377 replies to this topic

[blue blood]

Hello again readers, I have been away for some time on holiday but am back with a few more updates of progress.

I first off finished drilling and mounting all the mounting brackets i made for the front subframe, and polished a load of stainless allen head button bolts to tighten them into place:




Then i went about making a 3.5mm thick stainless engine steady bottom bracket (instead of any thin flimsy steel item usually spot welded to the bulk head). With this i also made up a spreader plate for inside the cab in 2mm aluminium:



Then i polished them:




Then i fitted them:




With all that sorted i also fitted the front subframe to make sure all the spreader plate were fine (which they were)



I also stripped back my jewell lens lights,cleaned them, filled in 2 dents and a crack in the plastic, keyed, masked, primed and painted them up in satin black. The results of doing a small job like that make a world of difference:






I have also made some stainless spreader plate for my boots internal door hinge and shaped the hinge mounting points but i am in the middle of polishing them up. I have also taken measurements for me to start making up some brackets for my headlining ribs to be fitted in so that i may make my headlining from my alacantara fabric i have.
Hope you all have enjoyed the up dates.
Kind Regards Blue

[MrBounce]

Utterly epic. I wish I had your fabrication skills and budget!

Keep the updates coming - it's a great project It's nice that someone else is doing fibreglass! Just out of interest where do you get your matting and resin from?

[blue blood]

Utterly epic. I wish I had your fabrication skills and budget!

Keep the updates coming - it's a great project It's nice that someone else is doing fibreglass! Just out of interest where do you get your matting and resin from?

Thank-you very much i appreciate the comment I just use the davids kits but i'm going to actually start buying from this site http://www.fiberglas...resin_kits.html because it will be more cost affective.

Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Looking good!

Been hording parts for mine recently. Really need to get started properly.

[blue blood]

Well haven't done as much as i'd hoped for a while because i have been out of pocket but i have sold my Ti rear arms and have something better planned. I have also had 'mini scura minus' photographed by Mr Jon Betts and it will appear in mini magazine in a couple of months or so.
Anyway as far as the project itself is going i have worked out how exactly i will be doing my headlining and i have manufactured some front subframe to bulkhead spacers from aluminium:



I have not drilled a centre hole in them as its not needed as the subframe is an early 4 bolt frame. They have been rubbed down to be anodised in black along with quite a few other bits.

Regards to all Blue

[blue blood]

So i have been away for a while sorting things out.

Firstly i have been designing how my front seats will be held in place at the rear. I have decided i will do an adaptation of something similar to what Mr Jon Betts sells but a bar that goes across from one side to the other in one length. Here are a few quick sketches i did to illustrate what i mean.


So after doing some brain storming for the front seat i went back to thinking about my steering column which has to be adapted in order to pass an SVA test. A normal standard mini steering column would fail an SVA! So in order to pass an SVA the steering column needs to have either a UJ or a telescopic section. After a trip to a motor-sport suppliers in Coventry i bought both SVA approved components to make my steering column at cost and it came to a grand total of £60.

My initial idea was to have splines cut in to the original MPI inner column and have a UJ like this:



But now my steering setup will be like this:



So these are all the components. I need to have the inner part of the telescopic column shortened and milled, with two nylon/PTFE bushes turned to replace the MPI's outer columns inner bearings. I also need a sleeve to be turned and welded on for the steering lock mechanism.



Cut down MPI outer steering column:


Old steering lock collar removed:


Telescopic fixing parts:


Universal joint to connect onto the steering rack:


Old MPI columns collar for steering lock that needs replicating:


So thats my lot for today.

Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Nice work Blue,

Out of interest what are the rules regarding the master cylinder i was thinking of using a pedal box setup.

Like the following... http://www.obpltd.co...-clutch-obp0305

[blue blood]

As far as pedal box is concerned i believe a mini pedal box to be void of needing adjustments to it. The only stipulation i know of on the brake master cylinder is it can't be adjustable, it must be a twin line system and the pressure ratio must be attended to via a pressure regulator (i will be using a standard mini one). I have heard a lot of woeful things about obp pedal boxes on 16v forum that they don't fit properly and the design is poor so i wouldn't want to spend that kind of money on something that isn't up to snuff. Also if people on the other forum are needing to mod their minis to fit them then us having minus' will blatantly need to busting out the saws!

Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Thanks for that blue!

There was one on eBay I was quite tempted by but after seeing those reviews I don't think I will touch it.
Seems a shame some companies can make such awful products and get away with it.

[blue blood]

Don't worry about it mate i wouldn't want you to get stung by poor quality products
Regards Blue

[blue blood]

O.k so recently i have been trying to get things finished off and things started in order to get other things finished.

So i started off by working out a few things to do with my steering column. I checked for the fitment of the boss adaptor on my new column, on the MPI column i would of had to have a sleeve made and hardened to weld between the column and adaptor (which is a bit unsettling with so much heat being passed through the column and a lot more parts that were involved) Thankfully though the adaptor fits perfectly to my new column:




Obviously i will have to cut off the splined part before welding and boss fitment but its just to illustrate fitment. However i will not be fitting my boss before an SVA test because SVA stipulates that snap off boss' are not allowed.
Also on my column from taking off the old collar i had taken a few nicks out so i have had them filled in with weld and will have them lathed down to be uniform with the rest of the column.


I have also started to dismantle my safety devices roll cage:


It will have to be smaller due to the minus being shorter in the body and i am going to add in some of my own needs. I am going to be having the rear arms going to the suspension turrets to make things more rigid, coupled with a cross on them for more weight at the back. I am also going to be having a harness bar before the arms go through the rear seats back board. This is a quick diagram to illustrate what i mean:


So another thing i have started is my front subframe. I have seam welded it all up for more strength.
To begin i used nitromors on it to help lift and strip the paint on the areas that needed welding then used a wire brush tool in my drill to get the metal clean:


So here are the two towers welded up:



There was quite a surprising amount of rust on this subframe but it is still useable. I started to dress all the welds up but as i said i did not finish all of the dressing due to some holes that need working in to:



In the end i gave some areas a lick of primer to stop rust forming but i will be sending the frame off once its been test fitted and gone through a dry run setup to be sandblasted and powder coated.



As you can see more weld and work needed on this one


With some spare time i decided to check the fitment of the titanium arms i have and they do seem to be alright as i had a lot of issues with the rear radius arms i purchased.





Well thats all for now folks

Regards Blue

[rustandoil]

Very nice work, good attention to detail which set s a project apart

Liking your steering column solution, particularly interesting as i was under the impression two universal joints were required for SVA

Edited by rustandoil, 20 November 2011 - 08:50 AM.

[blue blood]

Very nice work, good attention to detail which set s a project apart

Liking your steering column solution, particularly interesting as i was under the impression two universal joints were required for SVA

No as far as i am aware just the one is needed or a telescopic part but obviously i am utilising both things. Thank-you for the compliments.

On another note i'm in this months mini magazine

Regards Blue

[danny1]

i was about to say ive seen you in the magazine

[jessticles]

Nice project

You have talented fingers.