742 replies to this topic

[MrBounce]

That makes sense now - thanks Stu!   

[Artstu]

On my Avatar car I think that valve must have been stuck in a position that limited the back brakes a lot, it used to just scrape through the MOT on back brake efficiency. I just took the valve off on my other Midas, I didn't fit a limiter valve, and whilst I didn't do many miles I did try to see if the rears would lock up, but didn't have any issues. I did put small rear wheel cylinders on though.

[MrBounce]

Well, it seems that things are looking up again. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and offers of help. It seems that the original "tin can" clutch MCs are the ones to go for, so have a s/hand one coming which will be reconditioned before fitting (trial fitted first of course!). 

 

In the meantime, the brake valve Ian had in his shed (cheers matey!) has been received, and tried out. No issues with the thread on this bad boy - it tightened up a like a dream. However, it did look a bit... how do I best put this... used. So out came my favourite tool - the angle grinder with the wire brush attachment. It made short work of the minor surface rust and odd paint, and I wiped it down before plugging up the holes. I've given it a coat or two of primer before it'll get the satin black tomorrow. 

 

I also finished tidying up the "T-bar" I made to hold in the spare wheel and gave that a coat of primer too. More to follow.

 

Brake valve looking pretty again.

 

 

T-bar primed.

 

[Udo]

Ha ha "used"  it still had the zinc plating on it in places!

 

Glad it sorted it

[MrBounce]

Zinc plating was indeed there - in places - yes     Thanks again matey!

 

Forums. There's only one thing that I can say about them - they're brilliant places. Not only did I get myself a brake valve from Ian, but a "tin can" clutch master cylinder turned up for sale at a very reasonable price as well. So after a short email conversation involving the wonders of Paypal, I had myself the part that I needed - well, mostly. I knew it would be a used item, so the best thing to do would be a recondition, despite it working well before removal. So I picked up a seal kit (not expensive - about £7) and when the MC arrived, I started on making it more presentable.

 

It had been on a fuel-injected Mini all its life (one of the later ones) but it was still 17 years old. It was also a little bit in need of a clean. So I removed the circlip, and took all the inner gubbins out before giving it a good dunk in the parts washer, followed by a proper clean up with various brushes and the Dremel. Once properly dry, I gave it a couple of coats of primer, followed by some satin black. I've replaced all the seals - now all that remains is for it to go back together.

 

Oh, and yes, it fits perfectly!! 

 

As received. 17 years of grime yet to be removed...

 

 

Much cleaner after a dunk and a brush.

 

 

All the inner workings ready to be replaced

 

 

Primed...

 

 

...and painted.

 

[MrBounce]

This car is fighting me. A lot. It's almost like it wants to frustrate me at every given point just to irritate me a little more than before. Allow me to write the latest tale of woe.

 

I finished off the clutch master cylinder by popping in the spring and piston with its new seals and washer and sorted the circlip with a flourish. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. I popped the master cylinder into place and proceeded to connect up the brake master cylinder's pipes to the bulkhead valve. All looked great. "Excellent" I thought. "Time for the slave cylinder pipe and to connect the new pipe to the master cylinder". Except when I offered everything up, the new slave cylinder pipe was too large for the hole in the bulkhead bracket. I REALLY don't want to remove this bracket again as it'll mean taking out the pedalbox as well as I can barely see the blots with it on. And I don't have a 5/8" drill bit. Arse. I shut the garage door and walked away for a bit. Again. 

 

To cheer myself up I decided to do some Midas paperwork. It's not much, but picture below.

 

New MCs fit well together. ("Old" new MC has been sold already)

 

 

Hole needs to be this big.

 

 

However, it is this big. Guess what won't fit...

 

 

So I sent this off. Just because.

 

[MrBounce]

I have a new toy. It's such a simple idea, which is probably why I didn't think of it in the first place as I always seem to find a more complicated way of doing things. I was browsing the Machine Mart catalogue (always a bad idea as I tend to spend money - and it's on the way home from work if I make a minor detour...) and came across a stepped cone cutter. So, one purchase later and I have easily cut a bigger hole in the aforementioned bracket. It took about 8 seconds to do... As a result I popped on the clutch flexi-pipe and bent the kunifer pipe to shape. It's not perfect, but neither is my paint! As long as it doesn't leak it'll do for me!

