30 replies to this topic

[Hman205]

HI all 

 

So last year after many years of searching and day dreaming I decided to re-enter the Mini scene after nearly 20years of absence due to a French affair (Peugeot 205 MI16) and Family happening.

 

 I looked at lots of Mini's of various condition and eventually settled on a nicely presented Blue 1275 that was reportedly in good shape all round and should fit the bill of giving me something fun to do with the Kids but not be an absolute money\ time pit. 

 

 

 

when we arrived to look at the mini it was presented well and looked as described a very brief test drive and i could tell the engine was going to need some sorting as it felt as flat as a pancake and didnt seem to be producing any real power. 

 

but the body was sound so a deal was done and I made my way 118miles home 

 

this is where the journey really began the running issues were far worse than I had expected and the car was barely drivable, add to that it took 3 fuel stops over the 118 mile journey as it was either leaking or judging by the smell spraying fuel all over the road from the overflow. anyway 4 hours later and now the middle of the night i limped into the garage and parked the car. 

 

went inside and showered 4 times to get the stench of fuel off my body and went to sleep high as a kite and exhausted from the drama of the journey home.

 

 

Day 2 

 

Start the list of issues

1. Wrong Distributer 998cc points Dizzy 

2. Massive exhaust leak the LCB is barely connected at the y piece

3. Choke is wedged open with a peg on the carb end

4. inlet manifold is for a 1 1/4 carb not the Hif44 that fitted.

5. plugs are wrong grade

 

so a list of parts ordered and we were set to get it running correctly.

 

after some help from people on here and Facebook and my good friend Mark we got it running again and now much smoother than before YAY!! 

 

 

 

Ventured out to the shops a couple of times to check all was well

 

then started modifying it to make it how i want it. 

 

First thing was change the Mini 25 Interior 

 

 

 

 

Dash

 

Then I went to go to a local event and made it 4 miles from home and lost drive completely

 

this brings me up to late last summer when i started pulling it apart to see what was wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Hman205, 16 January 2023 - 01:41 PM.

[Hman205]

The Problem

 

 

When the engine was put into the mini by a previous owner the flywheel bolt hadn't been torqued down\lock tight'ed correctly and the flywheel had got loose destroying the crank. 

 

so it was now back to shopping and now a much bigger project than i had originally anticipated

 

 

 

 

During the strip down it became very apparent this engine had been built and installed by someone who didn't like to check bolts were done up correctly. 

various items like the crank pully bolt cam retaining nut several of the bolts holding ancillaries to the engine were simply finger tight. 

 

with these shocking discoveries i chose the only acceptable path was a full rebuild of the engine, brakes, suspension. 

 

during this i found some horror stories that made me realise how lucky me and the kids had been when going for out little journeys in the car 

 

Loose calliper bolts

Loose brake pipe connections

tie rods bent from poor jacking 

Seized ball joints that were dry 

loose track rod end

poorly fitted Hi Lo's 

 

to be fair its a miracle i survived the journey home and i should either run and put a lottery ticket on or accept i have used up all my luck for life!!

 

[bpirie1000]

The kids seam to be h lucky one having you there to fix it and throw hard earned cash intomthe mini fir them to enjoy....


Well done .... mini miles are memory miles..

[johnR]

when it goes as good as it looks it will be a nice car.

[Hman205]

Next instalment 

 

 

Ok this covers most of the engine rebuild stage we are now.  Kids made a few videos of there involvement in the engine build. 

[Hman205]

https://youtu.be/D164Txdbjk0

 

Rebuild video by the kids (unfortunatly we lost some content so its a bit shorter than we had planned)

[Hman205]

with it then running i got distracted with buying other bits and well it got a little out of hand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this  brings us up to date

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to MOT it and start Enjoying it !! 

[Hman205]

Well the MOT didn't go to plan!    I got 20ft from the garage and there was a bang and then i had not drive so had to push the car home and back into the garage. 

 

I suspect the Gearbox which I had wanted to fit a cross pin diff in has decided it didn't want to play so the engine is back out of the car and i have started trying to source the bits to get the gearbox where it needs to be. 

 

 

[sonscar]

Did you check the driveshaft had not pulled out of the CV joint.Much cheaper than a gearbox,mine had the same happen,Steve..

[Hman205]

Lots and lots of play in the Diff and making a clunk as you rotate it  but yes i did check the cv cups and they were also not pretty so i got some new joints for when it goes back in 

[Hman205]

been a fair while since the last update but lots has happened i will do my best to catch this up.

 

The problem with the gearbox was a interesting and scary in equal measure. it was only by chance of reading someone else's resto thread that I thought to check for the problem. 

 

When the car was rebuilt it had new pot joints fitted and once stripped I established the loss of drive was down to a failure of one of the pot joints it had cracked on the splined section allowing it to jump on the diff output.

more worryingly both were also leaking moly grease into the gearbox due to poorly fitted plugs in the base of the pot joint.

 

you can see the grease lurking in the bottom of the case here. 

 

 

 

so after a through wash through of the engine and box and a check on both the bearings and oil pump I set about rebuilding it up again, 

 

i got a little carried away and bough some new goodies while I was at it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its only a bad idea if it doesn’t work right?

 

https://i.imgur.com/7egM7lh.jpg

 

 

 

Also had the sump plug Helicoiled as it had taken a whack at some point

 

 

Back home

 

 

 

Test Drive

 

 

Bath time 

 

 

Enjoy it 

 

New Exhaust

 

 

 

 

then started looking at more things to do

 

 

Edited by Hman205, 16 January 2023 - 01:35 PM.

[Hman205]

Temptation got the better of me 

 

 

 

 

Just got to wait for the Weather to improve so I can move the other car out the way 

 

[Steve220]

Nice progress!

[E23TFD]

That’s a nice looking wheel. Also a nice space and very different bed fellows for sure. Well I suppose they are both four seaters.

[TahitiSprint]

Nice project and progress. I'm very tempted to the straight cut gearbox, is it the "Clubman" spec gearset? How do you find it on the road, noise wise? And what diff ratio are you running please?

 

Thanks and keep up the good work!