761 replies to this topic

[MrBounce]

So I went to see the local locksmiths. It appears that I have found a good one. Straightaway the guy was interested in my project, and identified the door key as being from a 70s Ford. He was able to cut me some keys immediately for the rear hatch (looks like a standard Mini key and barrel), but he said he'd like to sort the door barrel on his computer at his other branch, which is nearer to me anyway! As I have already supplied blanks, it won't cost as much, which is a bonus. 

 

I can't continue with the driver's door until I have the lock barrel back, but I wanted to do something. I was unable to centre the steering rack properly as there is no access hole in the floor of the Midas. I'd made an educated guess using a protractor and the steering wheel, but it was a bit hap-hazard and it certainly didn't seem "right". Only one thing for it - drill a hole in the floor. Using photos from the floor of a Mini, I made an educated guess. It wasn't quite right first time, so I used a bigger holesaw and found the blanking plug. Of course it did NOT wish to come out. Being plastic, the hex bit I used simply span, chewing up the hole. I had to get a little bit creative, and got a T30 Torx bit. I hammered this into the plastic plug and it came out easily. 

 

Once I had access, I jacked up the car and removed the wheels, before splitting the joints and removing the track rod ends. It was when I went to centre the rack that I realised just how far out things had been. The way to do this is check through the access hole in the rack when turning the wheel until you see a hole appear. Once found, stick a 6mm drill bit in this to lock it in place and this is the rack centralised. Then it was simply a case of reattaching the track rod ends on to the (now straightened) hubs and doing everything up again. Once lowered back down, it was SO much better. I also made a point of removing the steering wheel and putting it back on straight. 

As I was pulling the car back into the garage, I realised that the rear lights all had crimped connectors on. I have replaced all on the left hand side with correctly soldered and heat shrink covered connectors. I would have done all of them but I ran out of time today.

 

Rear Hatch lock barrel sorted with new keys. Needs a tiny bit of paint touching up from its time in a box.

 

 

No hole in the floor for centralising the rack...

 

 

So I made one. It wasn't quite right, but the centralising plug now accessible. Drill bit is to lock the rack into place.

 

 

TREs off to be properly adjusted.

 

 

Don't worry, there are axle stands underneath on both sides.

 

 

Everything is now straight as it should be.

 

 

Time to get rid of these horrible things...

 

 

One side completed, more to follow.

 

[sonscar]

Triumph TR7 rear lights?Steve..

[MrBounce]

Triumph TR7 rear lights?Steve..

Yes Steve, they are! I really hope I don't break anything... They're not very common now. 

[sonscar]

I have a TR7,quite undesirable and spares are eye wateringly expensive,what with the Lotus door handles,Aston Martin side/indicator lights( were standard Leyland fare at one time),Steve..

[MrBounce]

I had to get a new seal for the TR7 fuel cap - this was the large early version (only available for 18 months or so I think). The only way I could find one was to join a TR7 forum. I did this, bought the seal, then left. Weird! 

Edited by MrBounce, 30 January 2025 - 10:24 PM.

[MrBounce]

Just another quick update - I have now sorted all the wiring in the back of the car to have proper soldered connectors. I have also properly soldered together the wires for the fuel pump, as well as putting the proper connectors on to the fuel sender. Plus I sorted a grommet for the floor. It's not much, but all these little jobs mount up and they do take time. I will make sure that the next time I am in there, I'll make sure that the wiring loom is secured in place and then we can leave it alone. Excellent.

 

Proper connectors - sorted.

 

 

Fuel Pump wires soldered together.

 

 

And fuel sender unit terminals plus grommet all done.

 

[MrBounce]

I haven't got the lock barrel back yet (I did tell the guy there was no rush), so I turned my attention to something else: the headlining, and more specifically, the sun visors. The ones in the car are apparently from a Fiat 126. For want of a better phrase, the ones I have are utterly shot and rubbish. Also, the way they attach to the roof panel is with a bent piece of cheap plastic and some self-tappers. I really didn't like this, and I am certain that I can do better. The thing is, Fiat 126 sun visors are small. I thought about using Classic Mini ones, but I didn't like their design (too similar to the Fiat ones.) and decided I needed to look elsewhere. Trouble is, everything I saw was pretty massive - either too deep or too wide. I then had an epiphany, and it was staring me in the face every time I got into my car. I have a Mercedes SLC. The visors are fairly narrow and also shallow. Hmm - Mercedes parts are likely to be expensive. Indeed they are - most secondhand ones on ebay are upwards of £35 EACH. I did, however, find a seller who had a pair for £30 including postage. As I had some funds in my ebay account, I offered him £27 and they arrived at my door this morning, only a day later. Cracking service! 