 

New toy. Vicious little nibbly thing too.

 

 

I was able to do this. Me likey.

 

[Ben_O]

That reminds, me, i need to get a new set. Mine are old and worn now.

 

They are good though

[1984mini25]

That reminds, me, i need to get a new set. Mine are old and worn now.

 

They are good though

 

Same, although I did take a grinder to the end of one recently. Although I have been quite surprised how good mine are considering they were a set of 3 in a wooden box for Aldi.

[MrBounce]

So I am back from holiday after spending a lot of time in a car the other end of the size scale: 

 

Glad I don't have to park that in England - it's a monster! Anyway, back to the smaller things in life. Today was a bit of a "tidying" kind of day in that I spent quite a lot of time underneath the shell with a paintbrush filling orange into all the little bits that the spray gun missed. I didn't bother taking any photos of this as a) it's brush-painted underside of bodywork and b) it's brush-painted so it isn't pretty. Most of it will be hidden anyway... Once I'd finished that I did a few other little bits, the first of which was making sure that the subframe could be bolted in nicely. Firstly I dug out the front mount brackets and spreader plates from the spares box. This was a simple "two bolts and nyloc nuts" job each side, complicated by the fact that the plates and brackets had so much paint on them that the bolts wouldn't push through. I sorted it with a old bolt and a hammer. At least I know they're not going to rust anytime soon...

 

I followed this up with a trial fit of the tower bolt mounts. I am using solid mounts as I like the idea of a) the better steering feedback and "point-and-squirtability" and b) never having to replace them again. As per usual on this bleeping car, there was a problem. When it was originally built, this Midas had a twin-bolt front subframe from a 60s Cooper S. It was converted to single bolt later, and when the holes were cut for the tower bolts, they presumably only had access to standard rubber mounts. These of course are flexible whereas the solid mounts are not, and the raised section on the mounts sat on top of the edge of the hole. There was just under 1/4" difference. My funky new cone cutters were not big enough, but because it's fibreglass, it's easy to re-shape. Out came my old friend the Dremel with a sanding band on it, and five minutes each side top and bottom saw the mounts fit snugly in place. Perfect. I also took the time to clean up and paint the large washers on the tower bolts as they looked a bit rusty and rubbish. I am unsure about painting the solid mounts as I don't know if the anodised finish is any good or not. Think I will leave them out for a few weeks and make a decision from there.

 

I have also made a captive nut plate for the wiper motor. I hated the way that mine was previously held on with big self-tapping screws - so I decided to do a bit better. Once the paint's dry I will drill the holes and fibreglass it into place. 

 

Front mount plates in place. 

 

 

Tower bolt hole midway through enlargement.

 

 

Mount now fits snugly in place.

 

 

Tower Bolt washers looking more presentable.

 

 

And captive nut plate for the wiper motor ready to go on the car.

 

Edited by MrBounce, 17 September 2016 - 01:38 PM.

[MrBounce]

It has been a frustrating time - mainly because my garage is in an utter state. I bought a couple of cabinets with plastic drawers at a boot sale last weekend and have been cleaning them and sorting out places for them to go. This meant moving lots of stuff, and so far I have only managed to move it from one side to another... I need to get rid of the fridge in the garage but of course that doesn't fit in a Bora's boot. So of course that means roping in friends - and only one has an estate car... 

 

As such I have got very little done. I have however, revised the way that the battery clamp works on this car. Originally it had a hideous chunk of angle iron with a "T" piece that was screwed into the bulkhead buttress using self-tappers. I have instead used a proper battery clamp (cut down slightly) and have made an "L" shaped bracket which bolts through the bulkhead behind where the battery sits. My battery box had been modified (badly), presumably to allow fitment of a standard Mini battery, so I have used a dead one of these to line stuff up. I have used a couple of spacers between the bracket and bulkhead due to clearance issues but once I used these, it works very well, using the standard "tent-peg" arrangement. Hopefully there'll be a bigger and more exciting update soon.

