A little more

 Bits and bobs was on the agenda.

As the boot lid was getting close to instillation I thought changing the boot lock was a good idea. Obviously that meant I had to clean and buff the handle till it was gleaming and set about stripping it to change the barrel. Having watched a YouTube video to make sure there wasn't any quirky bits that would catch me out... It's a mini, of course it's quirky! A sort of circlip holds most of it together and a sneaky tiny locking pin needed to be drifted out. Then just out in the key and use that to draw the lock out. Sounds easy, lol. The circlip and pin where easy but not having a key slowed me up. So it was brute force/wack a screwdriver in it and turn/pull. 

I might have installed the handle upside down (the key was upside down) the first time, I sucked it in and re fitted it having wresteled with "can be arsed, is it really going to matter" and the fixing bolts where a bit taxing. Would only bug me latter!

With that done I found the other boot strap fitted that and set about bolting on the boot lid, it linned up ok which was a surprise but all nipped up my word it was a bit tight to close. It's a new boot seal which do bed in so we will see if I need to add another gasket on the hinge to ease closing or it beds in. I already have a spare pair so no big drama.

Bulbs.... Owww!! So the mini is old, bulbs have improved, and become a pain. Orange indicator bulbs are just simple standard bulbs.... Nope new ones have off set pins and I need parallel pins. Eventually found the right bulb code and bought some, argh, that's the rear lights finished. Front side lights... Same problem with the pins! I had only just exchanged the indicator bulbs at Halfords that morning for petrol resistant lacquer to do the inside of the boot lid before it was fitted. Yep I have spare bulbs for the, more modern, daily car now! 

A few days ago it was time to stop putting off the fog light switch. Made in 1980 it was not required to have one but five years later they made it law and back dated it for cars made upto five years prior. This meant the wiring loom does not have the wiring to the switch but I had installed a new rear loom so I had wires... Just no where to put them. The brake test switch which is often not used or hidden behind the dash has been sized up to supply power and light to the switch. The theory is good, I really do want to get some power on the car and check the multiple tweaks I've done have all panned out ok. Watch this space.

While I was on that the discoloured switches bugged me. I quickly found that cleaning did next to nothing but a rub with my nails took the grey white discoloured coating off, not the quickest way but a nice result. Especially as I have been told by many the new switches are simply shocking and don't last so refreshed old ones is much better. Happy with that, re use and save a few pennies is always good.

Jumping back a bit, I knew the squirties would be coming up so I dug the screen wash bottle out. Yuk, dirty! Now would be the easiest time to clean. Had to use a few poky tools to get the inside corners and a Stanley blade to gently remove a odd burnt bit on the bottle. It looked almost exactly like my spare, I was pleased with the result. Still don't want to fit it till I sort out the new pipes for it but it's good to go and a easy install.

I have now moved on to the front suspension/hubs while I wait to fix my daily car and know I have the money to buy the latest round of parts holding up some of the current jobs.

One calliper and stone gaurd is off, that calliper is cleaned up. The other one is being stubborn and I may have smashed my finger quite well trying to remove it. That's why I'm doing this instead of getting dirty, badly brushed bone means not enough grip and I'm also sporting quite a few cuts. Keeping the hands clean tonight!

The stone gaurds are 2 parts held together with a Phillips bolt and crappy nut. Really? In a place that gets caked in water lots. Well done. Mole grips and undid them quickly so the boot would shear. It was a 10mm nut so the metric replacement I was going to fit won't be out of place. Do I really need to say, the stone shield I have off is already sat next to the sand blasting cabinet waiting to be cleaned up.

As these where donated to the cores and have been sat up for at least ten years, a full service kit was always going to be needed. Seeing the pad springs fall in half just confirmed that idea.

I have private work to do this weekend so not expecting to much progress for the rest of this week. But may get a chance to remove the front cones to replace and out the hi lows in as well. We will see.

Slowly does it

 As you may guess, it's been slow going. Been really busy with other projects and life, leaving little time for marmite. 

After a few subtle improvements to the tank bracket and its location. The tank is fixed in with fuel and vent pipes fitted, both boot straps are fitted, rubber seal cut to length and fitted, also the hinges are fitted to the car. 

Today I did get a spare bootlid to rob the latch, handle and all the bolts. Another stint of spit and polish/paint on those done

Technically we should be good to go and able to fit the boot lid once I have changed the boot lock barrel. That will pretty much be the back half of the car finished!

A while back the paint hanging tree (bird feeder) was in use while I colour coded the door hinges, getting the doors a bit closer to the assembly.

Other things getting closer. Removed the rear light lense to swop the inductor bulbs for the orange hasn't flaked off these bulbs. Saved the old ones by putting the in the front indicators as the have orange lenses 😉

Also bought some side light bulbs, a quick bulb stint soon and all the lenses can go on for the last time. By the way the front indicators/side light are fitted and the headlights. All wired up as well.

Finished the re furb on the windscreen wipers, with a bit of a fight there are installed and plugged in. 

I started to complete the screen washers but the pipes are past their best and the bottle needed a clean. It has come up nice though so worth it. Will add a picture in the next couple of days.

Slow but progress is being made and more close to done, just need to get over  unabtainable brackets to mount the switch panel then I can move to the front end.

Boot work

 To get a few parts fitted and safe I decided the tank was long overdue. It was held up a lot by other jobs being done before it could go in. But they are done and it is hard to describe how annoying the tank has been just laying around. Well massively and constantly just in the way. I have lost count of how many times I have painted it, because I wasn't happy or I'd just scratched it again.

On the latest stint of paint the tank again I was not happy with the metal tank strap. Yep it got ground back to metal and painted. It just looked bad against the nicely painted tank and the paint was out any way. 

All of this led to a desperate need for the bottom bracket for the strap around the tank to bolt to. I was told it could be bought and was expecting a little bit of welding it to the boot floor. Well I couldn't find it any where, so I made my own. Much smaller but much stronger. 45 mm x 5 mm thick angle cut, drilled and edges eased. Sounds easy, but I might have over heated the captive nut I welded onto it, but my neighbour had a m8 tap and corrected that. I also had to go visit Emma and double check her mini to work out the exact location for the bracket. There was just no reference point I.could find for it and having moved the neck, I really wanted to double check this.

To mount the bracket I decided on just drilling through the boot floor and fix it with just a nut and bolt with a nice penny washer. Until the hole lined up with the side quarter bottom valence, yep the enclosed quarter section. A day later I had the rivnut set and was back on track. So at present the tank is in the final position, with padding under it on the boot floor and the strap round it waiting for a longer bolt to do the final fixing. Even put a boot strap on as well.

I do try to save time occasionally, and the black paint was out doing the tank. The windscreen wiper is another item that always seemed to.be.in the way. A replacement wheel box had arrived and it was looking like that could be finished. The plastic motor cover I picked up wasn't looking so appealing any more so the partially black painted motor was sanded back and painted. The wheel box was removed and all parts got a good clean then grease before re assembly. The original wheel box took quite a bit of cleaning, getting the gunk out from behind the main cog was slow work and a lot of wd 40. But with a  careful poke to get the soaked cloth behind it was turning nicely.

I ran out of time and motivation tonight to install this last part but the motor has been.tested now, so a little patience and it will be finished soon.