852 replies to this topic

[KTS]

 

I would advise either all solid or all rubber subframe mounts - don't mix and match.

 

The little bracket with the rubber on is the throttle pedal stop and fits under the bottom left pedal box bolt.

 

Interesting, there's a lot of conflicting information on this. I have read that, fitting solid mounts to the front, in place of the Tear Drops, doesn't allow any flex and can cause cracking under the headlight area?  

 

 

the subframe should only flex on the shell if the rear and top mounts are rubber, which is why you need to go all rubber or all solid.

[Retro_10s]

I have just done the same to my heater,... the correct 6mm foam you need is available from 'demisterman' on eBay. it only costed £2.64 for a sheet.

 
Just been reading your project build, seems you started and then had to pack the mini away to get on with life  
 
Just reading the heater resto bit here

Yeah unfortunately I fell out of love with it after the beautiful paint job didn't harden off. I couldn't face the re-rebuild after all the prep that had gone into it. So it just stayed in the garage. Thankfully I'm enjoying being back on it now. Still a load of re-prep to do, but I have a vision and some motivation.

I hope the heater rebuild section helps you out! The hardest part was getting the bloody flap off,

[JonnyAlpha]

Slow progress and the evenings are dark, wet and cold!! However, managed to get a few things done over the past couple of weeks.

 

First up I wanted to finish fitting the pedals (brake and clutch in but hadn't done the accelerator. I also realised that the accelerator rubber rebound went behind the pedal box and I had forgotten to fit the brake light bracket. I thought I would be able to get in in with the pedal assembly in situ, but no joy :-(

 

So off came the pedal box (AGAIN).  

 

For the accelerator rebound I found a piece of rubber and cut it to size and secured it with a split pin.

 

Whilst the pedal box was out I fitted the brake light switch bracket.

 

 

 

Last week I decided to paint the master cylinders. I removed the reservoir from the clutch cylinder, but left the brake on on, masked up, rubbed down, cleaned and primed with acid etch and then painted with gloss black engine enamel.

 

 

Also painted the Brake Limiter Valve.

 

Today it was time to fit the Master Cylinders, to hold the pedals down I made up a pedal buster, which I saw on one of D3Shooter's Youtube videos here. 

 

Not quite finished yet but it worked.

 

 

Gasket on first.

 

 

Then on with the new DSN Classics Master Cylinder Plate.

 

 

Before fitting the individual gaskets, I applied some grease to the underside on the MC.

 

 

And a bit of copper grease around the clevis hole.

 

 

Then using a pair of long nose pliers, in went the clevis pin and 'R' clip.

 

 

 

I did the clutch MC from the inside, turned out to be pretty easy to do.

 

Then on with the washers and lock nuts.

 

 

The MC plate comes with a bolt, lock washer and nut for the engine steady so, after squeezing in the new bush I test fitted it. Still need to tighten everything up, but it all looks great I also bolted on the Brake Limiter Valve, the old brake pipes on the bottom are just because I removed the bungs and didn't want anything going inside.

 

 

That's all I had time for as I needed to fit a new coat rack in the house

 

Next job will be fit a new front to rear brake line (won't be easy with both Subframes fitted!

 

 

[alex-95]

I don't think I've seen one of the throttle rebound plates fitted before, I'm pretty sure I've seen one laying about though  maybe mine did have one... The black cylinders look great with the black DSN bit. Did you fit a R clip to the brake cylinder? I've just fitted one of these brake light switches as my other one melted and failed, it's a direct replacement, same length and thread but a lot stronger and better built https://www.ebay.co....tm/234645174263. 

 

 

[JonnyAlpha]

I don't think I've seen one of the throttle rebound plates fitted before, I'm pretty sure I've seen one laying about though  maybe mine did have one... The black cylinders look great with the black DSN bit. Did you fit a R clip to the brake cylinder? I've just fitted one of these brake light switches as my other one melted and failed, it's a direct replacement, same length and thread but a lot stronger and better built https://www.ebay.co....tm/234645174263. 

 

Yes 'R' clips on both the clutch and brakes. I reckon I'll need to get one of those BMW metal brake switches, the plastic ones are just rubbish.

[JonnyAlpha]

Slow progress, on Friday (or was it Saturday??), anyway, I made a start on the rest of the engine bay brake lines.

I bought an HVM013, which is the one piece pipe that goes from the brake limiter valve to the three way banjo on the front RH side of the subframe.

I also picked up a Rothenburger Brake Pipe Bender from Screwfix.

 

Using the pipe bender and a couple of mistakes I got it into near enough and then a few tweaks to finish it off.

 

 

 

 

Didn't need the pipe bender for the Brake MC to Brake Limiter because I treated myself to some of these:

 

 

A set of Yellow Tag MC stainless steel PVC coated flexible brake lines from HEL.

They come with the two different sized bolts and washers.

 

 

 

And when fitted they look the dogs kahoonahs!!

 

 

 

[colinf1]

Very nice indeed! 

