842 replies to this topic

[analogue_radio]

Cheers Paul! getting paid to look at my project thread

I've managed to pop home for a few days.



More plastic bags from Moss!



Door shims from Smiffys Bits ebay store.



Etch primer also came through so protected the bare metal bits from the previous update.



Washers on, just need to secure the rear mounts on the front subframe now. I won't bother with the tear drops for now as the front subby will be coming off at the bodyshop.



Temporary zip ties replaced by the proper clevis pins and split pins.



In, other than the guides, again this will be removed so he can spray the brackets as they will be visible.



Badge holes.



Gone.





Cable & wire holes gone.



These two needed fillering to smooth them over, I did finish this off and etch but no photo.



And then this.. as you can see it's looking flimsy and a bit half arsed.. the more I tried to correct it the more damage I did and I wasn't happy with it.







So I took the left hand support out and then welded those two patches in to close the gap.



Cut another support out and welded that in.. some time later after lots of welding and grinding.. Just needs some fillering and it'll look beautiful!



It now sits very flush and very comfortably, really pleased with this now.



I love how the black screws look as well, they suit the patina



And the list..

[analogue_radio]

Basically if you get an earlier switch panel and try to fit it to a later MK, you'll find there will be a 5mm-ish gap that runs along the bottom because it's a lot smaller. The later MKs had the padded rail which housed the bigger switch panel. So what I did was to close the gap which allowed me to fit the smaller earlier switch panel.

If that makes sense..

[analogue_radio]

Another good effort today, spent 5 hours trying to get the bearings in the CVs.. and I'm headed back to Uni tonight but will hopefully be popping back again next weekend, I'm realllly counting on having it ready for paint, the biggest thing left to do is to get the front rolling so I need to make sure I've got all the parts ready.





Dowels had to be removed as I've put new ones in the arms, so after some GT85, plenty of heat and a vice grip later.. they were out.



Etched.



First coat of paint.



Pot joint end bearings on.



And after hours and hours and hours of effort.. the CV end went in



Greased up.



Driving them home.





So clean! as you can see one side is missing the zip ties as the rubber boot popped off so I had to cut them off and the only ones in the garage we've got long enough are white! so to be consistent and perfect I'll get some off ebay.

Also stuck another coat of paint on the hubs, I'll see if I can get Dad to give them one more during the week so when I'm back next weekend they are ready to build back up.

I also couldn't get the bearings out of the upper arms for love nor money, it's the little things that are the biggest problems.. so I'm going to cop out and buy some new ones to save time.

So yeah.

Expect another update next weekend!

[analogue_radio]

And a reminder of how they used to look..

[Deathrow]

What methods have you tried for getting the bearings out of the top arm?

Mine were a doddle after the heat from welding the nut in place, the knocked out in 2 or 3 taps each.

The CV boots that came with my new CV's don't look like that, strange.

[bcjames]

If you can't get them out yourself using the usual methods, it might be worth popping them in to a shop to be done with an internal bearing puller. That's what I did for mine, cost me £10 and it was worth avoiding the faffing around!

Im surprised to see you went for poly front subframe mounts rather than solid too, given all the early mini touches you are adding to it.

Great as ever to see more progress

[analogue_radio]

I tried welding a nut inside the bearing but I had problems getting the weld to stick to the bearing case, in the end it ended up just breaking the top half off and leaving half the case left inside.

I've bitten the bullet and bought a new pair along with some other bits and pieces that I need in order to get it done this weekend.

I know it's a cop out and I would've rather done it myself but I can't faff around wasting more weekends, soon I'll be starting lectures and my workload this year won't give me any free weekends so I'm making the most of the time I've got now.

I had a look through your thread Deathrow but couldn't find a photo of your CV boots, where did you get yours from? mine are from Mini Sport.

[Deathrow]

I've not put them on yet haha.

They came with my new CV joints from Mini Spares. Going through their site though, mine are like this: http://www.minispare...ty=pb&pid=34208

[analogue_radio]

Ah that's why I couldn't find a photo

Ah genuine! Is that £18 each?

I did think about replacing the zip ties with jubilee clips, I think I'll do that when it's back from paint. I wasn't happy with how loose the zip ties still were even though I couldn't get them any tighter.

[Deathrow]

Well they came with the CV's so I had no input!

The clips with these are those strange type that you crush with pliers. Not really clear about how you're meant to use them though. Doesn't the boot have a rib on the inside which locates in the channel on the joint? Shouldn't need to be too tight to stop it jumping out.

[analogue_radio]

Yeah it does but I don't trust it, perhaps it's because whilst fitting the boot over the cv itself I had caught some grease on the inside. I'll amend it when I'm back!

[RossKnight]

Not sure why, but I read this thread all the way through again, even though I follow every update anyway... haha

I really love the attention to detail, want to do mine? haha I've got biscuits...

[analogue_radio]

Haha really?! That's dedication!

Crazy going back to the very start of the first chapter, unfortunately most of the photos have disappeared, but what I was doing and my plans are a world apart from what I'm doing now.

Yeah I'll do yours, after I've got this done, my fixie bike and my '59 lambretta bit of a long waiting list

[AndrewJ530]

Just out of curiosity, what grease did you use in the CV joint? It looks like normal grease from the photo (I could be mistaken though) but aren't you supposed to use high temperature copper grease? Or am I just being very pedantic about all this and as long as it's lubed up nice it doesn't matter haha.

[analogue_radio]

It was the grease provided in the packets that were included in the rebuild kits, so I couldn't tell you wether it's high temp copper grease or not! I'm also not sure wether it's needed, I'll do some quick research.