill need to order one will be £13 so i was prepared to give up i said ok then and went to drive off but for some reason i went back in and took the air compressor with me he looked at it and then walked the opporsite direction he returned 2 mins later with a safety valve and a pressure gauge he told me where to fit them i asked how much he said nothing u can have them for free from scrap parts bit anyway

so i ran before he could stop me went to my garge and hooked up the freebies and to my joy it works reaches 120psi 8 bar cuts out when it drops to 6bar 100 psi the motorstarts again

so all in all my new 2bhp air compressor cost me £18 heheheh




lol hope you enjoy the update

[BMC Paul]

nice work sean. love the wheels and colour

[stooart]

great work! wish i had the skills and money to do what you do!

those seats youve got, cobra clubman sports from huddersfield? they look cool, im looking at getting some, they comfy? apparently the vinyl strecthes and the foam compresses? any input?

thanks mate!
stu

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

yeah the seats were great but i could get passengers in the back so i sold em they were very very comfy lol

spent all day workin on the brakes

drivers side the track rod bolt wouldnt loosen and then the bottom ball joint was seized spent a 1hour on the ball joint as i have no ball joint splitter
then took the drive shaft apart for the inner pot joint which was a pain took ages

then fitted the compelete hub to find the shafts was tooo short so stripped again swap for the other sides shaft and put back together and then the ball joints were to stiff so had to reshim them

then got to passengers side off which took about 20 mins again seized up I then got the shaft and spent 2 hours trying to get the inner pot joint off arggggg ended up takin it apart with a brick, chissel and 40 onch hammer and some anger

so got that side built up and then the track rod bolt was gone so had to take another differn nylon nut and make it fit also one of the ball bearings disappeared so had to fit one smaller bearing

i then got it built up fitted the pads used the one man brake bleed kit and reversed out of the garage and then clunk no drive ???

the passengers side drive shaft has popped out of the cv joint arggggg

so sleepin on the sofa at sister again tonigth after no food all day and bloody sore head, back and hands

moral of the story if it aint broke leave it a bloody lone

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

well another annoyin day i damaged the first 3 treads on the ball joints just managed to take cv joint off reubuild it and get the driveshaft fixed sorted it

put it togther went to college pedal was crap keept havin to pump again and again so i thought was air

got to college late i may add at dinner me, dan and kev went to my garage to bleed the brakes found the problem the nut on the fluid gallery was loose no the bleed nipple and there was a nice long line of fluid drippin off arggg

so bled the brakes up front and went back to college the pedal was still poooh

so after college went back as kev said the wheel was soakin in fluid as it was i thought he caliper has failed so stripped the wheels off cleaned the wheel and calipers to find no leak was from when i bled the system argggg

so bled the back and washed the car and then went for a swift pint with dan

then drove him back to fenni and then i filled up and went for a long spin great brakes now took me 2 days, a rash and some crap trackin but now its fixed yayayayayyayaya

[M44K TS]

Cool, first time i've read your project thread mate, looking good!

You planning on keeping the smooth boot?

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

helll yeah was one of the reasons i bought bertie for his ammusing behinds

i love the back end of the car thats stay only stylin tweeks will be the possiblilty of a clubman front

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

so had a very productive days got the new calipers on so time for pics of the calipers with the new pistons and seals

and front suspension sorted






and also some pics of plugs i got some bosch super 4 plugs and i love em had them in my Tu, zetec and now a series i think theyre the best plugs u can get and the cars lost all hesistation and actually scared me today at one point with the acceleration







so today sorted the inner pot joint, tightened the drive shaft bolts and fixed the ball joints on the drivers side and also did the trackin and treated bertie to the plugs for £12 you can complain

also a cheeky pic of the inlet valve visable through the the plug hole

Edited by Saxo-Fiesta-Mini, 11 March 2009 - 05:51 PM.

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

today i flushed the cooling system and put some new coolant in went for a lil spin with some fresh vpower on my way home at the lights a guy walked upto the window with his kid and said can you tell him that these are the best car ever so i said yeah mini are and then i floored it and made some nice zorsts notes so the lad doesnt forget minis lol a future memeber me thinks lol