853 replies to this topic

[Mini 360]

And after 15mins in the blast cabinet...

Best tool I've ever bought!

[zeemax89]

Hiya,  love your rebuild thread.  Can you tell me if the fixed rear windows will fit in the opening window aperture?  Ie remove the opening rear windows and replace with fixed

Update!

Had the whole weekend off work so got some odds and ends done on the project.

First up was gluing the front of the headlining in place with help from my mum. Leaving it for a few days to properly set and grip.

Then I got round to sorting a cross threaded brake union. Bought a flaring tool and lots of spare unions just incase I need to do more in the future on my fleet of cars.

Then with the help of my dad the brakes were bled using the tried and tested Gunson Eezibleed kit. Brilliant system!

I also made some adjustable height brackets from scratch for mounting the plate. The plate can be moved up or down about 1-2cm each way which will be good for MOT day Im sure! Properly happy with the look of it as it hides the quite large back box perfectly.



Its held to the brackets by my LED plate bolts. Very clever idea!



Also got my tinted non opening rear windows brand new from P&L Minis. So thats my set complete!



And a special shout out to my mum for making this rear seat!



Fully homemade in vinyl and fake suede with diamond stitching. It looks AWESOME!



Next up is finishing off the tank, installing it after I work out a practical way of mounting it and then try and finally tackle the electrics to fire the beast into life for the first time!

[Mini 360]

 

Hiya,  love your rebuild thread.  Can you tell me if the fixed rear windows will fit in the opening window aperture?  Ie remove the opening rear windows and replace with fixed

Words and stuff

 

The actual metal aperture is the same on all Minis.  The only difference is you need openiong/non opening seals to fit those apertures. Non opening has less chance of leaks in my opinion.

[zeemax89]

 

 

Hiya,  love your rebuild thread.  Can you tell me if the fixed rear windows will fit in the opening window aperture?  Ie remove the opening rear windows and replace with fixed

Words and stuff

 

The actual metal aperture is the same on all Minis.  The only difference is you need openiong/non opening seals to fit those apertures. Non opening has less chance of leaks in my opinion.

 

Thanks for your help.  I have always thought the fixed type should seal better.  I assume the glass is different too?

[Mini 360]

 

 

 

Hiya,  love your rebuild thread.  Can you tell me if the fixed rear windows will fit in the opening window aperture?  Ie remove the opening rear windows and replace with fixed

Words and stuff

 

The actual metal aperture is the same on all Minis.  The only difference is you need openiong/non opening seals to fit those apertures. Non opening has less chance of leaks in my opinion.

 

Thanks for your help.  I have always thought the fixed type should seal better.  I assume the glass is different too?

 

Yeh non opening has larger panes.  Opening have metal surrounds.

[Mini 360]

Long overdue update!

 

Well, I've still got a job somehow (oil industry sucks!) but with the R53 needing discs/pads/callipers all round, funds are lower than your grannies nipples and Trig isn't seeing any of them! However, I gave the old boy a wash today to get rid of storage dust etc. Cleans up ok but looks terrible in the metal. Needs a decent machine polish to get him right again. Sitting in storage with dust/hands/fingers being drawn all over him hasn't been kind to the paint....

 

Got a set of split rims I need to sell to make space for a gearbox rebuild to start. Got the original 998cc box with daft final drive in it, so rather than when the engine any box out and take up precious floor space, I am planning on ripping apart the spare box, seeing what needs replaced, then rebuilding it to my ideal spec. No straight cut gears as the car is used for long distance to shows up and down the country but looking at 3.44 final drives for a mix of acceleration and cruising at reasonable revs. When the engine comes out, I'm redoing the engine bay top to bottom as the paintwork on the ancillaries hasn't lasted any length of time and really lets the whole car down. Im sure it would be passable but its not to my standard...

 

But anyhow, hers the beastie after a quick wash 

 

 

MASSIVE list of bits I want for the car but they will have to wait until i know for definite my job is secure for the long term. If the oil price jumped up by 2-300% that would be great....!

[gadget555]

Know the feeling about job cuts! just managed to keep mine with Amec FW by 5 points in a scoring process.

[Carvell]

Hello,

What splits have you got?

Thanks

[Mini 360]

Know the feeling about job cuts! just managed to keep mine with Amec FW by 5 points in a scoring process.

Looks like my job is safe but my wage will be getting cut

 

Hello,

What splits have you got?

Thanks

They arent Mini splits sadly (or I would be fitting them to Trig!) but for anyone with 5x114.3 jap fitment wheels, please get in touch to buy some super rare wheels haha!

[Mini 360]

Well I still have no spare money buuuut I felt sorry for the car sitting there unloved and unused and as its till insured I want to get it back on the road.... The main thing keeping it off the road is the gearbox. It jumps out of 2nd (common fault) struggles to go into third and jumps out of 4th (which isn't fun when you're cruising at 80mph and the revs suddenly start screaming!).

