Getting ready for the move

Almost there, well ready for the move back home.
The front subframe mounts have been changed, I wasn't quite happy with the fixings on the new seat mounts so I unbolted them and added some nice big penny washers. The wheels are back on after doing the rear hub nuts and split pins.
There may be a chance to pop into the work shop today and adjust up the handbrake between chores, which will be a nice achievement.
The engine block is all painted now and I drilled out a sheared bolt in the clutch bell housing last night, then re tapped it. So that is pretty much all preped now and ready for the re build when ever that will be.
As the weather is so poo this weekend I think the tow back home will be put off till next week, but it will happen soon :)

Small snagging

Not much to show, but today I did manage to torque the rear hubs. That was another job that ended up rushed when it had to get out of the neighbors garage, they where very close to correct torque but worth checking and really worth putting the split pins through the castle nuts :)
Finally managed to get the hand brake cable fully installed, as I now have the fork and pin to attach it to the handbrake lever.
Collard and good work neighbor to help me bolt up the seat mounts as my arms are just not long enough to hold the allen key inside the car whilst tightening the nut under the car.
Just before I left for the day I did start doing the front sub frame rear mounts.
Secretly can't wait for marmite to come home. As nice as it is to work on the ramps, I'll just say the work shop is layed out/tidy in the way I'd like it. Beggars can't be choosers and even though I struggle to find a tool quickly, loose parts briefly as I can't lay my shite out willy nilly, have to out back all tools every time I finish, so despite those little quirks work has been so much easier. The chance to go through the garage has been great as well, tidier, refreshed as to what parts I do have and cleaning some of them up whilst there was no car, was a god send.
Almost finished painting the other side of the engine block (needs to be done before the car comes back) just about all the jobs to do with a bit of space in the garage has been done.
Last big push to get the subfame brackets on and I can ring the tow truck :)
The next phase / ling term to do list has been written, lets see how much spare time I end with to do anything on it

Brakes again

Been working in the garage and at the work shop the last few days. In the garage I have been going through all the glass, finding the best windows to make a matching set. It looks like I have a full set all factory tint (slight green hue), same manufacture as well. But most of them had been tinted a long time ago so they had scratches through to the glass and plenty if air bubbles/patches that had lifted. Out came the hair dryer and the film came off nicely, then the polish came out. After that  I could see the handles on the rear side windows where far from ok and one of them the chrome had almost completely come off the 2 fixing brackets. Plan B was formed and so did the sand paper, rubbed them back, cleaned, etch primed and now colour matched to the car.

All the glass is stored again now with the set I intened to use sat ontop of the pile.
The window wiper mech was dug out and after a quick clean it is clear at least one of the wiper gears is going to be replaced despite a good go with the thread file I just dont see there is enough thread left due to heavy oxidising of the aluminium. I did spray the tube between wiper gears and  the electric motor gears looked ok. So new arm gear and top bushes with nuts need to be ordered and a quick spray of the electric motor is on the todo list. I did rub back, etch and spray the motor mounting bracket the same as the car while it was off.

In the work shop the front brake pipes have been flared and installed tonight and even had time to have another go at the front sub frame front mounts, bit of a pain but with a longer pry bar I got there and test fitted the new heavy duty towing eye, so the tow back to home shouldn't get the heart beating quite so badly this time. Was a bit worried about the paint work last time.

 2 days ago an important part part arrived .... yep I found a 1275 crank in good condition and at a reasonable price, so I need to paint the other side of the engine block as I gave up until I knew what was going on with it. So of course the other night it seemed like a great idea to take the bell housing off and tap the bolt holes, they where in desperate need of doing and was a quick job with my new tap and die set. Bloody great thing to have in the arsenal, bolts go all the way by hand now, nice.

