51 replies to this topic

[Hexxeh]

Hi everyone!
 
I've been following along a couple other projects on here for a while. After wanting one for several years but not really having the space or mechanical confidence to take one on, I've finally bitten the bullet and bought one!
 
I bought this in September 2021 but didn't start a thread at the time since I didn't expect it to end up a project, so I'm going to catch up retroactively via a few posts since I have all the photos along the way.
 
Starting out my wish list was:
 
- 998cc engine
- Manual gearbox
- Not too messed with (eg, no flip fronts)
- As good condition rust wise as possible (not as fussed about cosmetic paint issues in general)
- Budget of ideally about £6k, but maybe up to £8k for the right car (I regret this, but more on that later...)
- Ideally red, ideally white roof (no sunroof, don't want it leaking)
- Older the better so fewer regs apply
 
It turned out to be a difficult combination to find: lots of 1275 cars about but few 998s. In hindsight, buying a 1275 and swapping the engine might have been better.
 
I was really just looking for something I could jump straight into and start enjoying even if it wasn't spot on, and then improve it bit by bit.
 
Anyway, after a few weeks of searching, here's what I ended up with:
 
 

 
It's a manual 998, it's the colour I wanted, in budget and on the face of it to me (not knowing a great about in detail about Minis) nothing messed with too much. Rust wise, it seems good. Floors look solid, nothing in the way of bubbling visible, except a tiny bit of rust showing in one spot on the roof gutter. Checking all the boxes so far.
 
Drove a couple hours to view it having not even seen a photo since it was one of the few cars that fit the bill (and the previous few I'd looked at were ruled out for other reasons - generally extensive rust).
 
On the test drive it clunked a bit (engine steady bushes totally shot) and the brakes were pretty bad. Figured a bleed/new fluid and maybe new shoes/pads might sort that.
 
10 minutes into the 2 hour drive home after buying it, however, this happened:
 

 
It started missing and cut out whilst driving up the M1, and generally felt pretty down on power when we started the drive home to begin with. RAC chap helped us narrow it down to an ignition related issue, suspected the coil was bad.
 
Replaced the coil the next day, still refused to start. Eventually realised I'd gotten the wrong coil (based on the year it would have been a ballast coil but it turned out not to be). Would up fitting a brand new electronic ignition dizzy, Lucas coil and HT leads, which got it going again and got it home from a friends house after it'd been stuck for a week where the RAC man had dropped it off.
 
A little over a week after I bought it, it's finally home... 

Edited by Hexxeh, 25 October 2022 - 12:27 PM.

[Maccmike8]

Following..

[colinf1]

I didn't expect it to end up a project....

🤣

[Petrol]

Also following.

I have driven this car and it inspired me to fix mine

[Hexxeh]

 

I didn't expect it to end up a project....

 

 

Haha, I realise now and am continually reminded that I was in cloud-cuckoo land there... :)

 

So at this point having broken down mere miles from the dealer, it's clear we're off to a bad start! The seller described this as "mechanically perfect and has been professionally tuned to optimise her performance". That ended up being a load of BS...

 

So, I got it home, replaced the coil and we tried to fire it up, only for this to happen (makeshift wooden bonnet prop since the actual one was AWOL):

 

 

Chucking massive sparks when you try to crank it. Used a pair of jump leads to ground the engine which stopped it. Had a good look around for any earth strap, none to be found. Must've been doing this all the time it was being driven? Fitted an earth strap between the engine steady (engine side) and a spare threaded hole just behind - sorted.

 

I also realise at this point the rad is only being held by the bottom bracket and (incorrect) top hose, so it's flopping about a bit and that's why it's even closer to the shell than it should be, making it the easiest point for a spark to jump.

 

Bought a new top bracket only to find it doesn't fit - it turns out the engine is out of a Metro and so the cylinder head is different. There's a sandwich plate feeding the heater that should come from a heater valve - but the head I have isn't drilled for a valve nor the studs that'd mount it. The heater knob inside is fixed, you can't pull on it - it's effectively permanently on.

