221 replies to this topic

[Vinay-RS]

Wow, that whole brake assembly is gorgeous. 

[Gr4h4m]

Are those original minifins not for the front?

[podifold]

No, there's no difference.

[Gr4h4m]

I thought there was... If they are original.

[podifold]

Bit of an update. Not as much as I'd have hoped after a 3 day weekend, but I'm still quite a few parts short of making good progress.
 
First up I fitted a new pair of door mirrors. They're the larger type fitted to Clubman estates and Metro vans. The small ones I'd originally fitted we're absolutely useless and didn't fill me with any confidence when driving. Not only are these massively improved they fit well with the standard sleeper look I'm going for.
 
I've actually got a NOS set of these in their original Rover boxes stashed away with some other nice NOS external parts but I don't want to fit them until I get the car resprayed next year so these are just a good condition second hand set for now.


 
Next up I made some progress putting the front subframe together for the final time after a lot of trial fitting with my weird suspension set-up. I couldn't finish it though as I stupidly split a rubber boot on one of the knuckle joints.
 
One thing I did address was the lock washer on my adjustable bottom arms. When I took them apart I wasn't happy with how they'd distorted so I had a pair laser cut from thicker 4mm stainless with a slightly larger outside diameter.
 

 

My crank, clutch and flywheel finally came back from being balanced this week after a massive wait from my local engineering place which meant I could get started putting the engine back together.

 

 

The 1380cc MPI block's been honed, had a very light skim and new cam bearings pressed in. The crank's been wedged and had a 20/20 regrind and then the two were mated together with a centre main cap and ARP bolts.

 

After checking the crank and primary gear end float I've fitted a new Swiftune SW5-07 and their competition CNC'd oil pump along with a set of correctly ground followers from Calver ST.

 

 

That's as far as I got for now. I'm waiting on a set of Total Seal piston rings coming from America before I can continue and I noticed today some of my engine paint is flaking off so I need to address that as well before I get any further into the build.

[Gr4h4m]

Nice looking crank

[MrBounce]

This is such a fantastic thread. Love it!   

[podifold]

Nice looking crank

 

 

This is such a fantastic thread. Love it!   

 

Thanks guys.

[GraemeC]

Unusual centre main strap - where's it from?

[podifold]

So, the final issue I had to sort as a result of moving the top arm was the shock absorber. A quick look under the car showed there's no way I could mount it in the standard position with the top arm being moved inwards by 8mm without it fouling on something.


 
Not a problem, I've never liked the angle the shock absorber sits at and always intended to mount it in a pair of coil over style brackets instead.
 
I did some calculations to work out where I thought a set of standard height shock absorbers would sit and drew up a template on the computer. Using the centre line as a reference I stuck them onto a piece of 80mm x 80mm x 5mm box section steel and cut them out.




 
They actually turned out much better than I thought they would 
 
After a couple of coats of POR15 paint I sorted a set of high tensile bolts where the unthreaded shoulder runs the full width of the mounts.
 

 
From memory the upper and lower mount are slightly offset from each other, but I couldn't remember by how much so I had a whole load of spacers laser cut in 4mm, 6mm, 8mm and 10mm thick stainless steel. Using a combination of these I should be able to perfectly align the shock absorber in the two mounts once they're on the car.

 

[podifold]

Unusual centre main strap - where's it from?

 

It's a nice piece of kit, CNC'd from K600 tool steel by Elmer Racing in Finland. Unfortunately the shipping was almost as expensive as the actual strap!

 

http://elmerracing.c...ring-cap-detail

[slidehammer]

Looking like good progress to me, my idea of slow progress is getting out there with a cup of tea prodding around a bit and not actually achieving anything other than giving myself another shopping list and very little in the way of solutions to the various problems to over come!

[podifold]

Built up my drive assemblies this morning.

 

NOS Metro hubs with Timken bearings, KAD 7.9" non vented callipers with Mintex 1144 pads and Minispares competition drive shafts.

 

Edited by podifold, 05 June 2016 - 01:48 PM.

[Rocket.]

Awesome build !

 

Love the idea of this !

[Deathrow]

I must ashamedly admit that despite being a member of the TMF team I only very rarely post and even then it's usually to update my own progress thread. However after stumbling across this build thread I really just wanted to share how much I'm enjoying reading your progress with this. It's always so inspiring to see someone going the extra mile to get the best out of something.

I especially like the movement of the top arm to accommodate the metro hubs. Mini ball joints are not my favourite either, I'm never sure they're just right.

 

Looking forward to further updates and hope to see the Clubman or your Pickup around (I'm fairly local).