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[MrBounce]

Got a bit more done tonight, and as usual I ran into a setback or two.

 

I fitted the second seatbelt stalk captive plate. Having done one already, this was a piece of cake and only took a couple of minutes.

 

I gave my washer bottle a good wash - this included the cap, the plastic thread in the cap and the plastic gauze filter in the filler neck. This had accumulated all sorts of dirt and stuff during its time in storage including what looked like the remains of spider's eggs. A few minutes with some bleach and judicious use of a scrubbing brush had everything looking much cleaner. By the looks of things, the bottle itself either began with a blue-ish tinge, or the number of years that it's had screenwash in it has permanently stained it.

 

I then turned my attention to the wiper motor as this will probably go in the car soon, mainly to get it out of the way as it's not the easiest thing to store. I firstly looked at the wheelboxes and the outer rack tubing. This was covered in surface rust following my rust removal back when I'd first removed it. I will clean this up and respray it. However, when I originally cleaned it, I did not take the wheelboxes apart, and they're really stiff and covered in solidified old grease. Time for a dunk in the parts washer and a re-fresh. 

 

Whilst working on the wiper bits, I decided that the best way to get rid of the hubs that I kept having to move was to put them on the car. I would have also connected up the steering rack but then I realised that I didn't have any locknuts for the track rod ends. These will need to wait until another day. The hubs themselves are just finger tight at the moment as I will doubtless need to pop a balljoint or two to get the engine & driveshafts in.

 

Finally I checked the glued-together lens. Typically some glue has seeped out on the outside. I might be able to save this by some careful Dremel work, but as there's another one coming it'll be good for a spare if nothing else.

 

Seatbelt stalk mount in place. Significantly easier than the first one... (Excuse the rubbish pic)

 

 

Funky washer bottle now devoid of spider eggs and looking clean again. Made by Mitsubishi.

 

 

Wheelboxes look nasty. Time for a Parts Washer dunking.

 

 

Hubs on (albeit only loosely)

 

 

It's just a little seepage! (Hopefully the Dremel can clear it up)

 

[MrBounce]

These last few days have seen a lot of me wondering "Where on earth have I left my head?" with a smattering of "When is it actually going to go right?" As I am nearing the time to put the hubs, flanges and driveshafts on, I thought it wise to buy some more hub nuts and conical washers. Once I'd purchased these, I dug out the new CV joints in their (sealed) boxes. In each box was a brand new hub nut and also a conical washer, put there by me. I had then sealed each box so I wouldn't lose them. Nuts - literally. Still, I popped over to Tink's on Thursday and with his assistance & the help of Clyde the club hammer and a block of wood both cv joints were successfully mated with the driveshafts. I will use the new conical washers as one of the originals has some pretty deep marks on it thanks to the previous owner (or the one before him) "undoing" the hub nut using an angle grinder.

 

Moving onto the flanges, all looked good other than they were filthy. Or so I thought. It appears that I only have 4 of the correct bolts to mate the flange to the disc. So another eBay order has been made. Still, whilst I  had them there, I gave them a good dunking in the parts washer.  I am undecided as to whether I should paint them or not.

 

Finally, as I had the parts washer on the bench, in went the wiper wheelboxes. It was halfway through the cleaning that I noticed that there's virtually no thread on them and they're nastily corroded. Time for new ones...

 

Nice new CV Joints. 

 

 

This is a picture of a dirty flange (snigger)

 

 

Knackered wiper wheelbox (1 of 2)

 

[MrBounce]

Had a hour or so this afternoon so popped into the Manroom with a view to having a big tidy up and to also start assembling the front end drivetrain. This meant popping the driveshafts on to the car - which was a good plan seeing as I was running out of places to put them - they're not the easiest things to store... I would have then put the flanges and discs on but I decided that the flanges (even once they'd been cleaned) needed some paint. So out came the engine paint and on went some blue. Hopefully the next time I go in there'll be much activity and the front wheels will appear on the car...

