236 replies to this topic

[Mincento]

Good project and its nice to see a proper clubman being restored i soo miss mine, yours does in deed look like it was bodged heavily but alot of people seem to be doing that lately and doing a good paint job to cover it which seems silly in my eyes

Mini in the park is on 20th august 2006 so hopefully youl have it done by then?

keep up the good work your doing a brilliant job so far

wayne

[sherly]

Good project and its nice to see a proper clubman being restored i soo miss mine, yours does in deed look like it was bodged heavily but alot of people seem to be doing that lately and doing a good paint job to cover it which seems silly in my eyes

Mini in the park is on 20th august 2006 so hopefully youl have it done by then?

keep up the good work your doing a brilliant job so far

wayne

Funny you should mention the paintwork - it had an awesome finish to it and it was a great colour - Ford Imperial Blue (as used on the Cosworths I believe). It just staggers me to think that all the time and money prepping it/painting it was wasted by not protecting any of the bodywork to actually make it last.

I found some photos of it when I had it on the road and it really did look good - it was just rotten underneath the paint and filler.

As for MITP2006 - I think I'll be lucky to make it. I might try and do the minimum to get an MOT (i.e. leave out interior trim etc) and then at least I can drive it home to work on the rest.

[ed4ran]

I might try and do the minimum to get an MOT (i.e. leave out interior trim etc) and then at least I can drive it home to work on the rest.

I did this with mine, and due to other commitments i havent really progressed with the interior, but it hasnt stopped me buying new bits to put on it, just need to get around to putting them on, which shouldnt be long till i have the time.

Really is looking good though, when i first saw the painted car (without seeing the work and preperation behind it) i thought you had just bought a new shell (just like the one in the mini mag).

[sherly]

I might try and do the minimum to get an MOT (i.e. leave out interior trim etc) and then at least I can drive it home to work on the rest.

Really is looking good though, when i first saw the painted car (without seeing the work and preperation behind it) i thought you had just bought a new shell (just like the one in the mini mag).

In hindsight I should've bought a new shell really - although because of the price of mini panels it wasn't very expensive, just very time consuming, and I've always been working on a budget.

The blaze clubman in Mini magazine is great - something for me to aim for. The price of the interior on that car is kinda scary though. It says he paid a grand for it in total.

[Mincento]

Funny you should mention the paintwork - it had an awesome finish to it and it was a great colour - Ford Imperial Blue (as used on the Cosworths I believe). It just staggers me to think that all the time and money prepping it/painting it was wasted by not protecting any of the bodywork to actually make it last.

I found some photos of it when I had it on the road and it really did look good - it was just rotten underneath the paint and filler.

As for MITP2006 - I think I'll be lucky to make it. I might try and do the minimum to get an MOT (i.e. leave out interior trim etc) and then at least I can drive it home to work on the rest.

Yes exactly what i mean ive been looking at a few minis for sale and the finnish looks original and clean but then you think why have they smoothed the wings into the scuttle and not anything else etc and you sloly realise its all bodged and yes imperial blue is the proper cossie colour

Can you host up the pics of it when you first had it

Mini in the park 06 is a close aim ill admit im hopefully going (have no mini but anyway) would be nice to see a clubby without a vtec they seem rare these days

good luck with the project its worth it in the end

wayne

[sherly]

Thought I'd better update my project page (seeing as it's been waaaay over a year since I added any info)

The project is taking a lot longer than first expected because (a) I'm a bit of a perfectionist so nothing is going back on the car until it's cleaned, painted or polished and (b) the car is in a workshop 75 miles from my home

Anyhow progress is being made slowly. Brakes are all refurbed and on the car incl. the MkII Fiesta front set up. Handbrake is installed and functioning. Pedal box has been removed. unsiezed, lubed up, painted and re-installed. Suspension is complete bar the front dampers & brackets.

Turbo engine is prepped and ready to go in (gaskets/seals changed and all clean and painted).

Stuff I'm working on at the moment (for the next trip back to the workshop) are transfer case, clutch, clutch cover/lever & mech and the gearchange rods + housing - all with the aim of getting the engine off the stand, bolting on all the new refurbed clean bits and dropping it into the shell. Wish me luck!

Some piccies:


Fiesta brakes


Cheers,
Mart

[ROD]

That looks very nice!

Edited by ROD, 27 July 2007 - 06:45 PM.

[clubman katie B.F]

good progress mate......my 71 GT is back on the road, taking her to SMD then straight to Nurburgring.

[sherly]

Managed to get another day working on the mini over the weekend - I had a load of parts to fit to the engine (which I had refurbed since my last trip to the workshop) and the intention was to get the engine fitted.

First little problem stopping me fitting the engine was a broken exhaust manifold stud

This was going to go one of two ways - either the whole day was going to be spent trying to get it out or it would come out within half an hour.

Luckily it was the latter A 5,5mm drill bit, an allen key and a pair of mole grips made light work of it......



