Today is finish day, Don got called away early yesterday and as I'm letting him do all the electrical ( he took it apart and took notes and pics of what went where) we're almost ready to button it up. Still to do, tidy up some loose wires with zip ties, install the downpipe and new flex joint in the exhaust, while he's doing that I'll install the intake (as I took it off and took no notes or pics of where anything went ) then all we'll have left is to fill the coolant, oil and fill and bleed the brakes - oh and re-install the coilovers. Then, turn the key and see if he lets the smoke out or if it will run! More this afternoon.
Soooo close. Don got called away to a family emergency so I carried on best I could. I got everything done except installing the A/C compressor, shocks and bleeding the brakes and clutch. I took a pic of the mess of pipes, hoses, wires and what have you under the intake manifold, once you get the manifold in place and tightened down there's no room to get your hands in there to hook stuff up again. You think an A series in a Mini is tight! I only drew blood a couple of times.... Tomorrow I have to work so it will be Wed before I get back to it.
Its Lighter! I would not have thought that. Whats the weight of the car? Does it have a better power to weight then a new mini? I think my R53 is 2300lb and when I had it dynode a few years back it had 160 at the wheels. The Helmet is heaver but I don't know the horsepower.
The only R53's I've seen that were that light were race cars, most are 2500-2600lbs, and unless modified it was 169 at the crank, so more like 135-140 at the wheels.....unless modified. This car is about 1450 wet (gas and other liquids) and it's supposed to be 135hp at the crank. Compared to the original 33 hp 850 that came in it, it's a rocket ship! Oh, and it has A/C!
First start! First start! Still have a fluid leak on the front brakes - not at the new line, although I did have to swap that too as the other one leaked at the subframe fitting - don't know WHAT was up with that but changing the line fixed that leak. Got the clutch bled out no problem, rear brakes bled out no problem. Just got to get this pesky leak in the fronts fixed, it's leaking at the T fitting that goes to the left and right front calipers. Unfortunately it's buried under the intake manifold......gonna be a bitch kitty to get at now.... I'm chuffed that it started on the first turn of the key, clutch works, gears shift smoothly, all the instruments work (except the speedo - he didn't look at it) and there was no noticeable vibration. That's not to say it's cured, but I'm convinced it's going to be leaps and bounds better than it was. Only took 10 years for him to let me fix it for him.....
Final report - the Pup is finished! I tried 4 times to make a short brake line to connect between the bulkhead and the T fitting on the subframe and failed miserably - I decided it was the tool rather than the operator, so I rented a flare tool from another parts store - bingo - first time it worked perfectly. Once we had all the leaks stopped it was just a matter of bleeding the brakes and putting the wheels back on.....the vid is of the first drive today - it ran perfectly. Verdict? the car is transformed to use Don's words, It's like an actual Civic now, smooth and quiet with no vibrations, buzzes or rattles. He also likes the new final drive ratio tho we may have to go to poly bushes in the engine steadies as he thinks it moves around a little too much. I have a set and he can change them at his leisure at his house as they're easily reachable now.
Glad you enjoyed it. so far he's very happy with it, but we are going to change out the steady bushings from rubber to poly and see what that does for the engine motion, then we'll see if it increases the NVH beyond what we're after. If it does we'll go back to rubber and I'll engineer up another steady to help control the engine movement.
Update - don't know what happened to my vids? They were linked from YouTube. Anyway, the engine was moving around a lot more than it should and once I sat and studied on it I figured out why. The main motor mounts are up high on the engine, and so are the engine steadies I put in - so while the top was nicely controlled the bottom was free to swing away, and take the shift lever with it. So, I engineered yet another steady to go from the bottom of the car to just the other side of the shifter - that stopped it from moving and did not add any NVH. now the car drives beautifully, but quietly - at least as quiet an a Mini can - they were always a cheapy made little throw away car and have little to no noise insulation. And even tho this one was dynamatted top to bottom, there's still plenty of engine noise, wind noise, tire roar etc. But compared to what it was, it's as quiet as a Honda now!
This summer we drove to Aspen for the Mini Meet East Meets West event and Don had overheating problems all the way there and wound up having the car towed home - I think it has a blown headgasket tho it's not showing any of the usual symptoms on the plugs or in the oil. By the time we got to Aspen it was using a quart of water every 30 miles or so. Faced with the possibility of having to pull the engine and not wanting to tie up my lift he made the executive decision to buy one for his garage. He bought a MaxJax - there are two versions, one that you set the height by inserting a pin in a hole - that one only has two height positions. The other one has automatic safeties and 7 positions - that's the one he bought. It was delivered about a month ago and he assembled and bolted it down, put the Pup on the lift and raised it up - and there it sat - stuck. He had forgotten to grease the slides, so today we managed to lift it to the highest position and grease the slides on the lower section, then with some judicious use of a crowbar managed to get it down again, so he could grease the upper parts. That done we ran it up and down till it finally would run the full way without sticking - job done and nothing broken and no one hurt! Next up, pull the head. But his wife just had knee surgery and with the holidays coming it may not happen till next year.....
The reliable Honda engine blows a head gasket? I'm more of an A series fan, but that's just me. Glad you got his lift & car back down.
We don't know for sure, could be a cracked head or block or something.....won't know for sure till we tear it down. this reliable Honda motor has 170K on it so far.
I really wanted to get a maxjax. Those are nice to have for sure, but my garage wouldn't support it well as the floor isn't level (Old carport). Love this thread.