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

Yes, but when you've been doing this as long as I have you expect it to - I'm glad I was not disappointed. When you get older you start second-guessing whether or not you did things correctly or forgot something really important that will come back to bite you later......so far so good.

I'm concerned that I can't get brake fluid out of the back bleeders - the one component I did not overhaul was the brake proportioning valve. I don't know if it's just stuck or if I'm somehow not following the correct bleed procedure. The book mentions on some cars you have to bleed both the front and rear on one side at the same time - I've tried it that way too with no success.

Today I'll run the engine in and get it up to temp......break in the cam and then shut it off so I can re-torque the head and re-adjust the valves tomorrow. If I have brakes by then, it will be time for a test drive - I'm curious to see how the new taller gears are going to feel.

 

Today I finished up all the misc odd bits of wiring that needed sorting.....I only have one lead left to run, from whatever switch I deem for the driving lites, then add a few tie wraps here and there to neaten things up and she's done.

Got the antifreeze in today and thank god, it hasn't leaked a drop......I was a little concerned about the radiator, I thought I saw a spot where it might have been seeping, but so far so good. I don't have time for any major headaches before I leave for Mini Meet East in 10 days.

But - I still have an issue with the brakes, I don't know if it's the proportioning valve (I'm betting it is) or something else - but I need to figure it out quick. I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve to try before I break out the credit card and overnight one here on Monday.

 

I have to wonder how long it had been rattling around in there?

Today I'm going to work on the brakes till I either fix them, or find out what the problem is so I can get parts on the way. I mean, they worked perfectly before, and all I did was clean and paint. I did overhaul the master cylinders, but they were in pretty good shape, all I did was renew the rubbers and clean things up. The fronts pumped right up, the issue is I can't get fluid to the rear, so whether I have a massive air bubble somewhere, or the pressure regulator is not letting the fluid back there.....gonna hafta find out why. :confused5:

 

Well, looks like I found the problem with the fog lite. I was running a new wire thru the dash to power up the sockets for my Garmin and cell phone when I looked at the switch for the heater blower - which also doesn't work - and now I think I know why - the wires that are plugged into that switch are the same color as the ones for the fog light - and not the right ones for the blower motor. And, the switch was on......

Sheesh, I've never seen such a hodge podge of poor wiring done to a car. I'm sure there are worse out their in the world but this thing is just nutso!

On top of that, the engine wouldn't start tonight - like it was locked up. I pulled the plugs and cranked it over and shot gasoline all over the shop - it was hydrolocked. I dried out the plugs and put them back in and it started but wouldn't run up, then after a few moments it died again. I put my fuel pressure gauge on and tried to start it - nuttin - no fuel pressure. Brand new fuel pump - 2nd one - worked fine a couple of days ago. It's going back to O'Reilys and I think I'm going to buy a mechanical pump like the car came with.

Can.not.get.a.break.

 

Thanks for the clarification there, Holmes....

I got started on the new mechanical temp gauge installation and got sidetracked looking for the source of the terrible dash rattle I still have and the reason the speedo wasn't working - found both!

When I pulled the wood off to drill the hole for the gauge I also pulled out the cluster, where I found a clip missing that holds the speedo cable into the instrument, I'm going to have to engineer something for that as I can't find any reference to a clip in any of my parts sources. Why this doesn't simply use the threaded nut like every other speedo cable in the world I have no idea....



I also found that the plastic instrument cover wasn't even attached to the cluster anymore, and taking that apart I found that one of the plastic bezels was loose in the binnacle too. Fixing that required some squeeze clamps and some epoxy, but at least THAT won't buzz anymore. It will also allow the wood cover to fit correctly, although I did have to ease the edges of the wood trim a bit so it would fit the binnacle better.



I also had to remove the clips and reinstall them in the cluster so I could reconnect the two pieces - that required removing some security screws - fortunately I have a complete set of those bits - I replaced them with good old Phillips heads!

I got a good tight fit on the gauge in the wood dash, but I may swap locations between this temp gauge and the tach - it would make the tach a whole lot more readable and also make running the capillary tube out to the cylinder head easier too. But - that will require redoing the wiring connector I made the last time I had the dash out - it's always sumthin, isn't it?





And I may have found the last big dash rattle/buzz at last - after removing all of the instruments and wood covers, I was pounding my fist lightly on top of the dash looking for the last big noise -- turns out it's the ash tray! It's loose, but somehow still held in the dash - I'll bet once I get it out I find more broken plastic tabs so I'll have to engineer a solution for that too, but it will be so great to get rid of all these terrible noises!

So, once I get everything back together again, it will be time for a good run down the highway to see what the real temp numbers are, once I have that I'll know what to do next. Of course, we're supposed to get a cold front thru in the next couple of days, so my drive might have to wait for the weekend and hot weather to come back.

