1843 replies to this topic

[Petrol]

I have taken a lot of advice from people who have raced mini's over the years and I don't thing that polishing the rods is worth it. Yes I looked at brand new I beam and S rods modified for a 998 but everyone says the same thing. Stock 998 rods will take it despite their looks. It's interesting how things are turning out on this build. I bought a set of 1.3 roller rockers but won't be fitting them. I looked at S forged rockers but again it's not the best so this is what I'm going for.

 

Tig welded pressed steel rockers, tried and tested and bulletproof. They also have the correct lift ratio. It can get a bit of a minefield with the different ratios of lift that different rockers give but after a lot of research, I'm happy with this.

 

 

 

I don't think I will be gold plating parts. It won't be a showpiece like my other cars. I want to drive it!

 

[Petrol]

Put the car outside for water testing

 

 

 

Then got the hose pipe out

 

 

It's coming in through the door seals on both sides. Oh joy I need to find out whats going on but water is coming over the top of the U channel on the seal where it pushes onto the shell.

 

This is how to grind a crank. Proper job from Rob Walker!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1330RG]

Crank work looks great! Im keen to see how the 998 perfoms. I had a tuned 998 i belive bill richards tunned) in my first mini no idea what had been done to it but by god it revved and the car flew! I was only young and nieve though and ended up blowing it up! 😬

[Petrol]

I'm hoping this one revs it's nuts off.

Not the best of weather for water testing. I'm having problems with the door seals.

 

 

[Steve220]

I'm hoping this one revs it's nuts off.

Not the best of weather for water testing. I'm having problems with the door seals.

 

 

 

Pete,

 

I used talc and rubbed it onto the seals. Did the water test and it showed me if a) the door was touching the seal and b) if it was touching, which part was letting the water in. I then persuaded the door in that direction.

[Petrol]

 

Pete,

 

I used talc and rubbed it onto the seals. Did the water test and it showed me if a) the door was touching the seal and b) if it was touching, which part was letting the water in. I then persuaded the door in that direction.

 

Thanks for the top tip. The door seals are tight against the doors. From what I can see there's a bit more to these door seals than meets the eye. I'm still working on it and it's a right pita. The problem appears to be where the window frame attaches to the door. It's stepped and despite the seal being tight, water is getting in.
They knew about this problem at the factory and cut slots in the door seal to let the water out but it's a bodge. I'm trying to figure out a proper solution.
 

[Richie83]

 
Pete,
 
I used talc and rubbed it onto the seals. Did the water test and it showed me if a) the door was touching the seal and b) if it was touching, which part was letting the water in. I then persuaded the door in that direction.
 

Thanks for the top tip. The door seals are tight against the doors. From what I can see there's a bit more to these door seals than meets the eye. I'm still working on it and it's a right pita. The problem appears to be where the window frame attaches to the door. It's stepped and despite the seal being tight, water is getting in.
They knew about this problem at the factory and cut slots in the door seal to let the water out but it's a bodge. I'm trying to figure out a proper solution.
 

they still do this exact bodge on new VAG cars. Its a well documented problem on Skodas holding water in the door seals. Thankfully none of it usually gets in on the modern cars as theres a lip.

[johnR]

I suppose you could make a small incision in the seal above the problem area and put in a piece of tubing to effectively match the step profile of the door by reinforcing the seal where it needs to be wider - not sure if my explanation describes it properly

[Northernpower]

I suppose you could make a small incision in the seal above the problem area and put in a piece of tubing to effectively match the step profile of the door by reinforcing the seal where it needs to be wider - not sure if my explanation describes it properly

It does explain it. Edd China carried out a similar fix on an Aston they repaired on Wheeler Dealers.

[gadget555]

Well if it's good enough for "Wheeler dealers" then it must be worth doing I have a similar problem in that the bottom of the drivers door touches the seal but the top front corner of the frame there's about 1/4"  gap for about half the length of the top of the frame. I have "adjusted" the frame so it now touches the seal (cracked the paint where the door skin meets the frame on the front edge while adjusting it :-( ) but this then added another problem when I now wind the already stiff window up the glass now wants to go to the outside of the frame missing the channel altogether! This door has been re-skinned by a body shop mate, but I think it now has a twist in the door causing the fitting problems. I re-skinned the passenger myself adjusting the fit and lining it up on the car and it fits ok!

[Petrol]

It's taken some time but I've sorted it. There are 2 issues. The shape of the door where it meets the top frame has a tight curve. It's too much for the door seal to cope with. The other issue is water runs behind the door at the A and B pillar and  runs down to the door step. It then backs up. Capillary action / tracking / volume of water then forces its way behind the door seal where it pushes onto the shell.

These are the slots they cut in the seal to let the water out. A bodge if the truth be known

 

 

To properly seal the door seal to the shell I used this. It's a butyl sealant

 

 

Bead run around the aperture

 

 

At the bottom, I used a PU sealant to join the two halves together with a tube inside the seal

 

 

To work around the problem of the door seal not fitting tight where the glass frame is, I fitted this P profile seal around the whole door

 

 

It's sorted now. My water test was 20 minutes of this

 

 

 

 

[Jase]

It doesn't get any better. This thread should be the bible of how build a Mini. I know I will be giving my build a lot more detail based on the work you have done. Thanks

[Steve220]

God damn it, Pete, you've stolen my door deal idea! lol. Glad its sorted though!

[Steve8274]

Great solution. Could you put a photo of whole door? What size p seal did you use?
Thanks

[Petrol]

Thanks guys and sorry Steve.

 

Car is back in the garage and it's not easy to take a pic of the whole seal. Hope this is ok but it runs around the whole door

 

 

 

Dimensions of seal

 

 

 

 

Ebay linky

 

https://www.ebay.co....m-/151599925099

 

 

Pete