73 Mini

Started by MiniDave, November 03, 2016, 04:19:39 PM

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MiniDave

#125
The owner of the 73 met me at school yesterday to look over his 71 Cooper S and discuss work on it and the 73. First we put the 71 up on the rack, it has hydro suspension and it was almost completely down on the left side. He bought a pump on Ebay for $50 and we decided to give it a try, we loaded it with antifreeze and attached it to the rear fitting, it took what seemed like 1000 pumps but it brought it right up again.......it was so easy the owner said he thought he could even do it - and he's not mechanically inclined - at all!

We also decided to do the 73 suspension work before we tackled the 71.....it needs some oil leaks fixed, and it will be visiting Dan at some point for some rust bubbles and floor work. It was supposed to have been restored completely in 91, but the rust I found made me question that. He keeps it in dry storage in a cave where his business is located, so since it NEVER sees rain or even humidity, so he's not in a hurry.

More as it happens......

Oh, the leak turned out to be right at the fill valve, but it's the crimped on part of the hose that's leaking so I'll have to remove the displacer to make a new hose. He texted me when he got it home saying how much better it rode with the suspension pumped up again!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

Sounds good. The work is piling up for you still.

MiniDave

#127
So this '73 is coming back today for round 2, it's been stored away all winter as the owner does not drive his classics except on sunny days - these cars see no rain, sleet, snow nor the gloom of night!  ;D

Today's list:

1) Install SmoothaRide suspension, including hi-lo's - doing this will entail removing the fuel tank and it may need further suspension work such as replacing the bearings in the upper control arms and rear trailing arms, won't know till I take it apart. While the tank is out the owner is going to decide whether to replace it with the bigger one. I'm anxious to see how this suspension works out, as I think (being an old fart too) I might like to do this on my Racing Green Mini.

2) Install the new Broadspeed dash that holds the tacho - he also wants me to fab a cover for the hole in the bulkhead.

3) Install his new yellow fog lights

4) New trim rings for headlights

5) Replace the heater valve

6) Replace temp sensor

7) Find and fix coolant leak around rad - we put in a new aluminum rad and lower rad hose, don't know what this is going to take.

8- Lots of little check this and check that's.....adjust this, tighten that etc

9) When it's all done - alignment

But before I can start on any of this today the weather is warm and sunny so I'm going to clean and organize the shop - should take most of the day but I'll need the extra room to work on his car. In the meantime I have to completely re-organize my driveway too as the RG will be going under the car cover for the duration, Rose needa her Audi accessible and I need the blue Clubby too. Makes for a bit of driveway shuffle sometimes.....

Bruce has a better driveway arrangement - he can park several cars side by side across the back of his driveway and still get cars in and out of his garage.

I need a bigger shop!

We've been talking about the idea of building an addition straight out the back of my current garage/shop.....since we have a split level home and the current garage/shop is under the bedrooms, I'd want the roof tall enough to put a good 2 post lift in there so that makes the design challenging.

More as it happens, the car arrives tonight and I have the whole weekend free to work on it as I don't go back to work until Tuesday.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

Sounds like it it's time to sell the Jag.

Does he already have a larger tank?

MiniDave

Yes, to both .....

It seems bigger than a 5 gallon, but it's not as big as the 9 in my car, did they make a 7 gallon?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

I believe most mini tanks are 7 gal. Mine is.

94touring

You need an official shop!

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#133
It's been interesting installing the SmoothaRide cones, I did the right rear first and it was easy-peasy so I moved up to the right front and things got "interesting" - I knew I would have to remove the upper arm once I got the coil over and all it's associated brackets out of the way but even after I managed to get the new cone in the subframe  (even that was difficult as the cone is wider in diameter than the hole it goes into, you have to turn it at an angle and wedge it up in there, once in situ it fits just fine tho) and attached my compressor, I could not get the cone pulled up tight enough to get the upper shaft in place. After fighting it for a while, I took my compressor apart and could see that the EMT I had used was buckling under the stress. I had a piece of black pipe laying around so I cut a chunk of that to replace the EMT. That allowed me to crank the compressor down tighter and everything went back into place.

I had bought a set of shock brackets in case I wanted to redo my Green Mini with cones instead of these coilovers  (but I'm pretty happy with them these days) so I had those in stock but I cannot find the set of shock pins I had, so I can't hook the new shock up just yet.

It's leaking coolant something fierce so I think it's going to need a water pump, so I'll order everything at once.

Next I have to remove the fuel tank so I can change the left rear shock and install the cone, then if I'm going to remove the radiator anyway to do the water pump, that will make it much easier to do the upper control arm on that side.

I should have all the cones in tomorrow, then I'll see what it looks like with the weight on the cones......it may look like it's ready for Baja or the Dakar....we'll see.

Getting the tank out will be a challenge, this car has a Monza style cap and the brass threaded part that attaches to the tank does not come off once on......so I'm thinking maybe I can cut the seal and peel it out, then the ring will go thru the opening....not sure how I will get it back in again - I have a new seal jic, but I'm thinking a lot of silicone spray lube is in it's future......the seal is looking old and stiff so cutting it may difficult too.

