Most liked posts in thread: So, Today This Happened.....

Sorry, should have updated this....been busy working on other projects, including visiting my newborn great grandson, spent a week running the hill country around San Antonio with my classic Mini buds, went to see the race engine I built run an event, then finished up two Sprite transmissions and been finishing up the engine for the 998 Pup......so, not much!

I put the green car on the back burner while I finished up these other projects. I also have yet another Mini engine and transmission to rebuild this summer, and a guy wants to send me a TR6 motor to rebuild too - I told him not till fall - he wasn't happy about that but agreed to wait. He may send it on out anyway.....

still working on rehabbing my knee - it's been a long slow process but it's getting there.....still a long ways to go before it feels "normal" again

 

Sunny and warm this morning, so I took the green Mini for a good run, with some highway miles as well as stop/go town driving.

1st, it does have the 3-1 diff based on revs at highway speed, and I like it much better than the 3:44-1 that was in it before, it's just more relaxed and yet still plenty easy to drive in town.

I also found the speedo is pretty accurate now - although a little optimistic much like it's younger BMW built brother. 74 is 71-72, so just about 2 mph fast - good enough that I can drive it without the Garmin now. Before it was wildly off....10-15 mpg slow!

The death wobble is still there, much to my continued disappointment and inability to fathom exactly WHAT is causing it. I've been thru the entire front end, every thing is new - and I do mean everything - I've swapped tires and wheels from another car - I just can't figure it.....it doesn't seem as bad as before, but that could just be my imagination or wanting/willing it to be better. But I don't think it really is.

Engine performance is hard to quantify - I don't think it's as strong as the engine I took out, but I have no info on that motor, for all I know it's got a cam and some high compression pistons in it or had some head work done, but this one runs exactly like a stock 1275 - which it is. Torquey, doesn't like to rev much over 5500 and so on.

So, I now have a running, driving Mini that doesn't leak oil and doesn't smoke and with a quiet transmichigan - if I can fix the squeaks and rattles, I'll be in good shape for the summer season.

I do need to get an alignment done tho

 

Well, the RG has developed a nasty oil leak on the left side, the only thing there that can leak is the crank oil seal, and I put a new one in before I put the engine in the car. <sighs> I can fix that in the car OK, but it's not fun, have to pull the radiator to get to it.

It also smokes pretty good on cold start up, I have a stock 1275 12G940 cylinder head already built up, I'm thinking to go ahead and swap that on too while I'm at it to see if that cures the issue (worn valve guides or bad stem seals - or both). If it does and I get the oil leak cured I'll just drive it for a while and see how it goes.

We have a local car show I'm already entered so I need to get this all done before June 12th. Should be doable......

I think I'll go ahead and rebuild the engine and transmission that came out of it, then at some point when I'm feeling energetic - or if the 2nd gear grunch is bothering me enough - then I'll swap them out.

 

So I was very disappointed to see the oil puddle under the car after doing all the work on it, so today since the Moke I've been working on was off the rack I put the Green Mini on and raised it up. Found the leaks were NOT from the front oil seal after all, but the pipe going into the oil filter housing was leaking for sure. Today DHL delivered my latest spares order (today? on a holiday?) and I had the new seals in that order so I changed them out and that fixed one leak.....

Yes, one.....

The other one is coming from the left axle seal. I thought I had changed them but remembered I was out of those seals when I went to fit the engine back in the car. I have new ones now but of course it's a boatload more work to change one now, as I not only have to drain the fresh new engine oil but disassemble the suspension so I can get the axle out of the transmission. And there's no way I would just change the one and not the other side too......

So I started it up and ran it for a bit to make sure the oil filter pipe wasn't leaking anymore (it's not) and I'll check in the morning to see how big a puddle is under from the axle seal.

More as it happens.

 

Went for a pretty long drive today including some highway speeds and then city, car runs really well although down on power from the old engine. It idles better and has much better oil pressure and starts easily - all things the old engine didn't. Also, no exhaust smell in the car and no oil drops when I stopped.

Still puts out a pretty good oil smoke cloud when first started, but the guy following me said it doesn't smoke at all when driving, so I'm thinking some worn guides or stem seals. I have another head ready to go on it so I'll do that after the car show this weekend.

I was going to go to Blackhawk farms with it the following weekend but it's going to be in the 90's, so I'll stay home in my air conditioned garage and work instead.

Oh, the steering wobble seems much better now that I've done some miles in it - no idea why!

 

Just about ready to drop the vanilla ice cream engine in the green Mini, got it all stripped down so I could put it in from the top when I found this......



