850 replies to this topic

[jamesquintin]

Not noticed that blue wire on my MPI. I had a look at the circuit diagram and it could be the blue wire going to the Condensor fan for the Japanese air con models

 

Q
 

[Steve220]

It's usually under tape on the loom

[rich_959]

 

Looking good Steve! I may have missed it from your notes, but is your bulk head insulation the one that is being sold by ‘Smiffy’s bits’ on eBay?

 

No mate. Its a custom piece made for me by a friend.

 

 

Very nice too. Don't suppose he made a batch?!

[Steve220]

 

Looking good Steve! I may have missed it from your notes, but is your bulk head insulation the one that is being sold by Smiffys bits on eBay?

 
No mate. Its a custom piece made for me by a friend.
 

 
Very nice too. Don't suppose he made a batch?!

Only the one I'm afraid! I'll ask and see if he's interested in doing more, but apparently they're a pain!

[rich_959]

 

 

 

Looking good Steve! I may have missed it from your notes, but is your bulk head insulation the one that is being sold by Smiffys bits on eBay?

 
No mate. Its a custom piece made for me by a friend.
 

 
Very nice too. Don't suppose he made a batch?!

Only the one I'm afraid! I'll ask and see if he's interested in doing more, but apparently they're a pain!

 

 

Cheers Steve, but if it was a pain it was probably pricey! I'll either go for the Smiffy one, or just leave it without (as it has been since I had it).

[Steve220]

A few bits done but nothing major.

 

Finally got the rear seats, belts and door bins in. The car had a massive hoover out after! It had loads of clipped cable ties, cut wire sheaths and grass lol!

 

 

Which gave me opportunity to FINALLY get the front seats in. I promised my mum she'd be the first person to sit in it once the front seats are in, so she's now happy!

 

 

 

Had a play with the dashboard - this should annoy the purists!

 

 

Next is a bit of CAD (Card Aided Design) for my charge cooler radiator.  This is the ideal side to get in the space I have. I've emailed a fair few companies to have it custom made - i'm not expecting sympathetic prices

 

 

 

 

 

Thats it for now! Still scratching my head over where to mount the fuel pressure regulator, MAP sensor and ECU.

[Steve220]

A small update as i'm indecisive when it comes to mounting hardware in the engine bay.. i'll get there.

 

Anyway, got the new parts of the exhaust bought and mocked up. Turns out they face the wrong way to what I want, so going to have to find someone local to make a section to join them up! There's a bit of paralax error in this pic as it looks like they're quite close together, they're actually about 4" away from each other and can't get them any closer due to the shifter box.

 

 

Next was the arrival of my AEM wideband controller! The idea of this will be to replace the standard closed loop lambda with the wideband and have the controller feed the ECU with the 0-5v feed it provides to allow the ECU to make minor corrections where necessary - but also to allow it to self tune a little! As the old lambda looked rough around the edges I made a patch loom from its plug and the AEM loom. This means the gauge will be powered from the multi-relay, have the correct ground as well as the relevant -ve and +ve sensor signal the ECU needs. It also means the entire thing is reversible should it need it.

 

 

 

 

 

Also test fit the fog lights

 

 

I've ordered the parts for the oil catch system and turbo coolant lines. Had to have a head scratch about how to mount the air filter as i'm running out of engine bay space rapidly!

[rich_959]

Looking good Steve! Can't wait to see it up and running. I love how it's retaining an almost OEM look, despite all the special bits!

 

In your research, did you come across any full kits for fitting a Turbo to an MPI? I've seen the same sort of thing for Superchargers (Vmaxscart) but never seen an MPI specific 'off the shelf' kit for Turbocharging.

[Steve220]

Looking good Steve! Can't wait to see it up and running. I love how it's retaining an almost OEM look, despite all the special bits!
 
In your research, did you come across any full kits for fitting a Turbo to an MPI? I've seen the same sort of thing for Superchargers (Vmaxscart) but never seen an MPI specific 'off the shelf' kit for Turbocharging.

Thanks chap! There is literally nothing out there for these blocks.

[1984mini25]

 

 

 

 

Looking good Steve! I may have missed it from your notes, but is your bulk head insulation the one that is being sold by Smiffys bits on eBay?

 
No mate. Its a custom piece made for me by a friend.
 

 
Very nice too. Don't suppose he made a batch?!

Only the one I'm afraid! I'll ask and see if he's interested in doing more, but apparently they're a pain!

 

 

Cheers Steve, but if it was a pain it was probably pricey! I'll either go for the Smiffy one, or just leave it without (as it has been since I had it).

 

 

I'd be interested in one, as the ones available have too many cut outs or ones in the wrong places for things like servo and heater pipes, all of witch aren't needed for an earlier mini. Or even just a blank one, as all I'd need to do is make a hole for a single heater pipe, 2 fuse box screws, speedo cable and hole for the wring behind the wiper motor.

[jamesquintin]

The Minispares bulkhead foam is great, they are cut out, but the cutouts are left 'in' so you could tape them on the back?

 

Q

Edited by jamesquintin, 02 June 2018 - 12:02 PM.

[Steve220]

Slow progress as i still can't make up my mind about brackets

 

Speaking of brackets, i made the actuator bracket up in 3mm steel! Tested out and it worked brilliantly! No flex!

 

 

Installed the water pipes for the turbo, this took some head scratching as there's no natural place to take the feed from. The MPi has a 6mm restrictor between the thermostat to heater matrix and heater matrix to water pump. The viper hoses doesn't have this in it, so cut the pipe in half and installed reducer adapters.

 

 

Installed the wideband gauge to a new mount - this will need more work in the future, but currently its holding it nicely somewhere I can see it when driving!

 

 

Catch can bought, this will be mounted in the N/S inner wing and the pipes running from the rocker cover and timing cover.

 

 

Downpipe wrapped to keep the engine bay temperatures down

 

 

All spot lights on and working! Forgot how bright these were

 

 

Now one of the bits i was dreading - Livery! It took some thinking and an hours worth of research/pestering people online to get the measurements but finally got them on!

 

 

 

 

The inlet manifold, lower downpipe and charge cooler are off to Fusion Fabrications for work. In the mean time i need to still work out where to mount the fuel pressure regulator and MAP sensor

[dave_39]

Are you using the pressure regulator from the SC kit?

I mounted mine on the passenger side cross member gusset. Where the purge valve is.

[Steve220]

Any pics Dave?

[minimissions]

wow this is really coming along now! nice work! Do love those mpi interiors

Edited by minimissions, 13 June 2018 - 05:38 AM.