Marmite is home

 The time spent at the garage was just a bit longer than I expected. A few weeks turned into just a few days under 8 weeks! Apparently they were very busy. 

The garage did as I wanted and were very thorougher, some have said a bit to much, but with so much work done by myself a harsh eye cast over it all did catch a couple things. In the scale of the work done I considered them minor. Fog light switch not working correctly (bad wiring meant it illuminated incorrectly, which I rectified in their carpark). A worn part on the steering rack was found and replaced. Also a couple of bits were corrected.

A list of advisories was discussed,  but nothing that is going to take long on my friends ramps. Also I intend to double check the exhaust as it was a really tight fit and far from easy installing it on the axel stands.

Since its been back home I found time to check and adjust the tappets and re do the timing to hopefully eliminate the flat spots. Christmas brought me a new gear stick and hand brake gaiter, which is fitted now and looking good. 

I did get a chance to take her out for a quick spin. The next stage I do need to get to the bottom of is the running a bit hot. But this should be deduction and testing.

I fitted what seems to be a very successful garage parking aid. With the garage length only being 50cm longer than the car it needs to be quite close to the main doors so I can walk behind it to the small door and get out, or in. A nice little peice of 2x2 screwed to the floor. Just leaving me to concentrate on missing the arches on the main garage doors 😀  it's over a foot long so slight miss alignment left or right is not an issue.

 

The final hurdel

 Only having late in the evenings for the mini I pushed on with the door cards, slow and steady saw me remove the old coverings, test fit the cards and then cover them. Ready for the install and handles fitted

It's time to report in. Marmite has gone off for mot..... out up a little fight mind.

With so much going on I finally got a chance to test drive it in the rear alley on Thursday Evening just before it got dark. All went well till a bit of speed was gained. At this point the steering went, well, lively. This did not fill me with confidence in driving it to the mot in the morning.

I rang the garage early and they helpfully suggested I tried the brake down cover for a tow there. So sadly it went on the back of a transporter again, hopefully the last time for a while at least.

It failed, but I knew it would on at least a couple of things which I had already asked the garage to do.  But it's common practice to still do the mot and see if anything else crops up. There was a couple of other things that came to light but apart from a worn steering rack component. Nothing major came up. But proved worth while putting it through a sturdy mot mams shake down, which is what I wanted having done so much on it. And a lot of it over months and some done very late at night.

So there we go, it is sitting there waiting for them to get round to sorting a few bits and bobs. A shame they are very busy, but it has been years getting to this point so a little longer isn't going to hurt.

The garage is looking very weird, has given me the chance to sweep up and then make a mess sorting the big doors. Which is good, but really strange the mini being away from home :)

On it, like a car bonnet

 Well almost, after fitting a new front door and fresh paint on the amended garage door I felt like I had a bit of time for the mini.

Bonnet time. I grab son 2 /assistant and set about bolting it on. A little bit fiddly. Checked alignment, oh look at those lovely huge gaps around the bonnet, yum. I fair bit of tweeking so the bonnet wouldn't rub at the back as it was closed. Found a happy medium for it and moved onto the stay. Quickly stopped playing with that due to there being no plate on the inner wing for the stay to be parked in when  the bonnet is up. Sigh, all I know is I didn't take it off. But also I didn't notice it was missing!

Well the next thing would be the catches. I felt a saga creeping in. Few, i wasn't disappointed! The main catch was fun to bolt on , then it was great to see it was sitting to the right and missing the slam panel catch. More adjustment and a quick change of washers to stop them just falling into the large holes of the bonnet. Close, back to adjusting the length of the bonnet catch ... which needed to be longer than it would extend to. A plan B was formed but would have to wait, so moved onto fitting the saftey catch. Wow what a tw@$, it really did fight it self. Everything was always out of alignment making fitting the pin just a little bit hard. With lots of twisting, a thin screwdriver as a guide, pushing sticks, an extra pair of hands/eyes, extra light and a sprinkling of patience the pin finally dropped in.

So close

 A few more jobs have been ticked off the list and some side tracking but towards the cause.

Completed today was  widening the garage door. Having just 2" either side of the car has been a bit of a pain when pushing it out for extra space to work on it.

