742 replies to this topic

[MrBounce]

I have been a busy boy again so not much to report. I have been having fun (or not) with brake pipes. I dug the compensator valve out of the brake box and realised it was still a horrid colour, so I wire brushed it and gave it a coat of primer & satin black to match the master cylinder. I then grabbed the beam and hoisted it up onto the bench to start dealing with the brake pipes. When I bought the car there was a kit of brand new (Mini) pipes - all except the front to rear pipe, so making up the new pipes was not an issue.

 

I found my 3-way splitter and bolted it to the beam, then made up the first (short pipe) to go between the splitter and braided brake hose. All went together easily. I then got the longer pipe for the other side - this needed to be bent about a bit as the Midas has a narrower rear track than a Mini. Again, not too much of an issue. Then I once again delved into the brake pipes box to find only one pipe to go from the braided pipe to the cylinder. Typical! There is also a problem with the front to rear brake hose - the ends are different on the one I need. The one I have does not...

 

I have put an order in to Mini Spares.

 

Compensator valve looking more respectable.

 

 

Short brake pipe made up and fitted...

 

 

...and longer one bent about a bit to fit.

 

[MrBounce]

Have completed a few more little jobs and have also got started on something that's been bugging me. When getting my replacement brake pipes from Mini Spares, I also took the time to top up with half decent replacement bushes for the top and bottom steady bars as well as a further steady which is mounted to the gearbox. The car will now have a total of 4 steadies, all without the need for an "ultimate engine steady" - I'm not keen on these.

 

I sorted the bushes for the bottom steady bar and bolted it to my improved and far stronger bracket on the front subframe then, using the vice, pushed in the uprated rubber one-piece bushes into the top steady bar. Quite why BMC/BL/Austin Rover etc didn't do this to start with instead of waiting until the 90s I will never know but I guess that's "progress".

 

The brake pipes were easily fitted - a simple matter of gently bending them to shape and screwing them in. One looks smoother than the other due to one being dead straight from the packet and second one being already bent!

 

Finally, the spare wheel "hump" used to have a captive nut in it and a "T-bar" assembly which had been cobbled together. The captive nut broke off so I had to cut the original out using a Dremel. As I wanted to try the welder again, I got hold of a nut and long bolt plus a piece of 3mm thick steel. I drilled a hole then welded the nut on properly before giving the whole lot a coat of primer prior to some paint. Once finished, I will construct a new T-bar section and glass the whole lot into place.

 

Bottom steady bar bushed and fitted.

 

 

Top steady bar with new one-piece uprated bushes.

 

 

New brake pipe fitted. This is the tidy one.

 

 

And the other side, looking slightly less professional.

 

 

Original "T-bar" section and dodgy captive nut I had to cut off

 

 

New captive nut plate sprayed up in primer.

 

[MrBounce]

Had a few more minutes in the Manroom so I sorted out missing captive nut on the spare wheel "hump" in the boot. I stuck the steel plate with captive nut on to the hump with epoxy resin, and once that had gone off, I screwed a bolt in covered with tape to stop the threads getting gummed up with resin. I mixed up some fibreglass resin and glassed over it with CSM. I also started to make a new "T-bar" to screw in. I used a bolt roughly the same size as before then cannibalised a top engine steady bar. Unfortunately things went wrong - after a poor attempt to weld it all together, I welded the tip of the welder up and when trying to remove the old tip, it snapped off, leaving the threaded part in the nozzle. Oh joy.

 

Captive nut plate stuck on with epoxy resin.

 

 

Glassed over.

 

 

T-bar midway through construction when the welder broke.

 

[Ben_O]

Do you think you will get the broken tip out ok?

 

I had this happen years ago and had to end up fitting a new swan neck.

[MrBounce]

No chance Ben - it's a new part job as the tip has snapped off flush with the end of the neck. Not happy!

Edited by MrBounce, 31 May 2015 - 09:41 PM.

[Ben_O]

Bugger.

 

Oh well, i think swan necks tend to be around the £17 marks so i guess it could have been worse.

 

What make is the welder as i have a complete torch and hose sitting in the garage doing nothing that you are welcome to...

[MrBounce]

I have had a delivery. I will just leave this picture here...

 

[MrBounce]

I got the doors down as I needed to a) clean them, b) sand them and c) repair them if there were any cracks. Stupid question, as this Midas appears to have all the cracks in the world. So it was out with the orbital sander and some bits of 150 grit, and each door was cleaned then sanded. I spotted several cracks in each door and, Dremel in hand once more, I set about dealing with them. I ground out each individual crack, then filled them with P40 fibreglass filler. Once dried and sanded down, I gave each bit a skim of body filler.

