1065 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

been reading this on and off for the past few days!

 

I absolutely love sleepers and those wheels are a very good idea for keeping the look.

 

Christ mate, they are right, you are nuts. Can't wait to see more on this..

 

Ben 

[Kam]

Cheers guys, appreciate the kind words, its good to get back on it 

 

Matt - one thing at a time eh! 

 

Hey Kieran, I've been popping in and out of your build over the last few months, good going on the trip, not many would take there valvers on a long trip, end of the road seems good enough for them! Hows the race team going? you still with them?

 

I've moved down in Hants now, got a bigger house but more importantly a bigger garage, I didn't exactly have a sardine can before but any extra room is never a bad thing - I can spread out now

 

 

Kudos to people who do the work on there drive, I know I couldn't

 

And yeah its me, the mini only landed a couple of weeks ago and now she tells me she wants it there on the big day! To be fair I haven't really had anywhere to work on it properly so the only time any work would start would of been now, I was happy just to tuck it up and leave it over winter and do all the work needed on it in the summer - there goes that plan then!

 

So clock is ticking, 6 weeks to go   then pending the weather, vtec off into the sunset! 

Edited by Kam, 25 October 2014 - 01:31 AM.

[The Matt]

Nice garage, mate.  I also like your new bike <3

[ministar]

KAM is back!!!

 

Germini 2015

[willava182]

Fellow Rio owner wahayyy, I'm doing a K-Series conversion soon, must run in the Rio owners blood haha

[KieranB]

Cheers guys, appreciate the kind words, its good to get back on it 
 
Matt - one thing at a time eh! 
 
Hey Kieran, I've been popping in and out of your build over the last few months, good going on the trip, not many would take there valvers on a long trip, end of the road seems good enough for them! Hows the race team going? you still with them?
 
And yeah its me, the mini only landed a couple of weeks ago and now she tells me she wants it there on the big day!
 
So clock is ticking, 6 weeks to go   then pending the weather, vtec off into the sunset! 

Well I congratulate you and the soon-to-be mrs :) hope it's a grand day. Ye cheers was a mint trip, it's been other places recently but is now off the road for the winter I miss it already. Ye still going strong, we just finished the championship in 4 place but it's because everyone drops their worst round, overall we got the most amount of points. Bit complicated. We got on motors TV at the welsh hill rally and are Heading to the Scottish Borders hill rally next month which should be broadcast aswell. So ye been busy, gonna do an update on my thread soon :)

Kieran

[blueturbomini]

do you have any photos of how your front end attaches to the car and how hard/heavy is it to remove, can one person do it?

[Kam]

do you have any photos of how your front end attaches to the car and how hard/heavy is it to remove, can one person do it?

 

Only ones I have are these, it's very crude but was done in a rush at the time, ideally it needs to be done again but I don't have the time for that at the moment

 

There is an angle piece welded on the underside of the wing, this is one half which was first placed at the correct height then drilled and bolted on the inner wing

 

 

The other piece was welded on the underside of the wing, then the wing bought down and tacked into placed then the bolts were removed

 

 

Them bolts are used to secure the top end, two further holes were drilled at the bottom of the grille to secure the bottom end

 

 

The fixing is very sturdy, even sat on it! 

 

The front end is not hard or heavy its just awkward to hold and it flexes when off the car, then again it is only a large C piece

 

I'm not sure how normal front ends are fixed together and on but I did all the above on my own, another pair of hands would've been nice though

 

 

Taking it off is a one man job, fiddly but fun

[Kam]

MOT passed 

 

Will book it in a bodyshop soon and finally get rid of that rattle can front end...

 

Few comfort niggles to sort out but I didn't build this for comfort! Even I have limits though   

 

[thelegg]

Good to see you back in action and congrats on the wedding hope you have a lovely day for it :)

[Kam]

Good to see you back in action and congrats on the wedding hope you have a lovely day for it :)

 

Thanks for the kind words legg  did you ever get your project off the ground?

[Kam]

Picked up some more bits from minispares, need to get these on, just various things like new fuel tank sender, new front bumper and some other chrome work. The front grille is still giving me hassle so I gave it some hassle back! 

 

Just so people know, my front end is not the finished article, it was just meant to be made up for mock up so I knew where I stood with getting the front end and engine playing nicely together and making it look as demoralising as possible   it will be done again some time as I'm not happy with shut lines etc but it was my first time 

 

But due to the timeline I got I've got to stick with it, I'll worry about it another time...

 

Started off with replacing the windscreen as it just scraped through the MOT with the crack, I thought it was borderline and it was only gonna get worse and I picked up a new windscreen already, never done one before and seemed daunting...another string added to my bow 

 

 

 

Had a little issue when replacing the camshaft caps, the normal cam caps (12mm) was fine, it was the dreaded 10mm ones that hold the end caps down, they are known to break easy in the Honda fraternity if torqued up incorrect, I followed the 7 pound torque method but still - snap 

 

The torque wrench followed the snapped bolt into the bin! Luckily the other half was still sitting proud so mole grips on and out and day saved

 

Will pick up a better smaller torque wrench and not just a cheapy one again...

 

If anyone takes the cam caps off for whatever reason just replace them four 10mm end cap bolts, they are cheap enough anyway, b series all the same

 

 

Called round for a bodyshop that could squeeze me in as I've only got three weeks left till the big day, even tried the line "its only a small car, its just a mini, there's not much too it" but pretty much all were booked up for a couple of weeks but after some effort I found one, was entertaining driving it to them then lifting the bonnet when I got there to ensure they would work on it 

 

It worked 

 

Two weeks to go and I picked it up earlier today, I still need to paint the grille but the main fundamental piece of the puzzle is there - the front end has proper colour!

 

 

 

 

Just want to say a huge thanks to Carl and the guys at the bodyshop, they squeezed it in even though they were already stacked up with work, appreciated big time mate 

 

So clock still ticking, fourteen days to go and looking good so far but I need to fit the tank sender and other chromework with a few other niggles and need to do the front grille but time is getting sparse. I also need to take off the front end to get the alternator out to re check the mini tower bolt as its in the way, was checking and torquing up the other side and it took a good few turns till the torque wrench clicked (different torque wrench!) so need to check the other side but someone fitted an alternator in the way 

 

Whilst I'm there I think I'm gonna check and re torque all the subframe bolts!

 

I still need to add my stealthy additions to the car as well and get some pics, I need to seal its demoralisation status 

 

[The Matt]

Man, I miss this car!

[Ben_O]

It looks sooooooo standard. Nobody would ever tell what was lurking under that front.

 

Really is excellent, must be such a laugh to drive, seeing peoples faces when you roar past.

 

Just needs a WWF panda sticker  and RSPB sticker in the rear window and you are there! 

 

Ben

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Very cool! welcome back Kam!!!!!