With the mini doors on now I realised the battery could be left connected. I connected the battery when I was in the garage and quickly noticed that all was not quite right. The doors where closed but the interior light was on. It almost seemed fitting that the first electrical problem and could be the last. It turned out that the re wiring hadn't quite corrected everything, the feed to the extra under seat lights was earthing. 

I finally collected the clubman sticker for the center dial. With some delicate work the sticker was placed and the dial back together again. It was time to finally fit the dials. The bolts are quite tucked away, I was really glad I had held off fitting the bonnet. It would have been so much harder holding the dial in place through the drivers window whilst fitting the bolts. After quite some time it was all bolted up. A quick check .... when I out the hazards on all 3 dial back lights flashed with the hazards!! This was clearly not right, I had tested the dials and all electrics before mounting. It was time to unbolt the dials and check it out. It turned out to be a quick fix, the loom plug had worked loose. Fortunately it was much quicker re fitting the dials.

The door check straps was a nice quick install, although I am lacking split pins. But for now they will be fine. The plastic cover over the inside of the doors has also been done, I had picked up some I hadn't seen before. The whole sheet was sticky and window/lock holes pre cut which did make it quite straight forward.

Tonight I took the plunge and marked out to drill the fixing holes for the mirrors. Sadly one of the fixing plates to the door was simply rubbish. It wouldn't tighten to the door fully and it also mashed up when fitting the mirror, the second bracket in the kit worked better and will do for now. All be it at a different angle to the drivers one.

The last job of the day was to bolt on the steering wheel... at last. At work I have started making the new door cards so I can  re cover them. Not an critical thing, so for a change won't hold things up. We are all ready for the bonnet to be fitted, yep that means I can make the call, the call to book an mot, woop

Light at the end of the tunnel

 Yep, that light at the end of the tunnel is not the tiny dot way off in the horizon any more, infact teasingly bright. 

The last few days I have..  um, I've done stuff. It's been a bit of a blur and jumping around on other projects and chores.

After a day of doing lots of other life bits I was determined to do even just a tiny thing. I went off to the garage to check rear suspension level. Measured the floor to rear end of sills and .... bang on. Note to self must check the hi low locking nut is done up!

With that done so quickly I looked at the bonnet hinges, I was sure there would be a missing nut. The missing nut or bolt has been such a common theme I thought I should get on and check before I actually needed to be installing them. To my amazement everything was there. The hinge arms paint work had suffered a little but nothing to bad, and I just couldn't be arsed to repaint. I did see I was missing just one plastic washer that would be fitted either side of the hinge arm and between the 2 plates coming out of the bulk head. After a little stare, I really did think they looked just like a plastic take away tub plastic. I found the obligatory saved take away tub that had a broken lid, ripped a chunk off, found the hole punch to make a hole and then drew round the washer.

Spot on thickness, quite pleased with that and thought "it may be late by why not try fitting the arms". The answer should have been, because it's a right pain and takes ages. Aftera while of holding the hinge arm, plastic washers,covered in grease to stick them to the arm. I grab some extra aids, masking tape to hold the bolt in the ring spanner and a small screwdriver to align the washers and hinge arm to the hole in the bulk head plates. There is not much space or visibility doing this job, so it was great to move onto the drivers side and find the windscreen wiper motor made it even harder that side. But at 1 something am I was triumphant.

While I was waiting for the brother inlaw to collect his son, I found a simple job that didn't matter if I couldn't finish. I templated the boot carpet and had just enough time to finish the first cutting in of the carpet. The carpet isn't pretty but for a free upcycled boot carpet it will do as a good guide for the new carpet when I'm feeling flush.

The new indicator (and horn) stalk turned up. I was keen to get on and install that and see if the horn would be brought to life. I removed the wiper stalk from the shared mounting plate, discarded the old indicator stalk ..... and noticed it really wasn't as shinny as the new one. Shock! Of course I did, out came the polishing compound and the stalk was carefully polished to revive it a bit with out polishing off the painted wiper symbols. It has to be said, when doing detailing work a nail brush is a god send for getting at those nooks and crannies.

Saturday.... door fitting day, eek. The new door fitting bolt kit was found and layer out. Door openings masked up to try and save the paint work from woops moments. It went quite smoothly, it may have helped that I'm a carpenter and have fitted many wooden doors. Once on to asses alignment, added shimms and I was happy enough to put the nylon nuts on for a final bolt up. The door catch mounted to the car tricked me. I thought I had run out of adjustment to pull the door in. It turned out I needed to pull that out, to allow the door catch to fully lock and pull the door hard in.

