Hitting The Road!

Spent the past few weeks ticking off all of the jobs the MOT threw up:

Speedo cable replaced (nice awkward job needed to be done from under the car!)

Brake fluid leak fix by replacing old copper washers.

Instrument bulbs replaced.

All grease nipples thoroughly pumped with grease.

Oil leak *touch wood* seems to be gone after tightening some things up down the front of the block.

Firewall thoroughly grommeted up.

Also relocated fuel reg/filter and put washer bottle back in correct place.

Also had assembled one rear brake a bit wrong which became very obvious, loud and hot when out driving. Fixed that too.

Now for some photos out and about. With all that done, I'm spending every free minute I get driving the car. Its awesome!

The only big issue I've got now is a rubbing noise coming from the back end when cornering sharply and sometimes under braking. I think its both sides, but definitely worse when turning right. Have checked brakes - seem fine, and had one hub to pieces - also seemed fine. My best guess is tires catching dampers as there is not loads of clearance. Does that sound likely? I'm going to test it next time out by marking the damper and seeing if it rubs off.

In other news, really pleased to have picked up a bargain 3 clock instrument set (albeit the 90mph version) and it is pretty worse for wear. Hopefully I can clean it up and bring it back to life because I'd really like to have a tacho in the car.

Success!

MOT PASSED!!!!

Just a few small issues to deal with:

Speedo doesn't work (drive cable was not in great shape when I put it back in. Suspect its that) 

Left indicator tell-tale on dash not working

Rear brake imbalance.

Play in front hub - need to look at ball joints.

A general lack of grease in the suspension. Oops!

Minor brake fluid leak from one hose - might have already fixed this.

Minor oil leak - might have just been from pressure sensor not screwed in tightly enough.

Need to get some more grommets for the firewall as the cabin was getting a bit fumey.

Clutch overthrow managed to loosen itself on the way back from the test center so engine was bogging down with clutch in. Need to set and tighten properly.

(Yes - come hell or high water I will be at next years L2B) 

Its Alive!

So I didn`t quite make it to L2B this year (ended up selling my ticket) but my Dad and I finally managed to get the car running properly(ish) today! THANKS DAD!

The mixture was a bit rich at this point, and we managed to improve it quite a bit once we realised I`d got the jet adjustment assembled a bit wrong. I also now have a Filter King pressure regulator/filter to solve an excess fuel pressure issue I was having earlier in the week which meant fuel was flooding out of float chamber overflow. This could also have been down to the float needle not seating correctly (adjusted this again today by adding a washer), but anyway; now I have a an extra filter in the line which is nice.

Next stop: MOT test!

Issues!

Hi all!

Well I seem to have cured the nasty ignition light being on all the time...

... by buying a new alternator. Also decided to go for a new coil at the same time to rule out any weirdness in that department. Old on the right, new on the left.

So here is everything installed. Battery was charged, so I turned the key and it started first time! Ran it for a couple of seconds then turned it off. It sounded basically good but definitely needs some setting up!

HOWEVER, when I had a quick look at the engine afterwards, I found fuel had been gushing out of the float chamber. :(

At first I assumed it was the pipe union, but after taking it all apart I was surprised to find there is an overflow hole and it was coming out of there. The pin actuated by the float and the part it is supposed to seal to are new but they could have been sticking. More likely is the facet fuel pump is generating more pressure (4-5psi) than the carb wants (apparently 3psi). So I've ordered a Filter King regulator and filter which should reduce the pressure and stop fuel escaping.

I hope!

Getting Closer

Have been working away on the car for the past few weeks - brakes sorted, clutch sorted, electrics sorted (so I thought), static timing sorted, coolant in, fuel in etc. Had everything ready to try to start the car today, and had also made the booking for an MOT, but sadly had to cancel as there were a few last minute problems. 

First of all the ignition light comes on as soon as the battery is connected - even when the keys are not in. I'm puzzled by this. Bad alternator? Bad wiring? Bad ignition switch? I've asked for help in the questions section because I'm not sure what to do about it:  http://www.theminifo...r-switched-off/

Apart from that, there were a few minor fuel leaks to take care of, but with those fixed we ultimately could not get it to fire. Fuel is getting to the spark plugs, but we suspected weak spark because we had been cranking it over quite a lot by this point and the battery was getting low. Battery is now on charge and we will try again another day.

*SIGH*

For now, here is another photo of the car sitting in the garage going nowhere fast.

She's Electric

Long time no post! I've been a bit busy lately moving house, so not exactly loads of mini progress to report, but here are some pics of the car in its new garage.

(Not nearly as spacious as my previous garage/workshop which I'm sure I will sorely miss, but at least this one is built of brick with a proper roof!)

I had a day last weekend working on the electrics with my Dad (who is an electrician), and managed to turn the engine over a little on the starter motor. All good so far. No more engine progress on the engine as I'm waiting for an oil pressure meter to arrive so I can make sure I'm getting oil pressure.