 

Right hub complete with trackrod end and driveshaft...

 

 

...and the left one too.

 

 

Flanges left off because I deemed it necessary to give 'em a coat of blue. Nice!

 

[MrBounce]

I went into the Manroom this morning armed with the knowledge that I should have no issues putting the flanges and discs on the car and also torqueing up the hub nuts. Amazingly, it all went according to plan. Almost...

 

First job was to pop the flanges on to the new discs - these were brand new in box, still in their waxed paper, although there had been a minor ingress of dampness. This won't be a worry as it is only a very small amount of surface rust in localised areas.  These were bolted to the flanges, then it was time to pop them on to the car. On went the driver's side, and before anything else, I torqued up the flange bolts as it's easier to do them on the car. Then out came the special washer to correctly seat the wheel bearing and cv - once torqued up correctly, it was undone again and the conical washer popped in correctly, re-torqued and in went the split pin after making sure it was all lined up. 

 

All went exactly according to plan on the nearside as well, until I realised that I had a loose wheel stud. So off came the flange and disc, then I removed the offending stud. It didn't look very healthy and had stripped its splines as well as having rubbish threads. Luckily I had a new one so gave it some gentle taps into place and it's now solid as a stud should be. Once everything was back together it was all torqued up and now needs calipers and wheels. Whoop!

 

Flanges and new discs in lovely waxed paper.

 

 

Discs attached to flanges

 

 

Hub nut and big washer for seating cv & bearing.

 

 

Driver's side all done and torqued up.

 

 

Pesky loose stud. It was removed, inspected and unceremoniously binned.

 

 

Nearside all fitted and finally sorted (Take 2!)

 

[MrBounce]

I have come to a fairly big point in this project - and it's one that will free up a nice bit of space in the garage. No, I haven't decided to sell it on - instead it's time to get the engine out from under the bench and chuck it in engine bay. So, using my amazing muscles (and wheezing like an asthmatic 2 stoke), I "walked" it from one end of the garage to the other, managing to avoid coming even close to touching the bodywork. When you consider there's only just enough room to get my chunky frame past, you'll appreciate that this was some feat. Typically though, I have discovered that I have put a 2-inch scratch on the rear 3/4 which WILL need attention. So the spray gun will come out AGAIN when it gets warmer...

 

I turned my attention to the radiator and how I was going to mount it. The bottom slotted into holes in the valance and a couple of tie-bar bushes fit nicely on the feet and sit in the holes perfectly so I'll be using those. The top however, was a different story. There were 2 "L" shaped brackets on it with captive nuts which weren't fixed to anything so not ideal. Plus I could only find one now, and the large hole to locate the top radiator pin wasn't quite big enough for the new rad. So I thought a bit laterally - rather that bolt through the bodywork, which I REALLY didn't like the idea of, I could use a similarly sized bracket and build up the fibreglass where it would need to sit before drilling it and popping in a rivnut. It won't be under a huge amount of pressure so should be plenty strong enough. And that way it can be easily removed whilst also negating the need to drill through the existing bodywork. This made me happy.

 

So I set about the old bracket with the cone cutter, Clyde the Club Hammer and the angry grinder, then made a rough copy using an old "Ultimate Engine Steady" I had kicking about. They're a bit ragged to start with, but they won't be seen and I intend on cleaning them up a bit before painting and fitting properly. I chucked a couple of grommets in and they fit beautifully. Now all I had to do was to build up the bodywork with fibreglass by about 5mm. So I contorted myself into the engine bay and spent the next half an hour cutting, mixing and dabbing until I had a mound of fibreglass that looked like an oversized teenage zit. I will drill it and fit the rivnut once it's dried out. I've only done one side so far but I should be able to get in from the top once the engine's in. I hope... 

 

The Engine. It's a bit dusty, but I can clean it. Oil Cooler removed for now so it will be easier to fit in.

 

 

Original (but re-purposed) bracket to mount the top of the radiator to the side of the engine bay.

