27 replies to this topic

[kjwithers]

Hi everyone, like most of you I love minis and have owned several. After buying a new style mini i've always wanted to have a weekend toy. I've finally gone and bought a shell and to start with there is a lot of panels that need sorting, doors etc. It's a 1989 shell and was only £100 so i'm very pleased.

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I've also bought an engine 5PW with throttle bodies, loom, ecu, starter and pretty much all ancillaries for a brilliant £400. Only thing it didn't have was voltage regulator, got one for £40 on the bay. After an enjoyable evening of loom labelling I stripped all the unwanted wiring and the next day hooked it up. Initially it wouldnt go, then i realised the gyro switch was facing down.

Once i rectified that, the engine turned over slightly but would stop, i removed the spark plugs to inspect and found that oil had leaked into one of the chambers and locked the cylinder, probably from being stored on its side before i purchased it. A quick blip in the starter was enough to shoot most of the oil through the plug hole and free the cylinder.

I've read on other forums that people have trouble getting the engine to fire, however i was pleased that once the engine was turning over, all plugs were firing. I could select all the gears and the clutch seems to operate fine. At some point i will be stripping the motor down for a clean and paint.

Can anyone recommend a good engine block cleaner?

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I made a bit of a bodge spit but it does the job beautifully. Im going to add some castors and a locking device. Not sure how yet. A length of rope seems to do the job fine. So far i've been mostly chopping out rust, although i'm mindful that i will need to brace the car prior to removing the floors etc.

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With the intention of having a flipfront, i've removed the poorly fitted and rusty front end.

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I bought a pair of doors for £16 but they were in a bit of a state, i've removed the skins and i'm awaiting new ones.

As for now this is as far as i've got. Im trying to do this on a bit of a budget so if anyone has any spares going or a promotive kit for sale please let me know. I live in Somerset not too far from Bath. Hoping to complete the car ready for Combe in Sept 2014.

Wish me luck

Thanks

Kyle

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[kjwithers]

So after a few weekends in the garage I have made some progress, aided by an inspirational visit to castle combe! I took my new Mini on the track and was astonished at how quick the classic ones are! One in particular belonging to the malvern mini club, all black and the last initials on reg were KYT. Id be interested to know what engine this car was running if anyone has any information????!!!

The trip to castle combe with a wad of cash paid dividends, I managed to buy some new panels including door skins, frame repair, rear valance and closing panels, fibreglass boot floor from Arc Angels, heel board repair panels and bot floor repair.

I tackled the healboard panels first knowing id work backwards to the boot floor. Im going to fit a fibreglass boot floor so it was only a repair needed. I chopped back the bodger and badger over sills and began to expose the heal boards. Measured and cut to size then welded. The problem I had was where the panels met !towards the bottom of the wheel arch, there was a lot of rust and clean metal was completely absent!

Made a little trolley for my welder, got a new gas one, was struggling with no-gas!

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Enough waffel more pics!

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Does this count as a rolling chassis?
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Stripped and rebuild radius arms with some hammerite black. Lots of new shiney bits!
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So just awaiting more parts and more time, trying to decide on a colour scheme too, probably mk1 style.

Kyle

[kjwithers]

1

Edited by kjwithers, 18 November 2012 - 04:59 PM.

[kjwithers]

2

Edited by kjwithers, 18 November 2012 - 05:01 PM.

[pauly_denham]

Good Luck with the project!! Looks good! I hope to start mine next year sometime!

[kjwithers]

Thanks paul, need all the encouragement i can get! After years of seeing other peoples projects come together, i eventually just thought stuff it! Lets do this thing!

[pauly_denham]

Haha thats the way to do it!! Im still saving for mine and planning it! Just keeps getting more expensive! I just want better stuff all the time!

[Will]

Nice project Kyle! Keep up the good work!

[kjwithers]

Thanks Will! I braved the cold winds and heavy showers today, got a fair amount done. I made a bit of a school boy error and left my welding gas on from last weekend, so started the day by buying a new bottle doh!

I got around to fitting the rear valance today, I don't have a spot welder so i drilled lots of holes to plug weld.


Applied some weld through zinc primer


Then plug welded into place


Dressed back the welds


and if by magic!


Not wanting to leave something unfinished as i normally do, i made a start with the closing panels, i think in hindsight i should have welded these to the valance first as it was very awkward, hey ho! Drilled for plug welding again.


Before welding into place, I seam sealed the valance and painted with some weld through primer. Not sure what other people do, i thought it best to keep water tight, but maybe i wont keep out all the moisture and should drill some drain hole. Then again i dont want water to intrude through the holes?!!!


Tacked into place


Plugged and seam welded on the inside, its a bit shoddy but i intend on pasting with seam sealer so it wont be seen anyway.


I dressed the spot welds that will be visible from the wheel arch and went crazy with the seam sealer!


Repeated with the other side and now time for a big cup of tea!

Kyle

Edited by kjwithers, 24 November 2012 - 06:39 PM.

