379 replies to this topic

[CanadianMiniFan]

Bought an auxilary cable so i can finally see if the mp3 converstion on the radio works. Also picked up some grip tape meant for a skateboard, only i'm going to cut out lines of it for the accelerator pedal, as its very smooth and i feel it will be too slippery, especially in the wet or doing heel toe downshifts. Next time I'm in I think I have to cut out a drain crescent in the sumpguard, as I did have one put in, and it'll just make a big mess without it. Damn Canadian weather, cold, snow and no mini on the road!

[mad4mins]

yikes warren the car looks fantastic! cant believe ive not been on here for ages.. you've done loads!!

really looks cool!! are you going to have to wait long to drive it? you must be old by now! hehe

i send you an updated siggy at some point

Edited by mad4mins, 03 February 2011 - 11:08 PM.

[CanadianMiniFan]

Hey man! haven't seen you in ages either! yeah i'm really pleased with how shes turned out. I've been driving for about a year and a half haha, just waiting for the snow to melt, and in the spring i'll finally get to drive the min! Haha much appreciated on the sig, I'm still no good with computers!

[CanadianMiniFan]

Few little updates, put some grip tape dots on the accelerator pedal, made a template for a trunk board (I'll buy some marine plywood for the final piece) and I also got an appraisal done, and it was appraised at 13500 CDN, (7000 pounds about) so I'm happy with that! it's more for insurance purposes I wouldn't dream of selling her. few pictures.

[CanadianMiniFan]

picked up my powdercoated license plate hanger and extension bracket, I'll post pics when they're installed, along with the license plate light! Thats about the last thing I can think of, otehr than taking it out for a 20 minute shakedown, and fixing whatever goes wrong.

[CanadianMiniFan]

Wow, what a day. I started off measuring the toe on the rear wheels, and it turned out I had 5/32" of toe out. Manufacturers specs are 1/8" to 0 toe in, and Ken figures a little bit (1/16") toe out helps a bit with turn in, at the expense of tires and slightly lively rear end. 5/32 was way too much, so I jacked it up, and ground out the radius arm mounting bracket. Repeat about 3 times for adjustment, and I got it to 0, good enough for me! Next was rear camber, same sort of deal, one wheel was around 1 degree more negative, so I ground out the other side to match. Reset the fron toe to 1/16" toe out, and the suspension was ready. So I figured, it's saturday, great day to do the shakedown run. Well, went to start it, turned over well, so thats a start, but no fuel. primed the pump, still wouldn't get fuel to the carbs, so we figured, we've had problems with this pump before, lets try a new one. Got a brand new Ecco SU style electric pump, wired it up, mounted in the same spot with a bit of fuss but no major issues. Still not a great amount of fuel comint through. At this point I tried to drain the tank...nothing. and yes there was gas in the tank. So I started removing the tank, to figure this out, and whilst removing the rubber neck, I put a nasty gouge in the paint. It'll be repaired before summer, but damn, I was extremely frustrated. Finally got it out without any more incident. first thing i notice is a piece of tape in the fuel pipe....okay, maybe left on the outlet from painting the tank? I doubt it, as I would notice that, but I don't know. But still no gas drained out of the tank. I remove the fuel sender and I couldn't believe my eyes. sucked onto the fuel tank outlet, was the funnel of a jerry can. I have NO idea why that was in there, the tank was a used one from the shop, so I guess at one point someone dropped it in, and did nothing about it! So i removed it, reinstalled the tank, hooked up the pump as well as a new fuel filter, and finally got gas up at the carbs. I finally got it started, burbling along happily. It was already fairly late, but I was determined to go for a drive. First thing I noticed, the car is wayyyy too low. tires hit the wings on turn in, scraped down ramps, scraped over bumps. I'll have to raise it. Also, about halfway thru the drive, the throttle pedal began sticking, but i think it's just catching on the carpet somewhere, as i could flick it back with my toe, and it would be fine. the drive was wonderful, no full throttle, all under 4k rpm, but still, i finally got to drive my baby. lots of thumbs up and smiles from everyone we passed, except for one incident. I was making a left turn, and i might've kept the choke out too long, or maybe the idle was a little off, but it chugged throught very slowly and didn't seem to be runnign right. the ligth turned, as i was in the middle of my turn and the (unkind gentleman) in his huge 4x4 pickup roared up inches from my car and layed on his horn. Thanks for the respect, much appreciated, but i threw on the hazards and had a poke around under the hood. nothings seemed off, clutch seemed to disengage fine, so i started it back up, and it went along fine, throttle still sticking tho. Still, a wonderful experience. Oh, and another shop customer had a 4 point harness lieing around, so stay tuned for that install!

[CanadianMiniFan]

Did a few things, cut a notch in the carpet so the throttle pedal doesn't stay open, raised the suspension substantially, fettled with the carb floats, removed the speedo to get the odometer fixed, set the final rear suspension settings, ordered adjustable radius rods as the front of the wheel still catches the arch on full lock, and I won't raise the car anymore. Need to look into insurance soon!

[bcjames]

Looks AMAZING!!! Love the colour, love the radio, love the styling and performance touches.

[CanadianMiniFan]

Thanks, I think all the elements of the car have really come together cohesively. Heres a few pics of the latest addition.

[CanadianMiniFan]

Went in yesterday and installed the adjustable radius rods, no longer have any clearance issues with the wheelarch. I do however have an impressive amount of negative camber, more than i would probably want, but I don't have adjustable lower arms (fixed 1.5* arms) so I'll have to live with the tire wear. Should help the handling I suppose! had the readjust the toe as well, as it was toeing out a staggering 2*, now it's just a shade above 1/16" so thats perfect. No pics unfortunately, I will take some soon. the speedo also came back, the odometer was successfully repaired, which is good as its a 120 mph speedo and I quite like it! That'll go in next time i'm with the car.

[CanadianMiniFan]

Got the speedo back in, had to replace the bulb holder for the ignition light, not a huge deal though. Also wrapped my trunk board in black vinyl, looks really nice, made up some support brackets at the back of the trunk, everything went together quite well. next time I'm in, I'll try and repair some of the little paint chips, and my large scratch. Trying to get insurance, it's quite a hassle as I'm too young for classic insurance, full coverage with agreed value is 4460 a year (about 3000 pounds?), and if i don't have full coverage apparently if someone else writes off the car, that insurance company doesn't have to adhere to the appraisal value of the car, as it's my company that has the agreed value, not someone elses...such a confusing and frustrating situation.

[Jeffreypang911]

Bloody amazing build! I applaud. You in Ontario?

Edited by Jeffreypang911, 08 March 2011 - 12:04 AM.

[analogue_radio]

Very nice mate, you aren't getting enough compliments!

a) where is the rear view mirror from? who makes it?

b) where is your harness bolted to?

[CanadianMiniFan]

Ontario pfffft hahaha just jokes, I'm in Edmonton, Alberta tho.

The mirror was bought from a race shop, mainly hod rod american stuff, that closed up a year ago. It's called a 'wink' mirror, or a 4 panel mirror etc. not too sure about where you could get one, ebay maybe? Harness is bolted to the parcel shelf, with reinforcement underneathe so the bolts can't just pull thru the sheet metal. the lap portion is bolted to stock mounts, i assume you were wondering about the shoulder belts. haha and i'm more doing the thread to keep a log for myself on what i've done, compliments are very nice though i appreciate the enthusiasm!

[mad4mins]

but you cant see anything out of the windscreen!! its huuuuge!! lol

have you had the car set up on a rolling road? twin carbs are a right faff to setup

glad you got to drive it! its a great feeling.....

liking the harness

aaron