147 replies to this topic

[16vmini]

been forgetting to update this , so heres all my updates so far :

[16vmini]

ok , started tubbing the arches today , first marked out and cut the wing :



then then cut slits and bent upwards , then used the spot welder to join back up ...



completed arch (apart from mig welding

http://www.teamorcha...03/dscf1700.jpg

just got to buzz over the gaps with the mig welder :

[img]http://www.teamorchard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dscf1701.jpg[/img]

drivers side done as well

[img]http://www.teamorchard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dscf1702.jpg[/img]

fitted rear wheels to set the turret height , which is next to do :

[img]http://www.teamorchard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dscf1703.jpg[/img]

rear beam hits whats left of old boot floor , so disk cutter back out tommorow.

[16vmini]

ok , got to take wife out to lunch in a bit , so mornings work.

i was not going to get Mark's turrets to work , so needed to make some new ones (his are too short for what i needed)

so popped down the local metal suppliers and got to lenths of 4 inch tube (3mm thick ) ..10 quid



i then marked out some circles in some 6mm sheet i had , cut them out



test fit , just needed some shaping




then welded up



started cutting away the arch .. thats a bugger of a job

[16vmini]

Joined the two turrets together to help with positioning :


kept offering them up :



untill they got up there :



need to double check at the weekend...i might lower them a bit.

[16vmini]

so after thinking for a few minutes .. i decided to chop the front end off .. its a race car and all that , needs to have a fibre glass front end.

fitted steering rack ,and stuck a bit of black paint on bulkhead for now .. one day it will get stripped again and painted ..



built up and painted the front subframe :



the re-fitted to car again



rebuilt hubs with new bearings ,



i would have had the car on 4 wheels , but i ordered the wrong swival joints for the hubs :oops:

did some more on the rear beam , think i know there the 5th link is going to go now.

painted lots of little things black ...

thanks to wife for lettting my play all day

[16vmini]

welded up and zinked the inner wing where the front end was cut off :



now i have been putting the rust off for now , but started on it ... it needs to be done , two new sills either side , this is the passenger side , drivers side door hinge panel is worse



old sill coming off slowly :


i have some over sills that my dad had , but have cut them in half to form normal size sills.

[16vmini]

got out again , ground more of the sill off .. nearly gone .. had to stop making noise as kid went to bed

so got on with some welding , tacked the 5th link support in :



and removed the top dash rail (guess i should remove the lower one as well .. if not cut the whole dash rail out ??

and laid my dash in just to get a feel :



lots of welding to do , so did some

[16vmini]

repaired the floor under the seat box section that allways goes ( i am not proud of the welding here before you say anything aron :oops: ) :



had to repair the front foot weel corner , also welded in some 3mm plate ready for the rollcage to sit on :



Then it was time to spot weld the new sill back on :



then some stone chip sprayed on just to protect it for now , one day it might all get sprayed





will fit a-panel after i have done the other side , then i can fit the front end as well.

so clean up time , and then start on the other side .. which is worse :evil:

[16vmini]

my 12mm studs arrived , with new 'tuning' style nuts to match the wheels.



old mini stud on left , new ford 12mm stud on right :



time to start attacking the rust on the drivers side , first over sill came off ,(nearly fell off)



old patch repairs had to be cut off :



top scuttle area will need some work :



first new piece of metal going on , both panels for the door hinge are rotton , so had to weld new on :



big hole in floor , could really do with a floor panel to cut a corner off .. but will have to just fabricate a new floor :



sorry for all the rust pics ...

[16vmini]

dropped the metro flanges off today at a local machine shop , they are going to drill out old metro holes to 12.5mm and press the studs in for me.

I am sure i will need to cut the studs down as they are very long .. but will do that once i have them back to try on the alloys.

new gaskets and head bolts from GM arrived :



also picked up a coil pack of a 1.6 vauxhall as the std 8v coil and dizzy start to muck around under high boost .. so might as well sort it now.



Megasquirt should be with me Saturday so will have to start building that up (will fit it inside old GM ecu case

had to get engine over to my nieghbour as he's got a pressure washer , so bolted engine onto childs go cart to move :



somthing about that picture makes me think the engine should not go in a mini :twisted:

crack on with more rust tommorow , clean engine and paint it .

[16vmini]

after jetwashing the engine i painted the block up a bit :



just bolted turbo on to see about oil return :



repaired the door step : (again aron not proud of the welding .. filler will hide it :wink: )



inner wing now welded in :



and just started on repairing the scuttle panel

[16vmini]

parts laid out for the JimStim (jim stim is used to test the megasquirt on a bench before it even sees a car )



my 8 year old helping me , (untill her bed time came and i had to carry on by myself


3 hours later , a working jimstim :



just need to make the ECU next :shock:

[16vmini]

12mm studs fitted to metro flanges :



just need trimming down :

[16vmini]

12mm studs came from a ford , ebay .

drivers floor patched up :



looks worse that it is , as one of those patches is the 3mm cage floor plate

working back down the car now , patching the rear floor , then sill can go on.

got my two front hubs finally built , so got the passenger front wheel on (using 12mm studs ) all seems ok. had to fit a 5mm spacer , because the thread on the studs is not long enough (will change studs again soon )



all my exhaust parts have arrived , and a few extra bits :wink:

L2B only 4 weeks away , and more than 4 weeks of work to be done :shock:

[16vmini]

megasquirt 99% done :





engine re-build next .. i am really not spending enough time on this car