108 replies to this topic

[Twincam]

Sorry to hear about the encounter with a ditch. Glad you guys came out ok!

i love the retro roofrack look...

Nice rack, although make sure you take her off or she'll start costing you money in fuel. Are you planning on leaving it blue?

[adam_93rio]

Sorry to hear about the encounter with a ditch. Glad you guys came out ok!

i love the retro roofrack look...

Nice rack, although make sure you take her off or she'll start costing you money in fuel. Are you planning on leaving it blue?

haha i get that a lot
i have it hung up in the garage at the moment as ive noticed the difference,
i only really put it on for the occasional show and when im using it

i quite like it blue, although i may have it powdercoated white as me and my dad have an agreement and paid half towards it each untill we get another one
(if that makes sense)
it does need a respray though, which is why i think it matches my car well

[Twincam]

Any update on the Mini since October?

[adam_93rio]

Any update on the Mini since October?

yeh i have neglected this a bit really havnt i. ill get some pictures together and see whats what.
she looks a bit ratty now

[adam_93rio]

ok so... since october, this will be all mixed up and a random bits a bobs update. i cant even remember everything ive done since last update

got some grilles for the headlights for that retro look


took me absolutly ages to get them on due to the little clips not lining up right
but looks good i think with the grilles, roofrack and a little strap to keep the bonnet shut (incase the ditch damaged the normal fixing)


after that i took the head light peaks off the blue flip front and sprayed them satin black and fitted to effy, then broke out the sandpaper and took the paint back off the edge to give a shiney lip


my girlfriend bought me the indicator shields from a mini show (forget which one because it was crap) but i still love the shields

while i had a can of satin black i thought id spray the bumpers, sanded down the chrome a bit first so that the paint wouldnt chip off as easy but it hid the dent really well



a couple of days later i decided that after taking all the contrast from my car, i needed some more putting back.
so.. off with the grille and sprayed it white, which i loved


but then for some reason i sprayed the grille illuminous orange but it doesnt look as good.

but this is how she sits today

before the crash i had fitted speedwell classic bucket seats and different door cards to match, as i want to keep the limited edition stuff in good condition. to be brought out for special occasions

ill try and keep frequent updates now, so it doesnt seem so bad. and ill update probably later with the little bits ive fixed etc. but probably will copy across from other topics i started

[adam_93rio]

ok decided to do another bit of an update, ive done various things to the car that i havnt really documented. so im goning to start updating more frequently from now on

a few days back i found that the top engine steady bracket had broken, so today i set about fixing it. ive stripped it all down and just need to put it all back tomoro

ill let the pictures do the talking,

this is the top engine steady bracket how i found it, you can see the washer i put on there a while back as i didnt trust it


and before i could do much i had to disconnect the clutch pedal inside the bulkhead. which sterted to become a pain but after 10 minutes i had it out

you can just see the split pin

while i was doing that my girlfriend took the engine steady bar out for me,


with that done, the strip down commensed

brake servo out


you can see in this picture that the bottom part of the bracket has also sheered off


i left the brake master cylinder and all the lines connected, this way i wont have to bleed the brakes, which gets very monotnous


then the clutch master cylinder out


then the bracket just slides off, with persuation
which left the bulkhead looking like this


the bracket looked like this


i then got rained off and could only do bits in the garage after quickly cleaning up and ku-rusting the area
i did manage to take the bottom part of the bracket off and decided to make it stronger. originally i was going to built up side parts to the brackets to strengthen them but then realised i wouldnt be able to get a spanner in to tighten the nuts up for the clutch braided hose and bolt the the steady bar

with this in mind i made another bracket that will weld in underneath the old one
looks like this

it has also had a big washer welded to the underneath of where the steady bar bolts through for added strength, i welded completely round it hen ground it smooth so you could never even tell, just looks like one part is thicker

so tomoro morning i need to weld that piece in place then build it all back up. all ready for bingley hall

your thoughts

[adam_93rio]

never got round to taking a picture of the bracket that i welded back on, but its on and it works now, you have my word

on sunday coming home from bingley hall i heard a little clunk sound
wondering what it was i got into the left hand lane and as i lifted my foot off the accelerator we didnt slow down,
at first i thought the pedal might just be stuck down but as i reached down to try and pull it back up it got faster, so i knew something bigger was wrong.
turned the ignition off and pulled up at the side of the motorway, popped the bonnet and found the air filter was just resting down the back of the carb

basically what had happened is that the nut on the cone filter has vibrated off, then the filter has dropped and pulled the bolt off (ripping the shoddy welds)
this then sucked into the carb holding the throttle open at 70mph
a little further and it couldve seen a valve

had to strip the carb at the side of the motorway, very carefully take the tension off the return spring while holding the bolt to get it out.

