Most liked posts in thread: MINI Max has a new little brother, Buzz

DHL showed up with a box of parts shortly after the springs arrived, but I was a little disheartened when I saw the size of the box, as I knew everything I'd ordered couldn't be in there. The courier sad he didn't have anything else in the system for me, so I went ahead and opened it up - sure enough only about 1/2 of my order. I sent an email off to Mike at MiniSport and after doing some checking he figured out what happened - half the email had been cut off and not sent in.

He's going to get the lads on the rest of the order and get it out to me as quickly as possible but being a weekend I won't expect to see anything till mid-week, and he's going to eat the shipping. Good guys at MiniSport!

I did get the steering rack re-assembled. Some new rack boots, some grease, new tie rod end boots and a little fresh paint and it's ready to go back in the car. I also got the steering column drop bracket installed....



Oh. and I heard back from Hastings Rings too, they said those are the latest version and are the correct current rings they make for this engine, so I'm going to go ahead and put them on the pistons.

 

I've been working on getting the firewall cleaned up and painted......I was going to just paint it black as I didn't think I'd ever get a paint matched, and my premonitions were correct as it turned out. I took the hood up to the local automotive paint shop and the guy used the scanner on it, the first pint I took home was just awful, so I took it back and he tried again - in the paint shop it seemed to match the hood spot on, but once on the firewall - eh, not so much. however, most of it will be either hidden behind the engine or under the new firewall insulation, so I think I'll be OK with it. it certainly looks better than it did!

Before......


Primered....


First coat of remixed color....


I have one more coat of color to put on, and then I'm calling it good enough, I'm not trying to build a showcar here, just a nice clean functioning Mini...to that end, on to the next little project.....

 

I had to laugh when I saw the first one of those Mercedes single arm wipers - it's a brilliant concept, it covers so much more of the windshield than if it just swept, but I have to say it sure resembles someone pleasuring themselves!

:biggrin5::biggrin5::biggrin5::biggrin5:

 

I think that's the main motivation for the design, it was used in a lot of English cars of the era, it's simple and cheap to build, and by using longer or shorter tubes and cables you can configure it for any width car. My E-Type uses the exact same system, and it has three wiper arms......they just added another wheelhouse in the middle.

 

Ha!

Today the rack goes back in at last, I already installed the steering wheel drop bracket....then it will be more cleaning and painting and wiring repair in anticipation of the rest of my parts arriving sometime mid-next week.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to receive my red rubber grease (I wonder if anyone here knows what that is?) so I can carry on rebuilding the master cylinders and clutch slave.... (that should be a big enough hint!) :biggrin5:

I had to go to Ebay to find some as no one at any parts houses here seemed to know what I was talking about - even one of the "old guys" at NAPA didn't know what it is, and those guys generally know all the old stuff.

I'm headed down to Home Depot this AM to buy a couple more light fixtures so I can mount them right over the engine compartment - with as much lighting as I've added to my shop, that's the one spot that seems dark. See how much darker it is over the hood of the Jag in this pic? OTOH, a light right over the hood doesn't help unless you take the hood off, as it blocks all the light when it's open!

 

Unlikely......I still have SOOOOOO much to do......

But, today was a landmark day, I actually got to put something back on the Mini! I reinstalled the steering rack, and I also installed the steering column drop bracket - the two jobs sorta go hand in hand as you have to rotate the rack to match the new angle of the steering column. The drop bracket allows you to lower the wheel so it's not such a bus-like driving position. I've also been spending time fixing and rerouting wiring, but I'll wait till the engines in to show pics of that, not much to see at this point. I got an email today that the rest of my parts order should be here on Monday - Yay!

 

Wow! That is too much bling for me, my E-Type looks nothing like that......