Tink: My '89 Mini

[MtyMous]

Taking the engine to the machine shop tomorrow.

[MtyMous]

Alright... I'm finally off my butt. Committed to getting this thing done now. Just dropped this off at the machine shop. Should have something shiny and new come mid October.

[MiniDave]

Wow, 6 weeks to build your motor? I'm glad to see you moving ahead, but that does seem like a long time....

My machine shop tanked it, bored the block, line bored it, machined the crank, installed the cam bearings, balanced everything and did all the head work in 3 weeks.......I did the assembly. 

[MtyMous]

Dave, the 6 weeks isn't how long it's gonna take to do the work. He's really backed up right now and it's going to be at least 3 weeks before he can get to it. I'm not in a big rush to get it back, so it's fine with me. He said it would take him about 1-2 weeks to do the actual work. He quoted me for assembly. I'm capable of doing the final assembly, but I need him to do a dry build on it to get everything right anyway, so I said screw it, I'll pay the extra $50 or so for him to do the final assembly after everything is spec'd out.

[MiniDave]

Well, the important part is that 6 weeks or so from now you'll have a complete motor!

What are you going to work on in the meantime?

[MtyMous]

Pretty much the rest of the car. haha. I need to get the fuel lines finished and the subframes back in. Then I need to get a return bung welded into the fuel tank. Gonna have to get a BUNCH of wire to re-do the harnesses the way I want them and then some items to go with that. (quick disconnects to facilitate removal of entire sections of harness) and then there's the upgrades to electrical. I'm adding fused and switched circuits.

Then there's the interior. I need to figure out which seats I want and how the heck I'm gonna mount aftermarket seats. There's a million ways to do it, but since the body work is already done, I don't want to go in and hack it up. Gotta find a bolt-in solution.

Oh.. and I've gotta get the transmission built, too. haha. There's plenty to do.

[MiniDave]

Ha! Hardly a week's worth of work!

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[MtyMous]

Well... I spent wayy too long figuring out exactly how I wanted to mount my furl lines. haha. Measuring, checking heights, clearances, placement, all kinds of over-engineering that my friends know me for. I decided that I'm done using metal screws on this car in every location that I can avoid it. Instead, I'll be cleaning up and drilling out holes where I can use rivet nuts instead. This will cut down on rust, and makes for a much stronger fastener on almost every application. See below. I've used rivetnuts and rubber insulated clips for the fuel lines. Much cleaner installation and a VERY solid mount.

Removed the sound deadening/heat insulation around the mounting area, drilled the appropriate size hole, and inserted the rivet nut.






This is what the back side looks like. The fluted section of the shank collapses and creates a friction surface that keeps the insert from rotating while also gripping the metal it's riveted to.




Here's just a bit of all-thread run through it for a test. The washer is there to show you the level of the floor and that the rivetnut will not protrude into the carpet when it's all installed. Perfectly level.




And here's the fuel lines all mounted up. Snug as a bug.



There are 4 of these mounts along the floor about 1' apart. They're very solidly mounted and tight to the floor. There is one more on the firewall in a location out of the way that takes the hard lines all the way up to the bulkhead where they can be truncated later.

[94touring]

Those look pretty slick. 

[MiniDave]

That is a significant amount of undercoating......aren't you the guy who's buying carbon fiber parts for his car?  To offset the 100lbs of undercoating?   ;D

I hadn't seen brass rivnuts before, only aluminum......at least I think mine are aluminum.......now I'm going to have to go check!

Edit: Yep, aluminum - why would you use brass in a non structural situation like this?

[Merlin]

Because...GOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDD.

Looks good! I planned on doing the same thing as you. Bought the whole rivnut setup and bought some for fiberglass that squish down instead of expand and squish. I love it.

Saves you from having to weld in nuts, especially on blind sections that cant be tapped.

[MtyMous]

Haha. Dave, the CF parts will likely happen for exactly that reason. lol. I need to offset some of the weight I'm adding. haha. This thing isn't gonna win any lightweight challenges. But it aught to be cool and quiet and I'd take that over racecar light any day.

As for the metal, these are actually steel that is zinc plated. I used the zinc plated inserts because of their potential exposure to the elements. They've been painted over and sealed, but every little bit counts in my eyes. and because they're gold. haha.

