1065 replies to this topic

[Kam]

Cheers mate, just felt down a bit after the accident thats all, also seeing the mini in bits with parts everywhere around it didn't help, I'm still human afterall, contrary to popular belief

I've only updated this as its been a while and although I haven't really done much on the car it is still going ahead with the 2.0L, deadline is now the TMF retro run in september so its nice to get excited about it again

All fun

[bakker110]

You'll have to let me know how the rear anti roll bar fits and how easy it is. Do a good olde Kam guide. Lots of pictures. I was thinking of getting one but not now. Not with all the trouble I have had lately with simple things.

[Kam]

C'mon Andy, you know what I'm like, do you think I would attempt to fit one without some helpful firepower here? Miniworld October 2010 - Silver aussie mk1 vtec mini on the front titled "Modified to the max" theres a very good guide inside for fitting the KAD rear arb, lots of nice pictures aswell, lets face it, I like pictures

So if you do decide to get one, at least theres already a guide to fitting it out there, but I hope you get your engine sorted first, by september anyway

My carrier pigeon should be sending you a PM very shortly, he's a quick little guy......

[Kam]

Time to get back on it, this ones gonna be another one of my "alot of pictures and waffle but not alot actually done" so no change there then

Started with getting some new bits n bob for the brakes and getting some paint on the old bits n bobs



I couldn't believe how much the rear subframe trunnions are to buy new, luckily I kept mine but to think I nearly threw them away! Quick note to oneself, check prices of items before launching them in the tip!

Next bit - marking up the rear subframe for the rear ARB plates, problem was the rear subby wasn't on the car, so on it went



Picture is deceptive above, there next to nothing room to slide it in when dropped, didn't help having the axle on the lowest setting and being on my own but believe it or not I did to show you don't need a fancy 4 poster! I could've at least raised it a little bit on the axles and get an extra set of hands but didn't, was a PITA to be honest but it showed if I can do it on my own then anyone can providing you got the room and time



Subframe in, genuine one so fitted like a wet dream

But was short lived though as once the arb plates were held in place it had to come out again ready for drilling and some final assembly on it aswell



Getting it out without the plates/mole grips moving was not easy atall with the height I had, but I was being stubborn

Stubborness paid off!



I've proved my point, no fancy 4 posters or fancy height or fancy help needed here

There is already a nice colourful fitting guide in one of the mags so I won't go into detail but will chuck some reference pics up incase anyone does get stuck









Drilled out the holes for the plates and put the subframe back in again, and test fitted the bar, needs to sit evenly between the battery box and subframe



Thats a 10-4 then

Got all the rear brake assembly hooked up, KAD camber brackets on aswell and I'm now using longer sportpacks wheelstuds aswell



I was using the factory standard wheelstuds before which were fine but when I went honda I put small spacers on the rear (only a few mm) and coupled up with the 165 tyre it sat nice in the arches, but wasn't happy with how much thread was showing, so for peace of mind the longer sportspack are on

Hooked up one side of the blade only for the arb as per instructions so theres no pre load on it when its bought back down



Just gotta find my 'alloys' now then I can bring it down and hook up the other end of the arb

I know some people think KAD stuff is expensive but its pricey for a reason, when you have one of there items in your hands you can appreciate the quality, well impressed

As for the engine block, its still in the process of being built so no update there but gives me some breathing space to do the above and buy some bits for it

Got a secondhand AEM fuel pressure regulator come through, just waiting for a new AEM fuel rail



Oh and Kam bought some Kams



Buddy club spec 3's, should help with traction

Just a silly heads up, if you pull both cams out the box and can't remember which is which......



......intake has the groove for the dizzy

These cams should work nice with my CR, but I'm still 50/50 on whether to get some cam gears? I might get some as they will be lighter than the factory ones anyway but keep them at 0, otherwise I need to clay my pistons as its gonna be close as I don't know the history on my head and if its been skimmed before....

I'm gonna re-do my gear linkage aswell, before I was running the standard honda linkage pipes, which lets face it are a bit on the large side! it worked well with my 2" exhaust pipe but I only had a few mm clearance between the two, as I now need a 2.5" exhaust its gonna catch so its gotta be done

Luckily I opted for the single kink skunk2 short shifter back in the day which will help........



and the 'ball' sits a bit further aswell so that'll help......



Been checking out a couple of fellow 16'vers build setups and I'm gonna try there trick of mounting the back of the selector inside the car and sloping down rather than following the mini/honda route and having it underneath in the tunnel

With the above (kink and ball) it should mean with the gearstick central in its housing it should sit up vertical?



The extra bit on top is my old mini stick welded on so I can retain the 4 speed gearknob!

Thats my theory anyway.......

The factory honda linkage varies between 20-30mm in diameter which is HUGE in a mini! and its only 1mm thick, so picked up some 2m 20mm steel tubing thats 1.75mm thick



I can't weld 1mm properly but can weld 1.5mm with my ability, so I'm gonna crack on with that and get it hugging the tunnel, I'll chuck the 1.8 engine in for now to give me the angles for the linkages and go from there

[Burnard]

WOOOOO Kams back.

Ok, now ill read the update


Looking good dude.
The reason that 'ball' sits further up is the reason its a short shifter, so not an added advantage, its what makes it what it is lol.

