9736 replies to this topic

[944turbo]

Well it's been a long time coming but at last got my sons mini onto 10"rims and changed his leather motolita to a wooden one,few more bits to sort then ready for the show season.

Attached Files

•  001.jpg   54.73K   17 downloads
•  007.jpg   61.01K   17 downloads

[alex-95]

more welding, pretty much finished the drivers side on the Ritz.

[Ripple]

Productive day for me...

Washed, polished, had a cuppa, cleaned seats (nasty stains from previous owner. eurgh) cleaned carpets, cleaned windows, had a cuppa, fitted new stereo, found swimming pool in passenger footwell, had a swim then drained pool, argued with wooden dash that refuses to clip back with stupid little ratchet in the middle, lacerated back of hand, shouted, swore, had a fag and another cuppa, removed nasty Union Flag vinyl from boot along with a lot of lacquer, swore some more and had more fags and tea

Now I'm deciding how to spend the remainder of the cash I got selling my bike that i have left after buying the mini... Any suggestions how to spend £1250???

[charie t]

lifted the bonnet, kicked it, stood on it, drew a hole on it, walked away from it

[Alex_B]

Around having to go to work from 1-5 I have managed to put my head back on, torqued down, waterpump back on, rad back in, then welded on the front end, started on changing the tie rods and then it went dark, but that didnt stop me ;)

[madboy]

I thought about my mini being stuck in the mechanics with a cover over it ,waiting for it to be put back together ,only problem is they have lost one of my straight cut gears, and now I have to wait for a new one aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhhhj

[miniyellowmini]

Fitted a new rod change seal yesterday making my Mini leak free (hopefully!!) Today I changed the oil and fitted an internal bonnet release, wired in the radio that I removed to fit my walnut dash last weekend. Then went to get fuel - a good excuse to take it for a drive really!

[Badboytunes]

Did a nice little 200+ mile round trip to the Lincoln Mini show. Stopped off to help a fellow classic owner who was having electrical issues.

[iwatkins]

Had a total Mini week this week. Back to work tomorrow, ahh, peace and quiet and no sore back...

So, as of this evening, over a week, I managed:

1. All electrics working and upgraded slightly. Basically removed all bodged connections, i.e. using duct tape to hold two wires together, ScotchLocs etc. also removed all the nasty wiring left in from previous gauges, stereos etc.
2. New rad, cap, heater matrix, heater tap (replacing inline valve) and cable and silicone hoses in place after rebuilding the heater box, moved matrix outlets to passenger side and painted with new foam seals and fresh vinyl covered front panel.
3. Thermo housing, ultimate steady bar, top rad bracket, rad cowl and water pump pulley all cleaned and painted and refitted with steady getting new bushes and a new fan belt. Fan got a good clean and was put back on the right way around
4. New rear fog light added on proper bracket.
5. Previous owner had reskinned the doors but had fitted the window winder regulators on the wrong sides, so pulled all that out, cleaned and the greased, new seals, refitted and caulked to remove rattles. Windows now go up and down with equal effort.
6. Prepped for new door cards including making solid mounts for new internal door handles.
7. Gave in and popped down to local ATS to get exhaust dropped so I could get new reverse switch in. Exhaust then refitted. Now have reverse lights. At last. (As is typical, the filter to carb fuel hose decided to collapse at this point and spent an hour to get back home, all of 300 yards).
8. Took the HS4 carb apart and rebuilt it. Only needed a few seals and a total clean. Had to destroy a dashpot screw to get it apart as it was messed up, but worth it. All cleaned, refitted with new gaskets and a new K&N cone filter and stub stack. Actually scored a cheap, professionally rebuilt HS4 to put on but saving that for tuning work in a few weeks, post MoT.
9. Upper and lower dash rails removed, cleaned up, holes filled, other repairs made, degreased ready for new vinyl covers. Then glued on new covers from Optimise Automotive (OA), they really look excellent. Black vinyl with red stitching, really impressed with the fit. Not refitted yet, doing interior in one go.
10. Pulled door cards and rear cards, pulled mats, carpets and underlay. Then scrapped all the bloody glue and tape that had been used.
11. Made new parcel shelf cover out of hardboard, 6mm scrim foam and matching vinyl from OA.
12. Test fitted rear cards and front door cards, again from OA.
13. Spent many hours making a dash from scratch from 6mm MDF including a tilted mount for 2 clocks dash. Again, covered in 6mm scrim and OA vinyl. Not fitted yet but test fitted.
14. Rear brake line and battery cable run internally. Reseated the brake line as a few clips had come loose but battery cable had two joins, so that is being scrapped and replaced. Got some Hi Flex cable coming and a kill switch that'll be boot mounted for a bit more security.
15. Freed off handbrake cables and seized quads, regreased it all and now have a handbrake that'll stop the car over a more than 1 degree slope. (MoT requirement)
16. Fitted small smoked LED repeaters under the door mirrors and got them wired in (MoT requirement).
17. Fitted new brake reservoir level sensor cap and brake test switch. Built new loom for all of it after making a new earth under the bonnet. All working nicely. (MoT requirement)
18. Removed all the cables that had run under the carpet. Most was stereo stuff but one line was a power feed to the boot mounted Facet pump. So that wire was replaced after putting in some clips to hold it clear of seats and any foot traffic.
19. Cleaned floor, all hoovered out and so was the boot.
20. Fitted a new DPDT rocker switch to rear fog light panel. Into this was wired the switched reverse light feed and the switched horn feed. Cables were then run to the boot and under the bonnet. In position 1, the normal high tone disc horn goes off when you hit the horn button on the left stalk and if you select reverse the normal reverse lights come on. In position 2, the under bonnet "turkey" air horns (via a relay) come on when you hit the left stalk button ("turkey" are the air horns you'll hear from team cars on the Tour De France) and the rear mounted Lucas style spot light comes on (via a relay). Neat way to switch between "Road" and "Show".
21. While the interior was out and no battery in the car, the whole interior got degreased and the glass was cleaned multiple times.
22. Multitude of other jobs you find while going along. And yet another order into MiniSpares....

So next two weeks after work and weekends, I need to run a new battery cable and fit newly covered dash rails, new dash, new cards, underlay, carpets and mats. And then refit the seats and off for the MoT.

After that, the engine bay gets lots of work especially the wiring and cleaning.

Phew. From the week I have a badly lacerated knee from kneeling on the handbrake bracket and bloody knuckles, two broken nails and the rest full of grease and dirt. On the flip side, the car is much better now and I love it even more.

Cheers

Ian

Edited by iwatkins, 14 April 2013 - 11:02 PM.

[stevedx]

Drove it yesterday in the lead procession of the Brighton Marathon, along with 11 others from Brighton Mini Club, it was awesome!

The whole 26 miles, clapping, waving,cheering, and high fiving out the window, to the waiting crowds!

[Hrimfaxi]

This was yesterday, but anywho...

Found a self-destruct button.
Went for first blast around kent B roads :)
Topped radiator up and hit head on the bonnet catch.

[Ripple]

hit head on the bonnet catch.

Who hasn't !!!

[pierres]

Fitted my ford puma seats in the mini, front and back, so much comfort now

Edited by pierres, 15 April 2013 - 01:49 PM.

[Ipod]

Swapped one front wheel to the rear, as its buckled

want to buy new rims for my Mpi sportpack... I'll add them to the list

[Rayy]

Gave Mavis a second coat of polish and squirted Bilt Hamber aerosol wax under her seam covers and around bumpers. Got depressed by the little bits of corrosion I noticed.

Edited by Rayy, 15 April 2013 - 04:13 PM.