 

 

Now, I could have drilled and tapped the head I suppose or fitted an inline valve setup like the MPIs, but I wanted to put it right as it should be. So I decided to buy a new head:

 

 

Luckily a good friend of mine had a 12G295 spare, so not needing any more of an excuse for my first upgrade under the guise of "fixing" things, I bought it.

 

It needed unleaded valve inserts fitting and and a skim to bring compression back up (since my engine has flat top pistons rather than the D-top pistons on a Cooper this was intended for). I measured an average piston-to-deck measurement of 22 thou to get the measurement for how much to machine the new head.

 

Sent this away for the machining to be done and plodded on with some other jobs whilst I wait for it to come back.

 

Things I've figured need sorting at this point:

 

- Metro engine means heater hose setup is wrong and rad bracket doesn't fit. New head will sort this.

- Metro engine also meant the speedo is a mile out, says I'm doing 20 when it's closer to 30, another thing I need to sort out - thinking of fitting an electronic speedo to address this rather than swapping the gears maybe.

- Brakes are _really_ bad.

- Bonnet is missing the safety catch and the prop (and clip to hold it).

- Boot is a different shade of red.

- Heated rear screen doesn't work (only one line demists).

- Lots of wiring in the engine bay is twisted/taped, seems like a bit of a fire hazard!

 

Quick fixes I've sorted out:

 

- Engine steady totally shot, clunks when setting off. Weirdly the solid bar has been cut and welded. A 998cc top steady bar I bought didn't fit, wrong length (too short iirc). Bought an adjustable length one with new bushes which fitted okay.

- Drivers door lock didn't work - link clip had popped off. Lubed up the mechanism whilst there, both operating nice and freely now.

 

On the plus side, it's looking nice and shiny after a quick session with the porter cable (thanks Mike!):

 

Edited by Hexxeh, 05 December 2021 - 12:17 AM.

[Petrol]

 

 

I didn't expect it to end up a project....

 

- Metro engine also meant the speedo is a mile out, says I'm doing 20 when it's closer to 30, another thing I need to sort out - thinking of fitting an electronic speedo to address this rather than swapping the gears maybe.

 

Diff ratio / speedo drive / wheel tyre combo / speedo type govern speedo reading.
This can be sorted with the engine and box in situ  

[timmy850]

I used the speedo calculator on Guessworks website to work out the gears I needed. It’s a fair job to do with the engine in, the radiator and engine mount needs to be removed and the engine supported from below. It was definitely worth it though, now mine reads spot on

http://www.guess-wor.../Tech/ratio.htm

You need to remove the two covers here to replace the gears

[Hexxeh]

So, sorting the brakes, since they're awful. Took the rears apart, to find both wheel cylinders totally split and leaking fluid. Replaced the cylinders and the shoes, bled/adjusted them. Took it for a drive and it's a lot better, but when you apply the brakes hard, the nearside rear locks up and the car tries to swap ends... not good.

 

So, wanting to just try to overhaul the whole thing, I brought entire new rear brakes. New backplates, shoes, cylinders, handbrake levers, springs, adjusters and finned drums. Also picked up a Stage 1 kit whilst I was ordering bits, since I noticed the pipe connection to the stock manifold was blowing quite badly.

 

 

 

Looks good, but sadly, exactly the same, still trying to swap ends. Bit stumped on this one. Been told it might be the brake limiter valve on the bulkhead, but given that it has only a single line out to the rear brakes (must tee somewhere on the read subframe?) I can't see how, and they're quite expensive to replace! I did find a bit of play in the NSR wheel bearing, so I've picked up a couple NOS Timken bearing kits to replace those, doubt it'll help though. I still need to jack the rear end up, hold the brakes lightly on and try turning each wheel to see if it's a "static" issue or a "dynamic"/loading issue.

 

Fitted the Stage 1 kit along with the replacement needle supplied. No real dramas, had to fiddle the jet adjuster nut a bit to get it to start. It's likely still a mile out but given there's a bunch more work to be done yet, gonna get that sorted out before it goes for a rolling road session.

