Most liked posts in thread: '66 Cooper S Restoration

Yep, but a lot of the remaining items will take longer to finish....something is always going to go wrong somehow, or I'll find some really important little gizmo is missing....

 

Todays work....

The tanks came back from the powder coaters and I noticed some gritty dust in the neck of the tank (I assume from being sandblasted) so I decided to rinse them out with some clean parts washing solvent. The pic shows what I got out of the tanks....I rinsed them twice and the second time they seemed pretty clean so I went ahead and installed them in the car. Bucket pic is what came out on the first rinse, second one was pretty much clean.



I got a new sender as the one from the car had no reading on the ohm meter at all when I moved the arm, I put in a new seal and clip too as I didn't get any of those parts with the car. Once both tanks were in I plumbed them up and wired up the fuel pump too. Still need to make up some vent lines but I'll need to go buy some hose from the auto parts store.

Last jobs n the back end were to install the second cable stay for the bootlid and wire the license plate light.

Back end is pretty much done. Monday I'll run down and see about a battery for it, then I can start testing some of the wiring. Dan found all the missing brackets and parts I need for the dash and he'll send them up so I can carry on with that part too.

 

This project is finally coming to and end - at least at my shop, and I know Dan will be as happy to see the tail lights going over the curb as the owner to finally get behind the wheel and drive.

Today's work....first another step backwards. I leave the doors ajar as there's no reason to latch them, and today I tried to close one and found that it was hitting the door pocket on my freshly installed seat belt reel! I was racking my brains trying to figure out an alternate mounting when the solution hit me in the head - no that was the seat.





Anyway, I found that if I just moved them down further, the door bin went right over the top of the reel and didn't impede their use at all. So, two new holes later they're done and work perfectly.





My next project was to install the heater assembly and plumb it up. First I had to make an extension of one of the rear mounting studs - they are offset to allow more room for the accelerator pedal. I didn't take any pics of it but simply welded a nut to the head of a 1" bolt....worked a treat.

Before I could mount the heater I had to make some small modifications to the carpet - cutting a hole to mount the accelerator, cutting around the foot operated dimmer switch and a few other bits. I musta had the piece of carpet in and out of there 20 times before it was all right. Once that was done, it was back to the heater.

Mounting it up is pretty easy, just locate the studs on the mounting brackets on the bulkhead, tighten the right side to pull it as far to the right as it will go, then tighten the left side too. Then you swing it up and run two screws up into their speed nuts and that part is done. After that, just tidy up the wires and make and hook up the two heater hoses. Job done. I still have a knob for the flap control coming, it was broken.


I installed one of those little breather filters on the breather and I think the engine compartment is done now too.

Two things left to do - install the new boot latch assembly after I re-key it to match the door......and one other thing has come to light. After I installed the new battery and hold down I went to tighten the negative cable to the body and the bolt just spun. So I'm going to try and drill the captive nut out and re-thread it for a 3/8 bolt....hope that works!

 

Mystery solved.....and it wasn't the exhaust!

Turns out it was the fan blades (metal fan) hitting either the shroud or the radiator.....haven't fixed it yet, but I took the two top bolts out of the shroud allowing it to move away slightly and the noise stopped.....so at least I know what it is now.

I was really dreading the idea of pulling that exhaust system off to weld up a cracked header or something....

It will be getting warmer out the next two days, so the snow will be melting off the street and I can take it for a run around the block once I solve this small issue

 

Ready to go back to Tulsa for the finish work and delivery to the customer, while I will pick up the Inno and bring it back to my shop so I can finish it too. It's really close now that Dan has got the interior done. This car is seriously quick, got a bit of torque steer right after I went around the second corner (behind the white car) and I had just breathed on the gas at that point. The carb needs someone with a rolling road and a box of Weber jets to tune this carb, it goes lean if you push it even a little and comes back into a good mix when you let off again....the wideband gauge I put in gives a good picture of what it's doing at any given moment.

But MAN is that Weber carb loud! The video doesn't really do it justice....makes it sound like Harley or something.......I may try and make another vid with the camera mounted further back in the car, on the rear window or something so the sound comes thru better and more accurate.

