749 replies to this topic

[James_eaton_thewholething]

Well I'm now single haha

Oh don't start rubbing that in. I would have been done ages ago if I lived the ideal life

At least I've got plenty of money to spend on my mini now haha

I'm going to write a strong letter of complaint to the one of the admins for the bullying of myself and anyone else that is tied into an agreement with a female. I find it unfair justice that you get to have freedom to spend your money solely on your car if you chose to. It's is with this reason my letter will be sent and I will put in said letter that you should have to distribute your money with people of the forum that have to choose between maintaining/rebuilding there beloved car or being in the dog house

Regards James

[lawrence]

Haha I agree with James :) mind you mine is fairly lenient if I keep quiet over costs!

I've not used washers as spacers nope, was just a mockup.

I've got another update to write up but photbucket isn't working currently so it'll be uploaded once my photos are online

Lawrence

[James_eaton_thewholething]

With them buying clothes, nail varnishes and all other amounts of rubbish we should be allowed to do these things with cars. I told my misses how much I will have probably spent by the end and she didn't even bat an eyelash. I didn't know how to react when she said ok that's fine it's your money might as well do it while you can. I was sat waiting for the worlds biggest but to come at the end of the sentence and it never did. I got annoyed at her for not being a typical gf

How are you getting on with the arch fit ?

[thelegg]

Keep quiet haha mine didn't even know I was doing a conversion or that I'd bought a micra for the donor vehicle

[l_jonez]

You lot need to man up. It's your money what you do with it is up to you.

[lawrence]

So finally an update. Photobucket was playing up but it seems ok now. I turned her around and took a few photos

Nice front view

Side view, probably should wash her

Bit of tyre paint as a test, unsure of it yet
So now she's moved round lets have a look at the awful fit on the arch. This is now much improved. Unfortunately there are holes in the body that arnt covered by the arch like the other side

Welded and filled

Primed/painted

More paint

This door looks awful. Well I had the paint out so thought at least I can get it one colour!

“Professionally” masked up

Fitted the rear arch now it's painted

New seals again like the other arches. Held on with stainless Allen bolts as everyone loves Allen bolts!

Door painted a bit

And that side now all sorted.


After lunch I sorted out the nsf front drive shaft gaitor, didn't take any photos as was all greasy and oily. I also balanced the rear brakes as best I could and put one of the brackets on to hold the dash in for the mot

So the re mot, well that was today.
Well it didn't happen
Car was driving like a complete git the entire way. Stupidly lean on the afr for some unknown reason and absolutely no power
Hooked it up to the gas analyser
O2 was 0.3 and can be 3.5
Hydrocarbons 8000!!!! Limit is 1300 I think (off the top of my head)

So we stopped the mot, waste of time doing it if the emissions were going to fail

On the way home I took the leads off one at a time. During idle when I took leads off the engine stalled apart from on cylinder one. So something's up there

I've got loads of sparks from my ht leads but I may remake it all the same.
So it's fuel or mechanical problem

Compression tested the engine. 128,124,128, 122
So thank god for that, I really don't want to take the engine out and get another one as I can't afford that

So I'm thinking fueling and ignition needs improvement

I'm going to make a new manifold from aluminium that's at a nicer angle for the carbs so I'll put some photos of that up when I get a chance as I've got the parts I need now

Ignition wise I'm going to order some solid copper cored ht cable to remake the leads to exclude the problem

And as we all like a run of bad luck how's this
New nsf inner cv gaitor shredded
May have to remake my rear engine mount as I suspect it had got too much bounce in it due to the way it's mounted. I shall investigate this area when I redo the intake

So I'm back to lifts,motorbike and borrowing my parents car for the time being
Rather lame I know but at least the weather is getting better!

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[lawrence]

Right then. Time for another update :)

It's actually not so bad being without my car currently. I'm getting lifts with my mum when I go to uni if she's working and the days she's not I've got either her car or my bike :)

But I would like to get mini back on the road!
So following on from last time. Mot failed, engine compression fine, fuelling all over the place , engine mount too flexible.

So let's start with the carbs, making sure they are all ok!
Taking apart the donor ones to make one good set.

Carbs that were on the car all dismantled and cleaned. I've rejetted them to 124mains and 38idle. Previously were 110mains and 38idle.

Some bits got a bit mashed through removal :/ got them off in the end tho

Started playing around with my sidelight idea. Off

On

Closeup


I like them but need to make somewhere else for the indicator to go. Any suggestions let me know people.

So one of the carbs all sorted out

Bits and pieces for the new manifold

Bit of trial run on the car.

Problem areas
>brake bias valve in way but brake pipes too short to make the distance
>had to remove dsn bracket. Not a big deal but that bulkhead really needs a clean/paint now!
>need to make new engine mount before I can do the manifold. Currently the back one is tipping the engine backwards by about 8degrees because of the design. so going to see spaces I have to play with and make a new mount

Mock up of new mount position with photo assistance from thelegg.

It looks like there is just about enough space for me to drill through the subframe to fit the mounting bolts so bonus there!

And lastly dug out the spare cylinder head so I can play inside where it's ever so slightly warmer!


