505 replies to this topic

[72clubman]

GKN's in my GT :)

 

[Black.Ghost]

Just read the whole thread. Loving this Clubman. And I love that it all started because of a set of wheels

[brad101]

that's one nice car! I thought the good years were pretty awesome looking!

[72clubman]

Just read the whole thread. Loving this Clubman. And I love that it all started because of a set of wheels

 

Thankyou :) it's been a good little summer project, it's just a shame it distracted me from my white clubman! 

 

that's one nice car! I thought the good years were pretty awesome looking!

 

The Goodyears are still on the wheels, they're just sat in the garage. I might put them back on if the weather gets worse! 

 

Here they are in the light. Wheel porn right there.

 

[malcs_miniturbo]

Your just showing off now lol.but fair play they are lovely wheels I wouldn't mind a set but no how hard to get they are .

[72clubman]

Your just showing off now lol.but fair play they are lovely wheels I wouldn't mind a set but no how hard to get they are .

 

I do apologize it was just shameless showing off.

 

I haven't had a chance to fit them yet though, they're just sat there looking pretty.

 

So the order of the weekend was to replace my throttle cable. I had to switch the carb so many times, repeatedly changing the carb frayed the end of the cable. Then to get around this I tried cutting back the cable. Long story short I needed a new cable. So I bought a new cable for a GT. Which doesn't fit very well to an HIF carb the inner cable is too short. So I trimmed the outer casing and nicked the inner cable. Cable destroyed. I've been running with the frayed cable for the last 2 months but did stick open every now and again....

So I finally gave in and bought the longest cable for an HIF44 I could find. It's nice to drive a car that isn't trying to drive away from you! 

 

Another thing I thought I'd try was leaded petrol. My head has yet to be converted to unleaded valve seats, so instead of running an additive I thought I'd go with the every 4th tank trick.  Finding 4 star these days is no mean feat though, according to the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs there are only 12 garages licenced to sell it in the UK! It just so happens that one of these is a mile from my house so I popped in.

 

Now we come to the biggest issue, the price. At £2.40 a litre it's cripplingly expensive but i did want to try it and put half a tank in the GT.

So whats the verdict, it does run smoother and a little quieter, but it has now stopped popping and crackling on the overrun which I'm not happy with!  If it was just a little more expensive it'd be the way to go but my pockets aren't nearly deep enough to keep that up! I'll be going back to regular unleaded with some additive.

 

I've missed the overrun noise more than I should, the spitting and popping after a 2nd gear pull is intoxicatingly good fun.

 

 

 

Last thing before I finish, I've got the opportunity to buy some Keith Dodds Forged 1.5 rockers, how much should I be paying and should I be bothering? 

[72clubman]

Always fun to make a mini friend! 

 

[steven]

Mini friend

[72clubman]

Apologies for my recent silence but the GT's been behaving itself. I've been keeping myself busy welding in new inner sills to a friends 1995 Mini Sidewalk. back in june we had a little deal, he recovered my GT in exchange for me dealing with the mess he was calling floorpans. It's taken quite a while to get around to it! 

 

Well I say it's been behaving, that was until last week. After finishing my friends mini we swapped cars and had a little fun, it was the first time i'd heard my own car on full chat as it sailed past the 1275 SPI Sidewalk, I tried my best to keep up but the GT is in another league performance wise, sounded bloody amazing! The next day the exhaust started to blow, barely noticeable at first, then i hit a bump and the link pipe split completely. Tractor GT. I welded the link pipe back together yesterday it was far from my best job though, I'd got the wrong setting on the welder so it didn't come out great. It's sealed again for now though! I think the exhaust is toast in the long run though.

 

So last weekend Minispares had a small sale, and I took the opportunity to purchase a new steering rack, the union joint was the only advisory on my MOT and has been bugging me ever since. The steering's always had quite a bit of play from straight ahead making driving on uneven roads and on the motorway a scary experience, so today I started a rack swap! 

 

 

 

 

Following the service manual I axel stood the front of the car and dropped the rear of the subframe, supporting it on a jack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the old rack removed. It came out relatively easily, I'd heard it was always an awful job but so far it's been quite enjoyable! The end ball joints were very easy to move, although didn't have any play in them.

 

 

Here is one of the brand new track-rod ends I fitted, it's amazing how quickly they rust!

 

 

So I've painted them up, hopefully they should last a little longer!

 

 

Here's the old rack next to a brand-new unit. Much shinier! 

 

 

 

Took a lot of deciding, but I've decided to paint the new rack, after seeing what happened to my trackrod ends if I want it to last it's the sensible decision. I've also painted the outer steering column, the U bolts and the bracket for the steering column. The old racks only only in there to make drying the trackrod ends easier!  Making this decision also means I couldn't finish installing it today as the paint takes ages to dry! So I'll conclude tomorrow! 

 

Joe

 

[72clubman]

Rack in, adjusted and my goodness what a transformation! drives like a mini! 

 

[72clubman]

Took a trip out to make sure it was all in correctly. It now sits on dual carrigeways without trying to kill me :)
Little pic when I was out, mechanically it's Spot on now! I'll be back when it breaks again!

[Jase]

I suppose you could have lacquered the rack? Would that have protected it?

[72clubman]

I suppose you could have lacquered the rack? Would that have protected it?

I suppose I could have! Didn't even thing about that.
It doesn't look to bad black though, I'm happy with it.

[72clubman]

So yesterday I went and picked up my Christmas present, a nice New set of yokos for the second set of GKN's

[72clubman]

So a bit more of a comprehensive update! So I had a lovely drive down to Midland wheels on monday and had the Goodyear Rally Special tyres removed from the second set of GKN's. Had them replaced with some new Yokos, don't worry I've kept the Goodyears uncase I find a use for them! 

Also dropped in to Southam Mini and Metro on the way back and had a chat, lovely guy and hopefully he'll be helping with my damaged block from my other GT.

 

So GKN's with new Yokos.

 

 

 

Had a lovely drive out today on the new wheels.