375 replies to this topic

[The Matt]

you've done a good job of that loom mister!

Aaaand, for the leads, the best option might be standard Ford Fiesta ones from a 1994ish Fester. They're a reasonable lenght and suit the position you've got the coilpack in.

[mike.]

Yer i'm pretty happy with the loom now its done, i really hope it works haha

Might look into different leads, want some blue ones ideally. Will ford fiesta leads clip straight onto the coil?

Also, meant to ask you matt, does it matter which way the leads go on the coil? Theres no numbers on the coil but i thought if every leads uses that wasted spark method on every stroke, then it doesn't really matter?


Spent a couple of hours on the carb on friday. I stripped the old paint off the manifold and resprayed that, cleaned up the carb with a toothbrush and some carb cleaner, replaced the dashpot oil, redid the gaskets and added my new K&N:

[mike.]

Well my custom door cards and other bits arrived today from retro retrims. Really happy with them.

Door cards are lush, nice and padded just like i asked:



Also got a cream headlining, new cream sunvisors, black padded arch covers, dash liner, rear bin liners, plus some extra carpet for other bits i'm going to trim. All looks swish:

[1275 SPRITE]

Hi, great looking project!
Are you useing the standard ford VR sensor? If so where did you get the pulley and bracket from please?
Also, have you had to extend the PIP and SAW wires into the car to connect to the MJ or were they long enough already?

Thanks

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Lovely mate This was one of the first topics i read when i signed up! keep it coming

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

nicey

[mike.]

Not been on here in a while...

I'm using the standard ford VR sensor, the pulley and bracket are from specialist components, however i only got that because i bought it as a full set up. If i were you i'd look at the trigger wheels setups. There cheaper and stay well clear of the fan belt.

To be honest i don't even know whats going on with my car

My mates still got it and he still hasn't done the welding. He never really answers his phone or replies to texts and when i do get hold of him, he just says he's sorry and hes planning to do it in the next couple of weeks. He said he was going to do the welding and get the prep done this weekend, thne spray it this week. But i drove past his place before, and my cars still sitting there, with half the paint stripped, no more work done to it and just more rubbish piled all around/over/inside it.

I don't know what to do. I could just ask for it back and the money i've paid him so far (i've paid him half) but then what am i left with? A car with no sills on it and half the paint stripped off sitting on my driveway? At least at his place its kept dry...

I can't even get hold of him to have a nag at him to get him to do it, and if i nag too much he could he fob me off and say hes not doing it. I'm gutted at the moment, i've not driven the car in nearly a year now and to be honest its causing me to loose interest is the mini scene as a whole, probably why i've not been on the forum in a while!

[LankyJames]

Keep at it fella, remember my engine rebuild due to gearbox failure? Well that was the LEAST of my worries, the crank bearings have gone, i had low oil pressure and now its making some horrible noises...which means...im getting another block and getting overbored, fresh pistons and bearing surfaces...but my mini is off the road AGAIN after only about a month of it being on the road!

Its annoying, you lose interest, but when you have it back you'll never have doubted it for a second!

Keep at it and chin up

[mike.]

At last some form of progress!

3 months since the last update, and about 10 months since my friend first got my car, and the welding have started!

I dont even know what hes been doing, but i've been down they're tonight and its looking like its going to be done soonish.

The bootfloor is in a worse state than we both thought so he's going to be patching that up as best he can without fitting a new bootfloor or taking off the rear subframe. The oversill on the offside has been taken off, the dust that remained of the old sill fell out but surprisingly the inner sill is still solid with some rough surface rust. The nearside sill was ripped off, turns out the last place i paid to do the sill on that side last year did a rubbish job of it and didn't even remove the newpaper and fibreglass i'd put over the old holey sill to keep the water out! He said the new sill i'd gave them had just been tacked on over the old one!

So the new sill have been beautifully gas welded on, just needs the bottom half seam welding between the vents then thats done:



The previous paint has been sanded off, but the whole shell will be bare metalled before respraying. He said he'll then etch prime it, filler prime it, sand that and complete any other filler work over any dents he finds, then give it a good few coats of gloss black (i've got to pick a type of black) then once thats hardened he'll be polishing it with 1500, then 3000 and then finally with some polsihing compound; so it really should give a great shine.

Heres how the cars standing at the mo:





And heres a picture of the previous colours. Apparently the car was originally blue but since then its been yellow, purple, red and black:



I'm going down there next week to remove the old engine and put the new one in, so hoepfully it'll be able to be driven home from there on trade plates....

Fingers crossed it all goes to plan and gets done soon!

[mike.]

Another little update. Been down there today and removed the engine. Did i mention i hate roll pins?

Anyway heres a couple of pictures:

Old and New:



And the bay:



Going to go down there on thursday and wirebrush all the engine bay and give it a lick of paint.

[carboy001]

Good progress Mike, sounds like your mate has finally commited to it.

The new engine looks brilliant.

[mike.]

Yeah i'm really hoping hes going to get on with it now. He seems to be replying to texts and answering calls more often now so i can keep the pressure on him to get it done.

Going to do the engine bay tomorrow, should look abit better once thats cleaned up and glossy. Going to see what i can do to clean up the brake and clutch masters because they're a right mess after brake fluid go on them and all the paint bubbled up.

[miniclubmanman]

on those mj systems how hard are they to set up are they that much better

[mike.]

To be honest i'm not quite sure. I've had a little play on the software, but the MJ unit needs to be wired to the car to be able to link with your PC/laptop, so i was just generally looking through the software.

By the looks of things the software can be as easy or complex as you want to be. Theres base maps already on there that you can select, thats what i plan to first start the engine with because they're classed as a very basic, safe map, where nothing can go wrong in terms of your timing. Then you can open pages where you can view the whole map on a page and look at your timing advance/retard at certain revs and at what engine load, which really are best leaving to somebody who knows what there doing, because you can't just go making assumptions. But with somebody who knows what they're doing, they'll know from experiance and your engine spec, what adjustments need to be made for smooth running and power.

The other features such as shiftlights, hard/soft rev limiters are easy to set up, they're just on a page and you just type at what RPM you want them to take effect.

People have mapped ignition settings on the MJ forums, which you can download ones that are close to your spec. What i planned to do originally was upload the 'aldon yellow' map. The aldon yellow is a fast road tuned distributor and thats what i would've fitted if i hadn't gone for the MJ. But i've since found SD minis not too far from me, who have made me a rough map for my engine spec to try out, before i take the car to them for a full session on the dyno and a full custom map for my engine.

The main advantage of the MJ for me personally isn't all the fancy mapping and rev limiters (they're just a bonus) its the reliability. Theres not alot that can go wrong. Your ignition is fully electronic, theres no moving parts that can ware out. All the electrics are out of the way and fitted away from potencial moisture, rather than with a dizzy where your dizzy cap is right infront of the grill! The only times my car let me down, was due to ignition issues. Sometimes it was moisture getting in another time it was faulty condensors and i've also suffered general rough running from things like points gap and dodgy connections. This should hopefully all be taken away with the MJ and once its set up, its done, theres no more messing about.

Edited by mike., 30 December 2009 - 10:25 PM.

[miniclubmanman]

ah brill mate for for all the info yer they do sound like a very good idea once my mini is drivng again will give the mj a think and thanks for taking the time to expalin ))