374 replies to this topic

[Joe250]

Thanks mate, what you mean "That simon" ? lol

 

yes i have not been posting much over here anymore , I know someone who had tests done on the kad and Ms and the Ms hubs was best so i went for them..

 

 

 

I saw your name in the first post but didn't put 2 and 2 together. You're famous! lol

 

I'm curious what testing was done on the hubs.  Any info you can share?

Edited by Joe250, 29 April 2013 - 10:17 PM.

[mad mk1]

 Famous Really lolol 

[mad mk1]

Your car is looking good mate, i have been looking at it over the last 2 or 3 days makes me what to start again lol.

[Joe250]

The Mini is moving. I don't mean it is running yet. I mean I'm moving to a new place and the Mini is coming with me. That means it is vital to have her back on four wheels again. It will also help if more parts are bolted to the car rather than needing to be carefully boxed up, shipped, then unpacked and stored. So the current effort is to prep for the move.

There was no reason not to bolt the passenger seat in so here it is. I've left the driver's out until I finish bleeding the brakes. Being able to steer the car around while moving seemed like another good thing so the column is back on.


That couldn't happen until I made some more room in the firewall for this clamp. The grinder made a huge mess though.

 

I wanted to bolt the center instument binnacle in place but I didn't want to have to remove it later to wire up the gauges. I decided to wire everything now and run all the wires to a 6-way plug. Afterwards I looked back and found several things I would do differently next time. There is pleny of wiring left to do in the Mini so maybe by the end I'll be half-way decent at this.

Mini experts might have some questions about what I've done. Due to a number of issues with the original voltage regulators I've removed mine and replaced it with a modern one. You can see it stuck to the back. It will give me the required 10v for the oil temp gauge and the original fuel level gauge. Note that I won't be using the original speedo for anything other than the fuel gauge. I've also installed modern electric oil temp and oil pressure gauges on either side of the speedo.


The new alloy hubs from KAD arrived. They just needed the bearings, seals, and steering arms installed prior to going on the car.


Here you can see the lower balljoint spacer installed. This is something KAD offers to help correct suspension geometry on lowered cars. You can read a nice explanation here: http://www.e30m3proj...ht_transfer.htm.


Of course an issue arose straight away - the MondoSport steering arms conflict with the hub. Thankfully all that was required was grinding an indentation into the arm to make it all work.




I was so happy to finally come  up with a really slick, easy, and elegant solution to mounting my two Earl's oil filters. After assembling the parts and trying to test fit them in the engine bay I realized it was all for nothing. There is just no room for anything even close to what I designed. Gutted! After lots more thought I decided I would have to fabricate some kind of custom mount. I'll have to return to that later.


Here you can see the short lengths of protective heat sleeve I added to the xfer box oil lines. The engine's exhaust manifold will pass right by them, so any heat protection will be beneficial, both to the oil and the lines themselves.


It took a bit of doing but the front suspension is finally complete. Note the steering arm linkages. This setup gives me a much better range of trackrod adjustment and allows me to do away with <a href="http://joe250.com/ca...p34/step34.html">the questionable solution</a> I was considering earlier. The other nice thing is that it should reduce or hopefully eliminate bump steer, again a potential consequence of lowering a car and altering its suspension geometry.

What is bump steer? Watch this 14s video for a great demonstration:

 

 

So bump steer is a condition where normal suspension travel causes the wheel to move inwards or outwards. With it, driving straight down the highway and hitting a bump would mean the car darts to one side. A series of bumps and dips would force the car all over the place, making it very unpredictable. Not good.


The interior continues to come together. You can just spot the stainless steel brake lines under the lefthand side of the dash. The R1 instrument cluster is now mounted onto the steering column brace. The center instrument panel is bolted in as well as the central switch panel.


I'm not sure what compelled me to do it now but I spent some quality time with my heat gun and installed the chrome arch trim. This is the continuous chrome strip that runs the lower length of the car and over the edge of the wheel arches.  You may also notice the quarter windows are in-place. Sadly, they continue to be a thorn in my side. They don't fit the body! I have some ideas on how to adjust them but I hate them more and more every day.


And finally we have the front turn signals installed.
 

Edited by Joe250, 14 May 2013 - 03:49 PM.

[mad mk1]

Mate I love this car more and more, what was the wieght saving on them arms? Also I had the same thing with my rear 1/4s it turned out to be the rubbers.

[Joe250]

Mate I love this car more and more, what was the wieght saving on them arms? Also I had the same thing with my rear 1/4s it turned out to be the rubbers.

The weight savings on the steering arms is approximately -1lb, as in they are solid blocks of steel and probably weigh more than the stockers. I know you are always on the lookout for places to save weight, but I'd look elsewhere.

 

I'll definitely investigate the quarter window seals, but at the moment I suspect two other things - the shape of the Lexan panels and the actual hardware I used.  More on that soon...

[domdee]

this is motoring p0rn!

love the build

[timmy850]

I think this has just made it onto my lottery win wish list. So much amazing gear on there!

[mad mk1]

Any updates mate?

[Joe250]

Why yes, there has been some progress.

 

Moving is complete but it sure takes a lot out of you. A long time passed before I could get back into the swing of things and finish the design of the wiring harness. I wrapped that up a few weeks back and now it is time to construct it.

           

This is how I found her - sans harness (and just about everything else.