 

Popped the old CAM4810 head off and cleaned up the deck, then a few weeks later once I got the head back from machining, fitting it back on, along with a new radiator, water pump, hose set, pulley, fan and fan cowling.

 

 

Unfortunately, in fitting the fan cowling from Minispares, it turns out it'd been seemingly manufactured wrong - the cowling lower bolt hole was about 8mm lower than it should have been, causing the cowling to sit higher and hit the fan blades quite badly. Had to return it, and refurb my old one instead with a media blast and powdercoat (Minispares/M Machine on left, refurb on right):

 

 

All assembled, turned the engine over without plugs to get oil pressure, then plugs in and fired it up. Fired up straight away on the key! However, after letting it run for a few minutes, I noticed tiny water bubbles appearing from by the engine number plate... bugger

 

Pulled the car back into the garage and whipped the head off quickly to see what happened:

 

 

Minispares copper head gasket appears to have been the cause of the leak... I'd been wary of using one having read about how hit and miss they can be unless both block and head are freshly machined, and some recent quality issues others had had.

 

Came to the conclusion block and head were in fine condition and that I should try again, this time with a composite Victor Reinz head gasket. Put it back together and it didn't leak from the same spot. Tried to rev it a little and found it popped/missed like crazy (seemingly out of the intake). Figuring the new head is flowing more air, I turned the jet adjuster nut a bit more to compensate, which made it happier. A quick rip up and down the road a couple times and everything seems happy enough, didn't want to venture too far since by this point it's November and the roads are being salted (fortunately our street itself isn't gritted).

 

Noticed a tiny bit of clear liquid coming out of one of the spark plug holes, which stopped when I nipped it up a little more. Was a bit worried about this, but noticed it immediately took the paint off around the spark plug. I figure oil or coolant wouldn't do this, and the only thing that might would be petrol?

 

With the roads now being salted and not wanting to use the car through winter to preserve it, getting it running with the new head meant I'd met my goal. So I pulled it into the garage again for one last time this year to begin a bit of an interior overhaul...

 

Since then with the car having been in the garage for a couple weeks, I'm finding the engine bay is absolutely covered in condensation constantly, literally dripping. Rest of the car is fine, windows are left open etc and inside is nice and dry. Noticed today a bit of discolouration under the cylinder head part that holds the thermostat housing. I think the thermostat housing may be slowly leaking... The second time I put the head back on I used the newer thinner type gasket and it immediately leaked, so I used the original thicker style gasket which, at the time, seemed okay, but perhaps it's now leaking again.

Edited by Hexxeh, 12 December 2021 - 11:34 PM.

[johnR]

If the rear brakes are locking up and performance is generally under par it may be that the brake bias valve on the bulkhead is piped the wrong way round or mounted the wrong way round. 

Edited by johnR, 13 December 2021 - 10:11 PM.

[timmy850]

The other thing to check on the brakes is the size of the rear wheel cylinders and if they are a matched combination with the front.

[Hexxeh]

 

If the rear brakes are locking up and performance is generally under par it may be that the brake bias valve on the bulkhead is piped the wrong way round or mounted the wrong way round. 

 

It's piped in like this:

 

 

Upper left goes to the bottom fitting on the brake master

Upper right goes to the top fitting on the brake master

Lower left goes to front brakes by the look of it

Lower right goes to rear brakes by the look of it

 

Unfortunately it's not physically fitted right, it's floating on the brake lines, so I need to sort that, but I don't see that'd affect the actual performance.

 

Also it's always the nearside rear wheel that locks, not the offside.

 

The other thing to check on the brakes is the size of the rear wheel cylinders and if they are a matched combination with the front.

 

Rear wheel cylinders are 3/4": https://www.minispar...ic/GWC1102.aspx

 

These are what I fitted based on info read on Minispares site, unsure what was on originally and knackered, but those didn't really work at all so not sure if they'd have behaved the same.

 

Discs on the front, unsure of size though.

Edited by Hexxeh, 14 December 2021 - 09:50 AM.

