209 replies to this topic

[who_loves_the_mini?]

looking good, dont the engines look much nicer without the factory inlet and cover on them. much prefer them without. when you hoping to have it all done by?

[TimS]

It looks much better, Im going to give it a good polish up soon to make it looks really nice. Hope to have it done by the end of the summer, but body work will determin that.

[TimS]

Well Iv finished working for the year and now i'm back onto the mini for the next month.

Iv set to on the body work. I want it to last a while so decided to strip the shell down and have a good poke around.

I found numerous bodges through the shell and lot's of patches.

First to go was the cross member.


Then the flitch.


In with the new.





Then I turned the shell on its side to get to the sills. Im going to replace both of them with oversills to get onto some decent floor.

I found that one side had an over sill and the other just a normal sill.




I have now cut out the old origional sill behind the over sill to stop any further rust.


There was also a few other bits that seemed to just fall through so out witht he rust.




Next job is a trip to minispares to get some more panels.

[rob mini]

Coming on well now Tim.

Didnt realise you had gone for the 16v vaux engine!

Going to have to come see it when its running

[TimS]

Cheers mate. Yeah there is a lot of body work to d. And to think it was supposed to have been done a little over 4 years ago so I’m making sure that it's fully wax oiled this time.

I’ve picked up my subframe yesterday with bottom arms and tie rods which are all pretty horney. Can’t wait to get the engine mounted in it and the ITB's mocked up. I need to do this to see if I’m going to modify the bulk head for 90mm trumpets. This should gain a bit more power and noise but I’m not sure about them fouling the masters.

[Grimmy@JHE]

forgot to say its in a corsa allthough im trying to talk him into putting it in a mini.
engine mods...
full rebuild
45mm tapered jenvey throttle bodies with 90 trumpets
steel con rods
forged high comp oversize omega pistons(bored to 1640)
cav gsi calipers, new disks and pads
new rings, cam belt, all gaskets,
19row mocal oil cooler,
ported and ploished head
massive kent cams, 2nd to biggest cams available
titanium valves
double valve springs
lightened and balanced crank and flywheel
4 into 1 manifold
full exhaust system
low temp thermostat
fse adjustable fule pressure gauge
mbe remappable ecu
bigger injectors
sparco strut brace
vernier pulleys
powdercoated rocker cover


went for remapping a couple of months ago and pulled 150 but was burning poo loads of oil and cam belt needs moving to the next tooth but we think it will make about 185-190.

if your going to do it, do it properly you in need of anything? im sure he has poo loads of bits left over.

Attached Files

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[TimS]

Sounds good. The ITB's injectors, adjustable fuel pressure reg. and a few other bits are the same as mine. 150 is low for that spec though. Needs a good setup by the sounds of it. Im going to stick with the set up im going for now for a bit. Once im happy with it and can use all the power properly then I will upgrade the internals for some SBD ones, but at the mo there would be no point as I would just end up stickign in a tree at Adenau Forst (remember that rob?)

[TimS]

Iv at last picked up my Allspeed subframe, bottom arms and tie rods!!!!









It's a gorgeous piece of engineering by Mr Rob Hall, with many CAD hours, FEA and testing gone into it to make sure it will last.

As can be seen by the bottom pic it takes rise jointed bottom arms and tie rods. The rose joints on the bottom arms are larger than that of the Minisport ones I have and the fixing method to the tie bar rose joint is different of that from a standard subframe. I think that a minis[pares rose jointed ones would fit if there is enough thread on it.


I also set to on the rear subframe today. Iv taken the bottom arms off as they need new bearings in them. At the same time I shall change the adjuster screws and brake shoes so that I can get them set up properly. I am also cleaning up the Hi-Los and rubber cones. All of which are in good condition.

A lick of paint will come to the subframe before it goes back on.






I also need to strip the front subby to but don't have a cone compressor. Can anyone lend me one?








Also today I cut out big holes in the floor to put my replacement panels in. Iv also cleaned the rest of the floor up ready to under seal. I started welding one floor piece back in but I ran out of gas. I then changed the bottle and ran out of wire. So I think it was trying to tell me something.









Before I ran out of gas though I managed to get the new rear valence on. Its a non genuine one so its a bit of a squiffy fit, but with a bit of tweaking it went on fairly easily.





Iv got a pile of bit of the floor that used to be my car




Iv got a few more little patches to make for the rear of the car but nothing too bad or big.





That’s all for now. Next thing Im going to do is buy some more gas and wire to get the floors on, the sills on and the little patches. Im also going to rebuild the rear subframe ready for it all going back together.

[Grimmy@JHE]

got a problem with the breather system. its burning oil too. should be about 180 - 190 when its all sorted.
that subframe looks awsome. keep going. it will sound awsome!

[TimS]

I've done a bit more, stripping down the radius arms. I shall be getting some reconditioned ones from Minispares tomorrow hopfully as one of the arms had a bit of play in it and it was throwing the rear tracking right off.

I hope to have most of the rear subframe built back up by teh end of Thursday but we shall see.







Then let the painting begin.









Only problem now is that I can't get the adjuster out of the backing plates as they are both siezed on.

[TimS]

Managed to get both adjusters out, but had to butcher them and use some heat, so tomorrows shopping list will be.


2x Reconditioned radius arms.
1x Quadrant
2x Quadrant pins
2x Brake shoe adjusters
2x Rubber cones for the front

The set to rebuilding it

[ed4ran]

To remove the top arms and cones, just pull the top arm pins out and then you can wiggle it all so it drops out
But you will need a cone compressor to get it back in, even with hilos.

[The Matt]

Aaaaaah Winston's been attacked by the tinworm!

[TimS]

Cheers for the tip Ed. At least then tomorrow I can see if the spindels are free. I can get some new ones if needed then.

[TimS]

Matt, im affraid he has. Though he hasnt got too much left, iv cut most of it out

Its amazing the weight of the metal dust taken off the floor.