749 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

So then guys, it's time for a bit of an update :)

I drove her home/limped along at 40mph on Saturday morning, engine feels fine although she did overheat slightly but I have no idea how badly as my gauge is situated in the radiator not the engine block
During the drive home there was a slight mist of oil gently spraying into the windscreen so I knew something was broken big time, it was just was it the engine or something easier to fix!

I took her apart when she was home, cleaned up the block to find the source of the oil leak.
It wasn't the cylinder head thank god, it wasn't the cam chain view port area, so could only be the timing chain cover a big engine out job!

So started her up with the alternator removed and it was instantly clear where the oil was from

Oil after two seconds of running


So it was the lower pulley oil seal! Awesome, should be a nice easy fix if the engine was in a micra as there is loads of room!
However this is a mini micra so room is tight! Luckily I could get the lower pulley off as if not it would have been an engine out job!
Remains of the oil seal


Just need to clean up the old seal area


New seal has been ordered and so has 5 metres of battery cable so I can start her again. I am hoping the parts will arrive tomorrow as I am currently without car but still have to get to uni and placement!

Feel free to comment!
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 30 March 2015 - 10:06 AM.

[l_jonez]

Crank seal has gone on mine as well, think its an engine out job for me though :-(

[lawrence]

Luckily for me it wasn't but it was only one mm clearance, pure luck!
The seal arrive today so I fitted it this evening just before it got dark, no photo of it fitting but here's one showing a dry oil free aux belt!


Now waiting on the battery cable to arrive!
However on startup it seems one of my fuel pipe rubber washers has got damaged, most likely from when I took the starter motor off, it's not a huge issue but I'll have to take the carbs of to fix it! Although on the plus side she was running rich on the jets I had in so I'll change them when the carbs are off the car, may also make another brass fuel t piece so both sides match. More for my piece of mind to be honest

Lawrence

[lawrence]

So guys, time for this afternoons mini update
Battery cable never arrived
So I took the carbs off and started fiddling
Made a new fuel pipe t piece from brass
Part way through

And completed next to the first one

And the evolution of t pieces

From left to right there is
Mk1- Repaired with metal tube and petropatch putty. Failure caused first engine fire, max bodge
Mk2- Entire set of spare carbs bought cheap from ebay, t piece then filed down to fit, medium bodge but completely worked
Mk3- Entirely new part, made from brass and silver soldered together, fitted perfectly, two issues in that it fits carbs slightly loose so may potentially leak and at 10mm was too big for the 8mm fuel pipe
Mk4- Again new and from brass. Fits carbs perfectly with many trial runs, double o ring for extra protection just in case, also turned down to 8mm to fit the fuel pipe snugly!

Also changed the jets in the carbs :)

Previously 118.116,118,116 now 114,116,114,116
I really want a wideband lambda sensor
Shall be an update tomorrow if the battery cable ever arrives

Lawrence

[lawrence]

Hello again people,
It's been some time since my last update :) battery cable finally arrived, fitted easily and all is well, slightly too long but that's not an issue

Day after she was fixed took her to a mini meet on Easter Sunday


Also went of a bit of a run with them too but unfortunately had to finish early



My carbs played up the other day with one of the float bowls not shutting off, it's something that happens every once in a while but is a case of lowering the fuel pressure and then upping it again to sort itself out

Also got around to painting the bonnet on a nice day off
Before

Half way

Done


Also did a paint repair on the wing where the paint had peeled

Done


And all fitted back together, also fitted the outer light rings too, shall repainting these in black at a later time


And fitted second subframe hole cover to tidy up the front :)


And this post is finished off with some nice photos of her posing



That's all then folks
Current plans are,
>Look into anti stone chip for the sills, hoping to find some paintable type and then I'll spray over them in White, rest shall be undersealed but I'm not rushing to do that
>Gunna take the sump-guard off and adjust its mounting points so it stops rubbing annoyingly on the exhaust
>bought some stainless Allen cap bolts for the carbs, I can then adjust them easier as currently I have to use a range of different screwdrivers to enable rejetting
>change the interior gearbox mount, currently it's solid mounted internally, this is causing her to pop out of gear when using reverse.
>play with the ignition map slightly to have a choice of switched maps :)

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[lawrence]

New carb bolts fitted



Now all cap head Allen bolts so no more almost sheared cross heads to put up with! Also will make jet changes a two tool job opposed to 7and a rachet!

