135 replies to this topic

[RacingGreen]

nice to see the inner wings are getting closer to your car than they did to mine gav

[gavfoz]

Yeah! They ain't on yet though!

Had a theroputic day. Avoided the Mini as it was raining and power tools and water don't mix. I replaced the valve seals on my Land Rover a while back but the head gasket was naf and I am sure it was leaking after just 50miles. Losing compression randomly on acceleration. It had been in the shed for 6 months though but it was a bit odd. Anyway, to cut a long story short I stripped the head off the Land Rover, stripped the head bare, polished the inlet and outlet ports, re-lapped and cleaned up all the valves, put it all back together and fitted a KN air filter for a bit of extra noise. Man, she files now like a 2ton flying house brick would fly. Next job for the Rover is the new clutch thats been sat on the shelf for the last 9months and fit the reconditioned bargain gearbox I got for £70. Mini's are great but I enjoyed working on the Landy today. I didn't use the angle grinder, welder or bang my head once today! Still got oily though. Pure bliss

[gavfoz]

One radius arm stripped, one left together until I have rebuilt the other one! Back plates are knackered as is the wheel cylinder. The rest is re-usable after a clean up.

The main arm bit got painted. . .

and I made up a new plate for the bulkhead, copied like for like only without the rust hole.

Then it rained. . . and it's beer o'clock. . .

[gavfoz]

Got some Fiesta callipers for the disk brake conversion today. Hubs etc sourced, just need disks, drive flanges and pipes.

Collecting my subframes tomorrow. I hope they look good. Slowly collecting another pile of bits to paint or get powder coated. I think my painted radius arm looks nice and yummy!

MiniMag have contacted me seeing if I want it featured in the "On the Job" section of their magazine.

All good stuff. . .

[gavfoz]

Weathers nasty today so limited with what I could get on with.

I bought some brake pads and springs from Halfords for my Fiesta setup and stripped & cleaned up both calipers this afternoon. Going to need some new seals for the one caliper at least.

[gavfoz]

Oh poo.



The subframe is not quite yellow, yellow with an orangy tint. The radius arms are so red Royal Mail would be proud. . . if they were not struggling to catch up after their strike. Not quite sure if the brake bits should be yellow having sprayed them. Looks like Noddies car. lol! More red or proper orange will be better than yellow me thinks. . . any suggestions?

[gavfoz]

not my shoes but defo my champagne
not sure on the colours mix yet.
The calipers are wrong I think. Man, I am so worried about the finish of the underside and no damn fool is gonna see it except me.

EDIT: The calipers need to be black or hammer black don't they! I have suddenly become obsessed with colour! Bring on the next rainy day, I have something to work on indoors now.

Edited by gavfoz, 02 July 2007 - 07:15 PM.

[gavfoz]

That yellow looks alright actually. So, brake and fuel lines inside the car or underneth?

07/07/07


Steering column and rack finally removed. They just need a smack with a medium weight persuader. Most of the complete inner wing removed using a combination of sharp chisel, the little persuader, spot weld drill and angel grinder. Spot weld drills are excellent.


Count the layers. Yup, 5! The origonal flitch, two patches on the outside, two on the inside.
Tried to photo down the inside of my sills. Man-o-man! What a treat. Origonal sill still visible and rusting away. The inner sill has been repaired butchered and you can see daylight through the weld! New inner sills then. . .

Inside the bulkhead box section is rusty I think I will blow some red oxide or waxoyl down there. Hopefully it will slow that down. Not sure how to treat that otherwise and defo don't want to cut it out.

Despite all my efforts to remove vast amounts of metal from the shell it remains rigid and has not destorted yet sat on its axle stands. At least on the whole its solid.

[Ethel]

Wonder if you could sand blast down that box section then get some zinc on it?

[gavfoz]

I could do I suppose. I might try a scrub with a wire brush to start with. If it holes though I think I will start looking for another shell. Their are only so many patches you can weld on before affecting the shells strength and rigidity.

