192 replies to this topic

[carthorse]

These bad boys turned up in the post today:-

The correct model GAZ shocks for the van/estate/pickup, I wasn't really sure if I really needed the load lugger spec shocks and every manufacturer I looked at seemed to make them to different specs and charge more for them than the standard shocks. In the end I found these listed on a non mini specialist site for around 1/2 the price people like Minispeed and Minisport wanted so snapped them up. I've fitted GAZ before and been very happy apart from the corrosion issues they suffer with when used in all weathers, but Percy isn't going to be my daily drive so hopefully they'll last well.

 

Just need to find some time to get the rear suspension and brakes built back up now. I did get the bearings and longer studs for the spacer drums into one side using my new bearing smacking tool - best £20 I've spent on eBay for a while, no more tapping the races in using the old one and a brass drift, a couple of good smacks with a copper mallet and the race is in square and seated and my knuckles are intact 

Hoping to get down to the Practical Classics Restoration Show at the NEC this weekend and cruise the autojumble for some trim for Percy and those random shiny bits you never know you need to you see them........

 

Cheers, Mick

 

[carthorse]

Percy the pickup now has new brakes and suspension on each corner and a new clutch. The backend went together nice and quickly in a couple of evenings with new wheel bearings, cones, hi-lows and dampers. The rear rear drums got swopped out for late spec items with the spacer to match the disc brake hubs that went on the front end.

Next jobs are to replace fluid in the clutch and brakes and get them bled, get the radiator back in and the cooling system flushed and hopefully he should be ready for a test drive 

I popped down to the Practical Classics show at the NEC at the weekend to search for some inspiration, not that many minis there but these two caught my eye:

I was also strangely drawn to this absolutely mint MG Metro Turbo, took me right back to the early '90's when I used to go out with a girl who had one...... she was an utter lunatic behind the wheel and everytime the turbo kicked in i'd shut my eyes and pray for deliverance!

 

I did pick up some inter grips and welding clamps in the autojumble, as lying on the floor under Percy doing the suspension has made me realise just how ropey his floors and sills are. Still undecided as to if I've got the guts to tackle that much bodywork myself though, I think when he's running and driving i'll seek a couple of quotes to see how much financial pain it would be to get it done professionally.

 

Cheers, Mick

Edited by carthorse, 30 March 2015 - 02:05 PM.

[carthorse]

I hate bleeding brakes. Always turns into a total disaster! 

After dragging out my venerable Eeziebleed from the depths of the bottom drawer of my toolbox I was met with this sorry sight:

It doesn't look too bad from the picture but it was 1/2 full of crusty years old brake fluid which I'd obviously neglected to drain out after my last feeble attempt to use it about 5 years ago, i'd lost half the adaptors including the one I needed for the clutch and all the seals round the caps were falling apart. Aside from all that it was ready to go!

Obviously this gave me a chance to surf eBay and since I've got the luxury of a compressor in the garage I ordered one of those vacumn draw through brake bleeders that look so easy to use when Ed China does it on Wheeler Dealers!

A couple of days later up it turned via my long suffering neighbour who ends up taking in all our parcels for us :-

 

At less than £20 I reckoned it was worth a punt, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Well loads as it happens.........        

 

I thought I'd try and bleed the clutch first since i'd lavished a new braided hose and slave cylinder on it. So i stuck a funnel in the master cylinder and topped the level up to the brim. What i hadn't grasped was that poor old Percy had a bit of a fore / aft tilt on the axle stands ........ so when I topped the resevoir up to the top looking at it from the front Dot 5 fluid was overflowing from the back hidden by the funnel  it was only the sound of it dripping onto the floor that alerted me. Doh! I gave it a good rinsing with water and some bike cleaner I had handy but I just know its going to lift the paint somewhere. Luckily for me the paint on the bulkhead is far from pristine anyway so I'm not going to lose to much sleep over it. On the upside the new brake bleeder worked well and I soon had a nice firm clutch pedal.

 

Flushed with success I moved onto the brakes. Now I knew this would take a while as Percy's had new braided line around and the 7.5 discs put on the front. So I topped up the master cylinder (without spilling any this time!) and started at the back. It seemed to take ages to draw the fluid through, and then as I looked under the car from the rear bumper I could see lots of fluid running off the front right hand side of the front subframe                   

 

I'd forgotten to tighten the banjo bolt which goes through the two way splitter union on top of the front R/H brake hose  double doh!

After tightening up the blasted thing was still leaking so I stripped it down again for a look. The copper washers didn't look too clever, so after cleaning them up a bit I heated them up over the gas hob in the kitchen (the wife was out) and reassembled the union with them warm which seemed to do the trick! 

Unfortunately I still couldn't get a decent firm pedal how ever much I bled and I was still getting a bit of leakage which I traced to this pipe join just below the pdwa valve thing on the bulkhead:

Sorry for the out of focus pic but you can see the union on the copper pipe isn't square and this was where it was weeping slightly. It looks like Percy's had about half his pipework replaced with copper over the years, probably for mots and I'm not sure this pipe has the right union on it, it goes in nice and square, but seems to bottom out and kink over just as you tighten it.