 

 

And the one I made from the old Ultimate Engine Steady. Tidying up still to do...

 

 

Built up fibreglass looking like a zit! 

 

[MrBounce]

Today, Shaun was over early, so we got cracking after some bacon sarnies. Armed with a good sized engine crane, some rope and some ingenuity, it was time to fill the big hole in the engine bay. Firstly, we needed to move the axle stands from under the floor to subframe so we could get the front of the car to a low enough height. This proved extremely easy. We wrapped a big ratchet strap around the front subframe and lifted the body up using the engine crane. Moving the axle stands was a piece of cake and no need for the jack. Once the stands were in place, I cracked the top ball joints to make the pot joints easily manoeuvrable whilst Shaun wrapped the rope around the engine and clipped it to the hook on the hoist. 10 seconds later the engine was in the air. It was at this point I chucked on the speedo cable.

 

I have read numerous different reports on how the engine is put into a Midas, but as I did not have the ability to raise it up with the subframe, it would have to be in through the top. I had no idea whether it would fit or not, so simply went for it on a "suck it and see" basis. First thing is first - the design of the bonnet is a pain in the ****. The "wok" end plate with its casting for the starter motor will NOT fit. So off this came. It then became quickly apparent that the clutch pressure plate would also be in the way. More spannering. Finally an extra bit of necessary clearance was found by taking of the nearside engine mount too. So, I was putting in an engine with no engine mounts and half a clutch. Good start...

 

However, this wasn't too much of a problem. Once we had swung the engine to a strange angle (i.e tipped back by 30 degrees and almost diagonally across the engine bay), we were able to drop the main extremes below the bonnet line. Now all I needed to do was put the clutch pressure plate back on, along with the wok and the nearside engine mount. Once we'd done this, in went the pot joints (surprisingly easy) and then it was time to sort the bolts for the engine mounts. I had made my own captive nut mounts by getting a pair of captive nut mounts from a Mini show, cutting off the really rubbish "nuts" and replacing them with some properly welded UNF nuts. Offside took 35 seconds to get in. Typically the nearside then took about 35 minutes as they just refused to line up. Eventually all was in and there was an engine in my car! 

 

Need to move axle stands? No problem - just lift the car!

 

 

Engine up in the air...

 

 

Speedo Cable. Glad I didn't forget this...

 

 

We have clearance, Clarence (not by much!)

 

 

Almost there - time to start bolting bits back on...

 

 

Looks right at home doesn't it?

 

[timmy850]

Nice work!

[jonlad]

Looking good, I love the combination of the orange and blue.

 

Is that some climbing rope or something that you are using?

[Jared Mk3]

Nicely done 

[MrBounce]

Looking good, I love the combination of the orange and blue.

 

Is that some climbing rope or something that you are using?

No idea on where the rope came from - found it in the garage when I moved in... 

 

Not a huge update as I have had a lot on this week. Grabbed a quick hour today and managed to bolt on one beautiful brand new damper, then turned my attention to the radiator mounts I'd knocked up. one of them was a re-used and re-bent bracket that was once attached to the original radiator. This looked a) a bit rubbish, and b) had a huge fatigue point on it where I'd bent it back the other way. This was proved to be a weak point when I knocked the radiator over and it landed on the bracket. It snapped, not entirely unexpectedly. 

 

However, as this was only meant to be a mock up anyway, I grabbed the remains of the old Ultimate Engine Steady I had kicking around and fired up the angry grinder. A brand new cutting disc made short work of the thick steel, then it went under the pillar drill to get a suitably-sized hole or two made. Once this was done I chucked it in the vice and attacked it with a blowtorch until suitably warm, then clouted it with Clyde the Club Hammer until bent to shape. It's now hanging up with its brother having had a coat of primer before paint. More soon.

 

Brand new sparkly damper. Yeah.

 

 

Radiator brackets (including new one) now in primer.

