Reggie: The '96 Rover Mini

Started by LilDrunkenSmurf, September 21, 2015, 12:22:43 PM

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LilDrunkenSmurf

I have adjustable everything. Camber arms, caster, toe/camber plates in the rear.

Drives way better, but while under the car, I noticed the leaking brake fluid. I just dug into it, and the cylinder is just gushing fluid. One piston is completely stuck, the other is a waterfall, so I just ordered some new 3/4" bore cylinders, an air filter, a spare oil filter, and a replacement vacuum line for the intake.

MiniDave

And some new shoes? If they have brake fluid on them they'll get sticky and drag or lock up.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

Didn't realize that. Welp. I'll have to look into either getting some replacements, and in the mean time, just ensuring these are really clean. It's unfortunate, they have quite a bit of meat on them. I'm also trying to spend as little right now, as my contract ended, and I haven't managed to line up some more work yet.

MiniDave

Sometimes you can clean them up OK with a can of spray brake cleaner, but not if they've been soaked. New shoes are only about $18/set at Victoria British.....their part #6-510

http://www.victoriabritish.com/icatalog/sm/full.aspx?Page=40

they can't be a whole lot more up there.....

Good luck on finding another placement!   4.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

Quote from: MiniDave on October 23, 2017, 08:41:05 AM
A new one isn't too bad, £13.29 or about $23 Canadian......

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Engine/NPC10001.aspx?10&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/fuel trap.aspx|Back to search

So Jeff, what does it do exactly? trap fuel in the vacuum lines? And if so, how does fuel get into the vacuum lines?

Keeps moisture/fuel/oil residue out of the map sensor located in the ecm. The trap is known to plug up and cause rich/poor running due to low signal to the map.  The temp sensor could also be a likely culprit.

LilDrunkenSmurf


Drum Cylinder 1 by Jory Irving, on Flickr


Drum Cylinder 2 by Jory Irving, on Flickr


Filter by Jory Irving, on Flickr

This happened. Once it warms up, I'll do the other side as well, since I ordered 2 regardless. I hate the c-clip, but I figured it out. Reused the old bleed nipple, as it was larger and fit the tubing I was using to bleed the brakes. One of the pistons is completely seized on the old drum cylinder.

MiniDave

Once you get them both sorted it should make it stop better! What causes that is people not changing their brake fluid - EVER!

;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

I bled the brakes when I rebuilt the rear subframe, and installed the braided lines all the way around. I just wanted the leak to stop, so I did the one side, moved it to the driveway, pulled the battery, put the car cover on it, and it's now under ~20cm of snow. Went through half a can of brake cleaner, cleaning up the shoes, backing plate and such.

Come spring (or a chinook to melt all the snow), I'll do the other side as well.

LilDrunkenSmurf

Well spring made a short appearance, so I did the other brake cylinder, and adjusted both rear drums using the video from Stevensonmotorco, which was very helpful and informative.

But now that I drove it again, I remember it shimmy's at 80kph+. It's frustrating. I'm going to try the typical things like swapping wheels around, but it's got all new suspension, new LCA, new balljoints, new everything except front subframe bushings.

I know it's a project car, I know what I signed on for, but cant I get like... one solid drive in? That's not too much, right?


MiniDave

My green Mini does the same thing, it's very frustrating. I have all new suspension, bearings, discs and pads, the alignment is right, I've tried moving the wheels around, I've had the wheels on the balancer a bunch of times and checked them for true and out of round and they're good, I've tried different wheels from another car. It's still there.....annoying as hell!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

Quote from: MiniDave on April 06, 2018, 10:29:00 AM
My green Mini does the same thing, it's very frustrating. I have all new suspension, bearings, discs and pads, the alignment is right, I've tried moving the wheels around, I've had the wheels on the balancer a bunch of times and checked them for true and out of round and they're good, I've tried different wheels from another car. It's still there.....annoying as hell!

I'm worried it's going to be something else I haven't tried yet, like the driveshafts. I haven't had much success pulling them out of the transmission case, but I didn't try that hard, for fear of finding something else I need to replace hahaha.

MiniDave

The only way to get them out is to release one of the ball joints so you can move the hub outward, then I prefer to cut the clamp on the boot and slide the inner pot joint apart, rather than popping the joint out of the transmission.

I'm also wondering about the axles as that's the only part of the front end I haven't rebuilt. I'll be pulling mine next weekend, I'll let you know what I find, if anything.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

So I broke the rear bumper bolts removing it (they were rusted and snapped the studs) to replace the hinges for the boot/trunk. So that's great, guess I'll need to order a new one?

Additionally, I crawled under the engine to see if the gearbox shifter was leaking, and it doesn't look like that is the culprit. Someone above the passenger (usdm driver) driveshaft is leaking oil onto it, which is then spinning it bloody everywhere. It's a goddamn mess, and I have no idea how to tackle it, without removing the engine. Additionally, I still can't figure out how to remove the dash, so I can make some gap fillers for the deleted a/c vents.

