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[MrBounce]

Well, this week has not been without its ups and downs. My beautiful daily driver Mercedes was vandalised by someone thinking it'd be a nice idea to deliberately run their key along the side of it - of course in an area where there is no CCTV, so that has put me out of pocket. Not an accident - someone has specifically got their key out and made an effort to do this. Jealousy, pure and simple. I wish them nothing but Carolina Reaper chillis in their underpants forever. You complete ****.

 

 

My replacement fuel pipe and hose clamps turned up so I once again headed under the rear end to fit it. Getting old stuff off proved to be a bit challenging, partly due to rubbish clips, but also due to hard old pipe which had stuck to the fuel pump. I ended up having to cut a piece off because it simply DID NOT MOVE. So that was a little bit of a struggle. Once everything was off, I got the new pipe, cut it to shape and filled the empty gaps with fresh stuff. Then the workshop light ran out of battery, so that had to go on charge. I love the convenience of a cordless work light, but they're a pain in the butt when they run out. Luckily I still have a corded light (I don't throw much away), so that went under the car so I could finish off. I also replaced the fuel pipes in the engine bay.

 

My plan this afternoon was also to get the handbrake cable mounted on the drums, radius arms and the cable guides on the rear beam, but then I noticed that some idiot (no idea who) has mounted the handbrake quadrants differently on each side. This made me a bit disillusioned with the game, so I left the garage in search of something to drink...

 

Fuel pump, filter and lots of new pipe with new clips. You can see how much the exhaust hanger is needed as it's about 3-4 inches lower than it should be. However, I need the handbrake cable in place before I can figure out where it's best to go.

 

 

And replacement fuel pipe in the engine bay. Not that exciting, but you get a picture anyway!! 

 

[MrBounce]

Today has been a day of extreme frustration. I have a list of things that I need to do: 1. Adjust the rear brakes 2. Change the incorrectly fitted handbrake quadrant so it's the right way round. 3. Fit the rear handbrake cable and poke the front one through the hole on the floor so I can then measure up where the handbrake needs to sit. 4. Gauge where handbrake bracket needs to go. 5. Measure it again. 6. Drill holes, fit bracket, attach handbrake to bracket. 7. Measure up for exhaust mounting. 8. Drill holes, fit it. Guess which completed point I got to today? Yup, that would be point 2. Let me explain... Adjusting the brakes was really quite easy (so it should be as everything bar the backplates is new). I then established that the incorrectly fitted quadrant (which numpty did that?), was the one on the passenger side. (For those that don't know, the quadrants are longer on one side - if they're fitted the wrong way round it fouls and your handbrake won't work as it should). And of course, with the car being up on axle stands, I couldn't move it. And the passenger side is practically up against the wall (give or take a foot). So what I needed to do was to remove the spilt pin at the top, I couldn't reach it, so first of all, off came the wheel. Nope, still not able to easily reach it. Off came the shock as well. This gave me just enough room to get at the split pin. Now, me being me, I'd turned said split pin round on itself about as tight as I could get it. Obviously I didn't want it to come off, which Past Me had presumably done to annoy Future Me. And annoy me it did. It took me the best part of an hour to remove the pesky little blighter. Once out, I was easily able to flip the quadrant and install a new split pin in less than a minute. For the shock and the wheel it was as Mr Haynes so often dictates: "refitting is the reverse of removal".

 

Full of confidence, I picked up the handbrake cables, grabbed the bag with the clevis pins and once more went under the car. Only to find that the clevis pins I had carefully put in said bag were too big and clearly for something else. So I gave up, went inside and did something different. Grrr! Next time I may at least get to step 6...

 

This split pin gave me a world of trouble. After much fighting, swearing, and removal of various items to actually reach it, I vanquished it. The little bar steward.

 

 

My thoughts toward the wrongly sized clevis pins is best summed up by this picture:

Edited by MrBounce, 18 February 2023 - 08:29 PM.

