329 replies to this topic

[KieranB]

Smashing, cheers for that Kam. I remember reading this on your thread and on GingerMonkeys but thought the law had changed. I'll get the garage at the bottom of the street who will do the MOT to do a letter, although judging by the state of the place it'll get done on a typewritter

Right i should really get to work, this mini is distracting me far too much

Kieran

[KieranB]

Well then troops, its been a long time coming but i do have a update

I've been working on the car pretty much every weekend, fair to say the garage has become my home but annoyingly i don't have a great deal to show for it. I've mainly been faffing about with the front end trying to make it fit right and ofcourse this meant sorting the radiator. I got it back this week from the guy who was doing the work and he has done a top job. But more about that in a bit.

Whilst it was away i started getting the front on properly. My main purchase this month has been...........a welder i finally plucked up the courage and bought one.



Its a Sealey Supermig and its brilliant. guy in the store was a massive help and I got everything I needed. So since then i've been trying to teach myself how to weld. Mainly by watching endless hours of videos on youtube but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Plus the guy who did the bulkhead box has given me a few pointers. I'm not gonna show you any examples because quite frankly they are grim but stuff i have been welding is strong and solid.

So this helped me with the various parts for the front end. First i got the side plates done. these have been bonded on using no more nails and then welded on. I didn't want to trust bonding and i didn't trust my welding but thought both together would be ok



Also got some extension plates on the front. These are so the bolt holes on the allspeed frame can be used in the tie rod holes on the fibreglass front end using some M8 rod



Other parts that have been welded include the air inlet for the heater. This is where my wiring loom passes through so having a maaaaaaaassive gap wasn't helping so cut a plate with a 50mm hole in the centre ready for a grommet and tacked it in place



And got a plate around the gearlinkage to stop crap getting up into the interior and not completely relying on a gaitor



So then got the front end bolted on solid using some fastenings i got from a mate, got spring straps on the front and bonnet pins at the top



Now back to the good old radiator, i got a notch taken out of the top and the filler cap moved back to allow the bonnet to close.



Then got my fan mounted



And got some aluminium pipe for the hoses and got then into the correct position



And then got to mounting the radiator, the pipes were holding it pretty well but wanted to be sure it wasn't gonna move so made some brackets to help it, they aint anything special but the radiator aint moving. This is one of them, there is another at the bottom which is much more robust



And the final position, i have cut far too much out of the front end but this is only because i've been test fitting for quite some time, i may well get another one in the future but the thing is still solid.



Some clearance shots





And that's about it really, apart from messing about with the gear stick and trying to extend it only to fail so gonna make a proper one tomorrow, there isn't a great deal happening. I've got my exhaust being developed and is due to be installed in 2 weeks time, also ordered a roll cage and my electrics loom is also being made which should be finished in time for the car returning from getting the exhaust on. Things are moving forward but it will all happen at once.

But seeing as it was a nice day I couldn't resist taking the car out the garage and taking some shots. I got my rear arches back on and also installed the quarter poly-carbonate windows just to make it look further on. Here's a few pics from today











So that is everything for now, there has been plenty going on but it's mainly been refinement things and not worth taking pictures for. I will hopefully see a lot happen in the next 3-4 weeks such as the roll cage, exhaust and electrics.

Kieran

Edited by KieranB, 21 April 2013 - 08:40 AM.

[johny:)]

Looking good now Kieran it won't be to long now also are you using gas with your welder if your not try and get hold of a gas bottle it will help loads


John

[KieranB]

Looking good now Kieran it won't be to long now also are you using gas with your welder if your not try and get hold of a gas bottle it will help loads


John

Cheers john, im really quite pleased with the front end, need some rubber seals around the scuttle panel but itll do for now.

Ye I am using gas. A argon/c02 mix. I'll probably put some pics up later today or tomorrow of my attempts

Kieran

[thelegg]

practice makes perfect :) as long as your welds are strong and have good penetration you should be safe 

[KieranB]

They appear to be very strong but it takes about 3 damn layers to make sure they are ok. I'm good at grinding welds down that's for sure

 

Auch whilst I'm on i've got a couple pics, got the gearstick extended. Ten points to anyone who can name the car part that i donated to the making of the gear stick extension

 

 

 

 

 

And then some practice, i have been welding parts together but thought this one was appropriate

 

 

 

Car is going for exhaust this weekend hopefully, wont have an update until the following weekend :)

 

Kieran

[Ro3ert]

Tie Rod?

[KieranB]

Tie Rod?

WINNER!!

Edited by KieranB, 30 April 2013 - 08:57 PM.

[Ro3ert]

Haha. Out of interest why have you extended it?

[olds_kool_lews]

Are you using a hand held welding mask by any chance? Also, whats the rear of the metal look like when you have welded? Looks to me that the weld is sitting on top of the metal, rather than "becoming" part of it

[KieranB]

Haha. Out of interest why have you extended it?

 

The reason is the honda gear stick is very short and the driving position felt horrible when i test drove the car, I may have extended it quite a lot but the throws aint that bad at all because of the bend. 

 

 

 

Are you using a hand held welding mask by any chance? Also, whats the rear of the metal look like when you have welded? Looks to me that the weld is sitting on top of the metal, rather than "becoming" part of it

 

No i'm using one that clamps onto my head. Why? 

 

The weld in the pic aint a great example and you are right there isnt a great deal of penetration on the other side but other welds I've been doing are penetrating. I'm saying all this and you're probably going "Pah I see no photo evidence". Hopefully i'll get some more pics up this weekend if the weather is nice :)

 

Kieran

[Kam]

Just bear in mind Kieran when you change gear in a mini its a bit different once an engine swaps gone in, new linkage and stick all makes it more work sometimes, and more clunky aswell. Chances are on hard changes any weak welds will show then go

 

Liking the tie bar trick though - innovative, gotta be a first!

[KieranB]

Got an update, just a small one though

 

The mini is currently not with me as it's over getting the exhaust made for it. I wanted something unique so gave it to my mates brother who is trying to setup his own business. His work is mainly farm equipment but he used to made all sorts of stuff at his old work including roll cages and has made a few exhausts before.

 

So a few pics of the mini on its trip over the hills to its temporary home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And i just popped over tonight to see how he has got on. Was welcomed to this

 

 

 

 

 

He has done up to the gearlinkage, the tricky bit is done and is now just a case of taking it up to the rear silencer and fully welding it up. Really happy with the way it looks just now though.

 

Its fair to say I'm already missing my mini, 18months of having nothing to work on soon took its toll

 

 

 

My electrics loom has also turned up

 

 

 

Spent most of my time trying to figure out what the hell goes where because the guy didn't label it but think i've got it sussed. 

 

Thats about it, should get the car back next week

 

Kieran

Edited by KieranB, 12 May 2013 - 08:27 PM.

[johny:)]

That exhaust is looking very nice Kieran you should have a nice sound from that. What back. Box are you going for ?

[KieranB]

That exhaust is looking very nice Kieran you should have a nice sound from that. What back. Box are you going for ?

 

Thank you, the system is 1.5" on the 4 pipes off the manifold and then 2" from where they branch into 2 pipes and continues that size all the way to the back. The back box I'm not sure what it is. I just requested a stainless oval back box and we will use the tip from my old one which was a RC40. But ye should sound awesome