140 replies to this topic

[buddylove]

I haven't taken too many photos as I have been trying to spend as much time working on the car as I can.  A previous owner had wrapped a cotter pin around the pin that secures the brake master cylinder to the pedal, it was a little bit of a fight trying to get it out of there.  So, now the brake master cylinder is installed, and the stainless lines for the front and rear are in now as well.  The front suspension is all bolted up, and well as the whole front brake system.  I am hoping that none of the brake lines leak, as I re-used the front hard line.  I didn't notice any real mushrooming though.

 

 

 

 

It's the first vented 7.5" setup that I have seen in person.  Not that you really need it on a road going car, but I had the setup, so why not right? :)

 

I still need to pull the rear wheel cylinders and replace them, as well as correct the brake shoes, and install the Superfins.  After that, I need to pull the thermostat and drill 6 1/8th inch holes in it.  Hopefully I can get both of that done tomorrow night, as then all I need to do on Friday is bleed the brakes, and then wrap everything else up on Saturday.

[timmy850]

I have only ever bought the genuine HiLos and have never experienced the Ripspeed HiLos.  The front of the Mini had these HiLos on them as its a pretty common fix to just get HiLos to fix the issue instead of replacing the donuts and the trumpets.  I am not too impressed with the RipSpeed type as it seems that they need to be adjusted off of the car, and that creates a ton more work.  Not sure what I am going to do with them, but if anyone wants them, they are welcome to them.  They need a little TLC.

I'm pretty sure that your Ripspeed ones are the genuine ones. They changed the adjustment style at some stage

http://www.minispare...e/HILO-SET.aspx

[buddylove]

I found that out after I posted them. I guess I just prefer the newer style adjustment.

[megamini_jb]

I thought all hi los could be adjusted on the car, even with the wheels still on? And yeah Ripspeed ones are the proper and best sort

Edited by megamini_jb, 17 July 2014 - 06:39 PM.

[buddylove]

Ya, the ones are replaced them with are RipSpeed by MiniSpares.  The old ones can be adjusted on the car, I found out later, its just with the hex adjustment bar.  The MiniSpares ones allow for that as well as the nut.  Since I took off the 3/4" of the bolt though, the hex adjustment on mine is now gone.

[buddylove]

Torqued the front axle nuts down and added the cotter pin.  Got the new 1/2" wheel cylinders and Superfins installed in the rear, along with tightening down all the connections back there.  I also replaced the filter for the breather over the clutch, replaced the valve cover cap, and setup the carb.  I don't like that the choke cable currently rests on the manifold, but not sure if I can do much about it at the moment.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, I am going to bleed the brake system, and hope that there isn't any leaks.  If that goes well, then I can correct height for the suspension on Saturday, do an oil change, put coolant in it, and see if I can get the exhaust to fit any better.  Hopefully, then I can start it up.  I am going to hold off on drilling the thermostat for now, as I don't have a replacement gasket.

[sixtyeight]

hi it looks like you are using the long braided rear brake hoses. These are designed to replace the rubber flex hose AND the rigid pipe from the drum. It looks like you still have the rigid pipe installed...

 

Couple of pics of my setup...

 

 WP_20140126_030.jpg   36.04K   17 downloads    WP_20140126_031.jpg   33.13K   17 downloads

 

 

[buddylove]

Thanks for the pics, I'll re-route them as I would love to take the slack out of it!

[buddylove]

Doesn't look like the Mini will be making it to the Western Washington ABFM.

 

Friday, we attempted to bleed the brake system.  The left front hardline wasn't sealing to the stainless line.  I ended up having to replace it with a new hardline and was able to get everything sealed up.  We finished bleeding it on Saturday with only a few connections needing to be tightened.  I filled up the coolant system, and had no leaks, then gave it an oil change.  I had never run into the cartridge style oil filter, and had ordered the regular all in one oil filters that I am used to seeing.  Thankfully, Chuck had some of  the cartridge style and I was able to finish the oil change.

 

I started the Mini up and it started without issue, however it sounded like a tractor.  The intake manifold isn't sealing to the block well enough, I played around with different washer setups and was able to get it to seal a bit better, but it still needs more work.  My plan was to at least get it down to Chuck's and then we could play around with more washer setups.  However, the Mini had other plans.  I went to try to reverse it out and it didn't want to budge, and I tried to go forward and it did the same thing.  I took the front wheels off today and messed around with the axle nut, but it still was being difficult to turn.  Once, I got one side to turn some, I put the wheel on and moved to the right side.  I loosened up the axle nut, and got the wheel to turn again, but when I went to tightened down the lug nuts, it froze up on me again.  After discussing it with Chuck, the thought is that the caliper and brake pads might be playing into the seizing up once everything is tightened down.  If that is the case, I will need to get the calipers rebuilt as the pistons are most likely not retracting on their own.  I'm going to take a couple days off from it and then investigate.

[buddylove]

Monday, I spoke to a couple of different caliper rebuilt specialists and did some investigating that night.  I took the wheel off and was able to spin the whole assembly.  I then placed the wheel back on and started looking through the mesh of the wheel to see where the caliper was sitting against the wheel.  On tightened down the lug nuts, the caliper was fully wedged against the wheel about halfway back.  I then tried test fitting some 3.5" steelies that I had lying around, but with the ridge they have in the inside, they didn't clear the caliper.  My final hope was the Cosmics, they have a completely smooth barrel on the inside, and cleared the caliper for the most part.  The only piece that is coming into slight contact is the cotter pins from the brake pads.  I was thinking about trying to find a cotter pin with a smaller head, but Chuck's idea was to simply turn them around and flat them back against the caliper.  I am planning on doing that tonight and getting the Cosmics mounted on tires.  I was hoping to have Fine Tuning do the mounting, but there is no time to get up there, so I will have to swing by Discount Tire and stress to them to be very careful.  Hopefully by this evening, the Mini will be able to roll on all 4 wheels.

[buddylove]

Stuck once again, and going back to the original thoughts on why the drive train is locking up on both sides.  I tightened down the axle nut before test fitting the Cosmics again and everything locked up.  The wheel clearance issue was definitely a factor before, but now that it is solved it still leaves another issue.  I loosened up the bolts on the caliper and it freed up the drive train and allowed it to rotate on both sides.  This clearly points to the caliper being the issue.  The pads look seated flatly against the disc, so its not like one piston is pushing harder then the other, and the caliper looks pretty square with the disc between it.  There really is not much space to run any sort of spacer between the hub flange and the caliper anyways.  That only really leaves me with the caliper itself possibly needing to be rebuilt.  The only question I have though, is why would both calipers fail at the same time, and if both sides are locking up, wouldn't it be more of an engineering issue and not so much a failed part issue?

[sixtyeight]

so with the hub nut torqued up,  and wheel off, the hub spins freely? only when the wheel is on does it bind?

[buddylove]

So here are the scenarios:

 

The wheel was binding on the caliper, and since that is a known issue I have ruled that out.

 

After discovering that, I tightened up the axle nut with the caliper tightened up as well and everything locked up.

 

I loosened the bolts for the caliper and everything freed up and I was able to spin it.

 

I just loosened up the master cylinder on the firewall and it made no change.  I had heard that too long of a shaft on the master cylinder can cause the issue as well, but in this case that is not the issue.

 

Even if I have the calipers on upside down, I don't see how it could lock up everything as it doesn't change the mating surface at all.

[sixtyeight]

have  you stripped down the calipers? sounds like a stuck piston.

[buddylove]

Not yet, but wouldn't that just lock up the one side?  Both sides are locking up.