[MrBounce]

Handbrake is now on. It did not help that last time I tried getting under and doing necessary things, I twisted the wrong way and pulled a muscle in my back, thus rendering me a bit useless for going under the car for a fair few days, then other stuff started going on, so I got a bit distracted. So it's been close to 7 weeks. Oops. Thankfully, getting the cable on was an absolute piece of cake in comparison to changing the quadrant round (or at least getting that pesky split pin removed, anyway). Aside from one small thing:

 

The brake pipes I'd bent to shape were bent to shape wrongly, as I had not taken into consideration the clearance for the handbrake cable. (Previous me annoying present day me again. That guy's a doughnut). They fouled. This made me a bit annoyed. So I removed them and put them on the bench with a view to looking at them later.

 

Once that was done and the correct clevis pins installed, I connected the handbrake, drilled appropriate holes in the tunnel and mounted it. It works! Needs a bit of adjustment but I will get on to that later.

 

Finally I thought I would make up some new brake pipes - turns out I am absolutely rubbish at producing the flares. I just can't seem to get it right, so after a very frustrating hour of things going very wrong and various bits of brake pipe being waster and thrown around the workshop, I logged on to Mini Spares and ordered some ones that are already flared and just need bending. They should arrive in the next few days. And because it's Mini Spares, I couldn't just order those, so I put some new seatbelts in the basket as well. 

 

Look! It's on!

 

 

All seems nicely arranged. Sorry for the slightly rubbish photo - lying underneath the car does not enable a good shooting angle!

 

 

Handbrake in place

 

 

And brake pipes on the bench before the aborted attempt to remake them.

 

 

More soon, when I shall attempt to bend brake pipes, and sort an exhaust mounting that will almost certainly not go quite according to plan!

[sonscar]

I would adjust it now,it may cause a future you to be annoyed.What pipe tool do you use?I use a sykes flaremaster2 and it is difficult to not do it right.Soon be finished?Steve..

[MrBounce]

Still a lot to do Steve. But I feel I have now turned a corner.

 

So, I have now got new rear brake pipes, but they're still on the bench. There is method to my madness - well, some anyway. I have figured out a way of sorting the middle exhaust mounting. Whether it will work in the long term remains to be seen, but it's certainly holding the exhaust up nicely, so we'll see how it goes. It's effectively an extension to a bobbin mount - I cut a section of tube which was a similar size to the bobbin (which is a heavy duty item) and then cut 2 discs out of a sheet of metal, before welding a bolt at one end, and a captive nut at the other. The caps were then welded to the ends, before tidying up and adding a coat of paint. The bobbin then screws into the extension with a toothed lock washer to keep it in place. I may still go back to welding a rod to the exhaust if this doesn't work out, but we'll see. It'll be easier when I can get the car on a ramp, that's for sure.

 

In other news, I pushed the car out of the garage. Why? I was SO fed up with the ridged concrete floor. We rent, so it's not something that I can change. So off to Halfrauds I went and got a bunch of their interlocking rubber floor mats. Once I'd cleared the floor (you wouldn't BELIEVE how much rubbish there was under the car...) and unblocked the garage hoover twice, down went the new tiles. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. The reason I did this tonight before the brake pipes were done is that there's rain due for the rest of the week. I still have the back bit of the garage to do, but it was time for dinner, and I was HUNGRY! 

 

New centre mount. It might work, it might not, but it'll do for now.

 

 

Exhaust looks ok here.

 

 

He's outside!

 

 

Mmm nice butt! (Excuse the junk in the trunk!)

 

 

Clean floor...

 

 

New floor! MUCH more comfy!

 

[KTS]

nice bit of work - that extension piece looks like it should do the job, and your new flooring should make life a lot more comfortable;  ridged concrete is awful stuff - hell to kneel on and useless for trolley jacks

[MrBounce]

I'm still here. I've just been doing some other stuff.

 

The dash top fitted fairly well, apart from the very front bit in front of the driver. This was VERY close to the windscreen - as it stood there would be no way to get the windscreen seal between the dash top and the bodywork - it simply  would not go. I REALLY did not want to remake the whole thing - but then that's part of the fun with fibreglass - just cut off the offending part and re-do it. You're only a few pieces of chopped strand mat and some resin away from sorting it. 