The to do list is really getting small, little bits keep cropping up to double check, lock off etc but far enough for me to ring around mini friendly garages and ask what their lead time is for mot's 

Finding time

 Finding time has started to become hard again. The start of autumn term with the kids at school and helping at a scout group, not forgetting working on my friends cars that helps fund the mini parts. It's fleeting small stints at best.

But of course work is still happening. After many sidetracks I did manage to do basic wheel alignment using the string method right round the car. But that meant the car was getting off the axel stands for good, yay.

 The drivers track rod end locking nut was ... um, locked to the shaft. The mini not being fitted with shafts that have flats made that unnecessarily taxing, stilsons where borrowed from the neighbour as my mole grips had lost the teeth points doing the other side!

 The bonnet catch lever missing the window in the grill and actually coming out under the next rung was addressed. We'll I removed it and bent it, sorted 😎 

With the car on the ground and rolling, she was rolled out of the garage so I could get round it and .... put the front seats. Due to the prep done well over a year ago when the re spray happened, a fairly straight forward job. Also met a local mini nut who walked by while I was blocking the rear alley, always nice to meet up with a local with the same passion.

I thought the part buying was over, so as pay day had been I treated my self to led bulbs for the dash, simple job. Simple my arse,  just a coupe of thou over sized for the hole. With a 50/50 chance of fitting the bulb the right way, I managed to get them all round the wrong way. Then they fell out of the holders and into the dials when I tried removing them to flip them round,so the dials came apart to retreave them! Got there though, and looking good.

Another evening and very late, I wanted to get to the bottom of the horn not working. Thouhht I had a result, only one wire attached, shame the added earth wire didn't make any difference. Out came the multi meter and its looking like the stalk is at fault, yay buying bits again and now waiting again for parts to arrive!

Noisy

 The last few days attention has moved to the exhaust. With a combination of 3 possible different manufacturers I knew it would not be a smooth assembly. Fortunately I help a friend a lot ... he makes exhaust systems, so I have a fair understanding of exhaust systems and the problems/options to get over them. With an unknown long branch manifold, fletcher Y peice and an unknown center/ back box I set about carefully lining things up to see what would need altering. I quickly found out I needed to buy a rear hanger and remembered I needed to buy the front gear box to exhaust clamp. They turned up quite quickly, which was nice.

But before they turned up the steering arm gaiters turned up, I cracked on and fitted them so the front wheels could finally go on and stay on. There was a little trouble with the lock nut not wanting to budge, but the blow torch soon encouraged it to play ball.

Yesterday I got home and was shattered but a lot was going on in the house so I disappeared to the garage, got the tap and dies out to clean up the captive nuts and what seems like the last old money bolts I have left! Led on the floor with my legs dangling out the side door of the garage i used the tap and die fitted the bracket and then pondered some exhaust options. With a little jolt I opened my eyes, I might have nodded off in the relative quite and darkness of being under the car! That was it cup of tea time.

Tonight I was working up at the Y price, fitted the gear box clamp and laid out the center section again to check clearances and alignment. It wasn't looking to bad, I am going to make a short straight joiner piece source another clamp and cut a little off the center section where it curves the wrong way. With a fairly confident plan in hand that will have to wait till work shop time on Saturday that was enough exhaust work.

The last of the bulk head insulation was quickly trimmed up and fitted. 

The gear stick gater was next, the freshly painted clamping ring and freshly washed gater was slid over the stick. At this point the holes in the floor where very hidden by the necessary layers, out came a bradel, poked till it went through the floor and quickly fitted some nice new screws. Of course the gear know had to be fitted, looking good.

The last bit for today was the speedo test. The car is still on axel stands while the exhaust work goes on. The battery was connected, started her up... quite loud with just the manifold. Sat on the floor, pushed the clutch and was pleased I could select a gear and set her off. Result the speedo i swoped over ( so the speedo matched the other 2 dials) a few weeks ago worked, phew.

Now it's enjoy a short mini night and study the to do list. May be buy a well deserved little mini treat 🙂