749 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Parking sensors on a mini!!!!???

 

lol

 

Nice work with the soldering! Looks bloody great!

[miniBrain]

Great job with the temperature sensor. Been thinking about an in-line sensor in the top hose for mine but your solution is far neater. 

Cheers, Bob

[lawrence]

So guys time for an update from the last few days

The parking sensors were fitted more for a gimmick and they look pretty handy too :) I was happy with the temperature sensor, initially the plan was to fit it in one of the none used nissan sensor holes but the threads wernt compatible, so I decided just to drill and solder the radiator as it had previously repaired the rad anyways so had nothing to loose

Back to the current times

Filled hole sanded and the rest of the body prepped for painting which I shall do another day

Testing out the rustoleum spray paint


Prepped the door

One coat sprayed

Fixed the rotary coupler for the horn and moved the petrol pump switch

And my leaving picture for yesterday

Fitted some wheel rim tape to test the look which I do like


So the current issues are me trying to get her to run, I am having issues with the carbs due to the angle I have mounted them at
They are at 90 opposed to the factory 45 degrees :/ this means I'll have to pick up some silicone hose to mount the carbs to the inlet manifold and make some sort of braket to hold the carbs at 45 degrees. Stick with for more progress
Feel free to comment
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 05 November 2014 - 02:23 PM.

[l_jonez]

Cough

You will have a hard time tunning the carbs with the floats so far off level

Nice work on the temp sensor, there's alot of discussion for the best position. Most tend to say in head is the best but being only for the gauge it should be fine. Just make sure the water is kept topped up as they give weird readings when not in water. What you using for rad fan control?

[lawrence]

Yes you told me earlier, I shall admit it was an avoidable mistake

I did investigate the temp gauges best position but had to compromise due to space and not wanting to run a tap into the micra cylinder head. It gave me a steady 85 degrees when the engine was up to temperature during idle. When revving the car at idle it did start to rise so I am confident she won't overheat at least during driving.

The aux fan is currently on a manual switch and I'll have to keep an eye on the engine temperature during stop start traffic situation but with the fan on during idle it cools the engine to 50 degrees.

Progress on the inlet manifold will continuer next week as I currently work during the week end.
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 06 November 2014 - 04:37 PM.

[lawrence]

Small update,
New locking bonnet catches for front.




They look a lot tidier compared to the rusty belts that were on previously
No change and the starting issues not been addressed currently

Small update tommorow regarding the front end paint and trying to get the bugger to run

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[lawrence]

Well people, today had been very productive :)
The engine is ******* unfortunately!
But not broken enough so I can't fix it!!!
Basically this happened


The reason the engine refused to start, even with easy start was that the valves on the inlet size of the cylinder head we not moving at all. This became instantly obvious on removal of the valve cover!
At the end of the cam there should be a small metal peg to locate the cam, this has somehow broken and disappeared meaning the engine was never going to start

Drive to Hainford hall (nearest scrapyard) yielded me with a second hand hand inlet cam from a low mileage auto micra for a whole £12!

Valve timing set once again

Going back together


And the results are in!
http://i1111.photobu...1112_161049.mp4

That's just with a spray of easy start down the inlet manifold, carbs not on yet.

So theoretically I will get her running nicely tommorow!
Hope you like this small, but important to me update
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 12 November 2014 - 08:32 PM.

[lawrence]

So guys time for today's update, I only managed to do a half day as I did a part night last night
Let's start off with this photo

That's the end of the carb fuel feed pipe, yep it broke off, for the 3rd time! Brittle old plastic is to blame I think. Last time I bought spare carbs to steal the petrol feed pipes from, this time I'm doing something more permanent!

I went on a journey to a machinists nearby to hunt for some 10mm brass rod, I chose brass over steel as although I can weld due to the size of this part soldering will be easier. Rod cost a whole pound!

Extremely technical drill setup to drill out the centre of the rod with a 5mm bit

This is the piece I am trying to replicate in brass

Hollowed out piece of brass in hi tech lathe (aka drill mounted in vice)

Groove was then made using a combination of metal files and a chisel, hole drilled in middle for t piece

Hole being drilled

Ready to be soldered, clamped together to keep everything straight

And soldered, then lightly filed to remove excess solder then given a going over with a wire brush

And the finished article beside the brittle rubbish original

Fitted in its new home

Shortened and tidied the ht lead caps, also fitted button Allen bolts to hold the coil pack securely

And driven to the front of the garage :)


So that's all from today folks, as I seem to have got the burning oil problem almost sorted I will now look into getting her taxed and insured on Monday :)
Let's hope I can twist my dad's arm to help me with insurance!
Feel free to comment, I'm working for the weekend now so no more updates till Monday
Stay tuned for more details
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 14 November 2014 - 10:15 PM.

[Ben_O]

Nice work on the T piece mate!

 

almost done then?

