53 replies to this topic

[cityspeed]

My front subframe was a little off!
At least someone welded a plate where it was cracked but it's not straight so its been welded solid in a bent position.....

[cityspeed]

Replacement sourced locally from Smudger068,and a new gear linkage as mine was a little bent from a pheasant going under the car,



Just ordered new door hinges from minispares I had a set from Huddersfield last week and had to send them back so much lateral play could have made a better pair myself!

I've decided on upol Raptor for the underbody protection, it arrived but that also had to be sent back, as it was black and I need the tintable version, going to turn it green to semi match the original stuff

[James_eaton_thewholething]

How big was the pheasant ?

[cityspeed]

How big was the pheasant ?

I wasn't driving it was Matt the previous owner, but he was driving spiritedly down a lane, apparently it made a run for it, didn't quite make it ended up hitting the grill then going under the car, he had just fitted the gas lowered dampers and hi-los and it was set up low at the front so that properly decreased the very small gap between ground and gear linkage.
Must have been solid as it poped out of gear for a second apparently the whole linkage moved up, and he had to pull over and hit it down to get it back in gear, it got straighted on a ramp and a shiny new sumpgurd was fitted to help deflect any future birds.

[cityspeed]

Front subframe undergoing treatment


Picked up some flitch repair panels from minispares,
Gave the underside a brush down then took some photos before I get stuck in next weekend getting all the undersill and old waxoil off.

[cityspeed]

Collected my new engine and a few other bits from smudger068 as he has upgraded to Micra power his old MG metro 1275 was laying around :), after firing it up in his workshop was the first time I had heard a mini for 3 years+ ,lots of enthusiasm now! Very happy with it

I decided to go down the carb route as Donald was nothing but trouble with the SPI system, and original engine now needs a rebuild which will get done over time.

I now have this replacement, and a mpi + SPI engine in bits and 2 spare gearboxes, keeping my options open+ tempted by VTEC in the future...!

Edited by cityspeed, 01 February 2017 - 01:33 PM.

[cityspeed]

Opened up one of my sills today


Found, some rust, a spitfire????! And I'm 3 pence richer



The front was a bit of a plated Afair rather than the more common oversill, so I think I'm lucky as I didn't find much in the cavity, they must have cut outer sill off and made it flat so it was easy to plate.






Keeping the flitch in place for now as a reference,
Jacking point was bad couldn't find the spot welds, it just fell apart
Think I'm going to loose the slinging brackets, might make some little gussets to replace them for added strength,

Tomorrow I'm finishing the bracing , removing the rear bins, marking out cut lines for inner sill / and driver side floor pan,
Might get the other other sill off tomorrow to as I need to see if I need a pair of door steps or just one as I haven't ordered any.

Edited by cityspeed, 17 November 2016 - 09:07 PM.

[cityspeed]

Rear bins removed



I also chopped down the rear seat base by a few inches but have left enough to fold a lip,
I've kept the centre of it so the cushions can still be fitted for aesthetic purposes, copied the idea of another thread on here but can't remember who's, I also plan to fit a brace bar , some seat belt mounting points + tidy the rear bin area up somehow as they will be staying out so cage is easier to remove.

Bracing nearly finished,

[cityspeed]

Front floorpan hole in progress ,

Nearly forgot the battery cable bracket

Glad I removed it looked ok on top

Spent rest of the day scaping waxoil and seam sealer off the floor wishing I had done this all first as its so messy, but I wanted to avoid doing it in area I would be cutting out anyway...
Doorsteps should be arrive over xmass so hopefully won't hold me up to much ,
Season's greetings all, have a good one!

Edited by cityspeed, 03 February 2017 - 08:16 PM.

[cityspeed]

I was going to patch the toe-board but after looking more at the seam where it attaches to bulkhead I bit the bullet and headed down to minispares to pick up a heritage panel,

[cityspeed]

Been scraping/ sanding now and then since boxing day,
Covering with etch primer, but all will be removed in summer for a epoxy coat.


I have about 5 holes to patch near the tunnel,


One was easy with no flute to worry about just a bit curved


First, sloppy weld!


Dressed, using new dremel :)


Onto the fluted ones, I recycled a piece from my front floorpan

Edited by cityspeed, 06 January 2017 - 10:13 AM.

[cityspeed]

Dusted over my work both sides, as I had to pack up for the night, I also got a bit heavy handed when dressing and notched the flute (see last photo) but nothing another few blobs of weld + more dressing won't sort!
I also did the pin hole test with the torch and had one!
Penetration was good overall, I think on my first patch I my gap was too small , second went a bit easier.

On Sunday, it's rear subframe jig, more scraping, patching,dressing welds,+ finishing off removing all the clips on the floor I'm not using any more,
Hope to fit this lot to the driver's side next week:
M Machine inner sill to first flute
Heritage outer sill
M Machine rear subframe mounting bracket / repair
Heritage, closing pannel for above
M machine, rear quarter lower repair
Magnum, Doorstep.........
Magnum Front Floorpan (injection)but has shorter flute
Magnum flitch repair
Heritage Toeboard

Edited by cityspeed, 03 February 2017 - 08:17 PM.

[Rocket.]

Nice work !

[blueovalcraig]

Great work.  Looking good.

[cityspeed]

This was slow going, lots of waxoil , but was happy to find a entire patch of good floor,
However Some one must have used slinging bracket for a jacking point, fortunately the M machine inner sill sorts this.

I do intend to use this part of the floor for the fuel line as original.
Iv'e saved the injection pipe clips and Toeboard guard specific for the injection shells, even though I'm running a carb :)
I'm trying to minimise parts that could get snagged so brake lines and battery cable are going inside, however I don't like the thought of fuel inside

Edited by cityspeed, 01 February 2017 - 01:36 PM.