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

Today I found where the artful bodger has been at it again, the rt inner fender had been cut and bent up to allow someone to change a clutch without pulling the engine. While a time and money saver, it makes a mess when they don't repair it correctly. Instead, they just ladled on a layer of bondo and stuck it together.......sighs.



So I cleaned off the detritus, took a cutting wheel up the slit to even it out then welded it back. This sheet metal is very thin so all you can do is weld a tiny spot then move away a few inches and do another. Eventually you connect the dots....



In this pic you can see where someone has been at it with a welder too. I'll grind those welds down and linish them back while I'm in there.



I'll put a skim coat over it and prime it and it will be structurally sound if not pretty.

However, this means I'm going to wind up painting the entire engine compartment after all.....

 

Alrighty then, DHL just delivered and it looks like everything's here at last.





Hard to believe this huge pile of stuff is all going back into my tiny little car!

 

I didn't get a lot done on Buzz today, my morning started back at school with a few end of semester wrap up meetings and some paperwork, then I headed out to my 'south 40' (it's really only about 3 acres out in the country) to mow the ass high grass which took twice as long as normal. When it gets that tall it gets sorta "stalky", and sometimes I have to mow over it two or even three times from different directions to get it all cut, and of course it was really thick, so I had to mow over the clippings so they wouldn't kill the grass under them. Took all morning and most of the afternoon too....

I did get a little more sanding done in the engine compartment, and I replaced the rusted out headlight panel. I so want to get this part of the project done so I can start putting things back into the car instead of taking them off....paint and body work has never been my strong suit.

Obligatory pics....

 

Ha! Sure, just write me a check......a BIG check.......:biggrin5:

Well, another day working on Buzz, another setback. Today I was assembling the suspension to the front subframe. I took one of the upper control arms apart so I could clean and repack the needle bearings and they just fell out - no, they're not supposed to do that......they're also not supposed to be broken and rusty like some of these are either.....



The shaft was completely knackered too....as expected once I saw the bearings.



So, more parts to be ordered in the am. Too bad too, as it was really coming together today.



I guess I'll move on to the transmission while I wait for parts - they won't be here till Friday or Sat if I'm lucky, next week if I'm not.

 

Well, as it turned out, it was just a matter of pushing this while pulling that and holding my mouth just right and it came free, so on to the rest.....

I had modified the bearing retainer to fit the bigger pinion gear, and I had to do a little fine tuning this am, but once that's done it's time to tighten the pinion retaining nut - to 100 ft lbs!

The only way to get the shaft to hold still for that is to put it in two gears at once which locks both shafts together - it's the common way to do this and I've done it many times over the years in many different transmissions. However, this AM I got in a little bit of a hurry and pushed the operating sleeve just a smidge too far, the result was this hole and a detent spring and ball that went whizzing past my ear to who knows where.




I figured I could spend three hours looking for it (probably unsuccessfully) or I could drive 20 min to Victoria British and buy one for less than $2. I decided the car needed gas anyway....

 

Victoria British comes thru again! That little oil seal goes in the speedo drive, and the old one was leaking - it wasn't available thru the usual Mini Parts sources but after some sleuthing I found one in the VB catalog that looked right and Viola! I'm in business! They've been a real asset for some of these bits and bobs I've needed.

 

And no one has done it that way since either......

Today after I got the seal installed in the speedo drive, I started on engine assembly. The block is all clean and ready to go, so I started by installing the rings on the pistons. It always helps to have the right tools, and in this case the ring expander is $10 worth of valuable help - I used to install rings just by catching the ends with my fingertips but after a while that starts to hurt! I've also seen guys break rings by opening them too far, and scratch the sides of pistons dragging them over to the right ring slot. The tool eliminates all those problems....





Next I had to go get a different ring compressor, as mine is just a wee bit big for these tiny little pistons....



Once again, having the right tool makes everything so much easier.



Next, I unwrapped and cleaned the lifters, in this engine since it doesn't have the side covers, you put them in from the bottom. These had a thick coating of cosmoline on them like they'd been in the warehouse for 50 years or so, but once clean they look perfect. I also set the main bearings into the block and installed the cam...(although it's not in this pic)



Next were the rod bearings, and that's where things came to a screeching halt. The rod bearings I bought up at Victoria British are .20 under 1275 bearings alright, but they're for a 1275 Sprite. Mine has the uprated crank, which has 1.75" rod journals instead of the 1.675" ones on the earlier cars and Spridgets.

I found a set at 7 Enterprises and they're on the way now, but that stopped me today - at least as far as the block is concerned. I'm planning to match the ports in the head to the manifolds and I still have some cleaning and painting of parts to do so I'll carry on, but I was soooo wanting to get the block put together today. Oh well......

 

No, I thought all I was going to do was routine maintenance and a little fiddling here and there to get rid of the buzzes and rattles.

Oh well.......:mad2:

One interesting thing happened today, I was leaning over the engine supporting myself by putting my hand over one of the cylinders while I rotated the engine with a wrench to make sure everything was turning feely, it like to sucked the skin off my hand! I think the new rings are going to seal well!

 

I'm really counting on it having more than it did, it was one weak sister time I got home with it....of course, with the 2:76 gears it may feel like I'm starting uphill from every stop, won't know till I drive it.

Got the head all done tonight, porting done and the new valve springs installed.

You would not believe what the auto parts stores lend out as a valve compressor now - I've never seen such a cheaply made POS, and on top of that there's no way it will work with the tiny little valves and springs in a modern 4 valve head - I have no idea what it does fit, but nothing I work on that's for sure.

I cobbled something together using some bits and bobs I had laying around the shop and a big assed C-Clamp. It worked, but it was a handful!

I may stop for tonight, I'm beat......but I feel like I'm making progress at last.

Edit: found a pic of the idiot thing.....



Instead of one of these that I've used successfully since the '50's

 

After finishing the head, next I locktited the head studs down and set the head gasket and head on the block.





The next thing to install would be the rocker assy itself, it slides down over the taller studs, but first I needed to take it apart and replace the original stamped steel rockers with the forged units used on the Cooper S. It's a little complex so I laid it out as I took it apart....once apart I found the shaft worn badly, so I had to stop for tonight. Tomorrow I'll pick up a new shaft from Victoria British and carry on......







I'm glad the head isn't bolted down yet, as looking at these pics reminded me I forgot something important. There's a bypass hose that goes between the bottom of the head and the water pump - I have a new one to install but forgot to put it on - it's almost impossible to put it in there once the head's on without removing it or the water pump!

 

We have the same weather.....I'm glad I still have clean, painted pieces ready to go back on so I can keep moving forward. Need to go get the shaft right now......



:biggrin5:

 

I thought my foray into body work and paint turned out OK, but it took a while to get there, that's for sure.

DaveO, nothing more frustrating that to get to the last step and realize you have to start over.....but the next time you'll do it better no doubt, and it will look great!

Yesterday I took a ''mental health" day and spent the day on honey-do's and such, mowing foot tall grass (jeez, it's only been a week since I last mowed it!), cleaning out the gutters and taking the dogs for walks.

Today I'm back at it again, I'll button up all the suspension bits that I can and get the subframe ready for the motor. I also have to do some more wiring, remount the electric fuel pump and wire it and so on......I also fixed a ground cable, the ends were barely crimped on and taped over, I re-crimped them tightly and used some shrink tape, cleaned the paint off the body where it lands and now it will make a solid connection. Lots of little stuff like that still to do......it all takes time too.

Still on target depending on how long it takes the machine shop to ream me.............I mean the rocker bushings and get them back to me.