 

So out came the Dremel and after some basic measurements I simply lopped off the bit that was "in the way". It was pretty easy to re-sculpt it to give me the clearance required. Once dried, I just needed to cut some clearance for the wiper wheelbox. Once done, I filled in some of the bigger imperfections. My initial intention was to coat the dash top in the same textured paint as the door panels and dash, but it would take forever to get right, so I will get some vinyl and cover it once it's done.

 

Next it was time to add the windscreen demister vents. For simplicity I using standard Mini items as I happened to have the ones that came with the car. I may "adjust" these as they're shockingly put together - the 2 halves are simply stapled together, meaning that the air leaks out of the side, plus I may need to do a little bit of bending with the help of a heat gun. Anyway, 4 screw holes later, I was ready to cut. A 12mm drill bit at either end gave a nice rounded edge, then I used my newly acquired oscillating tool for the cutting. I love this thing. Why I've never had one before I have no idea- they're amazing! It's still a mock up at the moment but a bit of fettling will have it sorted.

 

This bit doesn't fit.

 

 

So there was a small incident involving the Dremel...

 

 

...before new fibreglass was introduced

 

 

A bit of filler and some checking for fit. Yes, I like Pepsi Max...

 

 

Initial markings before drilling and cutting started

 

 

Oscillating tools rock!

 

 

Some fettling required, but we're getting there. I now need to find some vinyl...

 

[MrBounce]

Tiny update for you:

 

Classic Mini stuff was definitely built down to a price, especially by the late 1970s. Please see exhibit PZ/1 - the demister duct. This is fed by a pipe. Hot air comes from the heater. The duct itself is very cheaply made out of 2 pressed plastic pieces stapled - yes STAPLED - together. There are seams that don't meet up and effectively holes everywhere. These used to one piece items in metal, so it's no surprise where the money-saving in production went.

 

My solution was to seal up the holes. In theory I could have used a soldering iron and melted it together, but a) I have not done this before, so I might not have done it well, and b) there is another way - it's called 2-part epoxy glue. I mixed it up, and using a cocktail stick, I gently smeared it over the seams and staples. We'll have another look in 24 hours.

 

I know it's not going to be the biggest of differences, but every little bit helps, right?

 

Exhibit PZ/1 - cheap, nasty and badly put together.

 

 

Solution, smear a ton of glue over the holes. 

 

[MrBounce]

Well the Mini-based windscreen vent system can do one. It really will not fit in my car without an awful lot of chopping, bending, and re-organising. This is something that I am not prepared to do. They fitted fine behind the dashboard, but of course I hadn't put the speedo pod in place. Likelihood of fitting with it there? 0%. The original set-up was even worse - a tube of metal with holes in it, and pipe stubs for the vent  tubes to attach to. Messing around with the Mini vents, or the original system, when there's actually a much simpler way of doing things with a smaller and tidier set-up, makes no sense. I will come to this later.

 

So I unscrewed the Mini vents and put them into the naughty corner for being the wrong shape for what I wanted. I of course had some holes in the dash top, so out came the Jaffa Cake boxes, and the parcel tape. I cut them to shape, covered them with tape and used masking tape to secure them over the holes. I then mixed up the last of my resin, and fille din the holes with that and some chopped strand mat. Oh, and the lolly stick which I had used to mix the resin with the hardener, which just happened to be exactly the right size to plug the hole. Once dry, I cracked out the last of my filler to sort out the numerous lumps and bumps. The dash top will be covered with vinyl, but I would like to ensure it has a semblance of smoothness underneath, otherwise it will show through.

 

My solution to the vent issue is a simple round directional vent, which can be connected directly to some convoluted tubing, as the Mini (and most other cars) would have. I've got some new stuff in stock so once the vents arrive, I will do some measuring and get the hole saws out. 

 

Mini Vents: Not much use if I want instruments.

 

 

New fibreglass in place of holes.

 

 

Dash top has a few holes and imperfections

 

 

Filled in and ready for sanding (re-done after first pass, which is never right!!)

 

 

And my solution to the vent issue is a pair of these directional vents - small, tidy and dead easy to fit. Hose attaches directly to the bottom of the vent.