This is right where the bulkhead meets the floor and the subframe attaches.

This is what it looks like from inside the car





So today I dropped the subby out so I could more easily get to it and weld in a patch. I also pulled out all the carpeting in the interior so I could remove the sound deadening. I'll take my wire brush in my angle grinder to it and see just how extensive a patch I need to make and how far I have to cut back to get to good metal. Someone has jacked the car up with the floor pans and really bent them upward near the flitch panels, I think that cracked the sealer and allowed the water to get in and rust this section out, cause the rest of the floors and sills are fine.



The left side has a little crustiness but nothing like this crack and split. I'll bang the floor back down where it's supposed to be and maybe put some seam sealer and POR15 over it, but I don't think I'll have to weld a patch on the left side.

Once the subby was out I saw I had a torn steering rack boot too.....

 

So, I made a hole!





Still have to clean off all the paint and sealer around the edges so I can weld in the patch. I also need to make up the patch. I did make a CAD template tho.....

 

A while back I bought a pair of Subaru WRX seats, the Mini seats just aren't comfortable for the long drives that I frequently do in this car, and I'm planning to drive it rather than tow it to the upcoming Mini drive events like the CMU event in April in Virginia.....that's a 2K round trip plus the miles we drive while there.

I had to compromise on the seat mounts because the companion bins in the rear limit how far the seat can move back - I like to stretch my legs out on a long drive and couldn't get comfortable - so I decided to do what had to be done to make these work. I had been looking for some Miata seats as they fit in without having to modify the interior but couldn't find any in good condition for a decent price, so when these showed up on CL I bought them. They are pretty comfy and have great side bolsters, but they are a little large for this small of a car....

The left seat also has a height adjustment as well as fore-aft and backrest angle, so I figured I could just mount it directly to the floor and use the adjusters. To do that the companion bin had to come out, and that was further complicated by the fact that the seatbelt reel mounts inside the companion bin too. On top of that, the reel mounts perpendicular to the door, to make this work I would need to mount it parallel, so I would need to make a bracket, and it would have to be right against the quarter panel in order to make enough clearance for the seat to slide back where I wanted it. Plus too and also, the seat mounting brackets for a Subaru would not work in a Mini - so I had to cut those off and make my own.





One thing I did that made this easier was to buy a SWAG table for my hand held Milwaukee band saw....this makes it a bench mount and a whole lot easier way to cut out small bits to weld up into the mounts.



I didn't take a lot of pics of the process, but it did take 3 tries to make a bracket for the belt that actually worked....just like on Binky, they don't show all the ones they made that didn't work!

I saved the piece of the companion bin that I cut out, so in theory it could get welded back in if I sell this car someday and the buyer wants to put it back to original.

The seat belt reels have to be straight up vertical too, if you angle them more than a few degrees they just lock up.

All done now, and solid. The seat slides easily and I can operate the handles on the side for height and backrest angle even with the door closed. With the seat slid all the way back to where it touches the rear seat cushion, I can stretch my legs out straight far enough that I can't even touch the pedals!

 

So, I've made a patch and started welding it in.....just a few tacks to hold it in place. The metal is pretty thin even tho I cut back to good metal, I'm having to use pretty low power to keep from burning thru. still, even with just these tacks in place the floor feels really strong again. I'll go ahead and finish welding it in then grind down the welds, paint, seal and undercoat the side that faces the road.



Once that's done I can put the rest of the interior together again. I've also fixed the rattling door on the heater - I was surprised to find that the core has been replaced already, I fully expected to be buying a new one. All it took to fix the door was some new foam glued in place, now it's nice and quiet again......that rattle was driving me nuts - tho not badly enough to fix it I guess, as it's been doing that for over 5 years now!

Putting the interior back is a lot of work too as I took out all of the sound deadening, removed the back seat and have cleaned everything thoroughly. It wasn't bad, just dusty. I also removed the wires that ran to the speakers on the rear parcel shelf - I don't have a radio in this car and the wires were just in the way.

I'm half debating on taking the rear seat belts out too - I doubt they're any good at 32 years old - the webbing can't be safe anymore. I'll box them up and save them for the next owner.

 

I've owned this car for 5 years and all along I thought it was a German export model - left hand drive, the lic plate surround had the name of a German repair shop (wish I had kept that), the arches are not found anywhere that I can find except that I saw the exact same ones on a car owned by a guy in Germany and so on, and I never even noticed this sticker till just now!