So after yesterdays destructive day, today I was productive. Also gives the neighbours ears a rest

Before and after shots of my radius arms. I fitted a new radius arm axle, new rubber seals, new wheel cylinder (to match my Fiesta front brakes), I have a new spacer drum on back order (to match the track of the front Fiesta disks), new clevis pin and everything else cleaned up with an added splash of colour. What a difference. Does not look so "toy town" like with the other bits fitted. . . which is good. Took me ages to work out which way around the brake shoes should go. The new wheel cylinder also rattles slightly, I wonder if the concave clip thing that holds it in place should be the other way around pulling the cylinder into the backplate. Also check out my braded hose that does away with the solid and flexi lines between subframe and wheel cylinder. I know the braided hoses have been known to have a detremental effect on braking but they look the bees knees. Once it is fitted to the car I shall zip tie it to the arm to stop the hose from moving around so much under braking.

[gavfoz]

Stripped the other rear arm. Took loads of effort to remove the hub only to find this:

Half the bearing race that should be in the hub is welded to the arm.
Its also a bit odd because its got a needle bearing in both ends of the arm. I am sure the other one didn't. Maybe I am wrong but hey.

Off out again for a meal tonight. Get me, eating out two nights in a row! Can you tell a women is involved

Ciao!

[gavfoz]

This week I ain't done much.

Finished rebuilding my Fiesta calipers and got some Metro drive flanges, just need hoses to complete the set-up.

Bought a few second-hand shinny bits though and have now spent my monthly pocket money. Luckily its pay day the end of next week! I have bought an alloy works style dash, centre clocks and conversion loom, loads of P-Clips for if I decide to run the fuel and brake lines inside the car and a few other boring bits like boot lid seals etc.

Getting the retro look is easy. Getting the racer look is also easy. I am finding it difficult getting the retro racer look right in my mind though. Everytime I pick up up a Mini mag I gain some more ideas and so my idea of what I want out of this build evolves slightly further. I just wish my shell was finished and I could call this project 95% done. Next time I will buy a project that has had an MOT in at least the last two years . I am stuck in a loop at the moment. My Land Rover needs a new crankshaft oil seal, clutch and for me to fit the recon gearbox. I can't do that until the Mini is done because I have completely run out of storage space for anymore scrap iron car parts Then I think I will sell the Land Rover to fund the next project and keep the Mini. I can't sell the Landy yet though because its full of Mini bits and has no MOT or clutch, or teeth left on 2nd gear. ARGH!

Anyway, currently thinking about cutting the rear bins out and getting a decent FIA cage fitted, like a roll centre cage or Safety Devices. Also have a problem with running the Mk1 rear lamps that have no fog or reverse due to the age of the shell. I was going to mount two sidelamp-style lights under the rear bumper but have now decided not to run bumpers, just some chrome finishing strip on the trimmed down bumper lips like the yellow mini I spotted in a small photo in Mini Mag. I guess the fog and reverse lamps needed to be frenched into the rear valance. If you could get red fog bulbs I could run clear lenses on each side. . .

[minivanman]

Just read through this one, and top marks mate! Its difficult to keep yourself going whne you keep finding more rust. I like the caravan connector for the front end as well, I reckon I'll have to get me one of them for the van.

*edit*
for the rear fog and reverse lamps try mk2 fiesta ones. They have a curved base and fit straight to the mini valance. Failing that have a look at the new beetle - the fog and reverse lamps on that look quite promising as well.

Edited by minivanman, 15 July 2007 - 05:55 PM.

[gavfoz]

*edit*
for the rear fog and reverse lamps try mk2 fiesta ones. They have a curved base and fit straight to the mini valance. Failing that have a look at the new beetle - the fog and reverse lamps on that look quite promising as well.

I should read this through again from the start. It must be a bit contradictory and schizophrenic in places.

The new beetle! Good thinking Watson! They would probably sit flush with the valance as well.

It looks like we are both media whores by the way. It is your van sat on pallets in this months Mini Mag right? Mine will be featured soon. . .

[minivanman]

The new beetle! Good thinking Watson! They would probably sit flush with the valance as well.

It looks like we are both media whores by the way. It is your van sat on pallets in this months Mini Mag right? Mine will be featured soon. . .

I spent months looking at cars to see what has the lights flushed into the rear bumper, and the new beetle was the only one I could see that might possibly work. In the end I gave it up and decided just to put another light under the ones I'm going to put on the van. Yes it is my van in minimag - seems like the web forums are a bit of a hunting ground for Jon Betts! Theres another guy in my club who's just had his van done for this series as well.