Then I get to start on the interior, see if I can  make a cover for the opening in the bulkhead and install the Broadspeed dash.

Lots to do yet on this one.....

It also isn't running right, when hot it won't restart. I don't think it's heatsoak or vaporlock as I wrapped the header and it has an electric fuel pump mounted back by the tank.

He says it pops out of 4th gear too......that one may have to wait till the fall, as it may mean pulling the engine and rebuilding the transmission. There really isn't any sort of linkage adjustment on a rod change transmission, unless something is worn out, and it doesn't feel that way when I drive it......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

I realize that brass won't spark when cut, but I assume there is still some concern about cutting with some residual gas in the tank?
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

Oh, I won't cut the brass, I'll cut the rubber seal.....with a knife.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#136
Well I was able to pull that brass ring off the tank after all, my 3 jaw puller made short and easy work of it, so I could take the tank out the normal way. The seal was all tired and cracked, so I went ahead and put the new one in before I reinstalled the tank.

Rear cones go in very easily once you can get  to the upper shock nuts, I hear some people cut a 4" hole in the backrest so they don't have to pull the tank, I wouldn't do that on anyone's car myself. More work but on a car as clean and straight as this one.....worth the extra effort.

With the tank out of the way the rear was done fairly quickly, so I moved on to the front.

Turns out it's not the water pump leaking, so I didn't pull the radiator, but that made getting the left side upper shaft out a little harder. My new and improved cone compressor worked a treat and the left one went in smoothly. Rather than wait for shock pins to come in from England I went with what the factory did on 74 and newer cars and used a grade 8 bolt and a spacer to install the shocks. It's now ready to drop on it's wheels, I'll do that later tonight as I want to see just how high it will sit with the adjusters all the way down.....I have a feeling it's gonna look really tall!

He complained that the exhaust hit when he pulled into his garage, turns out the rear mount has come unbonded, so we'll need a new one of those too....I don't know if it broke because he hit the lip on the way into the garage or if it was already broken and the fact that it was hanging down lower is why it hit.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Yep, it's pretty high in the front......probably need to raise the back a bit to at least level it out.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Vikram

Do you have any tips on adjusting the hi los? I think I'm going to have to do some on mine..when it arrives later today

MiniDave

They're super easy, just set them for the height you like......



All you do is turn the adjuster then lock the lock nut.....easy peasy. As for height, trial and error, but since they're so easy to change it's no real bother. I like to do mine on a drive-on rack, that way I can adjust them with the wheels on and the weight of the car on the springs. Makes them a little harder to turn, but nothing a good wrench doesn't handle.

You can probably get to them on the ground too, just turn the front wheels all the way one direction or the other, and get the back ones from under the car.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Besides everything Dave said, I'll add that it's good to have a pair of stubby adjustable wrenches with large mouths to make the adjustments- its tight quarters and many wrenches with wide enough jaws have handles that are too long for the space.

Something like this: 


https://www.walmart.com/ip/AmPro-T39841-Stubby-Adjustable-Wrench-44-SAE-Metric-Dual-Scale/127588178?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1148&adid=22222222228081854269&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=196241846111&wl4=pla-314103299920&wl5=9026848&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112562587&wl11=online&wl12=127588178&wl13=&veh=sem
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

I made a couple of shorty wrenches out of 1/4" plate, the nut is 1" - at least the MiniSport adjuster nuts are.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Next up on the 73, lots of little this' and that's, we're waiting for the bulkhead cover to come in, I hope it will work to help quiet the noise from the carb. It needs to go in first, then I'll be installing the Broadspeed dash he bought.

Once all that's done, it's up to the alignment rack again, a few more fiddles like the exhaust and he should be good to go!

It does have one issue I need to sort, when the engine's all the way up to temp it doesn't want to restart, it cranks over and kicks the starter out but doesn't seem to run. Once cooled off again it fires right up. I'm wondering if he needs a new coil, he does have an electronic aftermarket ignition system too - need to check to see if it's getting the full 12V too. Sometimes people hook them right up to the ign wire not realizing it has a ballast.

More as it happens, now that I'm feeling better I can get back to work on it again.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Quote from: MiniDave on June 16, 2017, 03:30:37 PM
More as it happens, now that I'm feeling better I can get back to work on it again.

Sorry to hear you were under the weather.  Glad you're getting back to normal.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

tmsmini

Which bulkhead cover did you order?
Wasn't someone going to make some up?
Terry

MiniDave

He found a guy in England that had one off a car, it's not a part that anyone makes or sells as far as I know......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#146
Lots of little jobs done now, I swapped the inside driver's lights for some yellow fogs, I also added the air horn in the engine compartment for the fresh air hose, that entailed moving the electronic ignition box and making a bracket for the coil to mount on and added the fresh air hose - now that it has the regular shock brackets there's room for it. When you run coilovers the shock mount bracket interferes with the hose and you can't run it.

I also built some hold down brackets for the battery.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MPlayle

Where did you get the yellow fog lights from?


MiniDave

#148
I'll have to ask him, he supplied them......

Edit: Found them....

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/upd-c364007
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

Great idea on the battery hold down bracket ends. I have always disliked the J rods.