 

I was fed up by this time, it was Friday afternoon and the kids were home for the easter hols so i shut the garage door and went inside to sulk. 

I've ordered a new pipe from minispares which does away with the offending pipe join so ill try again after the Easter bank holidays when it turns up.

 

I really hate bleeding brakes, but writing all this down has been a cleansing experience! sorry for boring anyone thats read to the end of this post........

 

Cheers, Mick

[slidehammer]

Keep up the good work, and don't let the brakes get you down. I changed the rear shoes on my daughter's Ford KA all went well until I decided to change the brake fluid as well and broke a bleed nipple so one side has all got to come apart again!

[minimissions]

Looks good and nice a refresh of everything will defo make it look better... think i have seen that sprite before down the derbyshire area... remember the number plate..

[carthorse]

Looks good and nice a refresh of everything will defo make it look better... think i have seen that sprite before down the derbyshire area... remember the number plate..

 

You may well have done - we acquired it via the Northwest Mini Centre in Glossop who were selling it on behalf of a elderly local couple who had stopped driving.

 

Just a little progress over the last few days, my new brake pipe and fresh copper washers have turned up via the ever fruitful Minispares, they may not be the cheapest and their postal charges annoy me each time I order, but their website is I reckon by far the easiest to navigate and the parts diagrams make it relatively painless to find the bits you need..........

 

I've still got zero enthusiasm to go mano a mano with the brakes again though after the last debacle so i decided I'd tackle something nice and clean.

 

The trouble with having a pickup in a crowded garage is that the back end has become a bit of a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff that you just need a temporary home for........

It was becoming difficult to see the base of poor Percy's loadbed at all! I managed to find a new cover and some turn button rings ages ago on eBay but I'd been stuck trying to find the correct punch to put the holes into the cover for a reasonable price. I didn't want to try bodging it with a knife or a centre punch as the holes are oval and need the 4 tang slots round them as well so the chances of screwing it up and ruining the difficult to find cover were quite high.

The correct punches are about £60 which seemed a bit steep to me and only available from a few places, but after a lot of fruitless interweb searching I finally got past my tightwad inner voice and splashed out on one.

I'm glad I did as it made fitting the cover a relatively painless task as it punched through the double backed vinyl a treat:-

And heres the Percy still suspended in the air but resplendant in his new cover!

So if anyone else needs a turn button punch pm me and you can borrow it.

 

Cheers, Mick

[Ben_O]

Good job on the cover mate.

 

You would have regretted it if you had not used the correct tool

[Carlos W]

I would love a pickup.

 

Have you considered becoming a TMF+ member? 

 

It's a fiver a year and you get 7.5% off at Minispares, plus discount at Minispeed and many other places

[minimissions]

Loving that new cover on the back just finishes it off nicely :)

[carthorse]

Good job on the cover mate.
 
You would have regretted it if you had not used the correct tool

Cheers geezer, I do have a bit of a tool buying addiction which goes back to owing Mr Snap-on wallet clenching amounts when I was young and impressionable, but £60 for a punch had to be slipped through the bank account quietl!

I would love a pickup.
 
Have you considered becoming a TMF+ member? 
 
It's a fiver a year and you get 7.5% off at Minispares, plus discount at Minispeed and many other places

That's deffo on my list of 'things I know are a good idea but haven't done yet' - especially with the panels discount from M-Machine. If I do replace Percy's whole floor pan even my shonky maths tells me I'll come out ahead!

[Carlos W]

 

Good job on the cover mate.
 
You would have regretted it if you had not used the correct tool

Cheers geezer, I do have a bit of a tool buying addiction which goes back to owing Mr Snap-on wallet clenching amounts when I was young and impressionable, but £60 for a punch had to be slipped through the bank account quietl!

I would love a pickup.
 
Have you considered becoming a TMF+ member? 
 
It's a fiver a year and you get 7.5% off at Minispares, plus discount at Minispeed and many other places

That's deffo on my list of 'things I know are a good idea but haven't done yet' - especially with the panels discount from M-Machine. If I do replace Percy's whole floor pan even my shonky maths tells me I'll come out ahead!

 

If you bought those spax from Minispares you would already be ahead.

[carthorse]

[quote name="Carlos W" post="3247629"
If you bought those spax from Minispares you would already be ahead.[/quote
Nah, minispares don't list the shocks for the van/pickup/estate apart from spax which are £76 odd each at the rear.
Those gaz were £40 a corner from Larkspeed

[Carlos W]

I see you've become a TMF+ member, there are instructions in the TMF+ section on how to get discounts

[carthorse]

I see you've become a TMF+ member, there are instructions in the TMF+ section on how to get discounts

Yup just been browsing the discounts whilst banging my head gently on my keyboard about all the lost money saving opportunities !

[wingnut]

Percy looks sweet.I have the same trouble sticking stuff in the back of my pickup.I may have to borrow that tool though,as I have a cover ready to be fitted.