Here's a couple more pics of the front layout.

[94touring]

Based on the weight of the lizard skin buckets and a little evaporation, I'd guess a 30lb weight gain.  There's double layers as well as paint/clear on it.  Those floors should be impenetrable. 

[MiniDave]

The car looks great, you should easily have that ready for our upcoming fun run in November!  ;D

[MtyMous]

Dave, I figure I've still got about $7k or so left to put into it, so we'll see. I don't get a pay increase until December and I will not go into debt to finish the car. But I'm getting ready to make the really big purchases this week. haha. yikes!

[MtyMous]

Dan, I'd say you're probably right. Just getting it off of these little 1/2"x1/2" sections was a task. haha.

[MtyMous]

Bikewiz, I picked the zinc plated rivet nuts intentionally. I don't want to use stainless bolts here. I know that sounds weird, but I couldn't find stainless brackets. The reason here is corrosion. And more specifically galvanic corrosion. Aluminum lines are rubber insulated from the zinc plated steel clamps. The bolts holding them together are zinc plated steel machine screws, and the rivet nuts are zinc plated. There will be no accelerated corrosion here. If I used SS rivet nuts I would have to use SS bolts, and even then, I can't source SS clamps, so the cathode then becomes the clamps, and that's exactly the part I don't want to fail.

Whereas with the all zinc plated setup, the corrosion will only be accelerated where the rivet nut meets the floor pan. The floor pan hole was painted before I put the rivet nuts in them and even then, exposed surface area is minimal which will significantly reduce any cathodic properties.

Did I mention that I tend to over-engineer (and overthink) everything? lol

[Merlin]

That may be the case, but you are forgetting that your car is low grade carbon steel. Added to the fact that the stress induced by the crimping force of the rivnut will be the biggest source of corrosion as it now has deformed the grain structure of the metal and work-hardened it.  If you don't put a dab of paint on the drilled hole before you shove the rivnut in, it will be the biggest source of corrosion.

Moreover, galvanic corrosion in the lower potentials really need some sort of conductive electric solution to actually cause corrosion and since you don't live near the sea, and probably wont't drive your car in the wet, you will be ok with whatever you shove in there.

[MtyMous]

Totally agree, Merlin. I know the sacrificial metal will be the floor pan, but with the rest of the metals being the same, I think it will be a lot lower. I did paint it up with epoxy to try to cut some of it down. Is any of it really going to be a problem? No.... probably not. All of it is better than sheet metal screws. lol.

SCIENCE!! Thanks for the tips though, guys. I'm still trying to decide if I want stainless inserts on the other location. I'm leaning towards the same solution as the brake lines.

[Mudhen]

Hate to break up this discussion on things I don't really understand...but to ask a much more important question - did you get the rivnut kit and clamps at Fastenal?  Looks awesome and I want in!

All my lines will be run inside the car - so even more important to have them looking nice.

[Merlin]

Yea, did you walk into fastenal with your pants down, or did they pull them down for you?

[Mudhen]

Yea, did you walk into fastenal with your pants down, or did they pull them down for you?

:(

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[MtyMous]

Mudhen, while I do have an account with Fastenal, I bought the tool at Northern Tool. Local, cheap, and could be replaced easily. I found a bunch of bad reviews from baboons that clearly didn't care to figure out how to use it right. It's a good product. I'll probably invest in a better one in the future, but if you aren't doing hundreds or thousands of inserts, it will do the job.

Just don't go cheap on the inserts. They are more expensive than standard rivets. Don't pay an unnecessary price, but be cautious with the ones that seem disproportionately cheap.

Merlin, Fastenal is definitely expensive, but when I need a bolt that I kniw has the right specs for the tough jobs, I buy from them. All of my suspension bolts are from them.

[Armycook]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing. This is awesome! I'm learning more with these build threads.

[MtyMous]

Thanks Dennis. I'm definitely no professional. I just like to "think outside the box" (to quote a chimpanzee I know) but I like to do it the right way and where it counts for me. My style is definitely not right for everyone, and some of the ideas I have won't suit all tastes, but that's the beauty of the mini IMO. Glad to see you over here.