Anyway this allowed me to progress onto fitting the flywheel housing, new clutch and flywheel, clutch cover, new clutch lever/slave cyl./bracket etc. At the other end the timing chain cover was refitted with a new gasket and new driveshaft and gear selector rod seals were fitted.

So after a good 5 hour stint I connected the lifting shackles and dangled the heavy lump over the front of my restored car and carefully lowered it into place.



Job done and well pleased.

I also refurbed the rod change assy but didn't get round to fitting it this weekend



Now onto the cooling system and generally concentrating on getting her running........

......unfortunately I discovered today that the turbo is fekked. My engine came from my boss' crashed metro and the collision was large enough for part of the centre casting on the turbo to be cracked and the turbo shaft to be bent
I've got a couple of spare turbos so hopefully I can rebuild one of them to a useable standard.

Mart

Edited by sherly, 13 August 2007 - 06:15 PM.

[sherly]

Thought it was about time I updated my project thread. I've been working on it for several weekends since the engine went back in, in August.

I've been concentrating on plumbing in the cooling system and sorting out all the engine ancilliaries.

Cooling wise I've gone for a front mounted early metro rad and associated pipework. There was a little cutting and shutting of the front end panelwork to get it to fit with enough clearance to the dizzy. This wont be an issue eventually as I intend to go for a megajolt setup once the car is MOTd and on the road.





I'm back working on the car this weekend - high on the priority list is to heatshield the bulkhead and then fit all the engine ancilliaries once and for all (and clean everything up). My aim is to have the engine running by xmas (turning the key over the 15th/16th Dec all being well!)

[sherly]

Heatshielding is a bit experimental - Bulkhead will be lined with heatproof mat, but I've also made up a sheet ally heatshield which will be spaced off the bulkhead. Hopefully the combination of the two should be quite effective.....



Any opinions welcome.......

Edited by sherly, 30 November 2007 - 01:11 PM.

[titchyteararse]

Thought it was about time I updated my project thread. I've been working on it for several weekends since the engine went back in, in August.

I've been concentrating on plumbing in the cooling system and sorting out all the engine ancilliaries.

Cooling wise I've gone for a front mounted early metro rad and associated pipework. There was a little cutting and shutting of the front end panelwork to get it to fit with enough clearance to the dizzy. This wont be an issue eventually as I intend to go for a megajolt setup once the car is MOTd and on the road.





I'm back working on the car this weekend - high on the priority list is to heatshield the bulkhead and then fit all the engine ancilliaries once and for all (and clean everything up). My aim is to have the engine running by xmas (turning the key over the 15th/16th Dec all being well!)

What more can i say,Keep up all the hard work.

[sherly]

Update - bit of a frustrating festive period regarding the getting the mini turbo engine running. Had a long stint on the car 2 weekends before xmas sorting out the long list of "small" jobs prior to turning the key. I was initially stumped by not having an ignition module for my dizzy. I had tried to use a spare metro dizzy that I have at the workshop which has the built in module but was scuppered by not having the correct clamp to tighten it in place. There was also an issue of not having the correct coil for electronic ignition (which I didn't realise at the time!)

The weekend before xmas I returned to the workshop after buying a pukka coil and an ign module with the intention of fitting them, getting a spark and firing the old girl up.

The first thing I managed to do was bust off one of the lugs on the coil (it's the type which has screw on terminals). I think it must have been a manufacturing defect as I was applying no force to the fixing. Anyway - I managed to cobble together a temporary connection to try and get a spark.

In turning over the engine it soon became evident that I had a pretty big fuel leak from the carb. Leaking to the point where the bores were filling with fuel....... So it was game over in respect to starting the car before xmas - I whippped the carb off and brought it back home to rebuild.

This is what I found when I removed the float chamber base....


Grim!

£50 later and freshly rebuilt over this weekend this is what it looks like now....


Also tried out the polishing kit that I got for xmas on the dashpot cover - not sure how long it'll last like this but it satisfies my OCD-like tendancies for cleanliness


So - back to the workshop next weekend to bolt it on a fire her up.............

......maybe

[Rhys]

I have a 1275 GT and that really does inspire me and i love the colour, as you did it yourself did you use proper equipment, air compressor and spray gun? The engine bay is awesome looks really good and clean. Good Job!

Rhys

[sherly]

I have a 1275 GT and that really does inspire me and i love the colour, as you did it yourself did you use proper equipment, air compressor and spray gun? The engine bay is awesome looks really good and clean. Good Job!

Rhys

I've done everything myself so far, regardless of past experience, just to further my skills and knowledge. I bought a second hand compressor fairly cheap, a half decent spray gun and had a crack at it. I'm really pleased with how it has come out. It's not A1 perfect by any stretch but it does looks great, even close up! It is starting to get dusty though - I really want to DRIVE it out of the workshop so I can give it a quick wash......hopefully very soon.

One job I'll probably bottle out of is retrimming the webasto roof - just because I want it finished and on the road now!