 Sadly the big half term push is probably over now as I am flat out at work and am out Friday and Saturday night. Also have a private job Saturday morning, but that does mean I should have enough pennies in the bank to send the gear box off to be re built though and still have enough to buy the other gaskets and bits to complete the engine re build :)

More brakes

A little step closer yesterday with brakes, the front brake pipe was cut to length and shaped and new clips added to the sub frame to hold it ... when it's ready. My friend was busy fixing his exhaust so didn't have time to show me how to use his weird (with no instructions in the kit) flaring tool so just the ends to do. Also realised there is a captive nut in the bulk head to hold the brake bias valve/manifold and it is 1/4" unf 2" shanked bolt..... which I don't have! So can't measure out the short pipe to that from the passenger wheel yet. Hoping to get one monday locally and finish both bits Tuesday.
The last seat brackets went in successfully, so now looking forward to the fun of altering the carpet to allow for the new rear legs!

The new towing eye turned up but appears to be a permanent fixture and not keen on that so will try and get a longer bolt so it can take a nut and I can leave the eye in the boot. This is a later addition on mini's and as it needs towing back home soon I like the idea of body work not getting damaged, but really don't like the idea of it being a permanent feature.
So progress but didn't feal like much was achieved. Hoping to go through the 2 sets of glass today and leave what I need ontop of the pile as long as it is all up to a good standard and worth putting in. Been a very long time since I have been through it .... like 5 + years and I have a mix of plan and tinted, hoping I have a set of one type, the doors I stripped had one of each type.

Up date 2.377

Another microscopic update.
 Kind of feels a bit like this at the moment ! That isn't how it is for me luckily (at the moment)



Really does not feel like I have spent any time at home over the weekends :(  So yes I ran away to the work shop this afternoon. I swoped over the rear flexi brake lines from rubber to braided as I am worried they are just going to fall out of the boot of my daily and that will be then end of them.
Then I set about "just " doing the rear seat mounts for those front seats. I am all to aware about metal fabrication and how a few simple bits to most people look like exactly a 5 minute job and nothing more.
So in my world I "just" double checked runner height with a spirit level to make sure they are not twisted and will slide nicely, "just" double checked my rough measurements from the other day and tweaked them, "just" worked out the best locations and sizes of the spreader plates for said mounts, "just" had a quick look for the materials, "just" measured & marked them out, "just" quickly cut them up then "just" drilled them for bolt holes. In case you hadn't guessed that was a bit longer than 5 minutes to end up with a pile of metal with a few holes and I was using some very expensive and industrial machines to do all of that which you will not find in the garage at the end of your garden.

But yes we are getting quite close now, I might have time Monday to weld the brackets together or it could be Tuesday then they can be bolted to the chair runners and the floor can be marked out for a few holes, seats out, mount the painted brackets (may hold off and powder coat them as they will be on show).
Few bits to order tonight to be ready for the next small phase !

Up date 2.376

Teeny tinny update - It has really felt like hard work achieving almost anything this week. Which is a bit poo as the dam mini is still In my mates work shop, he is ok with it but I really do feel it has been there way to long. A lot of bits have been done while it's there which has been a lot easier and great that they are done. It just needs to come home now. So just not having any spare time to do anything on it has been a bit hard knowing it is so close.
I did manage to finish off the pedal box today. I have been painting it and realised I had to wait on changing over the brake pedal, which has to be done as I am set to fit a brake servo which has a different arm off the brake pedal to activate the brakes. The delay was due to the captive bolts threads for the mounting bolts, I have to admit I am not entirely sure how far down the nuts go on the threads but wow they where filling up with rust. So a few days ago I ordered a tap & die set with this job in mind but also knowing mini's this was no way going to be the last time I come accross a bolt or nut that was in need of love. Yes I can by knew but not that locally and then the job gets held up just because of a nut or bolt.
It is also really satisfying when you look at the clean thread and then just spin a nut on.

