Most liked posts in thread: Rally Mini Cooper

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh working outside is a pain in the bum, insects, skin blistering sun, monsoon rain! Now we are in the rainy season so it’s really hot and humid until around 2pm when the heavens open for around 3 hours of monsoon rain! Not good for MIG welding! Lucky for me there was an national holiday so I got an extra day to play! I got the exhaust welded up which is a Suzuki/Mini/Mustang frankenmuffler! I have twin pipes similar the Countryman. I got the dash finished, coolant pipes hooked up. All brake lines finished except for the female adapter 3/8-24 for the hydraulic hand brake. No one in CR has one so the machine shop at work is going to modify one I have. I also got the battery in the boot hooked up ready for the engine start. This was last Saturday, I cranked over the engine without spark plugs to get the oil pressure which was around 75PSI . I added the spark plugs only to fine the socket got stuck on the plug down in the hole! Lucky I had some super glue to attach the extension to the socket. The engine took forever to fire up but once it did it seemed to run fine for a few minutes with the exhaust note sounding very nice but alas the customs bastards drained the fuel tank so the engine stopped. 30PSI at idle and around 75PSI when I rev a little which seems pretty good. Problems I noticed is the temp gauge goes straight to hot, the rev counter does not work. I was thinking to go recheck all the grounds again. Any other suggestions?

Photos coming soon as the camera battery was dead this morning.

 

I ended up welding the extention to the socket! LOL I did some checking last night and found a loose plug that I didn't push in correctly so based on that I'm going to make sure there are not any other loose plugs. Engine still runs a little off but I'm sure that's just crappy fuel. I leave on Saturday so the build will continue in May aiming for the first rally in June.

 

Good or bad I'll be reporting what I've been up to to finish this project. This visit I got a lot done but on the downside I made a mistake of not fully understanding the wiring system of the Mini. In the past I've taken out all the wiring I don't need from rally cars and if only I had read the various PDF files folks have sent me before pulling out the ABS I would most likely be further along with the Mini by now. Saying that I don't go by if's and maybe's...what's done is done with the upside I will know more about my electrical system as electrics kill rally cars. What is nice is the positive support from various folks in the Mni world. Now I have 2 weeks to gather some know how on the wiring and go back fresh to finish the Mini.

 

Thanks Gizmo....thing is if anyone else decides to do what I'm doing at least they will know! I posted this a few places on MA but here's the rear end.

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Thanks UKcooper,Chuck. The seats will be the last thing going in which I hope will be next visit. Regarding the twin rear pipes I wanted something similar to the Countryman but no as open. Also I wanted the mufflers up and out the way to save them getting bashed to death and something that sounded the biz. The tail pipe surrounds I made from steel from the Suzuki hahaha, then welded bolts on to make them flush fitting, then painted them black.

 

I arrived safe and will be starting work tonight!

 

keep swimming more like! it's the rainy season which means in the evenning after work it's pissing it down, not good with electric tools and my hand tools are starting to rust. So I've not got much done in the week and the weekend I have to get up at dawn until it starts to rain at around 1pm. I'm still sorting out the wiring out that Beaner sent me. All the wires match up apart from brown/green one! which I need to check. lucky for me the Suzuki Swift under engine protection plate fits perfect to the underside of the Mini. I fabricated a frame to attach it to which is part welded and bolted to the sub frame..that's about it. slow going and frustrating. My favourite song is"singing in the rain"

 

Thanks MF. I'm back in the US with the hope I can get the ABS coded to the rest of the system. Last weekend I had 11 error codes so I have to work through them. Nothing major but the SES light is on and the engine has some missfire at idle. Could be the Autozone coil pack I fitted? yes I know now that's not the done thing for Mini's. I'm going to replace it. 2 weeks until I return. I will say Beaner has been or bean LOL a star in helping me.

 

I hope last weekend was the last of the long hours! I got the brakes bleed which was a big job as some joints leaked a little so I tightened one of them and striped the threads! Aaarrgghh so not wanting to be held up I had to fabricate a joint using what I had. So the brakes work now. I bleed the clutch, fitting all the ECU’s etc , Fitted the co-drivers foot rest and seat and tidied up that side. I was waiting for the decal guy to come for 3 months so I did some Youtube lessons and figured out how to apply my own decals! Now I need to fit the driver’s seat and tidy that side of the dash then the Mini should be ready for the technical test at the end of this week….fingers crossed. I’m hoping to get WRC 037 as the license plate.