 

[MrBounce]

Time for another quick update. I started to clear the main workbench as it had got a bit messy. Pulled out the heater as I had managed to get some overspray on it. Stripped it down and gave the outer panels a fresh coat of satin black. Then, as I was sorting other stuff out, I found a piece of scrap metal I thought that I had lost or thrown away. "That'll do for a bracket for the solenoid" I thought. So I dug out the solenoid, took it out of its box and started mocking up with good old CAD (This time it was the cardboard packaging for a new pack of socks!). If your starter is the older type with no piggy-back solenoid, you need to find somewhere other than the inner wing for the solenoid to sit as of course there's precious little in the way of inner wings on a Midas...

 

Once happy with the mock-up, out came the angry grinder and I used a 1mm cutting disc to make mincemeat of the now marked piece of 3mm steel. I cleaned the edges up with a file, then set about measuring then drilling a few holes for mountings. It's going to live on the front of the clutch cover above the starter, so all I needed were 4 simple holes and judicious use of a blowtorch and hammer. Over to the pillar drill, then I marked it, heated it with the blowtorch for a good few minutes then clouted it hard with a hammer until it was the right shape. In went a couple of 5mm rivnuts and I tested out where it's going to sit. It'll still need a little bit of trimming but overall I am happy with it.

 

CAD Template

 

 

After bending and rivnutting

 

 

Fitted. Still needs a bit of trimming but fits pretty nicely.

 

[MrBounce]

Back on it tonight after a hectic long weekend, I sneaked into the Manroom this evening to get an hour or so's worth of tinkering. I'd chopped a a couple of bits off the solenoid bracket to avoid losing a hand whenever I went under the bonnet and had also painted it, so I then chucked it on the engine to get it out of the way. When i was looking at the engine I thought I'd try the steady bar. Of course, this was a stupid idea as a) you need a shorter one in a Midas and b) there was a clunk and the metallic "clink" of something hitting the floor as I pushed the bolt through the bracket. Yup, the washer that had been welded or brazed on had gone walkabout, leaving a larger hole. How helpful.

 

I remember when I first added this bracket thinking that I was glad I would never have to fit it again. That of course was without the pedals and clutch lines added. Now of course, it was the most difficult thing in the world to remove. As the pedals are in the way you cannot get a socket on the bolts. The only option is to jam a spanner in there and hope for the best. After 20 minutes of adding to the swear box, off it came. Then off to the bench to give it a quick strip with the angry grinder and wire wheel and then find suitable washers to weld on properly. I will be taking it to Tink's tomorrow to use his ridiculously good MIG then will give it a fresh coat of satin black. It's likely I will then spend 3 days trying to put it back on...

 

To stop myself getting too annoyed I chucked in the heater brackets under the dash shelf so when I get some more time I will be able to add said heater to the car and get it out of the way. And finally I started making a CAD template for the expansion tank, which will hopefully sit on the crossmember just in front of the washer bottle.

 

Solenoid bracket amended to make it less lethal to hands...

 

 

The most awkward thing to remove in my car. This includes the M/C split pins. Viewed from above to amuse you.

 

 

This is the reason why - there used to be a washer here, making a smaller hole for the bolt.

 

 

Bracket stripped of paint and washers ready to be welded.

 

 

CAD Template started for expansion tank. I need to find something appropriate to cut up for the bracket now...

 

Edited by MrBounce, 19 April 2017 - 08:54 PM.

[MrBounce]

You know those days where everything goes a bit wrong? I appear to have been having one for the last 3 days it would seem. Firstly my welded washer came off my steady bar mount so I took it to Tink's to use his welder. He discovered that he was out of gas. So he kindly took it to work and got it sorted there and I picked it up this morning. I then primed and painted it, running out of primer at just the wrong moment... Once the paint was dry I set about putting the mounting back on the car with a view to nipping up the new adjustable steady bar (also painted). 

