1065 replies to this topic

[Kam]

Ok, been kicking my heels lately as I didnt really know what to do next? I know theres a crud load I can start but thought I'd at least start putting some bits on the engine to make it look like an engine! Spent/wasted so much time lately I needed a boost, so started off lightly with putting on the sump plug!



After that confidence boost I went onto much more complicated stuff, starter motor, two bolts



Then decided to trial fit the alternator and exhaust manny using the allspeed bracket for clubman/extended roundnoses, next two pictures are for people that dont know what it looks like, the top part uses the original holes for the power steering assembly, not sure what the bottom original holes were for but more importantly I dont care





Exhaust manny, I still gotta buy the rest of the pipe from the manny, but just wanted a money shot!





You can see how much the alternator sticks out, front brace bar is for standard roundnose, manny is obviously custom for roundnose, gives you an idea of why people say "vtec? standard roundnose? NOOOOO!!!!!"





Fed the throttle cable through, but didnt hook it up yet, this is standard honda which has been extended for just the right length for a super smooth response bought it from a guy over on 16v



Then tried the alternator plug as it has been known to sit waaaay too close to the manny, yep, check



Simple solution, chopped of a lug on the tab, still clicks in and comes off if needed



The engines gonna move about when on the road so may wrap up the manny pipes still, will see

Sorry, I know I'm going into silly detail stuff here, its only for people that are not sure on these builds and gives them a heads up of usual build probs

Chucked on the old manky clutch slave cylinder, got a new one here but just wanted to see for myself the clearance issue you get with these and the standard front brace bar hitting the bolts





Slave cylinder will need to be drilled out for some M-8 countersunks to get.....



So what to do next? Well I'm dreading two things on this build, electrics and bodywork, so decided to hit the electrics first, I really dont know squat about electrics, I like to complicate it for some insane reason, so started with feeding the original mini loom back through the ridiculous little hole I cut out in the bulkhead. I mean why retain the original shape hole? For starters its not even in the same place as before! Idiot!

Considering there was relays, inline fuses and god knows what else in there I somehow managed to get the lot through





Then plug it up as before



Still got the DTA wiring loom to pass through!!! Doh! Idiot!

Started taking the mini loom apart

[Kam]

Chopped off what I think I dont need? Hope so



Only done half the DTA loom, engine/alternator/starter



Will need to speak to Geoff at Watsons (again!) before I tackle the DTA interior side of things, ecu relays etc

I know I have a pre-made loom here from Watsons but you still need to know where it goes and your still cutting/removing stuff from the mini loom aswell, you dont get any easier than this apprantley, but would still prefer even easier!

Thought I'd check to see if my days effort had been wasted.....



Wahooo!!! Power!! Big confidence booster! Vid of the above light if anyones interested I was happy anyway



Seeing as my deadline Le Mans leaving date is now 51 days away this car wont make it there, still need to buy bits, work out where stuff goes, get booked in at bodyshop, get booked in for a mapping session, get a MOT and have some shakedown time, you know how it is? So will just plod along now at my own pace

[HARBER07]

Bit gutting about Le Mans, but you are doing a great job with this!

[adam_93rio]

better get cracking then. 51 days is nothing, who needs shakedown time? i rebuilt my rio and got an MOT on the tuesday before the london to brighton

i know lemans is a bit of a bigger target, but also you have a bigger build, so dont worry so much and just get cracking on with it!!

its coming on great, good luck to you and your deadline

[captainjack15]

You can do it!


I know you can. It shouldn't take long

[Kam]

I am a man on a mission!

Anywaaaaays.........back to reality.....I'll get me coat.... So, as for the build.....I am a man on a mission

Been hitting it lately, got loads done but yet again it dont seem like your going forward? Weird? Actually no, this is usual and I hate it!

Started off wondering if I done the electrics ok with chopping off bits here and there? Too late now so onto the next job so got the replacement dizzy on, apologies in advance - I know I keep going into detail on little silly things so bear with me - its for people that dont know this or the ones that come across this on a search

As I'm using a DTA ecu from Geoff at Watsons it uses a Ford DIS system so no honda dizzy used here, in the kit you get a bung that cover the 'hole' when you take the dizzy off, yes I dont know (or care) what that hole is called?



Bunged, hole problem solved



Bracket goes in place using the original honda dizzy bolt holes



Which holds the DIS system, I think its from a mondeo, if anyone cares? Obviously I dont



Now this threw me for when I come to HT lead time as I'm used to 'rotor arm' stuff so a quick phonecall Geoff and he said this is a 'wasted spark' system type......so basically no'1 lead can go to either 1 or 4 and no' 2 to either 2 or 3? Simples

Got the Kambelt done



Popped into a local commercial vehicle parts shop for some bits n bobs and after a chat with the guy he said he has a couple of hoses (they dont sell hoses) so managed to get hold of a couple of 28mm ID random shape hoses - as you do!



By luck, the honda radiator I got is 28mm ID So started on the coolant hoses, I decided to run new hoses from the matrix etc

Had a bit of excess hoseage



The rearmost coolant pipe on the honda is an absolute nightmare if the engine is already in and your using the allspeed frame, they do say get the pipes in beforehand but you know me, why make life easy for yourself? (part one).......