Thankfully I have the original box that was attached to the 1275 (using the box from the 998cc engine at the moment) which has a fault where it wont select 1st or 2nd, which I think is down to a selctor fork/shaft issue.

So last night I started stripping the spare box to see whats going on inside and to get a list of parts to replace, as I want this to be an 'as new' build. 

Looks pretty ropey having sat in a plastic bag round the back of my parents shed for about 3yrs, however all the oily bits are rust free which is surprising!



Diff housing looks like moisture has crept in between the metal and the paint, hence the bubbling.







Drop gears are in good condition with no signs of wear so these can be reused.  Did consider switching to straight cut drops for all of two seconds.  The use the car gets is mainly long drives to shows etc so noise being reduced rather than increased is a nicer idea.  Although straight cut drops do sound epic....



Pretty sure these markings refer to the box casing rather than whats inside it but you never know.  Im going to clean up the cast marks on this as well as it looks rough as *******.



Speedo drive full of crap.  Thankfully the gear that connects with this is plastic so this crap wouldnt have been crushed too badly or caused much damage but still...pretty bad.

Bottom of the casing/sump.  Lots of debris in it.  



This was rattling around in the sump...hence why I couldnt select 1st or 2nd. 





I guess a 25yr old cast metal part is allowed to fatigue over time.  Pretty clean shear as well.  Hopefully a cheap part new or second hand if not.



The end bearing on the drop gear side was broken although still spun freely, the plastic had cracked for reasons unknown.



Speedo drive housing was a state so I set about blasting it clean again.  Just need to scrape off the remaining gaskets and then reblast it.









Removed the diff as well but hands were oily so didnt get any pics of that.  Need to count the teeth to confirm what ratio of final drive it is.

Enjoyed getting back into Mini stuff for a change.  Hoping to get the box fully stripped over the weekend for inspection and then get the casings off for powdercoating. :)

[Mini 360]

Fully disassembled the gearbox last night and started going through cleaning and blasting everything today. Looks like it's in good condition throughout, minus the broken collar on the selector pin. Planning on replacing a few common fault parts like bearings and potentially a cross pin diff (to future proof the box if I do eventually modify the engine too).

 

With the box locked in both 1st and 4th gear it meant I could remove gears without the shafts spinning freely.

 

The bearing on the end of the mainshaft was a pain in the arse to remove as I didn't have a bearing puller at the time. Bought one now which helped on other ones. The nut behind this needs a 1-1/8 socket but as nowhere in Aberdeen seems to sell imperial stuff anymore (tried 5 different motor factors), I had to get a 29mm from Gibbs which did the job. Had to stand on the gearbox and use a bit of old exhaust pipe to apply enough torque to get it off though.

 

 

Here's the selector pin collar in all its sheared glory

 

 

 

This should be symmetrical. Turns out this is a ridiculously rare failure and the part is now obsolete so I will have to source a decent used one instead of buying new.

 

 

All parts removed and disassembled awaiting cleaning

 

 

Cleaned the inside of the box with Autosmart Tardis which made light work of the years of oil, grease and debris that had collected inside it.

 

 

And I started to remove the casting marks from the box for a smoother final finish to help future cleaning and gives nicer finish when the Powdercoat is applied.

 

 

Hoping to have the engine removed sometime this week so I can get ancillaries off and stripped ready for coating as well to hopefully get a bulk buying discount.

[Mini 360]

My overpriced and totally pointless titanium bolts arrived after a short delay due to broken tooling. They are ace.





Will give them a polish up before fitting 

 

Got some time to get stuck into this last night again.  Still smoothing casting marks from the gearbox casing but as that is boring to do I started to strip the bay ready to remove the engine.

 

Heres the current state of the enginebay.....what I would call a complete mess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also diagnosed my **** ride quality issue.  Suspension cones have collapsed.  Set of new ones are only £160 which isnt bad as they have lasted 7yrs.

 

 

Obviously had to take the exhaust manifold off and its turned a lovely shade of rainbow with the heat.  Polishes up bonny too.

 

 

 

All that remains is to drop the fluids, disconnect the driveshafts and its ready to rip out.  That will mean I can get the other casings from the flywheel/clutch side, along with lots of other bits, powdercoated at the same time.

 

 

Got a list of gearbox parts I need so will try and get them ordered after payday.

 

 

Feels great to be working on the actual car again.  Lots of ideas developing as I go so should be good fun 

[slidehammer]

Looking good, you're mum has done a fantastic job on those seat covers.

[Mini 360]

Looking good, you're mum has done a fantastic job on those seat covers.

 

Thanks!  She's got skills.  Retiring thematic forever but results speak for themselves.

[blueovalcraig]

Just read from start to finish. Great job. Hopefully see u at a thistle run in the not too distant future