45 replies to this topic

[Avtovaz]

Well, i am not sure what ill do with my mini now, i will try to finish it, but weather i keep it or not is another thing. I went to the retro rides day at mallory park with my brother and i thought i dont fancy doing this trip in a mini. So i bought the next best thing, a metro...

 

 

 

... except its not a metro!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought it from a guy in leyland, he said he bought it to keep but had 4 others. I think he bought it to make a bit of money on, but thats fine as with 12 months mot it was £700...

 

 

I put a pic of it on facebook as you do, and my mate Howie said to me CHECK THE MOT HISTORY!!! I said to him yes, it had rotten subframe mounts, but he has welded it, i know. He said again no, check the mot history. So i went threw the documents, and found the v5c, and it said Geof Meine, liverpool. I thought, i know that name, and my mate howie had failed it on its mot a year ago on the rotten subframe mounts !!! 

 

Short story long, Its come from liverpool, sold to guy in leyland who did the work, and its back here now. Howie said its a good car, and told me about a few bits on it. 

 

Insured it and taxed it yesterday, and i love it. So much so, makes me wonder what to do with the mini. Inner wings all the major bits are mint. Ive ordered a cam belt kit, all the stuff for a service, 1.1 power is acceptable, its 5 speed, its fantastic.

 

 

;)

[Avtovaz]

I have 4 cars atm, the bmw e61, bmw e36 compact rally car, mini advantage, and the 111. The compact is my rally car, and it has a volvo b230 engine in it. I have ordered a head for it, but the guy doing it is ill, i had booked a slot at efi runcorn to rolling road the bmw. 

 

So rather than just loose my £80 deposit with Chris, he put the metro on the rollers today. We found its wondering to one side when put on the rollers, they are linked in the middle. We noticed also on one side it has positive camber, and on the other some negative camber. One side the wheel if further forward in the arch too. I think at some point its hit a curb or something. It can be fixed thats the main thing, but atm it drives fine... 

 

So the big event the power readings...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not bad considering its not been serviced yet, and also its not a new engine, and when they publish the figures they lie. 

 

 

Need to also look into the rear suspension, its bouncy, i think one of the hydrospastic units has lost its nitrogen. I have never taken one apart but i presume its like a hydrolic accumulator. So two jobs to do, and also i have a new cambelt, water pump, and all service bits for it now.

 

 

Oh also i got some red paint for it, i think it COF paint code, i did order the right stuff, but the car must be quite faded, i havnt done much with cars that are base coat and lacquer , but i have ordered prospray  solid and i have lacquer already. Will paint inside of the boot at some point soon.

[Avtovaz]

Ive noticed the rear suspension is a bit harsh, and ive read a bit that says the hydrogas units loose their nitrogen over time, and need pumping back up. i bought a second hand unit and i am going to weld a valve into the back of it.

 

i drilled out the back of the unit and let what little gas was left in it out..

 

 

 

 

then i cleaned the unit up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have all teh bits i need on order, i just now need to know where i can get it pumped up with nitrogen.

[Colinmac1330]

Try these guys! https://hahsltd.co.uk/about-us/

[sonscar]

I remember a friend of my wife buying one new,When I said to her "nice Metro" her indignant reply was "Its a Rover".Looks very nice.Steve..

[Avtovaz]

itll tidy up well i think, 

 

 

 

did some more to it this weekend. Bought a vax spot wet vac. took the seats out and did the inside and carpets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

they have come up a lot better, but still want another  going over.

 

Before i put the back seat in i repainted the black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

changed the oil too, will get a cam belt soon too.

[Avtovaz]

last weekend i went to cars coffee liverpool in the metro. Lad a few doors down from me owns the micra which is extremely tidy!

 

 

 

It was fun day, lots of expensive cars, but one lad came over and was saying my rover was his favorite of the event as he used to have one similar and wish he never sold it ! ;)

 

 

Before going i did the cam belt, water pump, thermostate, plugs, dizzy cap and arm, plugs, air filter, oil etc. 

 

 

so today i bought a front subframe to tidy up as mine has been cut and today i found out why!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the bottom arm front bolts are siezed into the arm bush. They are impossible to get out, ive ordered a plasma cutter to cut the bolt as its so restricted access, and i had to cut an access hole into the subframe to get to the captive bolts. Ill paint it black after ive finished stripping the paint from it.

