Today's parts haul: Replacement left side wide angle mirror, shafts for sheared-off Rennline tow hooks, bushings to rebuild my H-sport control arms, and top cover from RoadsterSolutions.com. Organized a bunch of stuff I've taken off, and cleaned up the garage a bit so I can hopefully not lose stuff. The junk pile is growing... This may be the most broken MINI wheel I've ever seen... Pulled the front calipers off the shell so it will roll easier and quieter. Spent a couple of hours trying to separate the outer ball joint from the folded left wishbone on the shell, to be able to install a new wishbone so the shell will roll. The lower nut is seized, and I can't get it to drop out of the knuckle. It's the most stuck ball joint I've ever seen. Been wailing on it with BFH and chisels trying to break it loose, after soaking in PB Blaster for days. Did manage to open a bit of a gap on the wings of the flange. Added more PB Blaster and will try again tomorrow. Haven't applied fire or cutting implements yet, but that may be next.
... that I'm insane. Luckily, the house on the garage side is vacant right now... and the neighbor directly across the street doesn't care. But eventually it may become an issue, with the house next door on the market. Certainly I'm violating a handful of HOA covenants. :devil:
But you're in NC... where it seems that most people live and let live, if it isn't directly impacting their well-being. Unless, of course, the HoA president is a transplanted Northern Liberal and feels it necessary to prove a point.
The Triangle area is 70% refugees from other regions... Who fled areas they hated, to live in a place that seemed much better, and have henceforth worked to put in place the same conditions that made their old hometowns suck.
When it comes to HOA, a northern conservative can be just as bad if not worse, we had one in our 'hood, until we got together and fragged him. The entire neighborhood is conservative, but this guy made Hitler look like Ghandi. I wouldn't mind moving to the triangle, or maybe a little further south, when I retire, and impose my will on the entire region.
I will never buy any house where I have to pay somebody to tell me I can or cant do something with it! HOA's should all be banned, I thought this was the land of the FREE...
Just for kicks, to get a rise out of your neighbors, put all the MINI's up on cinder blocks out on your front lawn.... And if you have a tree out front, hang that engine block from a stout branch...
Even though I live in a cove and drive through the big brick entrance I am not part of the neighborhood. The home owners association can't do squat to me! They tried once with the previous owner. Its is sweet I giggle every time I think about it.:devil:
Back to the subject at hand...stuck fasteners. Paul, I see you used PB blaster which is one of the standards for un-sticking fasteners...but the grand-daddy of them all is "Kroil"....I learned of it 20 years ago when i was involved in antique cars. Nothing beats it... Other friend in these situations is heat...as a teenager restoring an old Ford Truck the shop redoing my kingpins and tie rod ends reached to their torch instinctively...the shop manager told me heat gets things loose almost every time. I've remembered that ever since, even using it last weekend when replacing the steering gearbox in my son's Jeep Grand Cherokee with 175k miles and plenty of rusted fasteners. My procedure now is spray with Kroil several hours or a day before I need to loosen a fastner, then reach for the propane torch if the fastener does not immediately respond to the impact wrench (propane provides enough heat, but not so much that it causes fasteners to lose temper)....seems to work every time.
Sorry Paul for the hijack of the thread. I thought we were trying to brake you obsession. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Actually, the GP is on cinder blocks right now in the driveway. My wife LOVES it. No, wait... that's not exactly the word she used. What was it? Oh, yes. HATE. She HATES it, whatever that means. Luckily, I'm getting a free pass on pretty much everything right now with the missus. Something about almost, but not quite, becoming inanimate. I'm finding it to be a very effective strategy for getting my way. But it is somewhat risky, and therefore don't take this as a recommendation. Attempt at your own risk. Today, I finally got this thing off... I got it moved just enough that the Blaster could work its way in overnight. It started moving noticeably on I the second hit this morning, after a hundred or more yesterday with almost no movement. Only a few more taps and it was free. Then I had to pry it out of the bushing, which was another PITA. But, done. New one arrives tomorrow, so I can fit that temporarily to get it rolling. Called my cage guy today and have a date to drop it off on Monday, or he may come and get it. So I'll finish stripping everything to make it cage-ready tomorrow and this weekend. Once back from the cage shop, I'll drop the subframes, convert rust, add paint, and reinstall with good bushings ball joints and tie rods and stuff.
Kroil is good stuff! When I worked at the Goodyear plant we got it in 55 gallon drums. I also use it on my guns. It's not just for stuck bolts, it's also good for removing lead and copper deposits in your gun barrels.
Today's parts haul: 2nd pair of H-sport control arms, bracket for headlight leveler, and replacement lines for BBK, all from the good folks at Detroit Tuned! Also received a couple of Jegs fender pads, to attempt to protect my new paint once Locutus Mk2 gets back from the paint shop and I start the rebuild. Tomorrow should be a pretty good parts day... stay tuned.
OK, let's try this again... recreating yesterday's lost post... Friday's parts haul from my friends at eMINIparts.com!!!! Left wishbone, pair of tie rods, new hood scoop, assorted hardware, and SWAG!!! Steven and his management have gone above and beyond, to help me with the Locutus rebuild project. Supporters of all-things-MINI, eMINIparts.com's sponsorship helps make Motoring Alliance possible. Steven has worked on creative ways to help me save money on parts and shipping, and has earned my business as the "official" OEM parts partner for my rebuild. They deserve your business, too. Give them a shot! I also received this very handy set of "extra hands" for use under the lift... OTC Underhoist Stand... I couldn't find a good quality, budget priced stand sized appropriately for mid-rise lifts. So I'll cut this one down by about a foot. That proved to be easier said than done. The bottom of the main tube was both drilled for a through pin (expected) and turned down a bit to fit in the base tube (not expected). Since I don't have a metal lathe handy to reduce the outside diameter of the pipe, I'm not going to chop off the bottom. The top had an 3" sleeve pressed in, to reduce the ID to fit the inner shaft, and with a ledge to hold the bearing race. I managed to drive this sleeve out (using a jack handle, which was the perfect size), chopped off 12", and re-installed the sleeve. Done! Already used it today, to help hold the new wishbone I was installing. I have the front left suspension back together (nominally), so it's kinda rollable. The left tie rod is quite bent, so the shell has massive toe-out. But it's better than it was. This will all be fixed later. I'm just working to get the car ready to deliver to my cage fabricator tomorrow. Finishing the stripping of the interior, have another hour or so of work to do on that. Then will cut out some extra sheet metal in the rear. Making progress.