Getting Ready for Texas 2017

Started by MiniDave, February 10, 2017, 03:58:44 PM

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MiniDave

I've posted separately about getting Susan's 63 ready for the big trip, today was Don's VTEC P'up's turn. He bought new tires but complained about shaking in the front end, and terrible vibrations from the engine (my opinion, Honda's don't vibrate, neither should his P'up) so first we looked at the engine steadies....the back one was clearly installed incorrectly - either by MiniTec or by Don doing some maintenance over the years, so that one was easy to straighten out. We then took a look at the front one, which is not well engineered IMHO and decided by moving a couple of washers around we might be able to remove some of the vibrations.....the spacing washers missing were allowing the brackets to contact each other.

I also noticed the radiator has no rubber grommets where the locating pins fit into the subframe, and the resulting motion could be letting the fan support bracket vibrate against the transmission. Space is at a premium even with the smaller D series he has, so he will see if he can rectify this with some properly sized grommets

Lastly, we  found the upper ball joint on the left side loose as can be, and I have shimmed these tight before so I took it apart again and found a totally worn out and cracked ball joint pin.

A full set of ball joints is now on order from MiniSpares and we'll get them installed next weekend. I re-shimmed it just to take out the play in the meantime. I haven't heard yet if we improved the engine vibrations, but I'll be we did. It's important as he is driving the P'up to Texas, and it makes enough noise just being a Mini let alone adding more NVH.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#1
Today's job was to install the trailer hitch on my Clubman... I got my Curt hitch (made in America!) on Amazon for what I consider a pretty good price, about $115 and since Don has a prime account, free shipping! Good thing too as it weighs 30lbs....but it's nicely made and powder coated.

I got it all bolted in today, next I have to pop the rear bumper cover back on then it's down to wiring up the connector. I think I'll go down to the dealer on Monday and see if they have any words of wisdom before I start chopping wires and soldering things. Maybe Bruce can chime in on how he wired his up?

Then I'll measure it out and see if the tow bar will be running uphill or not, I'm thinking it might be pretty level, if not I can get a drop bar for it. It's a bit of a compromise on the Clubby, the draw bar comes out right in the middle of the lic plate, so you make a 3" hole there and drop the lic plate down to the lower holes when you're towing, however I would think that would get in the way of the safety chains so I might look into getting one of those magnetic plate holders and just stick it on the back door when I'm towing....we'll see. When you remove the drawbar the plate covers the hole.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

John Gervais

Nice and discreet!

What about the electrics?
- Pave the Bay -

MiniDave

I have the correct harness and relay setup, looking for input as to where to tap into the wiring harness and how to run the cable down to the drawbar area.......

It's easy to pull the tail light assemblies and tap into the wiring harness there, but I'm not sure how to get the cable down thru the body to the drawbar.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MPlayle

I put that same kit on the 2008 Clubman I had.  Below is a picture of how I ran the 4-wire-flat cable to get it behind the bumper cover.


MiniDave

Great minds and all that Michael! That's exactly how I wound up doing it too.....

I put a couple of grommets in some holes that were already in the body and ran the green wire over to the other side in a depression in the sheetmetal. All I have left to do is tie all the wires together then put all the plastic bits back........
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#6
Gave up for tonight, I've had the flu all weekend and I finally ran out of steam.....a couple of shots of the wiring....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

The reason I gave up last night was I ran into a weird thing on the lights......it appears the brake light and tail light are the same bulb - not unusual, except - there is only one filament. Normally you'd have two, one for the taillight and a much brighter one for the brake light. It seems they simply change the voltage to the bulb when it's a tail light to 3.5, then when you hit the brakes it goes to the full 12V and the bulb gets brighter.

Now how in the heck am I going to wire that up?

So I figured maybe I could pull the signal for brakes from that location and  the tail lights from the lic plate lights instead. Getting the voltmeter on the lic plate lights does show 12V, so that should work....now my only question is whether that 3.5V  from having the tail lights on going to the brake circuit is enough to trigger the brake light relay in the trailer lights, or if not whether it will cause it to fail that relay in short time.

If anyone knows, or has experience with this give me a call 913-948-3652. I'd hate to put it all together then have it not work.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Dave, as I mentioned on the phone, this is what I used on '02 MINI, powered separately from the car's 12V system.   No idea if that would help your situation.

Unfortunately, Amazon shows it is not currently available. 


1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

#9
Talked to Michael Playle, what I need is a PWM module (Pulse Width Modulation), not the one I have......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

towjoe

#10
I have a way to put your plate on a spring setup with small aluminum channels.  On BMW Minis.
If you are are interested I'll find the pictures. It takes maybe an hour. Then you just slide your plate down and put in your drawbar easy peasy.
Regards
towjoe 77.gif

gr8kornholio

I'm definitely going to have to fab up one of these tow rigs for my highlander to pull the mini around.  Been searching for flat tow rigs, hitches and wiring for it.  Probably just build a light bar for the mini and put it on the rear shelf for brake and tail lights.
I am the GR8KORNHOLIO! Are you threatening me?