Today I located a good deal on a cruise control from one of the folks I met at the Mini meet in Milwaukee last week - hope we can make a deal as I'd love to have that for Buzz. They stopped making aftermarket universal cruise control kits in the 90's when cruise became almost standard equipment and car mfrs started using OBDII, as the new kits all access the throttle thru the OBD port. You can still buy them of course, but they don't work on old cars like Buzz. I did find some built for the hot rod guys, but they are massively spendy! I've installed these kits on everything from Minis to Porsche 914's, they work a treat and make long trips so much easier on my poor old knees.....hope I get this one!

 

Good question!

I'm thinking I'll probably still call him Buzz, cause he'll be buzzing around....:biggrin5:

 

YBR, the pump was new, the rad was cleaned out and flowed just fine before I put everything back together. I tried to buy an aluminum rad from one of the usual suppliers but they said I already had the "supercool" radiator and an aluminum one wouldn't cool any better. What I don't know is if I have the later style pump with the deeper impeller. I'm still running it, trying to get more miles on it - and I put a mechanical gauge on it so I could really keep and eye on the temps, so far I haven't let it get over 200* on the hottest day, but I'd rather it ran about 185-190, and that it would do it consistently.

Today I fixed the outer CV boot clamp. The new boot kits came with nylon tie straps, but the end hits the bearing housing, so I tried two different metal clamps but could not get it to tighten correctly and in driving it worked it's way off, throwing grease everywhere. They were originally held on with wire, so I went back old skool on it and used SS safety wire. That sucker's not coming off now!

 

Don, the problem sort of took care of itself, the weather cooled off substantially!

The short answer is no, I've been concentrating on getting it reliable and sorting out the driveability issues......with the idea that once the brakes, suspension and so on are sorted and I'm confident in it's reliability, then I can see about the temp thing. There have been times when it seems to run just fine, and others when it would spike up, but the common denominator when it does is high ambient temps.

I have another Classic Mini Fun Run planned for early November, we're going to run northwest Arkansas roads this time and by then the weather should be plenty cool - enough so that I'll probably put in my winter thermostat. I'm also waiting for a new heater valve, mine leaks so I blocked it off and I don't want to open the cooling system again till I have everything I need parts wise. I have Buzz entered in an All British show the end of this month and it promises to be a hot weekend and a bit of a drive up there, so that will be a good test to see if it's still doing the hot thing - mind it's never overheated, it just runs hotter than I think it should..... and of course now I have an actual temperature gauge with numbers on it so I can see what it's really doing.

I will get it sorted.

I will say this, I'm pretty happy with the engine and transmission work in general - the engine is so much stronger and more drivable now, and the taller transmission gears make for much more pleasant highway running and don't seem to be an issue around town - it easily pulls 4th gear @ 35 mph, even up a mild grade. A supercharger would be nice, but I can live with it........

@Dave O, thanks!

 

Today I got the adjustable rear suspension brackets installed on Buzz. I had a heck of a time getting the old bolts out - I'd back them off a bit till they bound up, squirt a little Kroil on them, then run them back in again and let it soak, lather rinse repeat till they all came out clean, then I ran them on the wire brush and ran a die down the threads too. You can see the adjustment hole is larger in the new bracket, and it has a matching serrated outer washer to hold the adjustment.



And this is where they go, at the front outer end of the trailing arm....





This allows you to move the trailing arm vertically for camber adjustment, and horizontally for toe . Now I need to run up to school and put it on the alignment machine and get it dialed in. Winter project is to drop the rear subframe and fuel tank, get them cleaned and painted like I did the front, replace bushings, brake lines and other worn parts, then just drive it and have fun with it

 

I've seen plenty of fuel hose leaks, injector leaks and so on, but I've never seen a plastic fuel filter crack that wasn't old as the hills - not to say it couldn't happen of course as your friend found out.

But I like the see thru filters so I can tell when/if they're getting dirty. this one is only a few months old, but I bought a new one tonight and I'll see tomorrow if it does the same thing. I also like being able to see the fuel flowing thru the filter so I can tell the pump is working and it's getting gas.

Besides, it IS entertaining!

 

Well, I got the coolant back in and fired it up (started immediately - yay!) and let it warm up - the thermostat opened just as it should - started moving water at about 170* - and no leaks! Also the heater put out plenty of warm air, and I heard no rattles..... could it be that I've finally fixed all the dash rattles and vibrations? :eek6:

Even so, there are plenty around the rest of the car still to be dealt with.

I also found a small persistent oil leak that's been there since the overhaul - it was dripping right at the drain plug, but I knew it had to be coming from somewhere else - today I found the fitting for the oil pipe that runs from the block to the oil filter was slightly loose. A couple of pulls on a wrench and it looks like it's dry now!