Some days I love this car, some days I hate it. Today I'm not sure which it is.

MiniDave

On the left side of the engine there are only a few places oil can leak from, the valve cover gasket would be a prime candidate but you replaced that already. About the only other thing there is the crankshaft seal or the timing cover itself - there really isn't anything else over there that can leak oil.

The main oil pressure side is the front of the engine, that's where the main pressure pipe to the filter is, the oil pressure sending unit and the pressure relief valve.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

Knowing my luck, it is the crankshaft seal or the timing cover. It could be the actual gearbox leaking where the driveshaft mates, but I still don't know how to remove it. I wish I had a resource that didn't cost $140/hr in labour, locally.

LilDrunkenSmurf

flipstah came by to steal an oil filter, and listen to my "buzzing/rattling" sound. We're pretty sure it's exhaust. I think it's either the slip joint on the manifold, the heat shield, or a washer somewhere in the engine bay. So weird.

flipstah

When you step on the throttle, it rattles like a washer vibrating on something. It rattles faster as the revs go up.

MiniDave

Does this car have a cat? Cause that's usually what causes this type of noise, a broken weld or tab on a heat shield around the cat.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

It does, but when I replaced it with a straight pipe, it continued. It's 100% coming from bottom of the engine bay.

gr8kornholio

Quote from: MiniDave on June 08, 2018, 03:29:42 PM
Does this car have a cat? Cause that's usually what causes this type of noise, a broken weld or tab on a heat shield around the cat.....

Glad I read this again this morning, cause last night I was like, why would the car have a cat(meow) and if one was stuck in a car when it started it usually shreaks, not rattle. 
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.

Shrimps

On the water pump end of the block, and behind the coolant bypass hose (if equipped) between the block and head is the oil passage that feeds the rocker arms on the head.  If the head gasket is leaking at that oil passage it can make quite a mess.

I had a 998 leaking there that I didn't notice at idle, but once I brought the revs up I could see oil running out between the block and head behind where the coolant bypass hose is.  I went from a nice cleaned up block (after fixing a couple other leaks) when engine was out, to having oil dripping on the ground after a quick few minute low speed drive down the block and back.  I installed a new head gasket which resolved the leak.

Quote from: MiniDave on June 06, 2018, 11:33:00 AM
On the left side of the engine there are only a few places oil can leak from, the valve cover gasket would be a prime candidate but you replaced that already. About the only other thing there is the crankshaft seal or the timing cover itself - there really isn't anything else over there that can leak oil.

The main oil pressure side is the front of the engine, that's where the main pressure pipe to the filter is, the oil pressure sending unit and the pressure relief valve.

LilDrunkenSmurf

So the other day, after leaving the car on jack stands for weeks, I decided to finally try and chase down some issues. Mainly a "rattling" sound that happens when the car is under load, an oil leak that looks like the gearshift, and trying to pull out the lambda sensor for a cleaning. I managed to tear apart the gear shift, to find out it's not the cause of the leak, remove the brace for the header, to find out it's not the cause of the rattle, and then decided not to remove the intake manifold to get to the sensor, as I don't have any replacement gaskets, and I'm pretty sure I'll also have to remove the exhaust manifold.

Afterwards, I opted to go for a test drive. And then this happened:


Toe Out by Jory Irving, on Flickr

The wheel pulled hard right, and it sounded like at least one tire had locked up. That was an interesting experience.

The problem appears to be in this general area:


Something's missing by Jory Irving, on Flickr

So it looks like the 3/8" nut backed off, and the lower arm pin just... popped out.

A friend came to my rescue with a jack and some hand tools, and after a $4 trip to Lowes for a new nylon nut, and some lock washers, I completely rebuilt the front suspension on the side of the road, and limped it home. All the threads were solid, and everything looked good.

Before pulling away, I opted to check the other side, and the nut was still there, so I tried to tighten it... and it just wouldn't bottom out. This frightened me, so I decided to take another look at it when I got home.

This is what I found:

That's even worse by Jory Irving, on Flickr

So I swapped in a spare I had. Hilariously these genuine pins are <2yr old with <1000km on them. So the fact that one completely backed off with a lock washer, and the other completely stripped the threads, is mildly concerning.

MiniDave

Were you the one who installed the lower pins, or did the shop that changed your cones and charged you an arm and a leg do them?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf

You're thinking of flipstah.
I did all my own stuff. Apparently not very well.

MiniDave

OK, I thought you were the one who paid to have the cones installed - sorry, my bad.

So either the pins were badly or cheaply made, or you overtorqued the nuts and stripped the threads. Glad you got it back on the road safely, and before winter sets in next week in Canada!  ;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad