400 replies to this topic

[stuart bowes]

New seals, pistons and nipples fitted with the protection of some rubber grease and the assistance of some brake fluid while pressing in

 

Bolted back together to FT with a dab of Loctite to make sure

 

One more smearing of paint over the seams and bolts, will do any little finishing touches when they're on the car because it'll be easier when they're held in place at the right viewing angle

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 19 October 2023 - 09:06 AM.

[johnR]

I've got an adjustable suspension kit on my 'to buy' list - I'd like to hear how much difference it makes when you go mobile again

[stuart bowes]

I don't have any actual first hand experience of the standard set up to be honest so I won't be a lot of help in that respect! Sorry  I didn't drive it at all, I just trailered it home and immediately tore it to pieces 

 

I went for adjustable mainly because I want to be able to get really accurate alignment and setup, nothing crazy, just not being limited to the car being as it is with factory build tolerances and not being able to do anything to correct minor issues

Edited by stuart bowes, 22 October 2023 - 10:08 PM.

[stuart bowes]

the shiny BZP parts are back and im 99% happy with it

 

 

most of the bits are well covered and look brilliant, certainly the larger parts came out really well.  More than anything else I'm happy they're better protected which was some good advice there from JohnR (thanks again)

 

certainly they look about a thousand times better than when I took them off the car, honestly at that point I was wondering how much a complete set of new nuts / bolts / washers would set me back.  but there's all the shafts and plates and special brackets etc etc 

 

only snag really is the way they wrapped the copper wire around the bolts which left a ring on them 

 

 

for the most part that won't be seen and the heads look fine which is the main thing I suppose, so I can live with it.. but in the case of the wheel studs they poke out and get seen on fairly regular basis so I'm not happy with that, I binned them and ordered new ones and I'll just leave them the normal black colour

 

to be fair probably isn't the worst idea anyway because they do get worn / stretched

 

one or two of the nuts were a little too far gone and still looked tatty but I'd already bought a few bags of spares so they just went in the bin (I was expecting it to be honest) 

 

and I ordered two new tapered collar washer things for the front axle nuts because for some reason they came out really ratty looking, they were better before plating ?! whatever they're not expensive

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 January 2025 - 09:20 AM.

[stuart bowes]

balljoints fitted and touched up paint to hubs where had been held in the vice.  reattached steering arms (FT + locktite) and put completed back on the pile 

 

 

getting there..  aiming to pile up all the parts required to make a rolling chassis - underside painted, pipework etc fitted, both subframes fitted, leaving only engine bay and upper parts of body to be completed  

 

next job was to dig out the disc brake shields because I looked them up and they're like £30 each new ?! sod that I'll clean up the old ones

 

brake cleaner bath and scrub down / angle grinder through the silly little bolts with grotty philips heads because who's got time for that 

 

 

wirebrushed and kurusted

 

 

straight-to-metal hammerite and done.  not much point making a meal of it as long as they're freshened up

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 October 2023 - 09:32 AM.

[Designer]

Stuart,

 

I am loving this build it makes me want to go out and get a semi wreck and do what you are doing. Unfortunately practicality is the mountain that is in the way and stopping me from doing it.

 

Paddy

[stuart bowes]

Thanks yeah I wanted to do at least one total strip down and full nut 'n' bolt rebuild really just for the satisfaction of knowing everything is perfect (or as close as I can make it..) instead of the usual nagging doubt about what's going to fail next or where the rust is hiding

 

I'm not sure if I'll go into this level of detail again in the future but it's been a really useful learning experience having to do every single thing instead of just bodging or ignoring stuff if it seems like hassle 

[fokko]

Looks fabulous! Good choice to have all of the small hardware plated by a professional. Hope the plating will last! Nice work! 

