[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1jO64tuQA"]Pfitzner Performance Gearbox - How to drive a dog box - YouTube[/ame]
Mini Sport make one! Quaife 6-speed dog engagement Quaife gearkit - Cooper S 6 Speed Getrag | QKE34Z at www.minisport2.com cough cough at the cost!
That was a long 3 weeks! Finally the box is back in and so far much better than the previous box builds..hahaha partly due to I was so paranoid about something breaking I pulled all the hubs/gears apart and selected the best used parts to go back in resulting in a better shifting box. Also I really don’t like those ‘C’ clips to hold in the left side drive shaft, after some thought I made a bracket to stop the drive shaft from popping out on jumps and bumps with the potential of losing oil which might have been the cause of the diff to blow on the last rally. I’ve done a week’s driving to work etc. with no issues. I leave on Sunday and will return the weekend before the next rally of Sept 13/14 I’m bringing a 40,000 throttle body to swap over are I’m trying to swap out as many of the 130,000 mile parts as possible. I might swap the T-map too if funds allow. Being the underdog gives our team some nice surprises with a local team shirt supplier making some very nice shirts for us. We got one each for free but we can get more at $40 each or if demand is high a little less cost. I’ve got 2 orders so far. Sizes are S,M,L,XL. The bracket Sexy shirt front rear My Mini collection….I prefer the large version!
Hey, I just saw a write up of your MINI and wanted to congratulate you! I knew I recognized your build right away! Keep up the good work MINI Space - Blog - DIY MINI Race Car Wins Big: Watch An Amateur Racer Steal The Show - creative projects, competitions, events, thoughts and ideas, by MINI
Hey thanks Mr Cone! hahaha. Well folks tomorrow I'm off to CR, then the next rally is on the following Sunday. I'm jumping with energy to have the Mini ready and I hope we win. Stay tuned!
The first job was a full pressure wash to remove a 5 gallon bucket worth of mud! Just when you think you’ve modified everything to cope with the rigors of gravel rallying something else happens to schedule another re-think! I hope the gearbox woes are over so the next issue was the radiator. As we know the radiator is begging to be hit by a big rock so originally I built a metal frame to protect it. This frame last 3 rallies until the on the last rally the ultra-rough conditions highlighted the front protection needed a rethink! The black center section was completely chewed up from all the rocks so I got to think that I need something similar to what’s fitted to the front of a train..hahaha This weekend I decided to build a front bumper bottom section out of steel. Seeing as I’m cheap I looked around the place I rent in Costa Rica finding some more rusting flat steel bar which I’d used in the past to fabricate the rear strut mounts. First problem was straightening the old frame I made, I did this by dropping from a tree some bench press weighs I found in the shed on the bent area, Hahaha . Once everything was straight I eyed up what I needed to do ( I spend a lot of time just sitting there with a picture in my head of the finished product) then started cutting and welding in the metal bar. This took all day Saturday and part of Sunday morning with some stops due to the heavy rain. The new bumper adds about 25LBS more but should protect the radiator/engine/gearbox better than the previous frame. While I was at it I had to repair the plastic frame around the radiator with some sheet metal I found. One thing I didn’t realize is a radiator swap requires the front bumper removable so I fabricated some brackets to hold the cooling fan allowing easy removal of the radiator. While on the subject of the front bumper: I thought the whole removal process is time consuming so with the metal bumper I fitted the plastic bumper and aluminum as one piece which require some 1 ¼” holes drilled in the front bumper, not pretty but very functional. Now I can remove the front bumper in one go! Once I finished all the welding I painted the bare metal matt black and then fitted the bumper. All looked good with the metal sectional looking almost like the original. The next rally is on Oct 19th so we shall see hold the bumper holds up! The damage Grass and mud The bent frame This shifts the mud Working in the open has its pleasures And not so Bumper fabrication The bent radiator The finished product!