There are several ways to get the wiring harness built and installed in my Mini. My car came without a wiring harness so that option was off the table. The next route would be to simply purchase a reproduction original Mini harness, but there are far too many differences between my Mini as it originally rolled out of the factory versus how it is now. That would require so many changes that there would hardly be any of the repro harness left.

Considering I will be using the R1's ECU and any number of R1 sensors and actuators, the next choice would be to start with an original Yamaha R1 motorcycle wiring harness. I could strip out the circuits I don't need, add in a few that I do, lengthen a few wires here and there. That isn't a horrible idea and it is the norm for many BEC (Bike-Engined Cars) owners. My first harness design was just that - a modified R1 harness. I decided at some point that it too would require more changes than I cared for. Combined with the fact that the R1 harness I had was now 10+ years old and not in perfect condition made me decide once and for all to build the entire harness from scratch.

Even here I had a choice to make - build it myself or pay someone to build it for me. I received bids from a few local harness builders but they either required that they build the entire thing from scratch using their own stand-alone ECU (Motec, Pectel, etc.) or they wanted a small fortune. It would have been nice to just write a check and the work would have been done in a fraction of the time that I am taking but this option was ruled out. The upsides of doing the harness myselft would be me learning something about electrical circuits and I would be better prepared to diagnose and repair any electrical issues that might crop up in the future. I went back and re-read all the guides and manuals I had and got to work.

Now the next question to answer was what components would be used. In an earlier post I mentioned that I had already purchased some Tefzel wire. It came highly recommended as a tougher and slighter smaller diameter version of the usual wire found in cars. For connectors I was initially impressed with the Metri-pack and Weather Pack connectors. The rubber seals and variety of pin counts were good but the connectors are a bit large. Crimping the pins is easy to screw up and the recommended total number of connection/disconnections is lower than I would like. Definitely better than any number of cheap no-name connectors from the auto parts store, but I wanted something better.

That is when I read about Deutsch DT connectors. These are a bit smaller, still come in a variety of pin counts, and used silicon seals to keep the elements out. They are rated for more cycles and the pin/socket crimps onto the wires couldn't be simpler. It will also give me another reason to use the ridiculously expensive crimping tool that I purchased for building the circular connectors at the firewall.


Not cheap but a joy to use. This ratcheting crimper handles all three size pins/sockets used in the Deutsch connectors as well as the circular Amphenol connectors.


Strip the wire just enough to go into the socket...


...place them into the back of the crimp tool and squeeze.


The tool crimps the socket into the wire equally inwards on four sides.


The sockets are then slid through the silicon seal and into the body of the connector until locked in place.




Finally a cap is snapped into place that does several things. Its shape prevents the socket locking latches from releasing. This prevents the wires/sockets from ever sliding back out of the connector. The face of the cap also helps to ensure the sockets are correctly aligned towards their counterparts in the mating connector. Finally, the bevel shape helps guide the mating connector's pins into the sockets during assembly.


Another great piece of equipment I discovered was this Power Distribution Module. I can bring power directly from the positive side of the battery and it splits it into two outputs - a 50 Amp fused constant on and a 50 Amp fused switched. The latter is controlled by a built-in solenoid that I will trigger off of the ignition switch. Each of these two feeds will run to a different fuse/relay panel with always-on circuits (horn, emergency flashers, etc.) located in one and switched circuits (fuel pump, ignition, etc.) in the other.


Main power input on the lefthand screw, two 50Amp fuses under the cover, pass-thru for mounting bolt, the switched power trigger relay and then the two power outputs with the upper being switched power and the lower constant-on.

I purchased several lengths of Raychem DR-25 heat shrink, which isn't cheap but is very tough stuff. It is resistant to most chemicals found in engine bays, can deal with a lot of heat and is very abrasion resistant. I will be using it primarily in the engine bay.


Here is the stock R1's ignition coil sub-harness. Not bad but these wires and connectors have seen better days. I was going to use the existing connectors but cut the wires as close to the connectors as possible and splice in new wire. Not a very elegant solution. Thankfully I was able to find new replacement connectors.


Here is a new coil connector. It came with wire seals, new crimp pins, and a yellow locking tab with one spare.


Strip the new wire and assemble...


...crimp...


...and insert into the back of the connector.


Here I have installed four new coil connectors and a new coolant temp sensor connector.


And here is the finished product. Each section of wire is covered in protective heat shrink and transitioned together with Y-shaped heat-shrink boots. It should provide many miles of reliable service.


Here is the headlight + turn signal intermediate harness. The grey Deutsch connectors on the right plug into the back of the turn signal and headlight. The wiring is routed through the roof of the wheel well and then passes through the inner wing using the circular bayonet connector. From there is will route to the appropriate fuse/relay box.



The goal of the entire harness is correct functioning, ease of assembly/disassembly, reliability, and ease of troubleshooting. Not cheap in terms of parts cost or time in design and assembly but if the car never leaves me stranded I think it will all be worth it. There's still quite a bit left to wire up but progress is steady. More updates soon...

[Mini Manannán]

This is totally porntastic!  Quality workmanship Joe, it's looking very,very good   

[domdee]

your wiring connectors and crimps are near on aircraft standard. they use the same thing at my place for doing the aircraft looms

[craig-721]

great work, very nice parts, keep up the good work

[Jared Mk3]

Fantastic work 

[fiestaharry]

What happened to this? Major skills