749 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

Hello again then people
The arches I got from ebay arrived. Wrong colour but I like them. They wrap round the rear valance also which does suit the smoothed rear





They are a strange fit when it comes to the front of the rear arches and show the bottom of the rear ¼ quite a lot but I like it. May have to spray the area black to hide it if I can.

New wheels soon people. Also ordered some more nice Allen bolts for the arches

So she should look good for Christmas:)
Lawrence

[lawrence]

Thought I would put up some more teasers to show people :)
What my wheels look like currently
Note the small dish and size


And the new wheels. Nice bit of tread and dishyness!


Side by side


Just waiting on my nuts and bolts to hold the arches on and I'm good to roll :)

Lawrence

[thelegg]

Defiantly get more grip with them :)

[lawrence]

Hello again then people :)
Hope you all had a great Christmas and got the presents you wanted!
I decided that I would paint my mini green and white so here it is done


A great present there from my ever suffering girlfriend! Should make a nice ornament

On the car front my bolts arrived so I have fitted all the arches!
I can admit it is horrible drilling holes in paintwork so made sure I was extra careful
Only the nsf is painted currently as it’s a bit cold for it right now and I still need to take them all back off to fit some rubber trim between the arch and bodywork
And recommendations for the seal just let me know please
Ns view

Rear

Os view

The only thing I'm not the biggest fan of is how you can see the rear ¼ quite a lot so I'll have to wop some paint on there too

Other things to report.
>Just tensioned the aux drive belt, much better design than the previous one. 13mm spanner and a minute of my time so that's sorted
>carbs seem to be sticking, have put some carb cleaner down them and seems to have made the sliders move a bit smoother so that should be sorted
>Gaffa taped heater is really awesome. In the morning you just smooth all the tape out and it directs all the air to the windows. Once the air blows warm the windscreen is defogged and that means the glue on the tape goes soft which in turn redirects the air to your feet so they are nice and toasty. Definite redneck mod that I recommend to mini winter drivers!

That's about it for now, mot is due in the new year so I'll take her in and see what needs to be fixed :) I'm sure it'll be a big list but I think I have the spare parts that will be needed :)
Feel free to comment

Lawrence

[l_jonez]

The fit on those arches is terrible! Where are they from?

[lawrence]

How do you mean mate? They fit great to the body, nice and flush.
Are you referring to the front of the rear 1/4? As I assumed it was just the design of the arch

[l_jonez]

Yep the front of the rear 1/4

Personally I'd say its not right.

[thelegg]

Something is not right with those arches lol

[IainNeon91]

You have to be quite rough with the rears to get them to fit right mate, sometimes you do think they're going to snap...

 

I managed to brave it and they did fit alright in the end.

 

[lawrence]

So guys time for an update.

I'm Still waiting on the wheels and tyres so I can fit them so she looks a bit stupid at the moment.
She's behaving fairly well but the wipers are now not self parking anymore, I suspect its the park switch.
Also have a minor problem with the carbs sticking during gentle acceleration causing her to continue to rev slighltly
Eg accelerate to 2000 and take foot off to change gear and the revs will rise to about 2250. She also has less engine breaking compared to before. It's annoying but not dangerous at least

Took the carbs apart and I've got damage to the sliders


This is due to the angle the carbs are mounted at i suspect. My reasoning behind this is if I put my foot flat to the floor then change gear the revs drop as you would expect so I am fairly sure the needle sliders are sticking
(Cue L Jonez saying "told you so" haha)

So the plan is to buy another set of carbs and create a new inlet manifold at a better angle using one of my old heads to mock it up on. I'll use the origional micra inlet manifold that I have cut down before and add some angled runners to get the carbs at a better angle hopefully curing the problem.

Mot is due on the 17th so I need to get her in sometime this week to give me time to fix her as she's bound to fail (always does)

Other than that she's behaving herself. I've got about £200budget for her mot so if she doesn't cost that I'll buy a wideband to get the fueling spot on. Missed out on a megasquirt 2 ecu at £100 but if I need to spend money on her for the mot I wouldn't have been able to so would be carless. So annoying but nothing I can do as my parents wouldn't lend me the money for it

Update soon when the mot results come in :)
Lawrence

[l_jonez]

(Cue L Jonez saying "told you so" haha)

No comment

Glad that it seems to be running OK other than the carbs.
Good luck with the MOT

Edited by l_jonez, 09 January 2016 - 09:14 PM.

[miniBrain]

Fingers crossed for the MOT Lawrence 

[lawrence]

I knew you would enjoy that post l-jonez :) I missed out on some carbs today that went for £40 as ideally I'd like to spend £30tops as I'm tight like that!

Well then people :) today was the day of the mot!
Problem areas noted by myself that I expected failures of
>ns radius arm worn but unsure bad enough to be a failure
>both driveshaft inner gaitors have nothing holding them on so fail there (I would have already replaced them but may have neglected to remember)
>potential front brake imbalance as I'm normally unlucky when it comes to them (have been the last 3years)
>handbrake unequal (almost always is)
>headlights have hids so probably won't pass there but let's wait and see!

So mot was at 2pm. Morning I checked all the things I could think off but was pissing it down so decided to leave my gaitors for another day and accept the fail. All electrics working and tested which is nice

And the results are in



>So both headlights aim was awful on the aim tester, shall remove hids for mot and refit normal bulbs
>osf brake pipe needs securing better which I admit it does really!
>wheel boss slightly loose – he said he was being picky there but that should be an easy fix
>exhaust hydrocarbons High. I'll change the jets to leaner ones, nice simple fix
>all four cv gaitors need securing –again expected. I've ordered some steel cable ties that should tighten up better compared to plastic ones
>handbrake rubbish both sides, osr brake seems worse. –will get new cylinders both sides and a new set of shoes.. Untension handbrake and reset from adjusters to make them more equal.

But no mention of the radius arm. I specifically asked him about it and he said very minor play is fine and he can see a bit but it won't fail on it. Apparently I'm being too harsh to the poor beasty! Also front brakes were working great too which is awesome!

So I'm happy there. I've put an order in for new pads and cylinders and bought some metal ties so that's £30ish for parts for the mot so I'm happy there.

I liked this comment also

Did make me smile!

So guys some more news, parents on hols from this Saturday for ten days so Ill book the retest for the 25th which means I can use my parents car incase something crops up that's not an easy fix! Plus I'll save money on fuel for the next two weeks so a bonus there!

So overall I'm happy even tho she failed as none of it’s a hard fix theoretically! :)
Feel free to comment.
Lawrence

[thelegg]

Why did he advise the subframe ?

[lawrence]

Last year he called vosa about it as he wasn't sure if anything was needed or if he could pass it so long as it's safe. They also wernt sure so said simply pass and advise which is their default when they don't know