In this pic it's the silver pipe, the fitting is just under the coil....I had thought it was coming from the braided hose below that - the one that goes to the oil pressure gauge. I'm glad to finally get it sorted....



Tomorrow I'll drive it to school and then to our club's monthly Thursday night Sonic event, if all goes well I'll do some longer runs this weekend.

 

I finished plumbing in the auxiliary cooler - just as temps went to 37* today! :roll:

I decided to follow the lead of my friends Max Nealon and Mike Guido and plumb the return water from the new core directly into the lower hose, it was easy enough to "Tee" into that line. Since that water bypasses the thermostat I needed a way to shut it off on cool days like today, so I put a ball valve inline on the hot side, which is right out of the back of the head.





These pics are of the block I made to tap the water and still allow the heater valve to work normally. I'm not 100% sure the heater valve arm is going t clear the head - I think it will - I put a straight edge across the tops of the fenders and it looks like I have about 1/2" of clearance, but if it hits I can always shorten it a bit.





I also had to make those longer studs, I could not find any of the correct thread here in town, but McMaster-Carr had some SS all thread in the right size and thread, so all I had to so was cut some pieces - looks like I made them a little bit long. Oh well.

Next job for today, make the rear legs for the Miata seat - I think I've worked out how to make them adjustable but it will take some fettling to get it right.

 

Tonight I built the rear legs for the Miata seat for Buzz. It may look simple enough but there were a lot of steps to get here. I welded a captive nut inside the tubing, then welded a flat washer on the top of the bolt head so now it should slide OK on the carpet and I can adjust for any difference in the levelness of the floor so the seat will sit square. All I have left to do is weld them to the seat runners. I'll do that in the morning and put the seat in, fill the coolant and take it for a spin.





Don's seats on his P'up used a similar arrangement but made no provision for height adjustment and the passenger seat sits a little oddly.

 

All righty then......I just drove Buzz around the block, the first time since I pulled the engine for the new clutch, built the extra cooling system and built a new seat for him....so far so good!

The clutch is definitely stronger (the old one would slip a bit on takeoff or under hard throttle) and the new seat is miles ahead in comfort.

Today it's about 60* so the cooling system isn't working too hard to keep up - since I changed so many things it will be interesting to see how it does. I put in the new rad, changed to the smaller water pump pulley, re-jetted and tuned the carb (it was rich, not lean) and have added the extra core in the front. As a test I'm going to run it with only the new rad and water pump pulley first and see what it does.....if the temp climbs I'll open the new core up half way at first, and all the way if needed (it better not need all that cooling on a day as nice as this one!)

I should know something after 50 or 100 miles this afternoon. I expect by the time we get back it will be in the low to mid 70's, temps I'm expecting on our run in Arkansas next week.

 

It will always be Buzz, but I have to say it's significantly better. The worst one was the heater core rattle I fixed recently. It still has something rattling in the rear doors, I imagine when I pull the covers off I'll find things like I did in the passenger door - loose or missing screws, parts installed incorrectly etc.

I didn't have any interference between the hood and the heater valve, so I didn't have to modify that arm on the valve.

These cars were never quiet, but I think I've made great strides in making it more civilized.

I'll know a lot more after our fun run to Arkansas in two weeks - that will combine about a 4 hour highway stretch with lots of hooning about the hills and back roads.

Over the winter I plan to drop the rear subframe and rebuild/replace/paint/clean/lube all the associated bits. I'll also drop the fuel tank and have it cleaned out and coated, then see if I can get the gauge to be a bit more accurate. As it is now, when you fill the tank it stays above the "F" for the first 75 miles, then it goes from "F" to "E" in 75 more........:crazy:

I have two more "major" projects -- I bought a cruise control kit that I'm going to install (especially since I'm planning to go to North Carolina in the Spring for Mini 56) and I want to build a rear anti-roll bar for him. As it is now, he leans pretty substantially in corners.

We'll do our 100 mile or so check ride later this afternoon and I'll report back.

 

Bout damn time! :incazzato:

 

Exactly, even on our 3 hour drive yesterday my right leg was feeling it, let alone on a long two day drive to the coast. It's going to be a challenge figuring out how to adapt the throttle opening part of the program, since the cable wraps around a drum to open the throttle rather than a straight pull. I've got a few ideas already, I just have to do a bit more studying on it first. I may wind up putting the actuator in the glovebox!

 

Nobody noticed the speedometer? :blush2:

Or the screw missing out of the steering wheel hub?

 

Actually, the speedo is a little fast, about 10 mph at the 75 I was driving.....which is the speed limit there.....