1146 replies to this topic

[mini danny]

Looking very good she is certainly coming together now

[CLM]

Ooooh pretty shiny parts!Doing very well there Hugh!

Chris

[hughJ]

Hello Carlos, Graham, Neil, Danny and Chris - it is being encouraged by gents like you that has kept me going. I do appreciate your help over the year. Maybe this year the Mini will get going; maybe. I'd love to see some of your cleaned up bits Graham - the electrolytic rust removing is fantastic that you are doing.

Hugh

[minifcd]

Hi Hugh. So you've called the troops in to give you a hand! Make the most of them whilst they're there and you'll have it back on the road in no time!

Merry Christmas Hugh.

[minimuk]

Look forward to see the finished product next year, happy Xmass to you to Hugh.

[myredmini]

Looking very very good. Keep up your hard work. Have a great Christmas !

Dan

[hughJ]

That's very nice of you Scott, minimuk and Dan. Hope you chaps had a good Xmas. I did - here's mine



A new rear subframe!

So gave it a lick of chassis paint



And I've got the front subframe completely stripped at last!



Excuse the shocking state of my garage. It is filthy. It is jammed full of Mini parts. I can hardly move not count work in it. But once its on its wheel there should be a bit more space.

I hope I'm not boring people with unnecessary photos of progress. I know its not as interesting as panels being welded.

Moving along

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 26 December 2011 - 08:47 PM.

[Carlos W]

Hugh, keep up the good work, and keep the pictures coming!

I have had big issues with space in the garage and ended up taking a load of bits to store at my dads! (Pity it's 288 miles away)

[grahama]

Lads, lads, lads. Who wears the pants in your houses ? Get the mini bits inside, spent the last few weeks with the engine block and brake calipers in the kitchen re enameling them, and then in the dining room for Xmas dinner. Used it as a talking point, then I moved onto the cleaned up pistons in the box in the corner. Oh how I laughed from my hospital bed, lol.

To be fair, Jan is very understanding but I have to 'hide' things as much as possible.

Hugh,

never tire of watching people's work, especially if following closely. Keep pics comming and hopefully I will have some for you by the end of the week !!

Graham

[hughJ]

Graham and Carlos - some more pictures - not very exciting. I have been working but have not much to show for it. On his own page I have commented on the man Graham's very brave but possibly foolhardy comment on being the boss in his own home!! What hospital do I send a card to, or maybe a wreath?

Degreased these bits



Fitted brake shoes so I can get the drums on. I am reusing what is serviceable. And I am not painting what is not seen and what is unimportant. This is not a nuts and bolts rebuild. Its a functional rebuild. The position of the shoe is important. The front shoe has the friction material low, the rear shoe has the friction material high. The spring with the two spring areas goes at the cylinder end. (just noticed in the photo the rear shoe is not sitting in the cylinder properly - better check that!! oops)



After a bit of wire brushing



And 'Kurusting'



And painting





And spent far too long on the rear subframe




Make sure the pins for the forward mounts are fitted first thing! I also stupidly didn't separate the cones from the rubber 'springs'. That made fitting 40 times more difficult. I had the radius arms fitted and back out 3 times. I'm going to have to take them out again as the rubbers gaiters are not fitting properly over the knuckles!! But that's me. I don't plan ahead.

I'm reusing the brake pipe under the body - its pretty good. But I cut through the fuel line when doing the floors some time back. I put in an order for parts this week to do the front subframes and am out of cash so the fuel line will have to wait. I also need a socket or spanner for the front swivel pins. Any ideas of the size and a good place to obtain such a spanner?? This all holds me up! I've seen advice against using narrow bore central heating copper piping as fuel line. I can't see the problem copper is after all copper. I used it before on a car. Any advice here?



And this wee bit



So I haven't given up but things are not going smoothly and my target to have it back on its wheels by the end of the holiday is slipping. That's life.

Slipping behind

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 30 December 2011 - 04:55 PM.

[grahama]

Escaped with a couple of broken ribs and 2 hours on the naughty step !!! Very jealous of the built up subframe Hugh, comming on nicely, if the sun shines as it is supposed to do tomorrow I will be attacking mine. You will soon be on the ground with it again at this rate, well done.

I have a lovely refurbed cylinder head in the dining room now too, just to keep the block company, will show you later on over the weekend lol.

Keep on pal,

Graham

[skyblueads]

Just spent an age reading through this thread, brilliant stuff! Keep up the good work, matey....

[Brams96]

Good progress Hugh. I've been following your build for a while now & will be using your pics as a reference for my build.

[EngineerDaisy]

Read through all your thread last night. Very impressive and a good help for someone like me who will be starting to restore mine in the (hopefully) near future. I also love the colour you've chosen. Where abouts in the Highlands are you? My parents live in Aberlour and also have a Mini Sky (although it lacks its blue roof)

[SomethingNew71]

I'm hoping you rode this around the shop a bit after you finished it. If you didn't I will be very disappointed.