31 replies to this topic

[Purple Tom]

It does have a spring in it, I've formed a spring roughly of those dimensions, I'm probably just being too picky. The braided hose looks good, but I think the thread is of the wrong type to fit my TIM gauge and sender. I think you're right Dan, I'll just spend more time forming the copper pipe correctly and get it right, as you said, it can be done!

If you could find out about those sandwich plates that would be excellent - I've trawled through Minispares and not found anything - only the type which fits in the oil cooler pipes - no good for me with thermostatic control!

I'll keep searching t'internet too. Thanks!

[Purple Tom]

Right, I've found the plate, after some searching online it turns out Somerford Mini stock them (which I found out through the Mini Special enthusiast site!).

So I've ordered all the necessary bits, longer studs, gaskets and the plate itself - the only thing is I think its designed for fitting an electrical oil temperature gauge rather than capillary, as they've also sent me a 'sender unit' - I'm not sure on how big the sensor on the capillary oil temp gauge is - it might be that only an electrical one will work, but we'll see!

Just waiting for the oil cooler and various other bits now, and then my gearbox to come back so I can get on with bolting things back together

[Dan]

Well done for finding that, I can stop looking now!

If the sender gives you problems you will be able to get a thread adapter for it. Do you already have your mechanical temperature gauge then? A quality electrical one will be fine, this stuff about electronic gauges being worse than mechanical ones is very old fashioned.

[Purple Tom]

Yeah like a plonker I ordered a mechanical gauge before working out how I was going to get it to work! The reason I went for capillary was just for a redundancy sort of reason really, no real reason - I guess my thinking might have been in the event of an instrumentation failure my gauges will still work - but if my instruments failed I'd just stop and fix them So never mind!

The gauge and plate will be here tomorrow, along with the oil cooler and everything else, so I can have a look see then and see whats available. I'm slightly worried that the size of the sender unit on the capillary gauge will protrude down into the oil flow through the plate and partially block it, blocking the return of oil to the sump - but I'll have a better idea tomorrow...

[Pavel]

Is it just me or are all ELECTRICAL senders much much more bigger than the capillary screw-in adaptors? At least that's been the case with at least 6 gauges that i've come across (all different makes). Therefore I don't think that you'd have a problem with the mechanical fitting being larger than the electrical sender.

[Purple Tom]

well hopefully the sender on the capillary gauge won't be too big - although the one on my capillary water temperature gauge is fairly large, we'll see!

Well today amongst doing other things I got the oil cooler fitted to the car. I haven't got the gearbox back yet so can't fit the other bits, but at least the cooler is in (would have been much harder with the engine in too!). After much deliberation I decided that low down in the front panel would be good, in front of the three holes in the lower section. On roundnose Mini's I think mounting the cooler in airflow is easier, but on Clubby's its not so easy.

So here it is:



Ages ago whilst midway through my ill-fated 998cc Advantage project, I cleaned up a subframe and fitted some mountings for a custom built sumpgaurd. They basically consisted of several tapped bits of steel welded to the subframe. These turned out to be useful for mounting the cooler, as the subframe is now on the Clubby The cooler is held securely top and bottom, and as you can see in the top pic, only 2 holes needed to be drilled in the front panel to mount it - these are nice and hidden behind the bumper and numberplate. Here's a view from the engine bay:



I've got a spare 1275 engine and box which I'm going to drop into the engine bay, to work out the lengths of the hoses I'll need, and to check the clearance between the oil filter and subframe when the oil thermostat sandwich plate and oil temperature sandwich plate is fitted. Hopefully there won't be a clearance issue, fingers crossed.

Oh, and I think I'm going to have to buy some chav-mesh or something similar, I'm worried about stones etc bouncing up and hitting the cooler, will it be an issue or am I worrying too much again?

[Bungle]

what happens if a stone gets flicked up and hits the oil cooler ? :'(

do you think you should put something in front of it ?

[Purple Tom]

Oh, and I think I'm going to have to buy some chav-mesh or something similar, I'm worried about stones etc bouncing up and hitting the cooler, will it be an issue or am I worrying too much again?

I think its going to have to be chav mesh (that stuff chavs put on the holes on their bodykits) to prevent stone damage to the cooler

[pikey7]

get some from B&Q (cheaper), and form it around the cooler so it stands forwards about 1cm. That way it's not too chavvy unless your on your hands and knees! (which of course Chavs generally are, but just before the cuffs go on! )

[Purple Tom]

Good idea PIkey7, I'll try that, I didn't really want to put chav mesh across the three holes, so just around the cooler should be cool.

Another question:

The place I ordered the capillary gauge from rang me today (after 4 days and an angry phone call from me asking where my gauge was!) saying that TIM have discontinued their capillary oil temperature gauge. I want to keep all the gauges in the car the same make, so I'm going to get a TIM electrical gauge. When fitting this, is there going to be anything I need to know in terms of voltage stabilisation or is it a case of plug the gauge into the sender and run a 12V feed to the gauge or something else? (never wired up a gauge like this before, all the other gauges in the car haven't needed it!).

Thanks!

Tom

[Madmax]

Hey, tom, when you have the adaptor plate for the oil temp sender, would you be able to post a pic up? Fairly sure with the way my builds going that i may be needing one.

The mesh suggestion is definatley best wrapped around the cooler i think, as you are doing.

[Purple Tom]

Here's a pic for you James:



its amazingly simple now I look at it. A piece of aluminium with holes drilled for the studs, a larger hole in the centre for oil flow, and a tapped hole in the top for the sender for the gauge. I mean for the price (£6-odd) its worth it, but you could make one really easily.

The only thing is Somerford handily supplied me with A rather than A+ gaskets, but thats not a problem - should all work fine though.

[Madmax]

brill thanks matey

[Purple Tom]

Right a couple of updates.

The plate fits fine, I've modified the oil pipe to the correct routing (as the filter head has moved forwards). It should be noted that the oil filter is VERY close to the front subframe with this plate fitted - removal could be tricky depending on your methods of removal! With the sandwich plate thermostat that I have and this plate the oil filter fouled the subframe, which has meant some subframe surgery. I was ready for this, so trial fitted the engine to iron out any difficulties and also make sure the KAD engine steadies would fit too.

The oil cooler mounting is fine, Dad works for a hydraulic company so is making up some bespoke braided hosing for me, with the correct fittings. The pipes run under the starter motor and around along the front panel and to the cooler - they're out of the way, protected from damage and don't hinder access to the dizzy/starter etc.

As for the mesh, B&Q's was a bit too coarse, so chav mesh it is Doesn't actually look too bad, I'll post up results when the engine/cooler etc is in!

[Dan]

Looks good. They sent you the bigger gasket as it will fit both types of head but also the bigger filter head is far better than the small A+ one and leaks less often. It will push the filter even further towards the front though.

You're using a thermo sandwich plate? Unusual in a Mini, normally people fit an inline thermostat in the braided lines since the oil transfer is external anyway.

As for electric TIM gauges, I've never used one but I don't think TIM ones need a stabiliser. It will tell you in the box though (if it ever arrives....).