[JonnyAlpha]

Very nice indeed! 

 

Thanks - I posted the pic up on a FB group and couldn't believe the number of people that liked it.

[lawrence]

Great job with the resto, just read the lot this afternoon/ tonight. Nice one :) 

[JonnyAlpha]

Great job with the resto, just read the lot this afternoon/ tonight. Nice one :)

It’s been a long journey 😂😂
Thanks

[JonnyAlpha]

Front to rear brake line time. Should have done this before the Front Subframe went in

 

Anyway, first I removed the old front to rear brake line and thought I'd be able to use it as a pattern, a little too bent up I'm afraid:

 

 

I did notice though that the replacement line was a lot longer than the one I was removing, turns out it was because someone must have repaired the rear section on my car as there was a join about 30cm from the heel board and another join just before the 'T' piece.

 

I was able to fabricate up the front section:

 

 

But then was advised to start from the rear!!

 

Using the old rear section and a spare piece of old brake pipe I went about making a pattern for the rear section:

 

 

However before fitting it I realised that there was no way I'd be able to get the 180 degree loop over the top of the subframe, so instead I just put in the two 90 degree bends, then once I had successfully looped the rear section over the subframe I carefully manually pu the 180 degree bend in:

 

 

Then I made the bends around the drivers footwell:

 

 

And then up and under the toe board:

 

 

And connected up to the Brake Bias Valve:

 

Edited by JonnyAlpha, 18 March 2023 - 08:19 PM.

[JonnyAlpha]

UPDATE

There's not a lot going on with these pages, as most of my updates are associated with the new 1310 engine install. So, if you want to keep up on what's going on take a look at the red link below "127 Metro Engine Project".

[JonnyAlpha]

Newly refurbished engine is now in the car, the engine project is not complete and can be seen at the red link below "1275 Metro Engine Project".

 

 

After fitting the engine, driveshafts, hubs and wheels, the tyres were sitting at 10 to 2 so needed to be aligned. As this is a car specific activity, I thought I'd post it here.

 

To roughly align the wheels, I sought the help of Paul Hickey of HREIRL, by way of this video:

 

I set up a jig using plastic poles and string.

 

 

Then once the jig was aligned in relation to the centre of the wheels on the car, I set about making measurements and hopefully correcting the geometry.

 

To help I had to get the steering wheel temporarily back in.

 

 

Next I removed the plug in the Steering Rack and after centering the steering by inserting a 6mm drill into the locking steering rack.

 

 

 

Edited by JonnyAlpha, 05 April 2023 - 03:45 PM.

[JonnyAlpha]

After setting the steering to centre and locking it, I then proceeded to take measurements of the front and rear of the front wheels.

After doing this I encountered a couple of issues and spotted a few things.

 

(1) I noted that my Track Rod Ends had been fitted upside down (pointed out after posting some images up on FB) - as seen in pic (a)

(2) The steering wheel was not central which indicates that the last time the wheels where set the rack could not have been centred, or someone put the steering wheel on off centre - as seen in pic (b)

(3) My Track Rods did not have a flattened area and therefore adjustment would be by means of mole grips - as seen in pic ©

 

(a)

 

 

(b)

 

 

© 

 

 

So to proceed I decided to loosen the Track Rod Ends, set the wheels straight, rotate move the Track Rod Ends until they could be inserted into the Steering Arms and then do them up.

 

At first I did this with the car jacked up, but realised it needed to be done with weight on the wheels.

This proved tricky as the wheels still seemed out when the car was on the ground, this is when I realised that I needed to ensure that the hubs were upright.

 

It's all a big learning curve for me and I soon found out through some research (and advice from friends) that front wheel Geometry consists of:

1. Castor Angle (Hubs angled backwards of forwards in relation to the front of the car)

2. Camber Angle (Hubs angled inwards or outwards vertically)

3. Toe In / Out (Whether the wheel is pointing inwards or outwards when centred)

 

Partially explained in a thread here and a little info here

 

From the first thread I have borrowed this data for a standard Mini:

 

Front camber = 2degs positive +- 1 deg
Front castor = 3degs positive +- 1deg
Front toe = 1/16" toe out
Rear camber = 0.5 to 2.5 degs positive
Rear track = 1/8" toe in

 

Posted by @KernowCooper

 

So before I started again I had to find the measurement for a standard Tie Bar, which I found to be 362mm, from the back of the thick washer to the centre of the bolt hole at the end of the Tie Bar (the bit that bolts to the lower arm. .

 

To adjust this I measured and marked a piece of angle iron and used it as a guide.

 

 

[JonnyAlpha]

With the Castor kind of OK, I proceeded to sort out the Toe in / Toe Out.

 

Here is a pics of the drivers wheel to give you an idea of how far out it was.

 

 

And once straightened here were the measurements:

 

 

 

Now that the wheels are near enough aligned, I'll leave the rest to the garage. The lower arms are also adjustable so they should be able to sort everything out pretty easily.