556 replies to this topic

[Viktor]

Lovely to see you are enjoying your beautiful Mini.  Congrats on the new addition to the family! :)

[colinf1]

Drained out the petrol today, about 15 litres. Its E10 so didn't want to leave it in tank all winter.

Started it up to run the rest of it out of the float bowl, fired up straight away after sitting for the past few weeks. Used the wet/dry vac tube to take the fumes out of the shed. Ran for a minute or so then stalled, restarted and it ran for a few seconds then stalled again, so that should be all of the fuel out of the system now.

There is a bit sitting below the pickup in the tank, so I'll try to syphon that out too.

[colinf1]

Made a start on the first of the winter projects, removed the drivers door card to fix the window stiffness when winding it up. Trying to get the weather strips off will be interesting as I have glued these on rather than using the rust inducing clips.



The window support channel is too far back, so it's partially catching the rubber, but the glass has to come fully out as its not budging by levering it..

[colinf1]

I'm holding fire with removing the weather strips, they don't want to budge, so going to try and soak the channel & rubber strip in penetrating fluid over the next few evenings, try and get it to slide. I only need it to move 5 or 6mm to allow it to clear.

[colinf1]

Got the glass removed today without needing to take off the weather strips, just had to wedge open the frame/door skin opening a bit.

Have it sitting now soaked in plus gas and used a scalpel to slowly work it from the glass. Will leave it overnight and see if it moves tomorrow.



Marked it with masking tape to know how much I need to move it.

[stuart bowes]

will it not slide along a few mill if tapped carefully with a wooden block and hammer or something

 

presumably you need a small amount to free it up

[colinf1]

No chance of it moving by tapping it, it was well stuck! Had to keep working it with a scalpel, soaking it with plus gas then managed to pry it off by stand on a pry bar locate in the channel, will protecting the other end with a wooden chopping board, then pulling the glass upwards and pivoting on the front channel.

Inside was a bit crusty, probably why it was gripping so much, but should clean up fine. I'll have to find the correct distance in from edge of the glass, front is around 25mm.



Just testing the camera on my new phone...

[colinf1]

Channel cleaned, wire brushed and zinc painted. Came in about 25mmm from the edge of the glass and got it back into the door, refitting was much easier than the removal. Have to put a dab of glue on a small piece of the inside weather strip, just came away from the chrome trim about 2 inches.



Next up is to replace the bonnet trim with a better one. I had tried to polish it from stepping up in grades of wet dry, all the way up to 6000 but could never get it to go to a mirror finish with the polishing compound. The newish one just needs a clean and buff it up.

[colinf1]

Decided to part with a bit more money with the minispares black friday sale....

Got a RC40, maniflow extractors and alloy inlet to match the AAU needle and K&N filter that I already have on the car, so this will complete the stage one kit.

Also got a Smiths 80mm tacho, not risking using the RVI 100mm tacho if its not working when bench testing it.

Got silicone rocker cover gasket, hopefully that will stop the constant weeping through the cork gasket. New water pump and temp sender as I'm not happy that it's getting too warm at times, the water pump was a new one at the time, that I got in a joblot of spares, but had a smaller impeller and no bypass.

[colinf1]

Got my minispares parcel today, very well packaged as usual, recycle bin is full now lol

RC40 looks very nice, much bigger bore than the standard 850/998, and a nice polished tip too.

Looking forward to getting it all onto the car now, need to get some extra wire for installation of the tachometer too.

[colinf1]

Started to remove the standard exhaust, getting ready for the RC40.
Out with the old... not even any surface rust on it...



Cleaned up the back side of engine block, it had a good misting of oil from the leaky cork rocker cover gasket. Removed the studs from cast manifold before removing it from engine, save struggling with it on the floor. Added some heat reflective material to the bulkhead and tunnel, to just past the gear stick housing. I don't know how effective will it be, it was a pig to get on as it doesn't like going over uneven surfaces...

[colinf1]

Started fitting the RC40, it would be great if some parts came with actual fitting instructions rather than leaving you to figure it out. Thankfully I had bookmarked a few threads with guides.

Not sure on the front bracket, it seems to fit directly to the diff bracket without the need to use the flat piece with 2 holes...?



Swapped over the studs to the alloy inlet manifold, cleaned up threads on the exhaust studs, then new gaskets and all in place loosely for now.



Bought the fitting kit, but seems to be 2 x nuts and spring washers missing, for the rubber cotton reels, so there is nuts to secure to the subframe but nothing for the bracket to the reels.

Glad to get back into it, but it was too cold to be lying on the concrete floor trying to fit it, so I'll leave it for now til I get some cardboard or something warmer....

[colinf1]

Also noticed a bit of peeling on the rear subframe, just where the vent pipe from the fuel tank comes down, the top coat (2k rattle can) must not be fuel resistant as the zinc primer underneath is fine. I'll clean it off and give it a quick touch up.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pstN7m]

Pic of LCB attached to diff bracket and the extra bracket...

[mini-mad-mark]

I've not fitted too many LCBs but on the couple I have, I couldn't (easily) get onto the standard diff bracket so the "spare" bracket you have I attached to a convenient stud on the diff.

 

Well done for getting onto the standard bracket, as it ought to be more steady (pun fully intended) having more mounting points rather than the single point of the supplied strip?

[colinf1]

It's been a while since I got near the car, building a lean-to / pergola and side entrance cover, so it's been collecting lots of dust...

A few more weekends should have pergola finished and garden stuff moved out of shed, ready to get the mini sorted for the better weather.... hopefully....