135 replies to this topic

[robj2502]

Ok so some parts have arrived:

 

New seatbelts front and back (rears were missing and fronts are past thier best/starting to fray):

 

Some stainless bits - have also bought a shed load of stainless nuts/bolts and fixings....once I got my head around the imperial/UNF talk:

 

HEL brake hoses to go with the new brakes so much better than the goodridge stuff as eveything is stainless not just the hose!:

 

New race style battery, bracket, wire and crimps:

 

First of the breather system parts:

 

Mk1 type rear light brackets and lamps:

 

DSN retrosport stuff:

 

and lastly for now some suspension bits:

 

Edited by robj2502, 13 November 2017 - 04:04 PM.

[MasterD78]

Looks like you have some fun times ahead with all of your new goodies!  Looking forward to seeing more pics.

[johnR]

CityEPete is quite right that you should think carefully before making irreversible changes to the Italian job shell.  It seems there were only 1750 of these produced and the link to the iconic film makes them desireable.  Financially your best course of action would probably be to source the correct parts to return it to standard, then sell it and use the profit to either buy a Mk1 or convert a more common later car.

[CityEPete]

I think that ship and it's v5 has sailed.

[Steve220]

Where did you get the rocker cover from? Thats almost exactly what I want!

[robj2502]

Where did you get the rocker cover from? Thats almost exactly what I want!

I found it on Ebay.

 

Think the guy had it made/bits welded on to a standard alloy rocker. MED make and sell a breather system that looks great but cheap it is not! ......does look good quality though:

 

http://www.med-engin...d-breather-kits

[robj2502]

Just a quick update:

 

Nothing massive has happened with the car as I try and get some bits and pieces sorted at home. However, I have been gradually amassing parts for the rebuild and I now have pretty much most of the bits and pieces required so hopefully there should be a few more updates over the coming weeks.

 

Firstly the carb rebuild:

 

They were in pretty good condition so have just given them a check over and clean:

 

This is how they started:

 

I had purchased both of these:

 

 

So got them fitted:

 

 

 

Much better!

 

Just need the stainless hose for the fuel, vents etc and they will be ready to go back on the car

Edited by robj2502, 25 January 2018 - 10:51 AM.

[robj2502]

Now the rear arms:

 

Bought this lot:

 

 

 

 

and so I got them built up:

 

Then with brake lines:

 

And finally all together:

 

 

I would of loved the SC or KAD arms but the budget wouldnt quite stretch! Still these are a significant weight saving over the originals and I have also used stainless bolts where I can and the quadrant/handbrake pins etc are titanium - couldnt help myself....

[miniireland]

Im baffled by

 

But

 

Gonna follow this thread

[robj2502]

Front subframe refurb:

 

Unfortunately I didnt get any before pictures before but eveyone has seen a dirty black, grimey, oil ridden subframe! This one had also been half brush painted blue!! Anyway I got it sandblasted and it looked like this:

Believe it or not this is the natural finish with no paint or anything on it. The blasters did a cracking job!

 

After this I decided to swiss cheese it so cracked out the holesaws and removed all of this:

 

and this is what was left:

 

If you look closely in the pictures you can also see I have added some welds to various seams about the frame

 

Thinking I should probably put some structural integrity back I purchased these bits from Owens fabrications:

 

And then welded them in:

 

 

 

I am pretty happy with it to be honest and whilst some of the welds could do with a little more grinding/tidying (I may pick this up this coming week) overall its a pretty neat job. I also want to weld some extra material under where the lower arm sits as generally I like to use this as a jacking point but unless you are super careful it is easily deformed and obviously I need to get it powder coated but its pretty much there......On to the next job!

Edited by robj2502, 30 January 2018 - 11:08 AM.