 

I had a look at the headlining, and it had moldings for the Fiat visors, which only had one mounting point. However, the size of this was virtually identical to the outside mounting of the Mercedes visors. The inside mount (which allows it to unclip and swivel to cover the side window) was smaller, with a single screw to mount. A plan slowly hatched in my head - move the larger mounts to the outside of the headlining, and make copies of the double mount to be amended to fit the single mount, then cut and let them in to the headlining. 

 

Using the oscillating tool, I have cut out each mount, then drew round it where it needs to be, and cut that bit out as well to replace where the mount was. These have been taped in place ready to be glassed back in. I have taped over one of the mounts to make a mold for a new mount, and will repeat this process for the inner mounts once done. But I ran out of time to do that today.

 

Headlining with mounts in the wrong place.

 

 

Fiat 126 visors. Not great...

 

 

Lovely Merc items - well made and they have mirrors too! Stickers were removed. No airbags in a Midas!

 

 

Mount cut out

 

 

Cutouts taped into place ready for glassing.

 

 

And taped up to make a mold ready for fibreglass.

 

[MrBounce]

My good friend Tink came over last night to take a look at the wiring for the wiper motor - I needed to know where the fault lay, as the fast speed did not want to work. Brandishing his probe of knowledge, he checked the switch (a new one could be a bit dodgy), the wiring, and the motor itself. Did I need to rip out the wires and re-run them? Was the switch a bit dodgy? Of course not. The motor itself was borked. So, rather than using my normal wombling tactics of swapping it out for a secondhand one, I have ordered a new one from Mini Spares as they were only a few quid more than what was being asked for an unknown quantity. I will need to swap over the gearset, but that's no issue. 

 

Tink was also hell-bent on sorting the fuse box wiring. We have moved this inside the car, as I wanted it away from the confines of the tight engine bay and its heat. Now I can just pop out a fuse under the dash to replace it if necessary. Much better. Tink did his clever bit by cutting, soldering, extending and tidying up What an absolute star. As previously stated, I can pick up and learn most things, but wiring I just don't get., so thank you Mr Tink. There's still a few things to sort, such as dashboard wiring - I've already readied the 2 additional gauges, plus the rev counter needs connecting up, as does the starter button. There are also door buttons to sort, plus the interior light and wiring for the at present non existent stereo. 

 

I've also retrieved the door lock (with new key) from the locksmiths (cheers Scott!) and will start sorting that once I have finished the headliner.

 

The culprit was the Wiper Motor. I shall cast you aside! (It does date from 1982)

 

Fuse box wired in (and tested). VERY please with this.

[MrBounce]

I've had a delivery from Mini Spares, so I set about replacing the Wiper Motor. None of the motors these days come with any of the gearing, so this needed to be transferred over. The old motor was removed from the car and put onto the bench. Interestingly, although my car was registered in 1981, the old motor dates from 1982, meaning that it either had no wipers when registered or it had been replaced at some point, presumably with a secondhand unit. 

 

Changing the gearing over was totally straightforward - literally lift from one and put it in the other one. The only "difficult" bit was removing the special retaining clips for the gears, but this was so simple I almost didn't mention it. At some point, the bolt sizes to hold the motor cover on have changed - the older motor had 1/4" bolts, whereas the new one had 7mm. This was a minor inconvenience as I had to go and get another spanner! How rude! The motor is now back in its place and all buttoned up ready to go.

 

The other thing I wanted to do was to sort out the engine number. When the engine was at the engineering shop, they removed the plate with the number on (I have it somewhere) and ground the rivets flat. I grabbed a couple of the rivets from Mini Spares as they were only a few pence, with the intention of drilling out the old ones and using the new ones to put the number in place. I came across a snag though. The old rivets are made of something rather hard. My HSS drill bits would not touch it, so I decided to stamp the engine number into the block instead using number and letter punches. It looks a bit haphazard, but it'll do. Almost nobody looks at engine numbers these days anyway... 

 

The new motor

 

Getting the old gears out

 

And transferred into the new motor case

 

Back in and ready to go

 

The original engine number rivets, which appear to be made from Vibranium.