picture of the carb stripped down showing the bolt

[adam_93rio]

little bit of an update on how things are scoped for the next few months,

i fixed the air filter with a bolt straight through and a nylock nut but the head of the bolt is touching the carb, so got a bit of an air leak
at some point this week tho, i will be fitting the HIF44 that i got off scott (scoticus) for a fiver!! (thanks again)

also, got some M5 rivnuts on order from ebay along with the appropriate tooling, these will be fitted into the top of the inner wings to hold the fibreglass front end on, still not sure what to do on the A panels. condsidered getting some small nuts and welding them in position on the lip, then countersunk bolts to screw through the fibreglass.
the normal seam strip would just have little cutout bits for access to undo the bolts in the event of engine and suspension work

i think that is all for now, ill be helping my dad a lot with his mk 1 so i will urge him to update his project page as well (wherever it is)

so, as the saying goes... watch this space!!

[AdamMk1]

Looking like a solid project this, im sure ive seen you about in it. Was towards end of last year/xmas time saw you on north bridge at the traffic lights as i was tearing around the roundabout haha, i was concentrating too much to wave

[j500cpr]

well done to you and your Dad, be careful in the wet it can be very dangerous

you've both done a geat job and should be very proud

all good experience for your apprenticeship, even if it's got nothing to do with cars, the skills you've learned will stay with you forever

i had to do the same when i was an apprentice, I couldnt afford new parts, it was the scrappy for me with 'big deep pockets' for those little items you had to have but couldn't afford

[adam_93rio]

Looking like a solid project this, im sure ive seen you about in it. Was towards end of last year/xmas time saw you on north bridge at the traffic lights as i was tearing around the roundabout haha, i was concentrating too much to wave

thanks, i think i have seen you about a couple of times, i dont get out in her as much as i used to

well done to you and your Dad, be careful in the wet it can be very dangerous

you've both done a geat job and should be very proud

all good experience for your apprenticeship, even if it's got nothing to do with cars, the skills you've learned will stay with you forever

i had to do the same when i was an apprentice, I couldnt afford new parts, it was the scrappy for me with 'big deep pockets' for those little items you had to have but couldn't afford

yeh the wet is horrible, mix that with over-inflated tyres courtesy of kwikfit and youve had it
id much rather be doing an apprenticeship or at least a course in classic car resto, theres nothing better
my dad was telling me a story yesterday about buying 4 doors for his granada from a scrappy, he wound the windows down a little so he could hook them over his shoulders, then peeled back the door cards and filled them with bits, starter motors and alsorts. long gone are those days, although you wouldnt fit much in a mini door

[adam_93rio]

got a small update, havnt even checked this for a while before this morning so i think its long overdue but wont be very long

a couple of pictures to show the repair to the air filter mentioned in the last update



so as you can see it is securley fastened this time, not just a tiny blob of weld holding it in place

on sunday i set about changing my bottom arms, the passenger one was bent in the incident with the ditch, which was only apparent when the outside of the wheel was going bald,

this is the best way i found to get the bottom arms out, jack it up at the top (bottom arm already removed as i forgot pictures)




and the new powder coated one going in (new to me)


just ran out and got some pictures of the bottom arms both in as i didnt take any on sunday


not bad to say they didnt cost me anything

also just got a picture of the tyre
how it is

(not best picture)

how it should be


ive swapped the bald one off the front to the back for now untill i get paid, then ill have a new one

other than that i havnt done a lot latley worth updating about

however this morning i was sick so im off work today and couldnt just sit here with clean hands so i went out and cleaned up a wheel brace i bought

before:


after cleaning:


hint for painting..
take one wheel nut, and a bolt that fits


plonk it in the end and youve got something to hold while you paint


ive put two coats on and ive put it in the vice now, (clamping the bolt in) to dry

going to make up some plates to weld to the a panels ive got for the front end, then ill get a picture of the finished wheel brace

Edited by adam_93rio, 23 March 2010 - 05:21 PM.

[adam_93rio]

ok just got back in and realised i forgot the wheel brace, got really carried away doing something else

spent about half an hour trying to find the passenger a panel which i bought ages ago, then got to work so heres the pictures (hopefully in order)

first i cut two plates out of the 'side of van' panel (transit not mini)
first one clamped in place


seen as i marked where it was going to sit on the inside of the a panel, i clamped it in first, clean a couple of bits to tack, the cleaned the rest to seam it


tacked in


welded up and ground down


other side done too


primed up, a couple of shots so you can see the whole panels





then left to dry



hands now dirty


task complete!

Edited by adam_93rio, 23 March 2010 - 05:22 PM.

[scoticus]

oooooooooooooooooooooo, looks gurd cant wait to come tinker haha

[adam_93rio]

theres still plenty to do scott, could do with an extra pair of hands when i do the front end probs