I also gave her a good wash and noticed that there's a lot of overspray on the ns front alloy so I'll take that off on a later date to fix

I shall update when I next do bits and bobs but currently focusing on uni work while mini behaves herself mechanically
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 13 April 2015 - 09:20 PM.

[lawrence]

Small update from this morning,
Took the nearside wheels off to see if I could improve the finish on them both. The front one is covered in overspray and is part matt for some reason and the rear has got damage to the finish from when the rear brake cylinders leaked
Before pics on the front one


And during


All sorted

Back one done also, not the best it as good as I can get it. I shall be keeping an eye out for a single minilight to get powder coated and keep the damaged one for a spare


I've also put some photos up in the bodywork section as I've got some bits to sort before I repaint her again this summer :)

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[lawrence]

So then people, time for another lovely update :)
These were the photos I added to the bodywork section

Scuttle panel to wing crack

My issue here is that the scuttle to wing seam underneath is seam welded together, I did this back when I restored her to prevent this exact problem from happening. Top of the seam is filled with tigerseal

Off side front wing to seam joint

Again this is fully welded at the rear then seam sealed at the front with a skim of filler to smooth it all off

And nearside front wing to front panel seam


And this is the metal tearing issue I've been having



I got answers that seemed logical so got cracking

Ground back the cracking seam, no rust here! Thank god haha

And smoothed back with the sander


Tidy work area!


Panel beat a nice panel



Welded up



Ground back


Follows the wing line nicely


Stripped and briefly painted

Back together


I've only top coated it as I cannot make my mind up to go seamless at the front or not! I'm gun a give it a few days and see what I think :)

I've been up to other things too
Smacked the front panel about a bit, it's now smaller and tidier, needs some filling and then I'll paint it black, better clearance for the exhaust manifold now also


Oh and roller painted the roof again
Flatted back

One coat

And second


Unfortunately got a reaction between the layers so now need to let them completely dry before flatting back with high grit paper

And here's on of my furry sponser


Feel free to comment and give an opinion of seams vs flush

Lawrence

[steah]

woooooo seams! seams are better imo :) just look infinitely better, especially if you still have the rest of the seams and guttering... to be honest the guttering looks better when its there too :) just my opinion though, up to you!

[lawrence]

I am thinking about keeping them but I'm just not sure, it's going to be such a faff to get them to look right as unfortunatly when I fitted the wing I didn't line it up the best to the front panel so there's a big overhang

So then, time for an update.
My dad and myself have been doing bits to his old yamaha to get it ready for the mot. It passed which is nice but we're are redoing the head bearings.

On the mini tho there has been some fun things happening :)
I have decided that the suspension needs a revamp so looking to get some coil spring conversions and new adjustable shock absorbers :) so am keeping an eye out on ebay :)

Work related I've re fiberglassed the two broken arches, one where someone hit me and the other where it just needed some strengthening and tidying


But on a more positive note I've bought a new engine for mini!! :)


It's the 1275 micra engine :) unfortunately it has a broken timing chain! But I got it for a steal at only £40! It came with an alternator, power steering pump and the whole inlet manifold system so hopefully if I can sell them I can recoup the £40! Which would be great as I'm rather poor!

I've taken it apart and so far it's great! The chain snapped at engine startup apparantly and the chap I bought it from hadn't investigated into it and sold it


Top chain snapped and tensioner exploded

The plan is to take the head off, check the bores out, do a petrol test to see if the rings are damaged.
I have already tested the valves by manually turning the camshafts and they are all sealing great so there's no damage to them or the Pistons theoretically!

