36 replies to this topic

[26dtp]

Been working on the interior lately. I had a trip to Seattle and bought seats whilst I was down there.  To mount the seats, I ordered a crossmember and welded in a second one (along with some captive nuts).

 

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Then mounting the seats was fairly straightforward

 

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Maybe i'm biased but I think the seats look great! Next up the dash. The original seems very flimsy and I was concerned that mounting the steering wheel to it would cause too much flex and play, so I beefed it up a little:

 

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Now the dash is much more solid, built a mount for the wheel column and welded on a quick release.

 

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A problem I quickly realized is I have RHD clutch/brake pedals and they were seriously fouling with the steering column UJ. A bit of heat, some gently persuasion, and cutting and welding the pedals back on straight and they are now have much nicer spacing:

 

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Also have the seat harness mounts installed. These are the harnesses from the red mini, not sure if i'll keep or replace:

 

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Up next I am going to be working on adding the various buttons and digidash into interior, engine firewall, and heater (featuring some 3d printing!) and then I think the interior is in pretty good shape.

 

I am expecting my first child in less than 2 months so trying to get as much done as I can before the baby is born, I am told I won't have a lot of free time for the next while.

[drmandy]

I just realized you are in Victoria!  Love your project-great work!! My son just moved to Victoria so perhaps we can meet someday-would love to see your project. Will it be complete for Mini meet west? I am going to try to get mine done for then if I can avoid the distractions. I'm impressed on how clean your shop is.

Cheers

Mandy

[26dtp]

Hey Mandy, been following your build too    If you are ever in Victoria shoot me a message would love to meet up! Unfortunately it wont be complete for mini meet west but I am hoping to attend and would love to see yours there! Pictures must make garage look cleaner than it is because missus would definitely disagree with you haha 

[26dtp]

Currently stuck on rear brakes. Here is all the info in case someone can help!

 

http://www.theminifo...pers/?p=3639889

 

Also been working on shifter. The zcars supplied shifter felt really sloppy and the cables were really hard to move so I am trying to see if I can use oem honda shifter and cables. Will post update when I have one!

[26dtp]

Update! One of the driveshafts I received when I bought the zcars gear was missing the inner (Honda) CV joint. Luckily, the engine I bought came with that half of the driveshafts as they literally cut the driveshafts out. So I went from having 2 broken dirveshafts to 1 reconditioned one!

 

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Will clean up the other driveshaft at some point when I get it off the car.

 

As you see in the link on my last post, I have been having a tough time with the rear brakes as nothing was lining up. Well I think I have solved it! After carefully measuring everything, I was able to figure out the dimensions of a rotor that would solve both the rubbing of the rim and the calipers lining up issue.  The problem was how the heck do I figure out what car that is off.  Well it turns out after some investigating that you can search rotors on the Brembo website by dimensions, and in return it tells you OE part number and what cars it will fit, lovely!  Doing so I was able to find the perfect rotor for me:

 

 Brembo_08.5743.11_en (1).pdf   186.89K   11 downloads

 

Only problem is the bolt pattern is 5x112 and not 4x4". I have a friend who has a 3d printer and he was able to design and print me an adapter that allowed me to precisely mark where to drill so that I can make rotor fit, check it out:

 

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Rotor I received from z cars on right that will not work, new one on the left.

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Print on the left is with the correct hole sizes so I can test to make sure it all is correct and template on the right is what I actually used as the holes were real small meaning I didnt have to worry about trying to find centre of holes.

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Had to weld up one of the holes as the 2 patterns overlapped

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The rotor fits on real tight with no play whatsoever.  Spinning it with my hand I see no wobble so as far as I can tell the holes are lined up perfectly. You can also see the caliper brackets now line up with the arm so I can weld those on now.  Overall I am really happy with how this all went.

 

Next I will be taking the hubs and arms apart, cleaning and paining/powdercoating them. Will also do new rear bearing. Shifter should be arriving in next week or 2 so hopefully can start offering that up also :)

[26dtp]

My shifter arrived! Bought off ebay. It is an 01-05 civic 5 speed shifter and cables!

 

First step was to build a bracket that allowed me to run the cables in opposite direction. I looked at how much they are new and they are not cheap! The best I could find was hybrid racing and it would cost $200 by the time you add taxes, duty and shipping:

https://www.hybrid-r...r-cable-bracket

https://www.huxracin...cket-p117206594

 

So I decided to make my own out of some metal I had laying around:

 

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It was a bit of a pain to get it to just right and go into all the gears but I got it in the end and I think turned out really well and very similar to the above ones. I am really pleased with how the shifter feels, much more precise than the z cars one I have and I also much prefer the idea of the cables routing directly and not round and under the engine.  My only concern is the length of the cables. I was hoping to run them down and along the tunnel but they are not quite long enough. I am sure I can figure something out. Next step will be to mount the shifter where I want it and then see what I have to play with for shifter cables. Slow and steady.....

Edited by 26dtp, 16 April 2020 - 04:16 AM.

[26dtp]

Quick Update! Tacked in the mounts for the calipers. Finished the one side today, going to do the other tomorrow. Happy with how it has all gone, turned out to be quite a lot for more work than I originally anticipated for these rear brakes, but I feel that is the way for almost everything on this build! Tested the wheel on the car and no fouling whatsoever, phew! Will weld them fully in when I take the arms off as I plan to re powdercoat everything and new wheel bearings.

 

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