So that's it for the time being then. Not the best of updates but there are so many annoying little pieces when dismantling carbs I really didn't want to rush and loose important bits . The rebuilt ones are put safely away now as I can use the donor ones to mock everything up as they are basically the same size

I've no idea when there will next be an update hopefully next Monday or Friday but it really depends on my uni work as it is more important. I shall get the engine mount sorted then I can move onto the manifold

But a positive is that she's not costing a lot sitting there just tax every month as I pay my insurance yearly so I have got a bit of fuel money to spend on her! :)

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[Marco1972]

Just read through your thread

Fair play to you

It's a credit to you the way your working through all your build problems

Good work fella

[thelegg]

When you drill through your frame to bolt the mount on make sure you weld in some sleeves other wise when you tighten the bolts it will close up the box section hope that makes sense lol

[lawrence]

Cheers chaps. I do have a lot of problems but then again I don't really have a lot of experience and so much of the build is trial end error :)

I'm a positive person so althought it's annoying having to make a new manifold and redo the carbs I think of it well this time the manifold will flow better so she'll drive nicer and maybe have more powah!

And I hadn't thought about sleeves but I understand what you mean. Had better go searching through my scrap for tubes. Only issue I can think is that the sleeves won't be able to go all the way though the frame as I won't be able to weld them from the bottom because the engine is already installed

[thelegg]

Well when you drill the holes leave the bottom holes smaller than the sleeves but big enough for the bolt to pass through

[lawrence]

Right then, time for an update
I've been doing a few bits and pieces but unfortunately I've not had many days off uni free and the ones that I have the weather had been awful

So I've been getting more and more moody with the naughty bugger! She keeps creating problems I didn't know existed!
So Stripped the bulkhead and found the the clutch cable is gently cutting through the bulkhead! Annoying bugger
So had to make some bracing

Mocked up

Welded up
Bit of foam to protect the paintwork

Trial fitted cable

It's a better angle now and has more support

Painted and foam protecter on the bulkhead


So that's the clutch sorted even tho it was unexpected!

Back to brakes.
Master cylinder installed. Now where to run the lines

Do I go round the Mc in a loop and over the stiffener?

Or round the scuttle along the inner wing?


I need an opinion there people? Im more thinking the longer line as its more tucked up out of the way. Plz inform me of what you would do in my position.

So brakes paused there while I think

Now what's next? Oh yes cooling!
This is my current lower pipe where water exits the Rad. It's got a sharp bend that must be restricting flow and it's got to go. Plus will reroute the pipe from the front of the engine to the back


And this is how I want the pipe to be. Lovely and straight with no flow restrictions


Where the new pipe goes now



And as I left her the other day


What I didn't photo are some welded on nuts. The radiator top bracket was held in by nuts and bolts so to make working on her easier I've welded the bolts on. Trying to make her more user friendly! There was. Horrible nut to get that was right in the wing so you had to lay on the floor and get grubby also done the wiper motor bracket bolts too.

This was the new design of the water pipe also. Such a faff to get in and out now tho as its goes round under the starter motor.need to fully weld it once I buy more gas


So then. Plan
>Decide on brake lines. Short and messy vs longer but tidyer. Need opinions here please
>finish welding captive nuts
>redesign lower rad mount slightly as I've got Chafing on part of the frame. Will also insulate that part of the frame with rubber just to be safe
>cut and fit sound proofing to bulkhead. I want it tidier than last time!
>sort out my wiring. It's a mess inside the wing. It needs extending, wrapping and pclipping out of harms way. I may weld some nuts to the subframe for the p clips, not sure yet.

So lots to get on with. I am enjoying myself tho as I've got time to fix her properly not just enough work to get by!

Plz comment re:brake lines

Thanks people
Lawrence

[fuzzy-hair-man]

My brake line goes down to the bar that goes between the towers then splits from there. My focus would be what's the most practical? Ie 1 reasonably easily accessed junction to undo the front brakes and be able to drop the front subframe out, try to put any junctions where you can get to them incase they leak / need tightening. Short / long shouldn't matter of course neat is good but practicality first huh?

Put a new o ring on the water pipe before you put it in they like to leak even if it hasn't been out. They harden with age and heat.

Edited by fuzzy-hair-man, 20 February 2016 - 11:57 PM.

[thelegg]

My brake lines are like this

[lawrence]

Cheers for the comment and photo chaps. I've changed the o ring a few months ago as I had a tiny leak before so it should be ok. Either way I'm going to recycle the antifreeze/coolent that I drained out the other day to see if there's any leaks when I've welded up all the water pipe so may change it again if it leaks more.

I've made my mind up on the brake lines now and am going to extend them to run along the scuttle. One thing that always annoyed me before was that where they run over the stiffener they were vulnerable to knocks when fiddling with the carbs like how youv done yours thelegg. If I run them along the top of the scuttle and down the wing then through the handy hole in the bulkhead stiffener they should be nice and protected. I also need to move the bias valve to the left a bit so that will line up nicely where the brake lines will run. I'll put a photo up tommorow of my plan and then get some new single piece brake lines made up :)