Once I've checked the bores I'll send it for a head-skim of 3mm and fit a half link in the lower timing chain :) and make a high compression 1275!!

Feel free to comment!
Lawrence

[lawrence]

This is only a small update as I only had a few hours to work on mini as I wanted to get some uni work done today
Wanted to check my new engines bores out, after all the timing chain broke so I was worried

Head whipped off

All the bores look great, petrol test shows no leaking rings so good to go here :)

Everything arranged and labeled to put back together in the correct order


Head checked, lack of damage from coolant/water shows that the engine has at least been serviced in its life!

Also checked the valves with petrol and no sealing issues here!

Got everything ready to be assessed by the engineers


Plan is
>lighten flywheel as much as I safely can. Should be down to at least 4kg from 8
>re profile camshafts to give 2.53mm more lift as that's the size of my spare shims so will keep clearances correct. New cams will be fitted to current 998 and then to the new 1.3 when it gets fitted. Cam differences between the 998 and 1275 are another 2mm. Add 2.53 and my newly re profiled cams will have 4.53mm lift over standard!
>cylinder head skim! I'm gunna get about 2.5mm taken off the head. This will give me a nice and high compression ratio that will work great with the new cams!

[steah]

just checking, not wanting to undermine your sublime engineering skills here, but are you not going to mince your valves with that much extra lift and that much off the head? or am i being a nervous nerris XD

your car not mine but it was just a thought that is best to make sure of haha

[lawrence]

Nope, the engine on the micra has a stupidly low compression as standard, the cam regrind also has no issue with contact :)
I have however decided to only get the head skimmed 2mm as it is a road car.
Yet to find a place that does regrinds in the Norfolk area
Heads getting skimmed and flywheels lighted and Balanced when funds allow

So ive been doing bits and bobs to her
Firstly the exhaust fell off grr. So loud my ears hurt

Had to cable tie it out of the way and then repair when I got home, welded on a bracket to improve the fit but when I change the engine I really need to enlarge the hole so there's more play around the pipes to the subframe

Gearbox shift is now fully adjustable, so much slicker now and gives me a range of movements back, forth and sideways, I can now use reverse and fourth without it occasionally popping out and being embarrassing!

Sealed off my last air vent, completely forgot to do this when I added the dash speakers, one is fubared and crackling now

Stripped the interior and layered on the flashing tape :) no after photo unfortunately

Decided to finally sort out the leaking petrol tank! So removed

Empty boot!

Damaged areas

Cutout made and new panels bashed out

Old design removed, it looks so shoddy!

New fuel system designed with a disposable filter prior to the micron filter, that's also been changed as the old one was clogged

Prepped for welding

Tacked

Bit of weld

All welded and primed

Bashed down edges with a persuader

And welded again!

Primed

Painted

Fuel pump in new location, I had some annoying issue with her conking out occasionally, it was one of the relay wires coming off in the boot! (That's a trial fit, it doesn't touch the silencer now I'm not that much of a moron!)

And everything refitted, spares box included

Had to reweld part of at as leaks appeared when filled with water dammit! But it's waterproof now!

Repositioned the numberplate again

New sidelight design on left :) and old on the right

And as I left her

I've also painted the grill buttons so the grill is all black

Current plan is to finish off with the sound deadening :) so on the look out for some of the standard foam factory stuff :) also having some problems with the coolent system but I'll make a post in the technical questions section

Feel free to comment :)
Lawrence

[smudger068]

All good, 

 

But i really would be careful the fuel filter doesn't melt on that exhaust if thats how it is staying. 

 

Also, your steering boss were did you get that, or did it come with the wheel? 

 

Thanks 

[lawrence]

Cheers smudger068

I was thinking about it too and am planning to investigate it once I've got home tommorow. That's a 20miles drive so everything should be nice and warmed up. I think if there is any heat other than extremely mild warmth I'll look into making a heat shield of some sort

Steering boss came when I bought the car, it used to have a royale wheel if that helpful at all?
Lawrence