You get about 25mm to slide and bend the hose on



So solution needed



Dont know what the big deal is all about? 40mm clearance is enough?

[Kam]

Thought I'd try out my 'commercial vehicle random offcuts hoses' to see if they venture anywhere near the rad?





That'll be a yes then

Had some 28mm OD alloy pipe sections fall through through the door from Demon Theives aswell on standby just incase



Got some paint on the brake regulator valve (allbiet badly) but its on there



And the Kambelt cover



Cut off the interference section on the crank sensor mounting bracket (this is made for a Watsons frame)



Put the crank sensor on



This is part of the DTA kit, it sits I think around 0.05mm away from the honda crank pulley and picks up on the 'teeth' that Geoff adds to your pulley when you send it in

I'm hoping to use my original mini 3 clock pod, rev counter aint a problem as it convientely goes upto 8000rpm but the speedo is, mini is cable and honda is electronic, this is the VSS (Vehicle speed sensor plug) that sits onto of the gearbox



Which bolts on this, the bottom section of the VSS on the gearbox



Strangely the bit that sits between the two has a square section on one end - just like the mini speedo cable.........



I'm not too bothered at the moment so just bolted it all up, I know what speed my mini is doing at the moment, Zero! Mph or Kmh, take your pick

Now I was getting really impaitent, I wanted to know where I stood with this build as I'm putting in an engine I bought from ebay secondhand without hearing it so decided to hook it up and crank it up!

Radiator on - thats a custom Clarke radiator device only avaliable from machine mart





I just wanted to know if it will crank, fire, blow up etc!

Hooked up the fuel tank (currently sitting on the floor!) this has no exhaust just the manifold so ear plugs were on standby! hooked up the inlet - did Mr Monkey say a bulkhead access panel was much needed? Really?

Umm yes What a nightmare, got there in the end (part two) filled up with some Mobil 1 etc and turned key and got........



Well it turns? Had a little look around, did have a little leak of fuel from the return pipe, tightened up jubilees sorted that and tried again



Well I'm still alive, sounded like a V8 on throttle before it died! tried another couple of times after blocking various vent pipes etc managed to get it going for a few seconds but it has an erratic idle and dies after a short time

Believe it or not but I'm actually over the moon I got this far, I didnt expect it to turn let alone fire up, I reckon its a vacuum issue as there is no air filter on there and a couple of vent hoses on the inlet need either blocking off venting somewhere.....

I'm off for the next few days so will attack it tommorrow, my last crank was around 9.30pm and thats pushing it I reckon, especially with just a manifold on there, the garage shook enough

On a high at the mo

[captainjack15]

That's a giant step, well done Kam

Big smile on face I bet (Y)

[cptkirk]

Been hitting it lately, got loads done but yet again it dont seem like your going forward? Weird? Actually no, this is usual and I hate it!

Boy I know that feeling.

Project looks good though, keep up the good work.

[Kam]

Big smile alright Jack Its rare I smile nowdays

Started off today with a trip upto Sanspeed in Bexleyheath to get some breathing equipment



Now, although my fuel tank is only temporary for starting up......





my exhaust has only got the manny on, I really need to quieten it down as although my neighbours are used to me making alot of noise this engine without a pipe really does push the neighbour friendly banter to the limits

So mocked up a side exit yank stylee the Kam way



Its about 5% quieter now so I consider that a success

My new air filter 'may' overhang the car a bit





Few more checks and start ups and finally it kicked in and started up but idles at 2500rpm which I 'think' is a tad high



This glow costs me £600+



I reckon the earlier probs I was having with it struggling to keep an idle may have been due to some crud in the tank as the run before the vid above it was struggling again then suddenly just kicked in and shot straight upto 2500rpm, tank is a MPI secondhand ebay purchase, I think I've used up all the crap now so we'll see, starts fine now.

I need to hook this up to my laptop and see whats going on, just need to get some right leads first, found out I can change the idle speed on the laptop, so at least untill they are here I can start with getting on with other stuff now

[ginger_monkey]

Brilliant work mate. Keep going you'll have it on the road in no time Don't do what I did and forget to connect your vss plug to the loom. Though I had wrong wires for the speedo but turned out the plug was off. i want to see lots of progress when I get back from the run Will be coming down your way after the run the next few weeks I think so might have to stop by and have a butchers

[Kam]

Brilliant work mate. Keep going you'll have it on the road in no time Don't do what I did and forget to connect your vss plug to the loom. Though I had wrong wires for the speedo but turned out the plug was off. i want to see lots of progress when I get back from the run Will be coming down your way after the run the next few weeks I think so might have to stop by and have a butchers

I'm leaving the speedo off for the time being, gonna try and use the force instead to calculate.......

Your more than welcome to stop by for a cup of tea and some biscuits Mr M

Well at the moment the car starts up fine but idles at 1500rpm now, so its getting better Not sure what I did, as standing there gawking at it with pepsi in one hand and a lovely kfc chicken in the other hand seems to of done it? Temperamental? I say yes!