[robj2502]

So with works moving on with the car and bits and pieces being removed from the engine so it can be pulled out for an inspection and part replacement my attention has been drawn to the engine cooling circuit. Looking at what I have at the moment initially had me a little perplexed (in as much as it wouldnt appear to work - see below) and so I turned to the internet for answers. However, this would appear to be a little bit of a minefield in exactly what the best thing is to do. Especially with regard to keeping the heater/ what to do about the bypass, with it still being used on the road (a racing car has different requirements), needing to able to cope with sitting in London traffic/traffic in general and what the best layout is (there are lots of variations across the years especially with heater hose points!!). With all of this mind and without wanting to spend a shed load of money on dry decking etc I have come up with the following drawings to assist me with getting my head around it all and making the most of a relatively standard setup:

 

What I have at the moment:

 

Now looking at this it doesnt quite work and until the thermostat opens there is no coolant circulation (unless the heater valve is open) and so the pump will be cavitating and possibly during colder weather/first start warm up will be causing hot spots around the cylinders and I suspect all kinds of issues if it was to be left like this - hoses could be blown off warn/broken pump, failed head gasket etc etc. I guess a quick fix for this would be to drill some holes in the thermostat to allow some bypass but this always seems like a bodge to me. I am guessing that this layout is an issue where parts from different years have been put together without too much thought (exactly like this car).

 

One solution would be to fit the water pump with the bypass:

 

 

This obviously does exactly what it says on the tin and alows coolant to bypass the radiator until the thermostat opens thereby allowing quick warm up with obvious efficiency advantages. However, My head doesnt currently have the drilling for the bypass hose (and neither does the modded head I already have) and as such I would need to drill and tap to fit.

 

So I am now looking at fitting a bypass hose between the heater hoses:

 

Now as far as I can see this does the same job as the above pump bypass (although via a slightly longer route) and the plan is to fit reducing tee's into both the flow and return pipes and making this "bypass pipe" aprox 6mm (in comparison to the heater hoses 12mm). I guess my only concern would be that this may short cycle the heater with water taking the path of least resistance rather than going through the heater core. Although this could be easily solved by fitting a restrictor if it becomes an issue.

 

What are peoples thoughts on this? anyone done anything similar? Think it will work?

Edited by robj2502, 01 February 2018 - 01:02 PM.

[Northernpower]

Drill three 3mm holes in the thermostat, it is all most owners do.

[timmy850]

You've got the coolant flow the wrong way around, it's hot out the top of the engine and into the radiator, cool from the bottom of the radiator and into the block. 

 

You can see this one sucking the coolant into the water pump (and causing the hose to close slightly)

[robj2502]

Drill three 3mm holes in the thermostat, it is all most owners do.

 

I had seen a lot of people have done this but as mentioned above this seemed like a little bit of a bodge in as much as if it was that simple why did BMC go through all the trouble of the water pump bypass pipe? I would also assume then that water would need to pass through the rad and as such this would extend the warm up time?

 

You've got the coolant flow the wrong way around, it's hot out the top of the engine and into the radiator, cool from the bottom of the radiator and into the block. 

 

You can see this one sucking the coolant into the water pump (and causing the hose to close slightly)

 

Cheers for pointing this out!

 

I just kind of assumed it was the other way around and then hot in the bottom of the rad and cold out of the top kind of made sense. I actually just removed the water pump and it definitely cant work the way I had shown it. Anyways edited all of my little pictures so they show the correct flow route.

Edited by robj2502, 01 February 2018 - 12:52 PM.

[Northernpower]

 

Drill three 3mm holes in the thermostat, it is all most owners do.

 

I had seen a lot of people have done this but as mentioned above this seemed like a little bit of a bodge in as much as if it was that simple why did BMC go through all the trouble of the water pump bypass pipe? I would also assume then that water would need to pass through the rad and as such this would extend the warm up time?

 

 

Entirely your decision. I was just posting a fix that has worked for 1,000's of owners but it's only a suggestion, you don't have to do it. I use it on mine and it's never been a problem and I run a 7 port injection with 108BHP at the wheels and don't class it as a bodge at all.