[MrBounce]

Ever since I got Zippy, I was never 100% happy with the wheels. Not because they're rubbish wheels - far from it - the Mistral 8-spoke Minilite-style is a fine wheel, and sought after, too. It's just that a large percentage of Minis and Mini-based kit cars use a Minilite of some form or another and I simply wanted something a little bit different. I initially thought I would try some Revolution 5-spokes. I got a set, but these were a) reproductions and not Revolution, and b) the fitment simply wasn't right. 

 

What I needed was a set of 12" Cosmic Five-Os. These were offered as an option when the Midas was re-introduced in its Mk2 form after the upgrades courtesy of Gordon Murray. The problem was finding some. They're now extremely rare, and as a result, usually quite expensive, which you can understand. Armed with saved searches on Faceache Marketplace and Ebay, I have been looking for a set for roughly 12 years. I should say that I was offered a set last year but unfortunately they were more than I could afford (or justify), so I had to turn them down. Step forward a nice chap on Marketplace who had a set for an amount I could manage. Only downside was that they were in Bournemouth. Which is an 8-hour round trip. Any excuse for a road trip, plus it meant I could call in on my brother on the way back.

 

So I picked them up, paid for them and we both had a laugh about the state of the (presumably) rally off-road tyres that were fitted. They do need a good check over and a refurb, but overall they look fairly good. We also discovered that with those tyres, you can only get 3 of them in the boot of my Mercedes SLC! It's just as well that I went alone otherwise the companion would have been a bit uncomfortable... I battled M25 hold-ups, snow and errant Nissan Qashqai drivers but made it back. I'll give them a proper going over tomorrow and get the tyres removed and thrown away - there's more cracks than a well-staffed building site. I dread to think how old they are! 

 

Pic was taken with flash and the snow coming down hence the weird "streaks". The other one's on the front seat (on a towel!)...

 

Edited by MrBounce, 15 February 2025 - 09:25 PM.

[MrBounce]

i took the wheels out to have a closer look, and to give them a trial fit - you always have that nagging doubt in your head that things might go badly, despite the fact you've already checked the PCD and the seller was a straight up guy. So out they came. I have got myself a set of 4 Cosmic Five-O wheels, 5Jx12", Inset of 15mm (all stamped into the rims) and Made in England. What's made me laugh is the tyres, though. They're 175 R12 Goodyear Rally tyres, with the remains of a rather chunky tread and cracks large enough to rival Cheddar Gorge. Perhaps they were used for gravel rallies? I did look for a date code, but the only code I could find is marked with 4 letters and 2367, and although old, I'm pretty sure they're not 1967 vintage! Whatever happens, they're going in the bin. 

 

So do they fit? Of course they do! I tried one on the front of the Midas and it went on a treat, although the off-road style chunky tyres look completely wrong! I will look at getting some 165/60/12s once the wheels have been checked and refurbished. They also have no centre caps - not a surprise, really, but I had a look in my bag of bits and there was a set of four I have got when I had the knock-off 5-spoke Revolution RFXs - and they kind of fit, being the right width. I will see what I can do with them. 

 

One of the wheels in all its glory. Look at those wonderful tyres!

 

The code I found. More likely to be a batch number rather than a date I reckon.

 

Wheels look good on the Midas - imagine them silver/polished with black infill for the spokes.

 

And the centre cap kind of fits - there's a ledge further down which prevents it staying in place.

[MrBounce]

Just how old were the tyres on my new wheels? Well, I popped along to see the guys at X-Spurt Tyres in Ipswich (very nice chaps and always happy to fit you in). They struggled with removing the tyres, mainly because of how long they had been on the wheels (about 40 years, boss man Mark reckoned), but also because they all had tubes fitted, which were not in the best of condition. One of the tyres split the sidewall vertically when it was being removed they were so knackered... I gladly gave them a drink as a "thank you" and took the wheels home for a quick clean. 

 

I should point out it is not my intention to give them a thorough going over - more to make them easier to handle and not get covered in grime, dust, tyre lubricant and 40 years of tyre remains when they go to be refurbished. So I jet washed them with the power lance before cleaning them with some alloy wheel cleaner, and rinsing them off. It did make quite a difference, although they really need blasting or dunking in a vat of something hideously chemical before refinished professionally. At least they're easier to fit in the garage for now.

 

One of Mark's team at X-Spurt struggling with the 40 year-old tyres. They all had a good laugh at them. And cursed a bit too... 

 

Got them home...

 

...and gave them a quick clean. One of them came up ok!