Saussie Aussie 1965 Australian MK1 Mini.
"Beavis" - 07 MY/MY MCS, B/MY Konig Daylites, JCW sideskirts, TSW springs, TSW lower rear control arms -- Exploring the country with new friends since 11/09.

MiniDave

#12
Towjoe - I would definitely love to see that!

Mark, what most of us do is buy the magnetic base lights from Harbor Freight (Bruce bought the LED Versions - I was cheap and bought the regular ones) and just stick them to the parcel shelf in the rear window, then run the wires thru the car and up to the hitch.

The tow bar is $69 from HF (but you can find a 20% off on your phone and they'll give it to you), you need the lights and I buy two sets of their safety chains, then cut them in half and bingo, 4 safety chains - 2 for the Mini and two for the tow vehicle.

Then all you need to do is make the part the towbar hooks to to attach to the Mini. I only use mine if I'm going cross country, more than say 500 miles, otherwise I just drive the Mini. However we have two "iron butt" winners, both of whom did about 5500 miles going to Mini/MINI events.....both will be at this event too!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

#13
I attached these LED trailer lights http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/STL23RB.html?feed=npn&gclid=CJywwruli9ICFZu6wAodRf8AtQ   to a wood base nearly the width of my car's parcel shelf and just placed the lights there. 

I think the LEDs are worth it as they seem to be much brighter than the regular incandescent lights.

Here's a photo of my Mini in tow.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

When I build my Hot Rod Mini I'm going to wire it directly to the car's lights.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

Yes PWM converter will work. http://www.curtmfg.com/part/56200


Those systems get really complicated for us when we go the other way IE customer towing the car as they don't make a converter to run the car tail lights off of a standard motorhome 12volt wiring so we get creative with resistors to drop tail light voltage to the car. The newest led stuff is different voltage as well.

MiniDave

Yeah, I can see how that might be an issue....PWM converter works fine one way, but not so much the other.

I think it would work OK on my old Mini tho, tied directly into the old style car's wiring.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

yup old mini will be easy you may need some isolation diodes at the tail lights of the old mini as sometimes the turn will back feed to both sides, also prevents any back feed to the towing vehicle should the lights accidently get turned on in the towed. But other than that old cars are easy to wire up as a towed vehicle. 

The other thing we often do to simplify is if the towed car has separate amber turn we normally just use the red brake on each side for turn signal when being towed rather than extra wiring for the euro style turn. As the PWM converter likely puts out 4 wire USA style lighting (shared brake turn) it's easier to just do it that way. Even if you hooked the turn to the amber on the towed mini if equipped they would come on with braking.

http://roadmasterinc.com/products/accessories/electrical/diodes.html

The road master diodes are high quality you can get them reasonable on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=roadmaster+diodes&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=174248112879&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10152110208469129018&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033169&hvtargid=kwd-88752882689&ref=pd_sl_5qmpp9ow4u_e

MiniDave

As usual, if you want to know how to do something, ask the man that's already done it!  4.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Alrighty then I got my lights all wired up and they work!

After trying both sets (regular and LED) that I had in stock I have to agree with Bruce that the LEDS are MUCH brighter and will really show up better, so that's what I'ma use too. Bruce a pic of your board/bracket/light support thingy would be helpful if you get a chance.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

#20
Quote from: MiniDave on February 17, 2017, 03:07:31 PM
Alrighty then I got my lights all wired up and they work!

After trying both sets (regular and LED) that I had in stock I have to agree with Bruce that the LEDS are MUCH brighter and will really show up better, so that's what I'ma use too. Bruce a pic of your board/bracket/light support thingy would be helpful if you get a chance.

Glad to hear you got them to work.

Here you go.  The base is 1X3 wood about 39 inches wide and the lights are about 29 inches on center.  I put an old black towel down on the parcel shelf and sit the board on top of that which keeps it from sliding around.   I used the 4" LEDs I mentioned in a post above, and eTrailer has some very nice powder-coated metal brackets to hold them for under $4 which I used too along with a rubber gasket to hold the lights in the brackets. 
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

Thanks! Seems simple enough, but mine are actual trailer lights that I bought to build into the Clubman wagon, mine are square.....I'll have to see if they have some of those, or I can bend some up I guess.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

I'm going to need a dropped drawbar too......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Quote from: MiniDave on February 17, 2017, 05:51:44 PM
I'm going to need a dropped drawbar too......
Sounds like a fun welding project. 
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

towjoe

Hi Dave

Behind the  two standoff for front plate.
I have a video to move the plate out of the way on new Minis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqd4Sy-4-tA

If you need the dimension of the channel it is:  3/8 x 3/8  x 1/8 ".

Regards
Joe 77.gif