[lawrence]

I'm getting there ben_O. Been having an issue getting insurance for her tho and am going to have to wait till the 13th of December when my 3 years no claims comes through unfortunately.
Since I've finally finished off the fuelling issue I've been doing a few bits and bobs :)
Been playing around with LEDs :)

New blue downlight from rear view mirror :)

Fitted aerocatch type locks to the bonnet


Tinted the side repeaters

I've been replacing the old filament bulbs with led replacements too

Bought a new soldering iron and some maplins kits

Made a timered relay to control the intermittant wipe

Sorted out my shift light placement finally


Finished modifying the steering column cowl

Have yet to get a photo of it fitted however

And lastly here is a nice video of the shift lights wired in for your viewing pleasure
http://i1111.photobu...1126_153829.mp4
Feel free to comment
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 28 November 2014 - 01:50 PM.

[lawrence]

So then guys, I'm just trying to get everything nice and sorted ready for the mot on the 13th of December :)
Managed to extend the bike carb idle screw so it now reaches the dash, made a handy bracket for it too, this means I'll be able to adjust the idle from inside the cabin which is always handy


Also was thinking about when she's on the road the alternator may get a bit of a hammering from rain, mud etc so I made it a nice rubber cover


Set her to mot test height

Also adjusted the handbrake so it's equal as she has a bad habit of going out of tune, no signs of rear cylinders leaking which is handy and all tyre pressures checked then wheels nuts torqued up.

Made some mince pies


Started on my ignition map for her, it's idling a lot better now which is nice.


I managed to find someone on a Micra website who's car had bike carbs on a 421manifold who had uploaded their janspeed map so that has been transferred to megajolt, hopefully will save me a lot of trial and error!!

Also managed to get the rev counter to work using information on "daughter Zoe's mini", many thanks to you there for putting the maplin stock codes up saved me a lot of trouble
Little video of the rev counter working
http://i1111.photobu...1203_160219.mp4

And lastly what i am planning to do for the rocker cover

Nismo oil filler cap is on it's way and wrinkle paint shall be bought shortly, I have also made a purchase of 100 m6 Allen head bolts to secure the valve cover down which should look very fancy :)

Only two major issues to address now
>brake fluid weeping from brake bias valve so may require copper annealing and brakes bleeding again. Not a big problem just a messy one
>Indicator fuse burning out when using the right indicator, so shouldn't take long to find the short, I reckon it's something catching due to my steering column modification!

Hope you like this update guys
Comments are always welcome and appreciated
Lawrence

[lawrence]

Brakes rebled

New engine bought

Stripped and ready to go in

New nismo oil filler cap arrived


<a href="http://s1111.photobu...211_115130.mp4" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1111.photobu...211_115130.mp4" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

[lawrence]

So guys, sorry about that strange update, ever since I've updated my iPad its made it stupidly complicated to upload photos

This post needs a bit of a update to be honest
Aim was to get the car moted on the 17th of December.
Insurance got started on the 13th.
Brakes bled on the 15th as when took her for a spin up the road they didn't work on the front haha

So come the morning of the 17th she was all ready to go to the mot centre but I though I would go fill her up and that's when it all went bad.
The engine wouldn't go above 45mph. She would Rev to 4000 in 4th, go to fifth and she would have no power and start to slow.
Limped to petrol station and back home being overtaken by the world and his wife
Got home about 3pm and diagnosed the problem as low fueling. Took the carbs apart and drilled out them out slightly more to let some more fuel through the main jets. Put it all back together and she seemed to drive better and was a bit quicker.
So me thinking it was fueling packed up for the day as at least it worked!

On the 18th in the morning I said I'd take the girlfriend for a spin but mini wouldn't start. Tried easy start and nothing, so thought the timing had slipped.
Took the chain off to reset it, found an issue the the chain tensioner, So ended the 18th needing to go to the scrapyard thinking I had sorted the problem.

Worked 19,20,21st.
On the 22nd went to Hainford hall for timing chain tensioner. Took home to fix the engine but ran out of time as it got dark and I'm working outside.
23rd set the timing, didn't work. Checked compression. Bugger
150,150,0,170
No compression on 3. Great. That would explain the low power and nothing to do with the fueling.
So rings or valves.
Teaspoon of oil says valves are borked
New engine now needed.

Nothing done 24th,25th,26th
Found and engine on ebay. Won it £40.
Picked up the engine on the 29th from fakenham.

So today I stripped the new engine and now we're up to date :)
Plan tommorow is to remove the broken engine from mini, then fit the new running engine!

Hope you'll like this update
Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[l_jonez]

I feel for you, you seem to have bought the only dodgy engine Nissan made!

Your ignition table doesn't seem the best, only a max of 72% tps?
Try sticking the details into this
http://www.useasydoc...ry/spktable.htm
It will create a table for you to give you an idea of what's needed

[lawrence]

Cheeks bud, that's a handy site. I just made a safe map while I got used to the car so nothing would get broken!

Time for an update :)

Found myself an engine

Stripped and cleaned

Next day started off a bit nippy


Time to get ready for the engine to escape

Part way through

Shafts removed

And engine out :)

Edited by lawrence, 01 January 2015 - 08:31 PM.