 

Amazingly, given my recent luck, the mount went back on the car really easily although of course I scratched the newly painted steady bar. I made up a spacer for the mount and bolted it all together. I then went to line it up with the engine and found that the steady bar was almost an inch too high. I suppose that nothing should surprise me on this car given the number of bodges I've encountered, but the steady mount is THAT far out?? Of course it may never have been used as there was a "Heath-Robinson" effort on the thermostat side of the engine (which looked about as effective as using Play-Doh...), but surely it doesn't take much to measure something properly?? Maybe I should have checked it first, but you wouldn't expect a mounting point to be that far out. 

 

I shall use my CAD template skills (still in their infancy) and will make a new bracket up that utilises the original mounting points so I don't have to "drill and fill". That is, once I have stopped wanting to find the man who put it there in the first place and subject him to something severe. And possible painful...

 

Repaired bracket and new steady bar, both wearing new paint.

 

 

It should be about an inch lower. Must resist the temptation to grab hammers and get ugly...

 

[MrBounce]

Having not gone into the Manroom for a week, I returned the other day realising that, in no uncertain terms, I have been an idiot. My apologies to the man who made the steady bar bracket. If I hadn't been so grumpy and tired I probably would have tried a different way of attaching the steady bar - this was, quite simply, to attach it to the engine first (loosely) and simply raise it up to fit the bracket correctly. All is now attached at the top, so I moved on to the other steadies. 

 

I don't like the "Ultimate Engine Steady" bars that are offered on the Mini market having had a bad experience myself, so I looked into other ways to keep the engine in place. The older Minis of course never had a problem with the enormous aluminum gearbox extension on the remote boxes, but having a newer rod change box meant this wasn't an option. The standard set-up is of course the top steady bar from the bulkhead to the engine, and the one from the front of the gearbox to the subframe. Then there's the option of the "Ultimates" which I didn't want, but there are also the bottom rear steady bars available from Mini Spares. I had bought these ages ago so got them out of the cupboard and set about fitting them. The front one was a piece of cake, as was the left hand rear one - simply bolt up and forget. The right hand rear one just required one extra hole drilling in the subframe - not the easiest angle to get to. However, once the hole was there it was nice and simple. The engine doesn't move at all now - job done.

 

Continuing the theme under the car, I figured I may as well attach the gear selector too. Now bear in mind that when I got the car, it had no engine and gearbox in it, and the previous engine had been a Cooper S engine complete with remote box. As a result the gear selector hole was in the wrong place. I had filled in the hole with fresh fibreglass a couple of years ago, and now it was time to a) drill the holes for the bobbins and b) cut a big hole in the floor.

 

I don't know it different Midas models came with different transmission tunnels (or whether they could be ordered with different ones according to gearbox type, but it's clear that mine was designed for a remote box as it's far more curved. However, I drilled the holes (twice it turned out due to the curve - the unused ones are now grommeted up) and managed to get it all mounted. Amazingly I got the roll-pin in first time (yes, I did make a smug face underneath the car) - now all I needed to do was to cut a hole. So, using the mounting plate for the gaiter as a template, I marked out roughly where to cut, and attacked it with the angry grinder and the Dremel. It still needs a bit of tidying up, but I am happy that  it's now done.

 

Finally I turned my attention to the engine and popped the oil pressure light switch in as well as the sender unit for the electric gauge I have. There's not a lot of clearance in there at all, so I may change my plans to just use the gauge. I shall consult various experts and see what they suggest.

 

Top steady bar now fitted after previous idiocy.

 

 

Bottom front bar fitted as well

 

 

Left rear...

 

 

...and right rear all bolted up.

 

 

Extended gear selector also fitted and bolted up.

 

 

Template marked out for making a hole...

 

 

There's a hole in my car. Selector taped up to avoid filling it with fibreglass dust.

 

 

Thick fibreglass in this bit, thankfully.

 

 

Not much room for the oil senders. I am thinking of changing my plans - nothing is set in stone.

 

[Ethel]

Mine's the same, remote boxes predate Midii by a fair amount so I doubt it. Maybe they took a mould from a Marcos - I wouldn't be surprised if a length of drainpipe fitted snugly either.