 

I wasn't happy with the paintwork on the shell, so I firstly removed the bonnet. Somehow I had missed a shedload of cracks on the very front. My mate the Dremel came out once again and the process was repeated. I then took a long look at the shell out in the daylight. Apart from being filthy, there were parts of the paintwork which could really do with reworking. As a result I have spent a great deal of time today sanding and flatting back so I can start again. I then pressure washed the shell too. I am determined to start putting things back together very soon so will be working hard on this over the next few weeks.

 

Halfway through sanding door number 1.

 

 

Were there cracks? Don't be stupid - of course there were...

 

 

...In fact they were all over the place! I ground them all out.

 

 

...then I filled them with P40.

 

 

How did I miss this load of cracks???

 

 

Skim of filler over the top to finish off.

 

 

Shell now not looking quite so "finished"...

 

[Ben_O]

1 step forwards and 2 steps back.

 

Never mind though, it's got to be right so worth the effort at this stage rather than having a finished car that you will never be happy with

 

Ben

[MrBounce]

It's been a frustrating couple of weeks, mainly with having very little time to get into the garage. What time I have had has been taken up with sorting stuff that hasn't been car related. Not helpful. When I have managed to get out there, I have mainly been doing filling, sanding and priming - slightly different from just sanding so I do at least feel like I am getting somewhere. The nose is now almost 100% smooth as are the bonnet curves (accidentally "chunked" by my over-enthusiastic use of the orbital sander) and the bulkhead is looking ok too. There are certain bits which will never be great (such as the battery tray) but most of these places will be covered by items such as lights, washer bottles and the battery, so it's not too bad. There are still a couple of places that will need a little more attention, but I am getting there.

 

Door hinge area on door - now with no cracks!

 

 

Bonnet curve mid-sand after filling.

 

 

Nose area looking a LOT better than before.

 

 

Bulkhead "buttress" - needs a small amount of work on the right hand edge.

 

[Ben_O]

Excellent!

[cubby1701]

I love seeing this thread updated. It gives me the urge to get my project back on track but unfortunately I've been banned from the garage by the wife until I get the date for my operation so as usual Mr bounce keep up the fantastic work

[MrBounce]

Thanks cubby - that gives me inspiration to carry on doing what I'm doing!

[MrBounce]

Had an hour or so tonight so popped back in to do a few more bits. I bought an oil cooler so spent a bit of time cleaning that, then finished off the spare wheel "hump". I hadn't managed to completely cover the plate with the captive nut so out came the fibreglass resin and I cut up some matting to fit. It's now much tidier. Talking of tidying, I also mixed up some filler to use in the small areas where not all was flat.

 

More to follow.

 

Spare wheel hump now finished. Fibreglass is drying. Paint yet to be applied.

 

 

Small smear of filler on the front wing to cover a small indentation.

 

 

And likewise on the buttress area.

 

[MrBounce]

It's been a little while since I updated so what have I been up to? Well it's been lots of incredibly dull filling, sanding and priming. In fact it's been so depressingly dull I have taken no photos at all as it's just repeating the same thing on different parts of the car. The garage was also an absolute tip, so I have had a big tidy up.

 

I came across the bumpers in the tidy up, and I remembered that I wanted to change the way they mounted to the body. When I first bought the car, the bumpers were full of expanding foam and rotten wood. They were also fixed to the car using wood screws. This simply would not do, so I thought about different ways to mount the bumpers in a more stealthy and more secure way. As I had removed all the foam and old wood, the bumpers are now much lighter and of course hollow. My solution is quite simple: make a u-shaped bracket at each mounting point out of sheet steel, weld a captive nut on the inside, fibreglass the u-bracket to the inside of the bumper, then drill a hole in the bodywork to bolt the bumper on from inside the engine bay/boot.

 

So it was out with the old CAD (cardboard-aided design) - I mocked up the brackets then re-made them in steel. I then drilled holes for the bolts and was getting ready to weld them up. Then the welder wouldn't feed the wire through, so I gave up and went inside.

 

CAD templates made...

 

 

...and replicated in steel.

 

 

Holes drilled and nuts ready for welding, once I can get the poxy welder to work...

 

Edited by MrBounce, 12 July 2015 - 07:33 PM.