Until I hook up my laptop to this and drop the idle speed I'm not bothered, main thing is the engine aint a duff so I can get on with other stuff now

Got some KAD steering rack limiters to fit



Not sure if my cv's will over travel on full lock but didnt want to take a gamble so thought sod it, who uses full lock anyway?

Will hopefully get on with chopping up the integra type r shifter I got, mini one above for comparasion

[captainjack15]

Good work

[Kam]

Forget the gear selector (or shifter for our yank friends) I'm gonna leave that till I sort out the exhaust which isn't get much sorting out at the moment

Started off with not going forwards but backwards by taking the hubs off again



I was waiting for some water shield collars to sit behind the mini hubs, the hubs were only just placed on anyway as its on axles

Assembled the hubs and tried to put the gaz shocks on and hit a snag

With the top section in place the main body of the shock rests flush against the allspeed frame



Preventing the lower section to go on?



After some headscratching (I'm gonna go bald at this point) I found out you need to take off the top shock mount



Which is fair enough, but as the drivers side fits on normal you can see why this side would confuse simple people (like me) so if your using an allspeed frame......

As for my temporary exhaust.......it was a mixture of.....well basically a rc40 silencer and main link pipe spun 180 slammed into the collector end!







I've gotta sort out the pipe before I start it up again! well maybe not, we'll see......

Chucked on my old wheels and dropped the fella, thats not a shot term for our yank friends





It does have rear wheels, its just the door is slightly ajar, or open for others

The driver side camber looks almost negative?



And the pass side aswell?



Hmmm I actually wanted neg camber anyway on the fronts? Still needs to be checked!

This has been on axles for the last six months and I've got used to where the engine height sits but after dropping it down...



you realise how low the mini really is! I aint driven a mini for six months and am getting really short fused about it!

Little vid, nothing special, just trying out my new camera so its more for my benefit than yours

[Kam]

I thought I'd try something I aint done in a while, its called one step forward two steps back......oh dear here we go again

Although I was happy my engine aint a duff as it fired up, idling at 2500rpm is seemed a little high (really?) then I had trouble starting atall, turns out after all the cranking my old mini battery had finally given up the ghost, I was gonna change it anyway I just thought I'd see how long it lasted, still waiting to pick up a new one so am charging my old one a bit each time till its here <<<< that is really sad!

As for the idling (this is for people that dont know so apologies to the others that do) as I'm using a DTA ecu it has been known to do this, so after a quick heads up from the 16vmini lot, I need to block the Idle Air Control Valve on the back of the inlet as the DTA doesn't use it, there are two 'holes' in the throttle



Its pulling in extra air through these, The IACV assembly itself has two hoses at the bottom, this is one (the main culprit)



The other goes to the large coolant pipe that runs end to end behind the engine



This is the two hoses in situ



So block them off, but before you do you need to make sure your engine will fire up as blocking these will drop your revs, so go poking with your two fingers first!!!!!

Start engine, let it idle at whatever, take off air filter and block both the holes with your fingers, if your revs drop (no doubt they will if you got the Watsons map) you need to block off both the pipes, little vid here



If your engine still idles after blocking then good, if not then you need to adjust the small 7mm nut and allen key screw underneath the throttle cable holder as below, yellow mark on the right



This opens up the throttle butterfly, so open it till to raise the idle till it holds after blocking the holes, when it ticks over fine then go ahead and block off both hoses

This is how Track n Road rolling road place do this as the usual method (via the brass screw at the top of the throttle assembly is usually seized up) when they map the DTA on the honda minis, so if its good enough for them.....

Then just plug in your laptop and do the rest, I dont know what the 'rest' means so I'm booked in with Track n Road at the end of this month

That was my one step forward two steps back, spent best part of today taking off the inlet and sorting it out the above, needless to say its done now but could've been spent better doing other stuff!

As for the build

Started off with drilling out some countersunk holes on the clutch slave cylinder



When putting the new sunk bolts in you appreciate how close the bar sits! pictures dont do it justice



Got some new magnecor HT leads from Funky Power come through aswell



Sprayed up the wiper motor plastic cover



Got some measured up braided hoses through from Speedflow



Made up the 14mm AP clutch master cylinder to the correct length as the original mini item



I think its gonna be a tight fit against the bulkhead with the air filter ducting and mini brake servo bracket in place so I opted for a banjo fitting to help out, I'm gonna get the top hole (to the res pot) either a 90 degree or another banjo, haven't decided yet



Decided to keep up the one step two step malarky by drilling another hole on the driver side for the heater hose.....



Now I'm gonna put a heater hose either side to the block to save a bit less on clutter in the bay

My temporary fuel tank needed sorting out, so after a bit of time I got it in



As its a MPI tank it has a much smaller neck than the others, so if you have one of them aston caps then you better log into ebay to sell it!



Then my jack decided to break!

Its my second cheapo clarke one from machine mart in only a year so decided enough of that crud.......

So got a clarke one from machine mart



Actually, this ones pretty neat, oh dear Shiny chrome syndrome? We'll see Sex weeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Still waiting on a couple more bits, so hopefully I'll get them this week and crack on, after these bits arrive then theres the big one, the front end which I'm gonna try and fit myself......