53 replies to this topic

[nuclear_mini]

That is one very nice van! I think I might have already saved a pic of it! Thanks mate

[nuclear_mini]

What a couple of days I've had. I feel as though I have made more progress in the past two days thane I have in the past 3 years!

Firstly, I need to say a massive thank you to my very good friend Garry, not only for the use of his workshop but also the time in helping and teaching me.

The past two days have seen the rebuild of my suspension and cleaning up of my subframes. Firstly I broke down the front subframe:




The front arms:


Pulling out the busted cones and trumpets:


The new top arm kit:


One of the arms after washing:


The arms and lower control arm pins bead blasted and etch primed:


The lower control arms, pins, arms and rear subframe mounts after etch priming:


The top arms after the kit has gone through them! They now move properly, hurray!

Edited by nuclear_mini, 30 December 2012 - 09:05 AM.

[nuclear_mini]

Then onto the rear arms... The rear arms were seized and a right pain to pull from the rear subframe, luckily I had bought kits for both arms.

One of the arms after being washed:


The rear arms etch primed after bead blasting:


We had to cut the old bushes out using a die grinder, cold chisels and a hammer:


Pressing the new bush in:


And here it is:


In goes the new plastic sleeve, you can just make out an additional lip:


The new needle roller bearing:


Ancient, but very good reamers. A lot of care was taken to ensure that no swarf got into the new needle bearing. Unfortunately we have to do it this way round as the reamer was just too thin on the needle bearing end (without it in place) to ensure it would be reamed straight.


And here are the two finished rear trailing arms ready for many years of hassle free service:

Edited by nuclear_mini, 30 December 2012 - 09:03 AM.

[nuclear_mini]

Well these beauty's turned up today! 10x6 gun metal mambas et-7. These should poke out quite nicely!

[nuclear_mini]

Finished off the under side of the load area tonight. What a bugger of a job that is!



Tomorrow starts the rear subframe install. The idea is to get it rolling so I can fit all the new panels whilst it has pressure on all the normal rolling points. I also want to mock the engine up in the car as I plan on doing something a bit different and far from standard?

The only bugger is....



I have only 1 hub... Bought another today which is being shipped out.

New track rod ends installed on the new rack.

Edited by nuclear_mini, 01 January 2013 - 10:45 AM.

[nuclear_mini]

Well today brought a tear to my eye... I'll let the photos do the talking:


The new subframe mounting kit from the uk. Only problem with this is that the UK mini's and Australian mini's have different mounting rubbers...


The blasted trunnons and the new camber/toe brackets for the rear. I love seeing new parts net to old scummy ones...


I fitted up the rebuilt arms to the subframe and then realized that I didn't fit the new trunnons and had to pull them all off again!

The subframe nw bored into the car with my new minifin drums..

And now the gorgeous sexy rim bolted on...


Oh how they poke out!

This is the first time in 20+ years that the rear of this car has had a wheel bolted up. was pretty emotional seeing this as I have dreamt of it for many years.

Happy new year to all.

[mk1leg]

wow thats a real nice job your doing.......keep the pics comming.....

[nuclear_mini]

Thanks mate. The most frustrating thing at the moment is having a bit of time to work on the car but not being able to because of item.

Re the front suspension, when it is installed in the car do the top arms rest on the rebound buffer rubber, or is there a bit of room? Just trying to work out if I can install my rings in the front, or whether I need to wait until more of my rubbers arrive...

[nuclear_mini]

Finished off under rear of the car tonight. Solid lesson learnt: bolt the subframe in first, then attach the arms! Makes tightening everything so much easier when the front bolts are easy to get to!

[ChopperHarris]

Re the front suspension, when it is installed in the car do the top arms rest on the rebound buffer rubber, or is there a bit of room? Just trying to work out if I can install my rings in the front, or whether I need to wait until more of my rubbers arrive...

If you mean the rebound rubber rather than the bumpstop, then if there is no weight on the suspension then the top arm rests against the rubber under force from the trumpet cone (or spring in your case)

Despite having a round nose mini van, I prefer the clubman fronted variants....more in proportion for my taste. Looking forward to seeing this progress

[nuclear_mini]

Thanks ChopperHarris! I had package in the mail today, nothing exciting to anyone but me. New subframe studs and nuts, lock plates, subframe spacers and another rear hub! Now the arse end will be rolling tomorrow and hopefully will get the front subframe in as well...

Soon it shall roll!

[nuclear_mini]

I picked up my gorgeous wife from the airport this morning as she had been away for a couple of weeks with her family. Apparently I did a man clean of the house as she got stuck into it just after getting home. Gorgeous girl she is, I was allowed to escape to the garage and get some work done.

I had the rear o/s wheel bolted up however I only received my other rear hub in the post yesterday. One of the issues with it was that. It had only one screw hole for securing the drum onto the hub... I didn't like that as I the other side had two!

The hub as it was, notice the single screw hole.


Measured up:


Drilled:


And then tapped:


This allowed me to get the n/s wheel bolted up.

I've installed the rear suspension and evened up the height. Damn it looks good!

[nuclear_mini]

I had to put new studs into the top of the subframe. Unfortunately they needed a little, ah..., persuasion to line up nice and straight!


Then in with the springs, hi-lo and knuckles!



The all bolted into the car:



I am learning some real good lessons in dry building this car. Hopefully that means it will go back together much easier and Not scratch the buggery out of the paint on my car.

[jamesmpi]

Excellent work. Keep the updates coming :)

[PNL629G]

Excellent stuff! So when first built did it originally have a Clubman front? Is that an Australian market thing? They do look good with a Clubman front on though I have to agree : )