[stuart bowes]

Next batch for cleaning up and refurb (adding to the pile of bits required for rolling shell including working brakes and thus associated parts needing to be fitted)

 

 

started with engine steady bar which I forgot to take a pic of but imagine that being cleaned up and painted, old bushes removed, metal tube cleaned up ready for new bushes

 

and while at it, because that's black I also painted the lower steady black (previously zinc plated) and that I did take a pic of

 

 

anyway they're both black now.. moving on

 

pedal box stripped down

 

 

immediately obvious problem with clutch pedal (brake pedal is fine strangely)

 

 

so that had to be welded up

 

 

linished smooth (same both sides)

 

 

and redrilled 

 

 

check the clevis pin fits (8mm in case anyone was wondering, possibly supposed to be imperial but it fits perfectly so whatever)

 

 

then throw those pins in the bin

 

clean up main pivot pin and bushes, good snug fit but spins easily (obviously will grease up on reassembly)

 

 

then wire brush and give it a spray

 

 

same for other pedal and pedal box (didn't picture, not overly exciting to see)

 

finally took a look at master cylinders and wondering if they're too far gone, will look on ebay and see if I can find decent 2nd hand ones from the 90s or something as a better starting point for refurb

 

 

does anyone have opinions on the newer style plastic tub clutch master cylinder which is relatively cheap to just buy new from minispares

Edited by stuart bowes, 28 October 2023 - 10:01 PM.

[colinf1]

See if the pistons will come out of the master cylinders, if they do ione out then rebuild both. Mine were both seized into the bore so had to bin them. Replaced the brake mc black tag with yellow tag mc, and metal tank clutch mc with plastic tank clutch mc.

[Be87n]

The newer style (yellow tag) in your picture has different innards with two pistons sizes. That is not the same as the GMC171 type. No experience with that type, but do with the yellow tag type and that is a good part. So if that is anything to go by then I'd say Minispares quality is on point with master cylinders.

 

I would always buy new if you are not that experienced or if the master is a very crusty and years old part. Most likely it is worn and rusted on the inside anyway. Brakes are a safety item, never skimp on price with them.

 

By the way, would always go with the plastic type as the resevoir doesn't rust of and leak (have seen it happen with older Mini's). Benefit is the plastic allows you to see the fluid level and colour, so a better indicator if there is something wrong with your fluid.

Edited by Be87n, 29 October 2023 - 04:29 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Funny you should say that (or perfect timing anyway) I've literally just pulled the brake master cylinder apart and found it's not as bad as I thought, very minimal signs of age to the inner bore, the outer did need a really good solid wire brushing though obviously

 

the innards were a little relucant to move at first but I got them out, the rest all stripped down as expected, ordered a repair kit

 

the first stage of putting back together is going to be rolling chassis including brakes so we'll definitely be testing it, bleeding and checking for leaks before moving on to the next stage, if at that point there's any signs of leakage we will have plenty of space and easy access to whip it back out and probably at that point we will just give in and buy new I suppose, but at this point for a £16 kit and a lick of paint, the rebuild is definitely worth a punt

 

the clutch, going by the price and now having 2 votes for plastic being fine (or even a beneficial move) we'll just get a new one for that 

Edited by stuart bowes, 29 October 2023 - 08:39 PM.

[stuart bowes]

well I spoke too soon about the clutch, came home from work and my dad was like oh I've stripped that down and gave it a clean up

 

 

right o.. the bore looks good actually, apparently like the brake one it did need some effort to pull apart.  kit on order and again I guess only testing will tell if it leaks or not but for £14 or whatever it was it's worth a punt

 

I've given that a coat of the gold paint as well as the brake master cylinder seeing as I've still got half a pot, it'll all look nicely colour coded and also a bit better protected from rotting again 

[Be87n]

Good news with both masters, all ones I've had apart were always rusted out due to very old moisture ridden brake fluid. Most cars I've done were always of a type that a new brake master didn't brake the bank compared to all other items that needed replacing

 

Do look at that rust along the bottom of the reservoir and cylinder of the clutch. Had one that had similar rust and started leaking there quickly, biggest problem with that was brake fluid all over the crossmember leading to paint damage.

[stuart bowes]

Yes we inspected that and we're reasonably sure it's just surface corrosion, applying air pressure and blocking the other holes seems to show no bubbling when smeared with fairy liquid, that's about as much of a test as I can do for now

 

again seeing as the rebuild kit is so cheap we're sticking with it for now, and it'll be fitted and filled with fluid for a decent length of time before the engine and interior fittings go anywhere near the car, so plenty of time to spot a leak and easily swap it out

 

personally I was of a mind to simply bin it but my dad said give it a chance and there's no harm in it to be fair

Edited by stuart bowes, 30 October 2023 - 11:00 PM.