I've been a bit quiet but now I'm gearing up for rally 4 on Oct 19th. I have a new Ebay radiator, tow strap, axle bearing housing and Shop InvisaFlow Black Metal Lock-In Gutter Guard at Lowes.com gutter leaf mesh to blind rivet to the lower bumper. Before leaving CR the LSD was getting that clatter clatter noise again so I swapped the oil to Red Line Synthetic Oil - Gear Oil for Manual Transmissions - 75W90 NS GL-5 Gear Oil which seemed to help. The noise is the clutch plates breaking and gripping. Also I found a busted gearbox and some spare axles from a fellow Mini chap doing a 6 speed swap over in CA.
I thought now the Mini was pretty much sorted with maybe better suspension and a gear set for 2015. I was looking forward to a stress free few months leading up to the new year………..WRONG! After the roll my head was spinning wondering how we were going to continue this year let alone 2015. Enter MA members, CR rally folks, Helix13 and Mini to help the battered Mini return as soon as possible. The response has been amazing! I have bought parts with MA donations, the hatch I bought with CR donations and the prize sticker "old farts motering club"came from Crashton is awesome! Mini CR are helping with the quarter rear windows and some body trim, Emini parts are helping with the US end of the parts. Unfortunately being foreign person I suffer from skin tax! Which means the price for parts for me costs more than the locals! An example is a used roof was $300 but when they found out the roof was for me the price went up to $900! So from now on my co-driver handles the used part CR buying!
Man I really dislike profiteer's. They are low. Thanks to all that are helping you get back on the stages.
I have all the rear suspension stuff thanks to MA members and Helix, next week I need to figure what I need from Emini parts. The only issue I have now is the roof and getting the rear glass and roof trim into CR on time. This is being handled by Mini CR so I don't have much control over that.
on a sad note the female bird in the photo went missing leaving the poor male wandering around crying looking for her., I feed him with bread when I'm there.
there is talk of building the roof from scratch????? I thought this was Costa Rica not India! hahaha words fail me.
After 3 weeks of buying parts on Ebay (thanks to MA members) and Eminiparts for the dealer stuff I finally got to see the Mini at the weekend. Apart from some body filler on the left rear panel the mini was pretty much as I left it 3 weeks ago! Thank goodness the rally was canceled. The weekend was really hot after arriving from a chilly MA so I was sweating buckets working inside the large paint shop. First job was to repair the hole in the plastic fuel tank which I learnt form Youtube! Even the body shop guy seemed impressed that I filled the hole with nothing more than a soldering iron! Then I started on the right side rear suspension. This took most of Saturday until about 5pm as the shop was not a place I need to be when it got dark. Sunday I arrived early and finished off the suspension and brakes for the right rear. Lucky I used aluminium lateral/trailing arms as they sheared off causing no chassis damage. Seeing as the brake fluid was gone I took this opportunity to replace the 130,000mile brake/clutch master cylinder. The brake MC was easy but the clutch MC was very difficult to remove and replace. Once I had that done I bleed the brakes and left the clutch for next weekend. Also I cleaned out the interior of broken glass and mud and tried to organize the various screws and bolts laying around after the body shop guys had removed the trim etc. I know there guys are doing me a favour working on the car but their working practices and mine are so different. I bag and label stuff whereas they just throw the stuff in a pile on the floor which most likely works for them. I would post photos but the Imur site I use never works so if you chaps have another free image hosting site I can use let me know.
It's been a busy week at work so being Friday I thought I'd up date you good folks. The Mini mechanical wise is back as it was but the body work and ordering the parts from Mini CR is painfully slow. We still don't have a roof and the parts took 6 weeks to arrive only to find they didn't send the RS rear window! The other frustrating thing is I've ordered parts based on what the body shop needs only to find they have some of the parts and need other parts I didn't order...no one said this was going to be easy! Currently the Mini looks like Modfather's rat rod! Thanks Dave for the Photo bucket link.
Looking good! Are part of the 2015 calendar sales still being allocated to helping out? I'm back late to the party and missed out on donating...I hope not!