 

[MrBounce]

I am still here - there are just some things going on which have meant that the garage project has not been a priority. My best mate suffered quite a serious heart attack a few weeks ago and has just had a triple bypass and is recovering in Papworth. He's now back on the recovery ward so hopefully will be home after a few more days of bed rest.

 

Back to the Midas then: I had the great idea of connecting the pipes directly to the new vents. I found however, that this was not possible, at least not without a huge amount of work. The vents themselves are only about 3/8" deep (the thickness of the dash top is more than that), plus the pipe I have does not fit the vents anyway. So I decided to steal an idea that Jin of the Midas Forum had for his Cortez - have a plenum box under the vent with a pipe in it to connect the tubing. I had a good look around the garage for a small-ish box but could not find anything suitable. Instead, I picked up a cork sanding block which was almost exactly the right size. I covered it in tape and used it as a buck to make the little boxes out of fibreglass.

 

After a bit of messy work with chopped stand mat and resin, I had 2 fairly rough boxes. They're not the prettiest, but as they'll be buried deep in the dash, they can't be seen unless the area needs to be ripped apart. "Functional" is probably the best way to describe them! However, they're extremely strong, and being made of fibreglass, they can easily be glassed into the dash top permanently. I WILL be checking clearance beforehand! I had also found some 1 1/4" steel pipe in the garage, so cut a couple of bits to size before priming and painting them.

 

It was then time to do a trial run by fixing them on to the dash top with masking tape - it all looks very promising, as they're designed to fit in the cavity between the dash top and the top of the instruments. However, I will do the final check with the pipes in place to ensure that it clears the speedo pod. All I needed to do the was to drill some holes in the dash top for the vents - the holesaw I had for this was exactly the same size as the vents, so they wouldn't fit. A tickle with my old friend the Dremel made sure all fitted perfectly. The final job for this evening's work was to drill a diagonal hole in each box for the stub of pipe to fit in. These went in almost as an interference fit. However, to avoid any air bleeding out, I have used fibrgelass resin to seal them up. Once I have done the dummy run to make sure EVERYTHING fits in place correctly, I will measure up the length of new tubing I can use for the heater. I have got some old Mini heater vent pipes, but they're old and brittle, so a quick trip to ebay saw 2 metres of new pipe sitting in the garage. More soon!

 

A sanding block became the buck for the plenums.

 

 

Small 1 1/4" pipe stubs to go into the plenums.

 

 

Two plenum boxes. A bit scruffy, and not identical, but no-one will see them!

 

 

Test fit of the plenums.

 

 

Vents in for a test fit

 

 

Plenum with stub of pipe

 

 

Mocked up for where they'll go

 

 

Sealing up the stubs

 

 

And new vent piping ready to be cut to size

 

[KTS]

Neat solution. Hope your mate is back on his feet again soon

[MrBounce]

Cheers KTS!

 

Right: GOOD news. My best mate's tripe bypass operation was a complete success and he is now home. We went over to see him today and he's doing FAR better than we imagined, although he MUST take it easy. Put a HUGE smile back on my face. He's also got some epic scars... We cooked him some chili and watched some TV with him. He also said that whilst he's out of action, could I give his Mercedes SL500 a run around a couple of times a week as it doesn't like sitting doing nothing very much. I'll have to think about that one... YES!

 

I managed to catch a quick half an hour this evening so taped on the plenums, popped the instrument pod on to the dashboard and checked it all for size. It FITS! All I need to do now is to glass in the plenums, cover the dash top (I have some scrim foam coming) and then a bit of vinyl to go over the top and all will be well. Then time to finish off the dashboard and that bit will "almost" be finished. Just need to get my mate to come round and sort the wiring out as I doubt I will ever understand electrics. I need a good teacher (my mate is excellent at anything electrical, but because I don't know the basics, and he's quite advanced, he finds me "difficult to teach"). 

 

Dash top fits in place, doesn't move, Just need to look prettier.

 

 

A view of the dashboard, with instrument pack in place. Other dials will follow.

 

 

And me and the big guy (he's the one with the white beard). A very happy photo. He's been through a lot, but it's great to have him back!