[Avtovaz]

had another trip out to a car meeting, motors at the manor in rainhill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

back at home i had cut the hole in the new subframe to get at the nuts for the bottom arms. if the arm seize and you try to undo the bolts, it forces the nut forward braking it off the subframe. I had then plasma cut the bolts off, put a new bolt in to pull the nut into place and welded the nut in, then welded the hole up..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last thing i had done was to put hydrate 80 from bilt hamber on it, and left it. Soon itll get etch primer, and a few coats of 2k black.

[Avtovaz]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

new nuts and bolts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

part of the reason for the new subframe is something isnt right on the o/s the car has positive camber... but i cant see anything bent on the arms etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one thing the car does is it bangs into gear. so i have decided to renew all engine mounts. for the price im looking into making the old ones into polly ones

 

 

 

kit isnt here from amazon yet but

 

 

 

 

cleaned it up and welded up holes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stuck this onto a onion board waiting the polly to come

 

 

 

 

car show tomorrow at frost warehouse cultcheth warrington, for simpsons classics ... 

[Avtovaz]

i have a rover 100, it drives , it stops, it works well. its all that i need... So why have i done this then?

 

 

MGF calipers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It drives well, but why do i now own not just one but two mgf engines?

 

 

 

 

 

why did my perfectly working car now has lost its engine and my hands are black still after shower and scrubbing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looked fine on its 13" wheels, so why is it now on 14" mgf spare wheels and new tyres?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You tell me? its like i have nothing better to do.

[Avtovaz]

new front subframe 

 

 

 

MGF brakes

 

 

 

wheels on and nothing hits!

 

[Maccmike8]

Enjoying this thread.

[Avtovaz]

thankyou ;)

 

 

today i couldnt do much to the car, but the black pigment came for the resin, so i poured the gearbox mount today

 

 

 

 

 

it came out a lot stiffer than i thought, which is ok, ill see what its like but for example the steady bar under the car could do with doing aswell, so ill get some more resin and go for it i tihnk. 

 

 

i used 400ml of the resin, still for some left.

[Avtovaz]

started on the new engine today

 

stripped bits from it i didnt  need, and put from the 1.1

 

 

 

 

this is the 1.1 flywheel for the small box, its got a strange teeth arrangement on it. its 11-5-12-4 the ecu for the mgf which i dont have isnt that , so id either need a new ecu or new flywheel.

 

 

 

 

 

this is the loom from teh 1.8

 

 

 

 

its ok, but its been bodged

 

 

 

Also some of the wires feel hard, and well, i did a new loom for the bmw and the microsquirt, so i may as well do the whole lot again for this and use the speeduino

 

 

this is the 1.1 loom, ill start tomorrow by stripping it, and seeing what everything does. i gather there is a plug into the main loom with like 8-10 wires in it, and then its all to the ecu,

 

 

 

here is the engine box and its new clutch

 

 

 

had to swap the engine mount from the 1.1 as the mgf is totally different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

so, for the trigger for the ecu, there is a guy ont he speeduino who has done a decode for my flywheel but no one has used it yet, so ill be possible the first! looks really interesting. i need to order a lot of parts now before i forget again!

 

 

also, i was going to order 2 new bump stops, and then i reolised i can make them meself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ive just made a mould in tinkercad, and will print it tomorrow and show you. should be good i hope !

[Avtovaz]

3d printed my mould, adn all i had to stop it sticking was some Vics vapour rub, so used that !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really impressed with how this moulding stuff is working, that is really stuck to the metal, and its quite hard.

 

 

Got the engine in today too!

 

 

 

 

 

My special gearbox mount seems exactly right, enough movement in it, happy with that. I need to wait now for some parts to come, ive ordered some terminals which i hope will go into the rover wiring plugs. If not ill have to redo them all with super seals. I have found in the rover loom also not broken wires but ones with the outer casing hard, and cracked, and the crank wire was solid almost !

 

 

So lots of bits on order, plus im waiting on a guy who is coding the speeduino for my flywheel pattern, if it dosnt happen ill use a cossie crank sensor and a 36-1 trigger wheel mounted on the crank pulley.