697 replies to this topic

[The Matt]

so I put the phone down (it had a limp anyway, and it would have been cruel to let it live)..................

Badooom doom tsh!

[Jammy]

Get to fitting the mirrors. Now the interior rear view really has me puzzled! There is literally nothing to fit it to on the roof. I'd rather not stick a wapping big screw or bolt through the roof. I tried sticking a block of wood to the roof with impact adhesive, then I could screw into that, but the impact adhesive didn't stick, so thats out the window. I may have to just bolt it to the top of the dash somehow...

Fitted the two wing mirrors without too much trouble. I went for wing mounted mirrors instead of door mounted, one to be a bit different, two because I didn't want anything with much weight on that fibreglass door skin, and I'd rather keep the skins looking a bit clean.

With that done I thought I'd take the Minus for a spin around the block quick, let the suspension settle down a touch then fit the arches, then off to the MOT! Thought the windows were looking a bit grubby, so I decided to clean them quick before I went out, so I could actually see where I was going. At first I just tried a dry rag. Nothing, ok, so I used some white spirit. Again nothing. it looked like tree sap, or just years and years of grime had been compressed into the glass! It looked like I had fitted bathroom privacy glass to my drivers side door! :doh: So I break out the diluted washing up liquid and HOT water. Again, little bit of the general dirt gone, but I still can't see anything through it, so next comes the heavy industrial stuff:

Cillit bang power spray!!

But nope, nada. Well the windows are already screwed, so I thought sanding them couldn't make them much worse So I got some P1200 wet and dry out and got to it. It actually worked! They aren't exactly sparkling, but at least no one will thing there is a shower and toilet in my car now.

Before and after on one window:

With that done I go to start the little guy up, but alas the battery has gone flat, again! Quick jump start and he's warming up nicely. Go to press the clutch and the pedal just falls to the floor. Take bonnet off, everything is connected, spring is there, checked the clevis pin, which is stil being held in place with the R clip. Hit the clutch again, fluid spurts out the top of the master cylinder. So I tighten up the union, which stops the spurting, then bleed the bugger, then run out of fluid just as I'm getting a pedal. Fill master with fluid, bleed again. Hit the clutch again, nice pedal but no bite. Strange I think, so look over everything, try adjusting it, but nothing. Can't get a bite on the clutch at all.

So its now 11am, already past when I said I was going to be in work this morning. So I pack up, grab a shower, cancel the MOT on the way to work and meander into work carry a large MaccyDs at about midday.

No MOT, no clutch, one archless Minus.

[Jammy]

Have updated this post with details of changes to my KAD engine steady, and a pic of the Curley CF dash.

[mini93]

i love that dash!!!

tis a shame jammy but not too much more to do now at least

the roll cage, wil have to get custom made one for the minus right? woulf z-cars do this for you? if you get a harness bar aswell you can take the clipping bits off the normal harnesses and the just going round the bar

can kinda see here linky
harnesses if you look int he pic at the end of the straps they metal eyelet clips can be removed (should become obvious if you look at them how) anyway where the slip would be replace with the harness bar

[Jammy]

Yea, Z Cars probably could do a roll cage for me, but I'm looking to make one myself soon enough. For now I have a second hand one I may modify. I'll be puttin a harness bar in both Rusty and the Vtec, and probably mounting the seats to the roll cage too, and in Rusty, the steering column bracket.

Well I could have probably had Rusty 'finished' enough for an MOT by now if I'd really worked had to find the spare time to work on him. However I haven't, and therefor Rusty will be MOTd next week.

The first problem I've had is one of no clutch as I said a couple of posts ago. After trying many different things I still couldn't work out what it was, the M/C was working fine. I'd swapped the one braided hose for a solid line and new braided hose. I was sure the S/C was fine. It seemed like the clutch was just stuck solid. So I eventually gave in and took the time to take the cover off with the engine in situ, which wasn't easy, but wasn't as hard as I feared!

I unbolted the diaphragm spring housing and felt behind the flywheel to see if the friction plate was free to move along the primary gear, which to my surprise it was. Before I took the spring housing off I noticed that the drive straps were ever so slightly not level. Personally I didn't think this would make much of a difference, but considering I was out of ideas I decided to add another spacer or two. With that done I bolted everything back together and temporarily put the cover on. Hazarr I had a clutch!

So tonight I torqued up the bolts properly, and put the rest of the bolts into the clutch cover, and then adjusted the clutch properly. The bite is still quite low down on the pedal, so I think I may buy a new clutch arm and hopefully that'll move the bite.

The other thing I did was rewire my alternator, since I believed this was causing my battery drain. Well after swapping a couple of wires round, and jumping the engine into life I went to take the jump leads off, after allowing the engine to run for about 10 minutes. The second I took the jump lead off the solenoid the engine died; the battery hadn't been charging at all! I've taken readings with the multimeter from the three alternator terminals, and also disconnected the brown/blue wire again. The battery is now charging again, but I still have the slow drain!

Anyway, work to be done over the weekend to make it ready for MOT, hopefully on Monday!

Here's a quick pic of what its looking like now, with mirrors, bonnet straps and you can just see my new, uber expensive (£4.99) internal rear view mirror on the windscreen!

[Bungle]

you bringing rusty down to the winter warmer ?

[Jammy]

If I come to Winter Warmer it'll probably be in Rusty.

[*Raz*]

THE sexiest mini ever

[biggav]

how can impact adhesive not stick??????

you smother it over both surfaces to be stuck together, leave it half an hour, then press it together and hey presto, proverbial poo and blanket!!!! did you try using it like superglue????

[Jammy]

Nope, but when one surface is porous you just apply it to one surface. Just didn't stick. I may have got the drying time wrong, but thats twice/three times I've tried using it on FG and it hasn't worked.

I know Raz, I know!

[Bungle]

try some of your man glue

[Retro_10s]

How about fibreglass resin jammy?....

[biggav]

try some of your man glue

best applied with an old sock!!!!!

[Jammy]

How about fibreglass resin jammy?....

Yea, I tried FGing when I was looking at ways of putting the FG skin on my door, and didn't really get on with it, need more practise I think. I'm happy with the cheapo Halfords mirror I have at the moment, and in time I think I'll get a SPA dash mounted mirror.

Well I'm a little dejected with Rusty. After getting the clutch working beautifully, bite point half way up/down the pedal and everything, I turned my attention to getting the engine to start off the battery, rather than having to jump it off my Mum's running Audi all the time!

After placing the jumper leads in various strategic positions I eliminated the solenoid, starter motor cable and earths as the possible causes, and narrowed it down to either being the starter motor, the battery or the engine binding. Well I went and got a mahoosive battery from Halfords yesterday, with 520 cranking Amps compared to the minis usual 320, should have been more than enough power to start the thing. Hooked it up last night, took the clutch cover off so I could see that it was all working, and tried to start him. Still the same sluggish turning over! There are no bolts fouling the flywheel, nothing I can see to cause the engine to bind. So I figure it must be the engine. I think where it was stood for several months (albeit it with oil in the bores and the gearbox full of oil) its got gunked up or something. So ima gonna strip it down!

Not sure what I'll do with it after that. I'm half tempted to completely strip it and paint it (haven't really got the weather now though!), might just get the engine running, probably put the 286 in while I have it apart. Might even sell it....

[CharlieBrown]

Have you tried just bumping the car forward to see if the engine is binding??

But you said it starts ok when you start if off the Audi...hmmm.

How long is the longest you ran it for?