 

[MrBounce]

Had a bit of time over what was a very busy weekend. The dash top looked a mess, even after copious amounts of filling and sanding. However, it was always my intention to cover it, so once I had got hold of some decent high temperature spray glue, I cut a piece of scrim foam (3mm) to size, took it all outside and made everything VERY sticky indeed. I stuck the 2 bits together, and although there's a little bit of a crease on the left hand side at the front, this will never be seen because a) it'll be under the windscreen rubber and b) it'll also be covered by a sheet of vinyl. As Elwood said in The Blues Brothers: "This is glue. Strong Stuff".

 

I also finished off the sanding I had left to do on the dashboard itself - there were only half a dozen little bits left to do - and took it outside to give it its final coat of textured paint. All I need to do know is to add in the dials and switches before it can go in permanently.

 

Finally I treated Zippy to something that will suit him better: I had a NOS MG Metro distributor in the car; however, this was more of a "guesstimate" to suit the tune of the engine. Instead I have grabbed a Mini Spares A+ distributor, specifically for the camshaft I have in the engine (Mini Spares Evo 001). I will change this out in due course.

 

Scrim foam and glue: making dash tops look more presentable. Vinyl will follow (when it arrives).

 

 

Dashboard itself also looking more presentable.

 

 

And a cool new dizzy to fit. Nice!

 

[MrBounce]

Just a quick update as I have had precious little time thanks to being sociable and doing friend stuff, as well as having a brief visit to Chicago (highly recommended). 

 

As the dashboard is now painted, I wanted to see what it would look like with nearly everything fitted. The answer? Quite good. I put in the switches and dials that I know I am going to use, (including the starter button), and they all fit pretty well. The only one I am not happy with is the rev counter, mainly down to the bracket I made for it being a fraction too short. Therefore it's not solidly mounted enough. All I need to do is add a couple of "raisers" on the back of the dashboard to correct this. Think I even have a piece of fibreglass sheer I can cut up and use. 

 

I've also re-made the bracket for the coil and relocated it slightly. This meant getting a longer coil lead. This has arrived and is fine for this. However I am not going to show a picture as a) it's just a coil lead and b) I won't fit it until I have changed the distributor. I need to remove the final crease in the vinyl sheet so I can stick it to the dash top, then that bit will (almost) be finished. 

 

Then finally I want to look at a stereo for the dashboard. I will probably use a single DIN in the bit where the (badly made) glovebox once was. However, I have measured the space and there is (just) room for a double DIN. Tempting... 

 

Dashboard with dials and switches looking fine.

 

 

[MrBounce]

Right! Time to finish off that dash top. I measured what I needed and cut a piece of vinyl from the sheet  I got creative with the spray glue (well, as creative as one can be when sticking a piece of vinyl to a homemade dashtop), and it was really simple to do. I didn't even manage to get any glue on the board it was laying on. Impressive! The pictures look like there's loads of little pock marks and dents, but this is because it's got 3mm scrim foam underneath. The marks do disappear when the foam springs back into shape! 

 

I used a razor blade to cut the holes for the vents and they fitted in with a bit of persuasion. They are definitely an "interference" fit and are not going ANYWHERE. I also used my belt punch to make the holes for the  bolts which will hold it down. This left me needing to sort the plenums for the ventilation as they were still sitting on the bench. I'd given this a bit of thought, and the easiest thing to do initially was simply to stick them down with a 2 piece epoxy glue. 

 

Once this had hardened, it was obvious that although the plenums and the underside of the dashtop looked flat, there were numerous tiny gaps. Now, my plan was to fill these gaps in with fibreglass resin.  You don't tend to get caulking guns with resin in them, so I thought laterally. I mixed the resin and used a small syringe to squirt into the gaps. It worked perfectly! 

 

The dashtop after the initial fitting of the vinyl.

 

 

With vents in place

 

 

Belt punch made holes in the vinyl (holes were of course already in the fibreglass).

 

 

And plenums being stuck down...

 

 

 

And syringe in resin!

 

 

Edited by MrBounce, 08 October 2023 - 06:21 PM.