What it says is basically read the owner's manual (which I didn't get with the car) before adding or using any accessories.....whatever that means!

 

Work continues.....

I took advantage of the almost 70* temps to tear down and clean the front calipers - I knew they needed rebuilding but have managed to put it off.....

When I got them split and the pistons out it was clear just how bad they were! The chrome was peeling off the pistons and they were stuck but good. It surprised me that the pads weren't worn worse - at least on one side - but they were pretty even.





I have all new stainless-steel pistons, new seal kits, hoses and all the washers and assorted hardware to completely make them like new again. I also have a new set of rotors to go on.



Today I got as far as cleaning them thoroughly, wire brushing them and a couple coats of paint.....

Once the brakes are all done all I have left to do to the subframe is clean it and maybe touch up some paint here and there, then it's ready to have to motor put in and installed in the car.

I also need to go ahead and put the interior all back together - I only have one more part I need to find - and I know I have one - and that's a drop bracket for the steering column. I don't usually use these but being able to move the seats back means it might be more comfortable with one - who knows? I'll probably wind up taking it back off again.....

 

Calipers all cleaned up and ready to re-assemble....

 

Why does it seem to take so much longer to put things back together than to take them apart?

Interior going back together.....

 

Got a little more done....



Undecided about installing starter, alternator and some other bits before putting it in the car, I know the factory put them in with the carb, radiator and everything already bolted on, but I like having some extra room to maneuver it around as it goes in.

 

The color choice (more of a cream than white) is because I was tired of all the usual colors - red, black, mowog green, yellow etc and I didn't want something weird like purple or orange. I also wanted it to go OK with the green car.....and my engines don't leak!

 

Yes, but I would have to pull the engine back out - well, it might be possible to do it in the car, but very difficult....

I'll just use my Garmin, I usually do anyway....

A little better size comparison....



After driving the classic (it's pretty much my daily anymore) the blue MINI always feels huge!

 

Especially when there are 7 of them attached to one part, and in close proximity to each other!

Soooo close, but no joy.....the big end with the o-ring on it fits into a plastic pipe, and I cannot get it out - so I'm letting it "soak" for tonight, tomorrow when I'm rested I'll give it another go.

The issue is I don't want to damage or break that plastic pipe, I figure changing that is practically an engine out job!

I'm kidding, but I'll bet it goes into the back of the water pump housing which I can't even see right now!

 

Well, I got it out at last - not without a real fight!

Now all I have to do is get the new one in - back to it tomorrow.....

 

Oh the joys of working on modern cars......

So, I ordered the new air intake boot and it came in today and it looks perfect. I'll have to switch over a couple of fittings but it will work and was about 1/3 what the dealer wanted. Of course they and every other dealer in the US had them on backorder.....

However............

After I got it running again and in the process of getting the air bubbles worked out, I noticed it was pissing water all over the floor again, this time from the passenger side of the engine!

It got really cold (low single digits) so I just had to let it set for a while, today we're in the 30's so I warmed up the shop and started trying to figure out where the hell the water was coming from - all the while I had a bad feeling......and I was right.

In trying to get the thermostat out of the crosspipe, I pulled the pipe out of the back of the water pump, it was easy enough to push it back in and as I installed the thermostat I could just see that it was all in place. However, when it was pulled out of the back of the water pump, unbeknownst to me, it had peeled the o-ring off the end of the pipe - when I shoved it back in place it had no o-ring, and the water pissed out when it ran. To repair it requires removing the thermostat again, so I can pull that pipe out and re-install the o-ring. You can't see any of this when you're putting it together, and I only know that's what happened because I found the o-ring today lying loose on the engine.

Jeez louise!

I tried to buy a new o-ring from the dealer, they don't stock it, BUT they do carry the cross pipe which has the new o-ring on it - the o-ring itself is $4, the plastic pipe is $90!

I went ahead and bought the pipe, just in case. The old o-ring looks and feels fine, but the wife pointed out - do I want to do the job a third time if I reuse it and it fails?

So, I'm in the process of tearing it all back apart again, but hopefully this time it will all be good to go. I'm leaving next Thursday for Texas, so I need to drive it and make sure all is good before I head out on that long of a trip.

In this pic, right where there is a bright spot from the flashlight you can just see the curve of the o-ring, where I found it today.



Second pic is where it goes on the crosspipe, third is the new pipe

 

Yes, I use silicone grease on all sorts of stuff - for example, it really makes getting tight radiator hoses back on or off again when needed. It also is a good thing to keep water out of electrical connections. Good stuff, I've been using it since the early 70's.....