585 replies to this topic

[colinf1]

Tried wheels again with more aggressive media, paint seems to be very hard so will need to chemically strip them then tidy them up with sandblaster.

Missing a few pieces from handles and locking mechanism, so tried make a few of the missing bits.

Don't know if this 3d print will be strong enough but worth a try.



Definitely be strong enough for the plunger..



Made up this lever bracket, needs a bit of a tidy along edges of slot but might just work...



Didn't get round to making this part yet, looking for something the same diameter

[colinf1]

Managed to get an hour or so on the car this evening...

One word...R-clips...or is that 2?

Went about removing pedal box, removed steering column to get better access, pretty straight forward for this but then the task of removing the split pins from the clevis pins... forgotten how awkward it is!

Managed to get there in the end then removed master cylinders. Mounting bracket was a bit crusty, but all metal good underneath.

Used some paint stripper on the wheels,it didn't take long to loosen the paint off. Will give it another coat then clean off what's left in blaster ready for painting.

[colinf1]

Not much done today thanks to the awful weather..got car sitting on a pallet with caster wheels, hopefully be easier to work in limited space that I have...

[colinf1]

Engine and subframe are out...



Had my brother out to give me a hand, had to fix my pallet as it started to break so we fixed that then decided to drop subframe.

Retaining pin on gear linkage was the hardest part to get out!

Exhaust isn't in great shape, it was held on at the back with builders strap and only a tiny portion of the hanger rubber remaining.



Pretty sure this isn't the correct mounting rubber for the subframe tower ..



Think it's an asics size 8??

Fuel tank and rear lamp also removed, large hole in boot floor under where fuel tank was...



Bulk head looks nice and solid



Also removed pedal box, both seemed to be slightly seized..

[Avtovaz]

looks good progress so far mate!

[colinf1]

Disassembled the pedal box, was seriously tight, pedal shaft pin is very pitted, threaded part is also slightly bent.

Pressed out the bronze bushes also, will replace these.

Looking at the side of the pedal box itself, looks to be bulged or is meant to be like that?

[colinf1]

Got a good run at things this weekend.

Disassembled the gear linkage housing, was quite crusted up in gunk so took a good bit of elbow grease to get it cleaned.

Will need to replace the bobbins, rubber is pretty cracked and bolts are very rusty. Also need a few new roll pins, 1 was split in half when I removed it.

Onto today, decided to remove the front and rear screens. Pretty easy as rubbers and locking strip really past it so just cut through them.

All metal surrounding windows surprisingly good condition, was expected a bit of corrosion but nothing.



Had to drill out some screws on the mirror mounting bracket and one on sun-visor.
Managed to get them out without breaking any of the plastic pieces.



Also removed the headlining, this looks original, but it's very dirty, covered in red overspray. Going to try and clean it to reuse it.

Removed headlining sound deadening too, pretty horrible stuff, very dusty stuff, straight into the bin with that. Top dash rail removed, metal frame of this is very rusted, in the passenger side corner, must have been leaking around the screen seal.





Also noticed that the covering trim under rear screen was riveted on, where they fitted like this from factory?



Steering rack removed, need to get a rebuild kit for this.

Not much left to take out...rear subframe is about all that's left..

[colinf1]

A few more bit done today...
Moved my shed closer to the fence to give me more room to work round the car. I had left 400mm of a gap between shed and fence just to keep access for cutting the brambles that grow the other side.

Didn't have anyone to help and couldn't really ask my 8 month pregnant wife to do any pushing (not yet anyways)...
A lot of levering and jacking up bit by bit eventually got it moved with no damage to the shed, the stuff in the shed, or myself.

Then moved onto removing engine from subframe... without an engine hoist...

Stripped off the drivers side hub and arms, then drained oil, popped driveshafts out and then went about figuring out how to get it done...jacked up engine then slow removed each axle stand til I could slide in a wooden trolley, the pivot and shimmy it onto the trolley.





An interesting addition to one of the engine mount bolts...

[sonscar]

Probably a handle so it was easier to fit.I did a similar thing when a captive nut broke off my HealySprite radiator.Months later met the new owner who asked what this screwed bar was for,Oops.Steve..

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Shame about the flitch rot but it looks like an awesome little mini well worth the time and effort. Following! :)

[colinf1]

Some work done on one of the upper arms, lower shock absorber bolt removed, roller bearings removed...

 

Bolt was total seized into the arm, even had it in a 50 Ton press and it wasn't budging!

 

Cut off most of it, then drill out the center, then punched it out.

 

 

 

Roller bearing where next up, a few different methods tried here, drift punch, expanding concrete bolts then found video on youtube saying to use a 22mm washer ground at the sides to 19mm.

Gave it a go and it popped both out in about 5 minutes!

 

 

 

This is the video...

 

Arm is now sandblasted and ready for painting, blasting done before bearing removal to protect machined surfaces.

 

I have the other arm soaking in diesel to hopefully make removal easier!

 

[colinf1]

Only a small amount of time spent on mini this weekend, baby due in 2 weeks but could be coming earlier!!! ???

Had started removal of rear subframe last weekend, so picked up there.

Immediately ran into trouble! A patch had been welded into the boot floor, but they used 3mm sheet! They also didn't leave enough space to get a 1/2" socket onto the bolt head! Had to pry around it with cold chisel to get enough space to get it onto it.



Both bolts removed without much hassle, then released handbrake cable and rear brake line.

Then went about removing the front bolts, literally got less than 1/4 turn and it sheared the head off...I thought "not too bad, at least the shaft of bolt is there to get vice grips onto..."
Next bolt...one turn, two turns, snap....sheared right off so the remaining bolt is flush with body...





Passenger side bolts came out fine, no issues at all...

Looks like 3 kitchen scouring pads were used instead of the felt pads.
Needs a really good clean to see how much metalwork needs to be done.





Center exhaust back box is held on with a coach bolt that's seized, so that'll need cutting off...

[colinf1]

Tried to make a new pedal pivot shaft on the lathe at work over lunch break, didn't go too good. It's not setup for an sort of precision work, it's mainly used for facing off cast steel pieces so surface finish isn't important as long as it's flat.

Tried to realign the headstock but was still running slightly off parallel so I've had to admit defeat and add it to my minispares basket...

Hopefully the weather is good for the weekend, try and get the subframes full stripped down ready for cleaning up.

[colinf1]

Started stripping down the rear subframe. Was literally a fight with every nut and bolt I had to remove...

Cut through the bolt holding on back box, then that went straight to the bin, full of holes.



Then set about removing radius arms. Had been applying plus gas to all the nuts and bolts over the week but still managed to shear another one, looks like they were heavily corroded just under the head.

Eventually wrestled out drivers side. Pin for handbrake quadrant was seized and pin for handbrake lever at rear of drum was incredibly difficult to remove considering how small it is.

My punch wasn't long enough to push the quadrant pin out fully, so dropped a hex screw bit down to give me some more length... didn't realize the casting of the arm is hollow...so that's staying in there permanently, just hope it doesn't rattle.









Overall it's not too bad, lots of surface rust but nothing too bad. Going to be interesting in how to get those snapped bolts out.

[colinf1]

Tried the same washer with flat edges to see if I could remove the radius arm bearing and bush, worked fine, drifted out bearing first, then the plastic liner pushed out through the bush, then drifted bush out.



What a mess that came out with it, years and years of grease and gunk. It was like a chocolate and toffee mix, pretty hard to clean it off the tools.

Also got my lost bit back ?