377 replies to this topic

[blue blood]

Got another few more hours in today and yesterday. I've managed to get some old back wheels on by putting in some wheel bearings and putting the minifins on. I also got round to do the final of final holes in the rear spreader plates. Got it on the ground as well supporting its own weight:










Then I slung a wheel arch on just to have a look:





I also got a start on with my lower alternator bracket/tensioner :






Thats all for now.
Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Looks good blue! You have a lot of room for rear wheel movement there.

[blue blood]

Hey Jonny yah there is lots of room for wheel movement :) I did the minus equivalent of tubbing the arches. I had another look at them today and the arch that I threw on for a butchers hook looks way to high in the photos and when I offered it up again today there is only a reasonable amount of gap :)


Did get to do a few things today which is why i'm so itchy now!!!

So today I got the engine and subframe out so I could do a little work on the engine bay and subframe.
With the subframe I cut two small pieces of 38mm o.d steel tube to be my new radiator feet holders (I will add a plate of metal with a drainage hole in the bottom of them).




The reason for me having these cups recessed for my radiator to sit lower is so there is more room for my alternator which again has had to be lowered for bonnet clearance.
Whilst the frame was out I also made some templates for some spreader plates for the back fastening holes as there is a gap between the subframe and body work.
The next thing I did was fibreglass the old steering rack hole as the UJ that is going on the bottom of my column would fowl on my pedals if pushed fully to the floor (i will make up the difference via longer track rod ends):



It will need a final dress up once cured.

Finally I put a bit more reinforcement on the mounting point for the front subframe rear mounts:



Hope everyone likes the progress.

Kind Regards Blue

[jonny f]

Looks good blue, i need to do that for my rear subframe mounts to. Along with a nice spreader plate.

[blue blood]

Yeah for the floor mounts i'm just going to use large stainless penny washers. At the moment i'm rethinking my pedal assembly and whether to get a tilton unit or something.

Cheers for the comments as ever jonny :)
Regards Blue

[Tupers]

I like the lower rad mounts, very nicely done.

[blue blood]

Thanks Tupers yeah trying to squeeze everything in the engine bay is a bit of a challenge and if I can win back a few cms its a bonus :)

Regards Blue

[blue blood]

Managed to get one thing done today as i'm waiting for quite a bit of stuff to come in stock by a few companies.
Now with the belt tensioner due to lowering the alternator by about 2.5 inches via making new mounting points in 5mm steel i had to find other ways to take up the slack. As shown in the last set of pics I made a lower bracket that pivot out and is adjustable to an extent but to tension the belt up in situe i'd have to use the original MPI tensioner wheel. Now like a spiv I started winding it and it wasn't moving (it is actually because a threaded nut holds it in place) and i ended up bending the bracket and bending the threaded winder. So to rectify the problem I cut the old winding thread and ordered a really long stainless coach bolt. Problem was it was only partially threaded and if anyone has worked in stainless before it is a pig to do anything right in!!!
I did cut thread all the way down the shank though and managed to fit it on for a trail run (as the lower bracket hasn't been welded up yet ) but all seems to be spot on :)









I'll update next when I have the next pieces of the puzzle in my possession.

Regards Blue

[Zulu162]

Good to catch up with the project again. Looking really great Blue. Can't wait to see the finished article. The mechanical attention to detail is awesome. Well done buddy!

Regards, Duncan

[blue blood]

Cheers mate I do have a lot more time to do things on it now but I am slowing down a bit now due to waiting for parts and stuff. I've lately been trying to find out information on the engine for its SVA as I am unsure of the origin of it (as it came out of a non MPI mini).







I did however yesterday drill a few plates for the boot lid hinge spreaders and cut some spreader plates to be bent for the front subframe rear mounting points.
Along with this I put about an hour in polishing the suspension spreader plates but only got one done:







Its like a house of mirrors under my bonnet :)

Going to pick up some parts for my roll cage in a bit but like I said its waiting on products to be in stock

Regards Blue

Edited by blue blood, 03 April 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[blue blood]

Argggghhhhh third time a charm, real deja vu happening now.

So from the top again.

Starting with the drive belt. I have had the lower alternator bracket made and welded together. I bolted it all together and made sure that the belt tightens and all the tensioning devices work perfectly. The belt gets taught enough to drive the alternator and water pump perfectly.







The next thing I saw to was making mounting points for the radiator. I started by cutting some 38mm tube and welding some plate on the bottom of them, then grinding/dressing the welds and drilled some drainage holes in the bottom of them.



I then went on to welding the cups recessed on the frame to gain a little more precious engine bay room:









In situe





The acid test was then to make sure everything fitted in the engine bay without anything touching and no clearance issues. To begin with I was worried because the alternator bracket was touching the top of the radiator, but i then realised that the fan on the radiator was pushing it back to much off the front pannel. However the alternator fitted under the bonnet perfectly with no clearance issues.











So to remedy the contact between the radiator and alternator I cut out the front panel to allow more space for the radiator fan and to allow better airflow for cooling. I was only going to do the one side where the radiator was but I cut the other side out as I thought it would improve cooling efficiency:




I also tried the grill on again for clearance of the fan



I also got a crack on with my roll-cage. The spreader plates I had fabricated got welded on the roll-cage legs ready for drilling and bolting into the body.







I also got these in the post:



'rust bullet' and 'metal blast'. It is supposed to be real tough stuff and claims to be better than por15 in tests. However I will keep people posted as to whether it is up to par or not.

Hope people like the update and any comments are welcome.

Regards Blue

[kcchan]

Man you're ugly You look like an alien or something.

Some good work there!

[blue blood]

Cheers kcchan hes actually my mascot and he appeared in the mini magazine article I was in so hes a pretty famous alien :)

Regards Blue

[kcchan]

Pretty sure I read it. On the Job section? I was in one too :) Weird to put faces to names.

[blue blood]

Yeah ha ha. I prefer people not to know what I look like I think though. It adds to the mystique faceless blogging :)

Regards Blue