I am hoping the gale isn't to bad tomorrow, so I can try to get to the work shop and finish the dam seat brackets and then old lemon can finally come home.

up date 2.375

I'm back again. I did get the latest round of paint, rattle cans are nice and easy to store with zero cleaning after painting but the £ doesn't half add up. I seem to regularly just come in a snip under the £30 mark so I can "just" wave the card at the machine ! well, armed with paint I did paint up the sills and also 2 very small patches I notice that had very thin red paint and it is blatantly easier to do that kind of thing now especially as it is in a work shop so over spray does not matter, it had to be done. I had noticed it so I know I would not stop noticing it !
Oh the freshly welded hand brake bracket was painted as well. As you may be able to see it looks like the front bracket broke it's weld to the cross member, and was still used so twisted the rear bracket as well as lifting the front bracket away from the cross member. Nothing a bit of heavy handed beating couldn't sort out with a little welding as well.

The day after (Saturday) I was back there and good old Malcolm had already cut some nice gauge 40 x 40 angle iron into 40mm wide brackets. So I got straight on with double checking my lay out marks for both seats, I found that the 2 inner brackets where very close to the central tunnel so went off and ground the brackets to let then locate nicely and still support the seat runners fully and finally ground back some paint before clamping them in place ..... then double checked the measurements yet again. I have to admit I have fallen into the trap of thinking as long as the seats fit width wise, alternative seats is a straight forward job if you have a welder to hand and no interior fitted.
This is what you need to watch out for, enough clearance for any door hard ware when the door is closed, enough space to reach the hand brake, enough space to change gear, enough clearance for the seat adjusters even when the seat is pushed back for a tall person, your head is not to high and will hit the roof (only just managed that one), that the runners are not in the way when a passenger is trying to get in the back of the car but they still allow the seat to go back far enough and finally that it actually feels nice to the pedals and steering wheel to drive the dam car. But depending on the seats, when I pull the lever to release the runners so I could try them in different positions, only one is spring loaded, so one would shoot off and I had to move the other one my self. Not to bad but it is easier to do that with the seat out of the car but when I picked the seat up it was to easy to accidentally grab or knock the release which of course moved the spring loaded runner. Only one of my work neighbors has fitted alternative seats, and he was full of sympathy when he came to see how I was doing, he knew the struggle and self doubt which doesn't go until they are mounted by which time there is little tweeking that can be done, more of a just start over.

There are the seats ...mounted on just the front brackets. By 3pm my knees had had enough where I was knelt down grinding the brackets for quite a while and crawling round the car so called it a day. I had managed to sand, prime and paint the pedal box and steering column brackets so wasn't to bad. The rear brackets seem to be looking like they will be single risers welded to a spreader plate that will bolt to the floor and the inner runners will be mounted to a upside down U shape which will straddle the tunnel and I am hoping to avoid a spreader plate on those. The carpet has to be considered and I hope to drop the carpet over the outer mounts and then bolt the middle U once the carpet is in.
I picked up another set of carpets a few days ago as they where being sold very cheap and with underlay which I don't have. I had planned to clean up both sets of carpet and choose the best looking parts out of each set as they are both black. I found out the set I got is really good and needed very little cleaning, although I have not looked at the other carpets for at least 3 years as they are hidden in the loft.

Whilst I was painting the pedal box I remembered the clutch peddle need changing as the arm attached to it is different for a servo set up and the accelerator pedal doesn't even mount to the box. When I was tidying the garage ready for the mini's return I dug them out to sand and prime. That was as far as I could go ... someone may have picked up the stone chip paint instead of the gloss black paint from Malcolm s work shop, sigh. Oh, these peddles where bought ages ago and have just sat in a box, digging them out to prep and paint I saw 2 bolts through the accelerator  mounting plate ... that still had the captive bolts that go through the buck head. Yep the buck head that seems to have rusted away, I think the car that it came out of was in a sorry state, was a tad awkward getting them off as I had to file a flat onto the round head to get it in a vice so I could undo the nuts.

As Malcolm works away on a Monday I still don't have the paint ..... but I have been staring at the door catch that fit to the car, I might have colour coded them tonight. Not the loop that the lock latches onto, just the plate. This may bight me later, but it looks nice :)
Eeeeeek, I have just noticed. Just a couple of days ago we made it to the 5 year anniversary of owning this lemon. That said I was thinking it was at least 6 years and I did take nearly 2 years off due to an injury, so  don't think I am doing to bad :)