[timmy850]

Theres a table here starting about halfway down with all the factory combinations. I'd recommend using a factory based system so you know the bias is correct

http://www.minispare...rt.aspx?1~9~105

 

It's probably worth double checking the front discs are in good working order too, you need to be confident in the brakes!

[Hexxeh]

Theres a table here starting about halfway down with all the factory combinations. I'd recommend using a factory based system so you know the bias is correct

http://www.minispare...rt.aspx?1~9~105

 

It's probably worth double checking the front discs are in good working order too, you need to be confident in the brakes!

 

Useful link, thanks!

 

Based on that mine would be "998 Mini front to rear 1984 on (Metric pipe unions) - stepped bore" I think.

 

That lists 3/4" rear cylinder, a dual line master (though the reservoir on mine looks slightly different and no yellow tag, could be different variations on the same part?). Discs are listed as 8.4", need to pop them off and measure them to confirm but that seems correct to me. All seems to match, but this car has been a nightmare of unknowns so maybe some other subtle differences I'm missing.

[sonscar]

Check the fitted position of the rear shoes with regard to trailing and leading edges as they have a self applying effect when correctly fitted.Steve..

[Hexxeh]

Check the fitted position of the rear shoes with regard to trailing and leading edges as they have a self applying effect when correctly fitted.Steve..

 

Haven't got a photo sadly, but I used the diagram in the Haynes book. I noticed a lot of photos of these shown online are backwards compared to the Haynes, though.

 

Dried off the engine bay last time when I saw condensation, noticed today the edge of the head gasket looking a little "damp"... ran my finger along the edge and I could feel it. Didn't see any weeping, when the car ran ~4 weeks ago, any idea what's going on?

 

Started stripping out the interior whilst it's hidden away in the garage through winter:

 

 

Couldn't get the upper dash rail out without taking the windscreen out sadly. Was expecting the worst behind the rubber seal, but fortunately it's completely rust free there!

 

 

Wiring loom is an absolute state, bodged together mess. I've removed it from the car for now (front only - still to take the rear out). Engine bay looking rather empty now:

 

 

Wiring loom out the car, several nasty twisted and taped bits:

 

 

I started trying to split out unused and unnecessary bits (eg, electric fan wiring, dim dip system I don't want), but it was that much of a mess, I ended up just cutting pigtails off from all the plugs basically. Going to make up a new loom from scratch to my own requirements:

 

- Separate relays for lights.

- New larger fusebox to fuse each item separately.

- Modularise the loom if I can to make re-install (and working on the car later) easier, using waterproof connectors.

- New push-button, illuminated switches to replace the mixture of rocker switches I have now.

 

Still figuring out the best arrangement to do this in, since I have the earlier stalk with no sidelights/dipped lights on it, those are on the middle panel. If I buy latching Savage switches, I could wire it up so that pressing dipped on illuminates sidelights, but it still wouldn't be physically pressed. I'm thinking of perhaps using push buttons and just having the illumination without latching. It's a shame you can't buy RGB LED inserts for the Savage switches, else I could have a single switch that toggles through three states and changes colour to reflect...

 

More thinking required on that one.

 

In stripping the interior, I found a bit of rust inside the nearside companion bin:

 

 

It's had oversills, so it's not entirely surprising. Spoke to a couple folks about stripping to the shell and sorting this out, but they seemed to think it wasn't really worth it, that I was best enjoying the car for a few more years before that. Not the way I'd normally like to do things, but when the places local to me suggested it'd be a year before they could fit the job in, that sort of helped make the decision!

 

So, just cleaning up and treating best as I can really. Removed anything loose any flaky (which doubled the size of the hole pretty much..!) and wire brushed the hell out of it. Two coats of Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 on what remained, then primer. Picked up some "colour matched" aerosol to go over the top of that today, not expecting it'll match but it's hidden away enough.

 

Also drilled out the headlamp bowl rivets, since the bowls were pretty rusty:

 

 

Gonna clean up the holes, cover them with something to stop them rusting, then put rivnuts in to hold the new (plastic) bowls. Same for the indicators and grille.

 

Slowly chipping away at it! Hoping to get a lot more done over Christmas.