 

Bracket spaced out (nuts used as spacers in this pic were just for size purposes).

 

 

And the clamp in all its glory. If I am being slightly OCD, it does make the battery sit oh-so-slightly diagonally, but hey - it works and nothing else is going there...

 

[MrBounce]

Big update time!

 

I decided that I was going to pop the steering column in, and if I was going to do that it was probably a good idea to pop the clevis pins and split pins in to connect the pedals to the master cylinders. You're all probably going to hate me when I say this, but I found it a piece of cake - presumably because everything is stripped out the car. Split pin 1 (Clutch) took 1 1/2 minutes. Split pin 2 took less than 5 minutes and both involved me folding my chunky frame in and out of the car (no easy task). 

 

Right - now that bit was out of the way, I needed to do a few modifications to ensure fitting the column was a breeze. My Midas was different to a Mini in that it had two "cotton reel" spacers which mounted to the bracket on the column. The original bolts that I had was cut off as they were so rusty. I had some spare bolts, but they were too long and the thread did not reach far enough up the shaft. No problem - out came my tap & die set and Harry Hacksaw, and two suitable bolts were created. I was also unhappy with just bolting straight through the fibreglass, so I found some 3mm steel plate in the garage and cut it to shape and drilled some holes. Viola! One spreader plate. I then cleaned it and painted it. Whilst I had the grinder out I also modified the bottom of the brake master cylinder. The pedal box is for a single-line system, and the studs are shorter, meaning I could barely get a nut on to mount it. I gave the "foot" a tickle with the grinder which improved matters no end. 

 

Whilst I was fiddling about by the master cylinders I figured it would be a good idea to redrill the hole for the throttle cable (the old one is now covered by the brake valve). So I did that and also popped in a grommet. Should be nice and straightforward now when I come to fitting the cable. 

 

Fitting the steering column was actually pretty straightforward thanks to the prep work I'd already done. Spreader plate went on first, then I loosened the bolts holding the steering rack on so it could be moved where necessary. On went the column and after a bit of fiddling the pinch bolt slotted into place. A bit more careful lining up and the bolts went through the cotton reels and mount before being tightened up. I re-tightened the rack nuts before I forgot. Then I couldn't resist popping the steering wheel on for a quick look. Awesome day. 

 

Column - you're going on the car matey...

 

 

"Cotton reels" and newly created bolts.

 

 

Spreader plate created

 

 

Modification to brake master cylinder "foot".

 

 

Throttle cable bracket fitted

 

 

Column in place

 

 

And just because I couldn't resist!

 

[timmy850]

Looking great, keep it up!

[Will16]

Very cool project! I'm liking all the refinishing and thoroughness of it 

[MrBounce]

Thanks Will 

 

Just a quick update this evening. Once again I have been far too busy on other stuff so have left precious little time in the garage. However, have done a bit as Andy has been round to help out. I have the front subframe fitted loosely with mounts ready to fit (no pics) but this evening we turned our attention to the rear end. Typically for me, I had built up the full rear beam including radius arms without looking at the pictures taken when I took it apart. There was no way in hell that the bolts on the edges would go through with the radius arms in place... No bother - as the thing was on the bench anyway, out came the spanners and the two of us had the arm off within 5 minutes. 

 

We then did a trial fit of everything then we bolted the beam to the car. I remember reading somewhere that the Mk 1s & 2s are ever so slightly different from side to side (can't quite remember why) and the bottom bolt on the nearside is right next to the bodywork. This meant modifying the washer - I remember the one I took off having about 1/4" taken off one side - so out came the grinder and I gave the washer a little tickle until it fitted perfectly.

 

I should stress that the beam is only on temporarily. I am not happy with the fit of the fuel pipe (bends are in slightly the wrong place) so will whip the beam off again next week and sort the fuel pipe before refitting everything properly. Who knows - there might even be wheels attached next time...

 

That's a rear beam - attached to my car!

 

 

Modified washer on lower bolt so it will actually fit! (Apologies for poor focussing...)

 

Edited by MrBounce, 13 October 2016 - 09:13 PM.