105 replies to this topic

[Scholes2012]

lovely project mate and awesome mini I love the colour as mine is orange to and im tubbing my rear arches soon cant wait itll be sat on the floor lol
dean

Not tubbing it to slam it really, just be nice to not bottom out with four of us in it when we do L2B.

[mentalmini89]

haha yeah best not to bottom out the shocks that would not be a good idea lol
lovely mini though
dean

[Scholes2012]

Still on the drivers side arch... but the end is in sight, have welded the front half of the arch now, so need to dress the weld back then seam seal under the arch and the inside corners, and smooth the outer with a skim of filler. Oh and start all over again to do the passenger side.


Rear of the arch is dressed.


Front of the arch welded.


A teaser of things to come.

[Scholes2012]

The end is nigh... There is light at the end of the tunnel... finished the welding, and dressed back.



DA sanded the arch back and feathered the edge of the paint.


A skim of filler, just to fill the low points of the welding.

Would have like to get it sanded and primed today, but i'm pleased with the outcome so far.

[Scholes2012]

Well start a new job at an engineering firm tomorrow so thought i'd best get the Mini drivable again.


Seam sealed the arch and painted with under body seal.


Sprayed the wing with high build primer.


Though i'd test the paint that has been in the shed for 2 years on a place that was not gonna be as obvious as spraying the wing,
only have a hobby craft air brush but think the paint came out ok. (That's not orange peel, its the reflection of the gravel drive)
Shame about the state of the boot lip, another job i want to do is de-bumper the rear.

[mentalmini89]

great work as ever mate and i think debumpering the rear will look awesome
dean

[Scholes2012]

Well just finished my 1st week in the new job, and yes the time is 3:30 am, i'm working 3pm till 3am Monday to Thurs, so get the whole weekend free, not back in now till Monday 3pm. If things work out at this place it would be a great place to make shinny Mini bits on there 11 cnc's.
Anyhoo. Tango let me down on my 2nd day at work, not sure whats wrong but there is just no power, if you put your foot down, it just goes WAAARP and sound like the exhaurst is blowing, but it's not, got it booked into SMC on Monday so hope it's an easy fix, L2B is not far off now Well night all off to bed.

[Scholes2012]

BOOM... its the head gasket blowing between Two and Three, would have loved to be able to say yeah fix it, but don't have the money,
so expect pic's and questions in the next few days. Off to work soon but at least i know somewhere to get the head skimmed if it needs it.

Edited by Scholes2012, 11 April 2011 - 11:28 AM.

[Scholes2012]

Radiator drained, Exhaust off, Inlet manifold off, Thermostat housing engine steady off, rocker assembly off and finally the head's off,
Sleaford Mini's had it bang on, gone between Two and Three.









The guys at work are not an engine specialist but have checked the head and reckon i'll be ok just to clean the face and refit the head.
Got a Payne gasket set from Sleaford Mini's because the last one was a local mart part from Joe Bloggs,
so hoping that was part of the reason for it going.
I took an exhaust valve out because i didn't really check to see if it had unleaded valve seats, last time i had the head off, but glad to say it has.

So hope to have the head back on by Friday, and get on with tubbing the passenger arch. Nite all.

Edited by Scholes2012, 14 April 2011 - 03:32 AM.

[MiniLandy]

Sorry to hear it let you down mate.

I had to do the head gasket on mine the other day, got the whole job done in about an hour and a half.

I'd also say that part of the reason your head gasket went is because your fuelling's too lean (that's why mine went).

Make sure you have the right needle on for your state of tune, and maybe richen the mixture slightly

Good luck

[mini_mad69]

On the 1275 engines when the gasket goes, it seems to always be between those 2 cylinders. I've done a couple, mine was due to an air leak, and running too lean.


Car looks great anyway mate.

Edited by mini_mad69, 14 April 2011 - 12:01 PM.

[Scholes2012]

Sorry to hear it let you down mate.

I had to do the head gasket on mine the other day, got the whole job done in about an hour and a half.

I'd also say that part of the reason your head gasket went is because your fuelling's too lean (that's why mine went).

Make sure you have the right needle on for your state of tune, and maybe richen the mixture slightly

Good luck

On the 1275 engines when the gasket goes, it seems to always be between those 2 cylinders. I've done a couple, mine was due to an air leak, and running too lean.


Car looks great anyway mate.

Didn't take too long to strip down, you kind of used to taking three things off to get at the one you want.
Sleaford Mini's changed the needle when the did the rolling road dyno, if anything i would say it was running rich, stinks of petrol, and the plugs are very sooty.

[Scholes2012]

Had a set of pressed rockers that I got off Ebay for 99p, so got some offset bushes from Jonspeed racing, and a thick walled shaft from Mini spares, figured it was worth seeing what happens when i get it dyno'd again.



stripped down.


Offset bush. Some handy kit at work.

Edited by Scholes2012, 17 April 2011 - 04:10 PM.

[Scholes2012]

Cracked on with getting the head back on, but found a worrying mark in bore 1.


will see what comes out in the oil, have a feeling the oil ring may be gone or on it's way out, been having a bit of oil blow thru the oil filler cap,
but though it was just to do with the head gasket.

Any how...


Payen gasket set.


Exhaust face cleaned up.




Gaskets on.


Head on.


Dropped the bolt for the air filter cover... Doh.


Can't do much more because i left the rocker set in the car and the Mrs is not back till 7:30pm, need to remember to put the push rods in, might go and do it now.

Edited by Scholes2012, 15 April 2011 - 04:43 PM.

[Scholes2012]

All torqued down, rocker gaps reset, fired up 1st time. just need to get it dyno'd again, see if the rocker bush's have made any difference?