[kjwithers]

If anyone is looking for a prmotive frame, there is one going on ebay at the moment but it doesn't have the reverse gearbox and looks quite tired. it comes with two engines but he's not willing to split the auction unfortunately.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a26518890

[kjwithers]

A quick technical question, i want an engine start button and thinking about removing the normal column barrel and lock. Placing a key switch on the dash. Would this affect MOT or do you need a steering lock to operate? If so I will just keep the key and barrel. Im also thinking of chopping the steering column and putting in UJ so i can angle the steering down further. Of course this will be done by my local machine shop as its a critical part. Has anyone had experience with this or tried themselves?

Kyle

[kjwithers]

Ok so lots of research and i've stumbled upon this


As long as vehicle was first used pre 2001 and there is an alternative immobiliser (i'll be fitting electronic) its cool! So im going to modify an early column. Spot on! Info found here http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_210.htm

[kjwithers]

Happy new year everyone! Im pretty pleased i had 2 weeks off over christmas, and so i've managed to get into the garage for a bit. I started with my new Arc Angels boot floor piece, simple enough, cut out the boot floor and voila. I will need to drill some holes and bolt into place, maybe some sealer. This will support my custom fuel tank so may need to brace it further down the line.




I then started work on the flitch panels, N/S was quite bad where the a-panel joins so just replaced the hinge and lip sections.

Removed underseal and paint with wire brush on grinders

drilled the spot welds on hinge, cut down the gap between the hinge and door surround panels, then pulled it off.

Then i offered up the new panel, lined up the hinge bolts and bolted them together for alignment.

I then sprayed the back of the panel to outline the repair area in the footwell.

works quite well...

offered the newly cut panel up. DOH. in my usual haste to get things done, i cut the hinge section too short!

welded it back together and recut!

One thing i noticed was that the ridge in the footwell seems to be back to front, anyone else noticed this?
Before i attended to the flitch panel, i used the opportunity to repair the check strap section. Luckily id already bought this panel as an off-cut from somerford mini spares. I think the previous owner probably ground through it and didn't both to repair it.

It was very awkward but managed to get cut it out, didnt want to replace too much, in hindsight i should probably have replaced the whole panel as it was even more awkward to weld! I left the seam where it joins the windscreen panel, adding a new scuttle repair anyway.

New piece cut to size and offered up.

botch some weld in there

This really did grind me down, I ground too much down, rewelded and kept blowing through! It got worse and worse, i wish id just left it lol.

Bit of zinc to keep it from ever happening again!


I decided to cut out the oversill and inner sill while i was there and this is what i found to my horror!

Its not an issue because i was going to replace floors, sills and cross member anyway.

I've finished one flitch and just need to weld the other in the morning! Too dark now!

[kjwithers]

Anyone had a go at building their own subframe? Using a chain driven diff same as lynx? Would be a lot cheaper!

[kjwithers]

I've been very motivated lately, to stay in bed with the electric blanket and hot water bottle. My passion for sleep is affecting my build but I managed a few hours this week. I thought id start with the floors, I bought full length half floors with sills and jacking points pre welded, they're well made and the anoraks out there will notice the 4 flutes instead of 6. It's a mk1/2 floor which for some reason was much cheaper, and its all somerford had in stock at the time!

You may notice i didn't both to brace the cockpit, i just figured it would be easier to line it all up this way and its worked fine so far. Initially i was going to do the floor then the door step, i'm glad i didn't as the door step made lining the floor up a lot easier.

so started by chopping a whopping great hole.


Then drilled the spot welds out, this was a ball ache made easier by sharpening the spot drill every so often!


Luckily it wasn't too rusty underneath, a quick wire brush and weld thru primed. Removing the heel board section was probably one of the worst things i've had to do in life. Even worse than doing stop and go in the pouring rain with a t'shirt for company (2 weeks ago).



It worked out easier to do the door step first, i should have measured the door aperture first, this is where the bracing may have helped. Fortunately there are some features on the panel that i could use to align the door step properly. I bought an extended step panel as it was a much better fit than the other crap i looked at!







Door step in place, i then fitted the floor to see what prep work i needed to do and best way to fit etc.


Its a nice fit, still some gaps in the heel board ends, i'll just have to weld these up i guess.


Big gap near heel board!


So i drilled two holes through and through and bolted them together closing the gap.


The floor prepped up, 8mm holes drilled along the width of the sill seam, toe board and heel board as per original.


Also drilled some plugs for the heel subframe support bracket.


Didnt want to drill too close to the outter lip and end up blowing through, instead i went too close to the inside!


Door step lip was quite a bit longer so I had to bring it into line!



Plug welded the heel board, looks like it caught fir a few times!



plug welded to door step, was very happy with the penetration here.


Likewise im happy with the toeboard penetration too.


I did my best to butt weld the floor to tunnel but im not totally happy.... Que. excuses.... My SIP 150 welder doesnt feed wire consistently, it was getting dark, my gas was running out, it was freezing bloody cold, dinner was ready.....
Anyway im going to reweld on the inside as penetration wasnt great.


Inside



Other floor to do and thats its, oh and some wheels......