 

I finally finished my part of this job, I found out how to mount the dome light and now it's done. It took a bright flashlight and a mirror, then I had to carefully pull down the back edge of the front half (it's in two pieces) of the headliner bow and found where the screws went, then it was fairly easy peasy to button it up.

Next Wed one of my friends will be by with his trailer, and we'll load it up and haul ass to Tulsa, and bring back the Inno.

I'll take one more test drive now that I have the carb linkage and clutch adjustment sorted before it goes away.

 

Tanks are back from the powder coaters and look great, but it's 17*, way to cold to work in the shop today....maybe later in the week.

 

Engine is the original, and it and the transmission were rebuilt by 7 Enterprises, so it's all new. We've had the engine running in the car already...

 

Pretty close now, just some ends and odds to stitch up and it's ready to go home. Still need to sort out the horn button, I might need to order a repair kit for it - they're spendy, but if it's needed to make it work......

 

Yes, dome light....he's going to pull the head liner again so I just left the wires loose, they need a couple of bullets soldered on.

 

Success and failure......

I've been working off and on trying to get the lock in the boot latch to work....I've put about a whole can of Kroil thru it and it felt like just one of the tumblers was still stuck. The locksmith just threw up his hands and said he couldn't do anything with it. I've had English car locksets apart before so I stuck with it and today - at last! - I managed to get the lock cylinder out of the handle......sure enough, a couple of the tumblers were still stuck with corrosion, but after cleaning everything up it worked perfectly.

Then I noticed the broken part on the end of the lock cylinder - the part that actually makes the handle lock the boot! It's made from pot metal and I have no idea what it's supposed to even look like for sure, so there's no way I can make one.....I have an idea of what it should look like but again...pot metal. And it's part of the lock cylinder casting, so no hope. In the second pic you can see where something is broken off the end of the lock cylinder, in the first pic the small block is what is driven by the missing part - the block is what keeps the handle from turning and locks the latch.




So today I ordered a new boot handle assembly from MiniSpares, when it gets here I can transfer either the lock cylinder or just the tumblers into the new one and he'll still have a matching key set. A new lock is only about £12, so there's no reason not to just get the new one.

Onward and upward!

Oh, I also got the horn sorted! Toot Toot!

 

The last parts came in late today, so I got them installed and decided to see if it would run. Took a bit of persuasion but it finally fired and ran,..,..but it has a noise that I couldn't decipher from the driver's seat. I'll see if I can get Don over tomorrow to help me pinpoint it - it sounds kinda like a really bad exhaust leak but I'm just not sure. Besides, I was pretty careful when I put the exhaust back together to make sure it wouldn't have leaks - it almost sounds like a broken header....tomorrow should be a lot warmer too so I can open the garage door and give it a good run....

More as it happens!

 

It's. A. Live!

I drove the 66 Cooper S around the block a couple of times....I had to do some fettling with the accelerator linkage and managed to get it better, but it's still over- responsive to me. Also the clutch needs some further adjusting or bleeding, I'm afraid I ground 1st a couple of times...odd that it went into reverse OK tho.

Engine is very strong, Weber carb is really loud! The carb will need some tuning on the rolling road, it goes lean under load then clears out and pulls like a train.

I fixed the fan by swapping out the metal 6 blade one for a plastic 11 blade.

I took a video and up loaded it to the Tube of You, but it's unwatchable.....it works fine on my computer but it's all messed up on the Tube.

I'll have to try again.

 

Second test drive....steering wheel straightened, clutch and accelerator sorted.... speedo seems pretty accurate too. It will still need to go to someone who knows webers to sort out the carb jetting. I had to bleed the clutch AND, I found out why I was grinding going into 1st - this is a 3 synchro box! Once I stopped completely before I tried to put it into 1st, it never ground once.
Temps and oil pressure were spot on and I REALLY like the smooth a ride cones, this car rides SO much better than my 89, I'm tempted to buy a set for it.

When he gets the car back Dan is going to double check the alignment and finish up a few small details and it's ready at last to go back to the owner. I hope he enjoys it.....it's fun to drive but man is that carb loud. In this video, the bark when I downshifted was the carb, not the exhaust.....