Last night I retorqued the head and reset the valve clearances - while I had the torque wrench out I checked all the lug nuts too. Drove the green Mini to breakfast this morning with the Age & Treachery Racing boys (buncha old farts!) and it ran perfectly, temp was right where it should be, didn't lose any water and started on the dime. So far so good. It's been raining off and on all day, but the rest of the week and next are supposed to be hot and dry, so I'll get some more miles on it before we leave.
Took the Racing Green on a 50 mile highway run today and it did pretty much everything perfectly - still need to cut the idle down a touch and give it a good vacuum but other than that it's ready to go. Tomorrow I'll wire up the Audi for trailer lights......then I want to hitch it up and drive around the neighborhood a bit to see how it tows with the "big car"
It's always sumthin...... I was rotating the tires and giving the Racing Green a good once over and saw this - the cup under the ball in the left front was completely broken. Fortunately I had some new ones in stock - even tho it's a PITA to change one without taking the upper control arm off. I managed to get it in tho, but I think I set the suspension height a little high, so I may have to adjust it a bit yet. I thought a quick trip around the block to set the suspension might be a good idea. All the others look fine....no idea why just this one decided to shit the bed. Don and I did a 50+ mile hiway run yesterday in 95* plus temps, both cars ran perfectly temperature wise, tho it was pretty hard on us! I also got "spotted" and found my pic on Facebook - the angle of the pic makes it look like no one's driving!
Got home yesterday from the trip to Spearfish, SD for the Mini East Meets West get together, 130 classic Minis and 200 peeps showed up and we had a terrific time, tho I had hoped for cooler weather - but what do you expect in early July? For long runs like this I flat tow the Mini, this time with my Audi Allroad which made the trip a whole lot easier and more comfortable - to be in a quiet car with A/C and cruise control! I did about 500 miles in SD in the Racing Green, with side trips to Mt. Rushmore and out to Devil's Tower in Wyoming too, along with the events of the gathering. No issues with either car, although on the third day I was having a lot of missing and bucking - turned out to be bad gas, easily cured with a bottle of HEET at the next fill up. The last day it ran perfectly again, although it got too hot in the afternoon for me to drive (me , not the engine) and I cooled it back at the hotel. About the only issues I heard of from others were on the return home trip, one guy lost a tire on his trailer, another had the exhaust manifold break on his classic, but another manifold was found and sent to him to get him on his way a day later. One guy did 875 miles in his classic in one day....hardcore!
On the last day of the Event in Spearfish, I thought I heard a bearing going bad in the left front of the car, but even after being on the highway for several hours it wasn't any hotter than the other side and there wasn't any play in it, so I decided to carry on. I got home with no problems, but last weekend I drove to breakfast with the A&T group and it seemed even louder, so today I decided to go ahead and take it apart. I got the caliper, disc and flange off OK, and there's no damage evident in the bearing - plenty of grease in it and so on BUT - I got the axle nut off with a lot of work, and found the end of the axle banged up pretty good - no idea how that happened, since it couldn't have been like that when I put it together or I never would have been able to get the nut on. So......I've spent the last hour trying to clean up the end of the axle so I can run a die onto it - I had to fix one of Don's axles a while ago so I have the correct die to re-thread it. Since the nut sits quite a ways down the threads it won't hurt if I wind up taking an eighth of an inch off the end of the axle to clean it up. I can't quite get the axle out of the hub, so I went and bought a brass hammer so I can get it out without smashing down the end of the axle again. Once I get the die to run down the threads then I know the nut will go back on cleanly - if not I have a couple of spare used nuts on hand too. More as it happens.....
I had to use a puller to press the axle out of the bearings, it's like it was all rusted together even tho I greased it thoroughly when I put it together, and I'm not sure it's been driven in the rain since I put it all together. At any rate, when I pulled the bearings out it was clear they were toast, the outer one in particular was really rough, I'm not sure how much further it would have gone before it failed completely - but I'm glad my instincts are still accurate on diagnosis. It almost looked like they'd been underwater, even tho there was still plenty of clean grease on them. So I've cleaned it all up and drove the old races out and new ones in, new bearings are packed and seals are installed. I found the upper ball joint was pretty free, bottom one is still stiff so I'll re-shim it, grease everything up and see if I can find some new boots. Before I can put it all back together I still need to clean up the end of the axle and run the die down over it, and clean the seal surfaces and grease it all up, then it's fairly quick to put it all back in the car. Then it will be decision time - tear the other side down too or just assume it's OK? I have plenty of parts in stock at least.....I always keep front and rear bearings on hand. They make ball joints that never have to be shimmed, but they're fairly spendy - next time I order parts tho I'm putting a set in the cart - they're about $250 a set - enough for both sides of the car.
Curious as to how long have those wheel bearings on ?? I personally would buy the no shim ball joints in a heartbeat because I’m just not that great of a mechanic.
Dave I'm wondering if the grease you used could have been somehow contaminated with moisture, causing that rust.
So, I decided to go ahead and tear down the right side just to be sure, and found the bearings OK, no wear or anything - I also noticed they were Timkens, so I didn't cheap out and buy Chinesium bearings when I redid the front end a few years ago. However, I found some of the same issues as on the left - the end of the axle all beat over and the suspension cup broken too! I have it all disassembled and ready for cleanup, then I'll repack the bearings and put it all together again - after I fix the broken suspension cup thingy. The right side is considerably more difficult to fix the broken cup as you have to remove the windshield wiper motor to get a socket down onto the big bolt so you can put the tool in to take the tension off the rubber spring. That's the big ass bolt on the left side of the car, plenty of room to get a socket on it, and plenty of room to get the tool down in there. And that's the right side of the car......I'm probably going to have to pull the hood (bonnet) off too, as the tool is too long to get in the hole with the hood on - it will make it easier to work there too I guess.
All back together now, tho comparing the before and after pics I noticed I need to adjust the hi lo another turn to get it back where it was. I did have to remove the bonnet, it just made it worlds easier to get the wiper motor out of the way so I could use the cone compressor. I was lucky that the remains of the cup came out ok, sometimes those things are really stuck in the control arm. There was a small bit of plastic that had been beaten down thru the little hole in the control arm but I was able to get it out with a set of bent nose pliers. I also greased all the zerks before I put the wheels back on so the front end should be good to go for a long time. Everything went back together smoothly, so all I need to do now is give it a good bath. Our MINI club is meeting for ice cream Saturday evening so I want it looking good for that.
Last year just before we went to Rushmore and MMEMW, I bought a nice new MiniSpares dipstick, with a T handle and a couple of O-rings where it fits into the blcok....a nice looking piece of kit. Yesterday I went to change the oil and the T handle came right off in my hand! I don't know if it was made with a little epoxy to keep the handle on the rod or what, but I knew I could do a better repair than just stick some JB Weld in the hole - tho that probably would have worked I prefer a mechanical solution. So I ran up to Westlake and bought an 8-32 allen set screw, drilled and tapped the T handle and it's on there solid now. I might go back and buy a shorter set screw as this one sticks out a bit. Oh, and I machined a small flat where the screw hits the rod so it would have a good place to bite