ARB looks sweet. still pretty sure i will be fitting one to my car soon enough.

Didnt know the sportspack studs were longer. I may end up with some small spacers aswell now

Edited by Burnard, 03 June 2011 - 09:47 PM.

[Kam]

With regards to the 'ball' I meant it comes in handy as the top section will be inside the car so gives a bit more clearance if I decide to route it that way higher up without the bottom section catching anywhere, because its a little bit further it gives a bit more clearance

I'm still 50/50 on the arb, car will be standardish/factoryish ride height, I'm still not sure why I actually bought it?

Oh and power wise, should be 190-200 with around 140-145 torque, so a nice gain over my 1.6 165hp 116 torque

Long live steel wheels

[Burnard]

Alot of work for 30bhp but then again, i guess most of it is in torque anyway.

If you change ur mind on the ARB i know a guy who might just buy it off ya lol.

Glad your back working on this, shows youve not lost interest or enthusiasm after the accident

[Kam]

Cheers I'm trying to get back on it, I am working at a strange slow pace though, not like before, but I'm getting a bit sick of not being able to drive it with this weather around and all the shows, might have to crank it up a gear!

Alot of work for 30bhp but then again, i guess most of it is in torque anyway

I could get the 30hp from the 1.6 or 1.8 easy by throwing money at it but this is not so much the power gain its more the 'exclusive' club, so far I have only found two people (one here and one across the pond) who have a B20 in a mini, B16 and B18 are popular really popular, I should know I had one

[Kam]

Just need to correct something on one of the pictures above for the ARB bracket, the bracket was assembled for picture purposes and not final assembly

With the kit you get three spacers, one is longer than the other two



The longer one goes on the bolt that doesn't hold the cable bracket so the bracket can sit flush, the longer bolt in the kit goes in the rearmost hole as this also holds the drop link



Its just incase the picture before didn't look right as it wasn't assembled properly, it was just thrown together for a shot

Earlier, my mate popped round to see how the build was coming along, I asked him to help me quickly remove one of the door windows as it had come out of its runner and it would only take about 10 mins

It actually popped out a couple of years ago when paying a french toll booth and I kinda like just forgot about it! So after a couple of hours we got new runners on with some sealant and greased up all the winding mechs and......did the other side, he was well impressed

Mind you it was worth doing it as the muppets who had 'restored' this car couldn't even put the runners on properly, no wonder they popped out both sides!



Its done properly now - what are friends for?

[Kam]

Not much to update but still a step forward

Got my AEM fuel rail through



And some secondhand injectors



RC 370's, more than enough for my needs, got these from a fellow forum member who had them on his race car

I've decided that using the standard mini oil pressure/battery charging dash lights are not exactly ideal for a vtec engine! More so as I can't see them without looking over the steering wheel.......

So I decided some useful 52mm gauges are needed



Got oil temp, oil pressure, water temp and voltage, I wanted more but oh well

Got some mounts for them aswell, with some snazzy 'rising sun' baseplates that are adjustable, these are for 60mm gauges though, I don't think they do this style in 52mm guise, not a problem though, a small strip of padded foam should sit them snugly in there





Just gotta plumb them all in, looks easy enough but I'm sure I can complicate it, maybe I should've just stuck to the one gauge

Then started looking around the empty cabin for what to do next, one thing that got to me was the soundproofing on the floor, I'm sure it has its purpose but I can't find one! When I had the B16 in here the cabin was noisy, very noisy, coupled up with my thick carpet underlay and carpet it basically done diddly squat! there was still excessive noise, the carpet was just a comfort thing

So I figured sod it, take it out, I've heard it weighs a bit anyway, I'm still gonna have underlay and carpet in here and will probably get some soundproofing down, the cheap stuff will do, end of the day I know what it was like before so its gonna be useless anyway, so cheapness will do, I hear Wickes do some.....

Now, I know people say to remove the above a simple chisel and hammer works, or even just tapping it beforehand with a hammer to loosen it a bit then attack it with the chisel is even better, or even to use a heat gun beforehand, I tried all these but it was still chipping away in bits n bobs, so I decided the Kam approach would be more better - butane torch!

Using the chisel it scraped off like butter, never touched the hammer





Front and rear footwells, exhaust tunnel and rear seat all in one bag - just!



Then got my trusty fishing scales out - 8 kilos! Bloody hell! I was honestly expecting ALOT less than that - good riddance I say

Now theres obviously a elf-n-safetee warning somewhere around here about using a butane torch like this, if your under 18 get supervised, if your over 18 get supervised All I will say is it came away so easy after that it was actually quite enjoyable, and its quite a rare thing to enjoy yourself on a build......

[ginger_monkey]

Nice mate. When I took the rear bench out of the car it still had it's soundproofing on it and it was heavy. So it's gotta be a good thing getting all that out.

Your fuel rail looks sexy mate. Are you ever gonna stop spending on this project

[Burnard]

Your acting like your bored

Saving weight is something i do when there is nothing else i have to do haha.

Guages are good, but isnt that going away from the standard look of the car?

[Kam]

Guages are good, but isnt that going away from the standard look of the car?

[Kam]

Are you ever gonna stop spending on this project

Touche mate, touche

[MJWarren]

Looks brill mate, i like the trolley jack ive got one too! haha

Matt