Have been reading all I can about first start procedures, but honestly finding the whole thing mind boggling since there are so many opposing expert views on the subject. :S

As far as electrics are concerned, the situation is as follows:

Headlights dipped: working

Headlights main beam: working

Sidelights: working

Indicators: lamps working but missing flasher unit (on order)

Rear lights: working

Brake lights: working

Reversing lights: working

Hazards: working

Horn: working

Wipers: basically working but a bit weak

Washer pump: working

Heater fan: working but catching heater body, needs a tweak :( 

Fuel pump: working, wired to inertia switch for safety.

Have also tried filling the clutch reservoir up and bleeding, but hey ho the only old union left in the circuit leaked, so now waiting for a new pipe to come. Not holding out much hope for the brakes because I have reused most of the old pipework. Have a feeling I may end up replacing some/all of it!

Engine In

-2° outside and snow still on the ground, but what the hell. Lets put the engine in!

Not a lot to write about this other than that it was bloody hard work! Here are some pics!

Engine Progress

Haven't posted an update in a while because I've been spending every spare moment working on the car. Quite a bit of progress has been made, so here goes.

First of all, here is a bunch of parts I bought! New rad, hoses, carb rebuild kit, diff parts, seals, gaskets. Also bought but not in this pic is a RC40 exhaust. :)

While the engine was away at Stanwood Engineering, I worked on the gearbox myself. Everything stripped down, cleaned and inspected.

Thankfully, no major badness was found, so all of this lot went back in again.

Here is the cleaned out casing after much scrubbing!

New baulk rings went in, and the old oil pick up replaced with a centre oil pick up pipe.

Also took the diff to bits to replace the pin, washers, and planet gears.

Old diff pin vs new 'performance' diff pin which was cheaper than the standard one.

The finished article with new bits installed.

I also fully stripped the HS4 carb and cleaned everything out. Bought the full rebuild kit to renew all the worn parts.

Here it is all back together. No idea yet how to go about tuning this thing but I guess I will have to learn!

In other news, I needed to do something about the heater unit situation. I had somehow come to own 2 of these things, but neither of them were in decent condition. The idea was to recon the best one.

All this panels ready for rust repair.

Everything painted and going back together. One of the units was a later version with 2 holes in one side, so I used that one because a new later matrix is cheaper :)

Then the short motor build came back from Stanwood. Hooray! Very pleased with the work they have done - rebore block, new pistons, unleaded head recon.

Then it was up to me to do the rest of the build. First job was to install cam followers and confirm the cam timing was accurately set up. All good. 

Head studs and gasket on.

Then on with the head and 1.3:1 roller rockers.

The gearbox went on and off a few times because I encountered a problem which stopped the engine turning over. (Didn't take any pics because I was too stressed!). It turned out to be a slightly raised locktab on a con rod fouling the oil pick up pipe. Solved it by hammering the offending article flat.

On with attaching new things - here is a new oil pump from Swiftune.


 

The man at Stanwood Engineering said I needed to replace the old worn idler gear, so I had planned to buy a new one from minispares. Then I noticed a cool dude called Darren was selling a NOS one on this forum so I snapped it up. :)

Works very nicely!

Then on with the transfer casing, new pressure plate and clutch disc.

I decided it would be worth getting a few new fasteners to replace some of the nasty old rusty ones...

This is how I left it today. Flywheel is on, which has its new ring gear installed, oil filter housing is on, timing cover and front pully are both on. Cleaned up distributor is also on, which was a scary experience because its very easy when trying to install the spindle to drop it down into the gearbox. Thankfully that didn't happen.

Need to do another quick order from minispares to pick up a few more bits that I need, but I feel like I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel with the engine build now. I just hope it works!

The Endless Cleaning of Oily Rusty Engine Components

With most of the engine away with the experts, I am left with a pile of dirty rusty parts to clean up. Joys!

I am sticking with this rocker cover rather than buying a new one because I like the original and understated look of it. Moreover, this engine build is getting well dear, so I'm trying not to bankrupt myself by forking out for things which I can restore with a bit of elbow grease.

Everything went in this box for a fortnight with some nice Lidl vingar.

Then I hosed it all down and finished it off with a wire brush. The parts below are now getting painted in temperature resistance gloss black. (Not the clutch bits or the carb plate, actually)

Here is the cleaned up front pulley, clutch diaphragm (waiting to hear if this is usable) and the back plate thingy that goes behind the timing chain. I'll paint the exposed bits of that when its in situ, I think.

I also took a wire brush to the starter motor body. (I had already done this earlier in the project, but I didn't paint it at the time, so its rusted itself up again since.) *EYEROLL*

Looks a bit more presentable now.

I also received a few of the bits I had ordered. I went for the duplex chain because they used one on the Ultimate 1380 build DVD so I thought it was an obvious choice. Plus, adjustable. Then I read in this months mini magazine that Keith Calver is not a fan at all, and says people fit them because of 'folklore'. *SIGH* Oh well.

Still waiting on the roller rocker assembly from minisport.

As the car has been sitting in the garage for over a year since it was painted, it was starting to look a bit dusty so I pushed it out onto the driveway to give it a wash.

Can't wait to get the engine in just to weight the front end down a bit!