Racing Green 89 Mini

Started by MiniDave, August 19, 2016, 01:37:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Willie_B

That looks like a good way to get it done.

MiniDave

#626
The car drove really well on today's test run after the alignment.....still some minor things to do, rattles and buzzes to try and see if I can eliminate, but overall it ran well. Temps were only about mid 70's but as usual it ran right in the center of the gauge, and oil pressure only got down to 40psi at idle when I came off the highway after a 60+ mile run, with any revs at all it went to 60 psi immediately.

So, from that perspective it's ready to roll.....just need to do some fine tuning.

No leaks of any kind - oil, water or exhaust!   4.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Loading up and getting ready to head out for CMU 63 in the morning..........

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#628
Took the Racing Green down to Dan's shop for some repairs, when traveling to Blackhawk Farms last year in the race trailer something fell on the fender and dinged it pretty good, plus there were some other bad spots across the front end and chips in the front of the bonnet and front edges of the arches.

Dan's been beavering away on it since last week and today got the color and clear on it - looking pretty spectacular already! He also peeled the cheezy vinyl stripes off the bonnet and painted new ones on for me.

Of course, as I told him, now the rest of the car will be looking pretty dowdy by comparison! Guess I'll have to break out the Simonize.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Those vinyl stripes were barely hanging on.  Easiest stripe removal I've ever done.  They were cracking and looking pretty rough as is.  Paint match looks good in the shop.  Once it's buttoned up and in the sun we'll know for sure.

Jimini II

Looks pretty good under the shop lights which usually show up most imperfections, fingers crossed for the outside test.

MiniDave

Went and got it today, 4 hours down, 4 hours back again but worth it to get such great work done, and done right. Paint match is off a little (not unexpected), so later in the year we'll do the rest of the car to match and replace the side stripes too as they're worn and faded.

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Yeah just a shade darker. Not enough to show on the scuttle but the doors highlight the difference.  It's due for a respray anyways.

MiniDave

It needed a respray 5 years ago when I got it!   ::) ;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

I'm sure you can see it in person but I don't see in the photos.  Looking good.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

It's not real noticeable, most won't see it but we're going to do the rest of the car later in the year, it needs it anyway...he only had enough time to fix the worst of it, the dents and holes in the front fenders, chips on the front of the arches and the bonnet.....it looks a million per cent better already!

The clear coat just peeled off with tape, it was so not bonded to the base coat! I'm sure the rest of it's the same way....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Thanks to Dan, yesterday was a red/white/blue ribbon day for the Racing Green Mini!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

gr8kornholio

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

Who knows, now that my friend Susan is moving to Florida and taking her 1st prize at every show Mini with her, I might actually win one of these!

Not that I really care about the ribbons, but it was fun to get one......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

gr8kornholio

Yes it is.  Some how mine won the blue ribbon at the Dallas all British show.  Back before I tore it apart.  Of course take it for what it is as a friends hacked up revinned sport pack mini won for best preservation. 
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

#640
Frustration.

Every since I've owned this car it's had a shake or wobble in the front end, at specific speeds and most noticeable under deceleration or light throttle - when you're on it, it doesn't do it at all.

Over the years I have replaced or refurbished literally everything in the front of the car. This week I thought I had found something.....the rubbers that go under and around the main large bolts that hold the subframe to the body didn't look good. The ones between the sub and body were turned out of place, and the ones under the bolt heads felt kinda soft and squishy. Also....there was a rubber noise when you would move the steering wheel left/right and you could see movement - of the body, not the subby as the tires were firmly planted.

So, I ordered new parts - there are three kinds of insulators you can buy, the original rubbers, some poly washers and some solid steel ones. I bought all three.....

When I pulled the original rubber out of the left side - which is the easier one on these late model cars - and compared it to the new one I couldn't see any difference in condition or softness of the rubber. Spares says the poly and solid mounts will add NVH so I decided to be half pregnant. I put the old rubber back in the bottom and went all in on the top, using the steel washers. After I got the right side done (I also put the lower rubbers in their correct places) I took it out for a drive. Before I left the shop I wiggled the wheel back and forth like I did before and noticed the rubber noise was gone and I could not feel any motion between the body and subframe as I did before, so that was encouraging.

The first thing I noticed was that the car seemed to be pulling slightly to the left - I just had it aligned and did the sides one at a time so I had thought it shouldn't bother the alignment. The second thing I noticed was the steering seemed sharper. The third thing was that there was a significant increase in engine vibration felt thru the steering wheel. I was willing to live with it if it cured the problem.

It didn't.

I have never encountered this in any other Mini I've ever driven, so it's driving me nuts, not to mention it's not fun to drive the car with the wheel jumping around in your hand. It only does it between 45- 55 mph, but those are speeds you drive a lot.

Other things I've done:
4 new tires Yoko A539's, rotated back to front a couple of times - made no difference
New suspension lower arms, new tie bars, new bushings etc
New ball joints, properly shimmed - they're still tight.
New upper control arm bearings and seals
New motor mounts
New front and lower subframe mounts - 1/2" bolts in the front subframe holes instead of 3/8"
Repacked the front wheel bearings
New pot joints
Repacked the outer CV joints, they were in good shape, no issues.
Rebuilt the differential - which did have a very worn cross pin - replaced with a new cross pin diff assembly and new final drive.
Swapped wheels with a spare set - does it at the exact same speeds. Both sets have been balanced more than once.
New tie rod ends
New steering rack (well it had a new one when I got it, but it's done it since day one of my ownership) and there is no play in it. The pinch bolt is also tight and there is literally no play in the steering at all.
New brake rotors and Green stuff pads
Rebuilt the front calipers
While I had them apart I checked the front axles to be sure one wasn't bent. They were fine

I've been all over the subframe making sure everything was tight.

I'm out of ideas.......

As an aside, I wasn't sure I was happy with the 2.76 diff, but the more I've driven it as the engine has freed up and worn in, the better I like it. I still think the 3-1 ratio might be the best combination over all, but I do like the much lower RPMs on the highway.

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I expected the loose subframe to fix it up.

MiniDave

I was hoping it would too..... 50.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#643
So, I dropped the engine and subframe out of the Racing Green yet again, it has some miserable oil leaks, and I want to look over everything in the front end one more time to see if somehow I've missed something that can cause that damn wobble.

Changing to the solid top mounts under the head of the big bolts changed it - took it from the low 40mph to the high 40 mph onset point. I'm going to add the solid mounts under between the subframe and the body, tho the rest are all still the rubber mounts - and brand new.

I had an issue when I pulled it out the last time, a long time ago, with a terrible exhaust leak I noticed at the center port. I thought it had just blown out the gasket or something - the header was cracked at the y where the two outer pipes join in the center but a ton of exhaust had been blowing up across the back of the rocker cover, in the back where I hadn't seen it.

When I pulled it out this time damned if there isn't evidence that it was getting ready to blow out again. Fearing that I had a warped head surface that would have to be machined flat, I put a straightedge on it - looked fine. So I took a block and some 220 across it and it cleans up just fine, so clearly the head is not the problem. I had taken a flat file across the brand new header before I installed it and got it good and straight so I didn't think that was the issue, so next I took a look at the intake manifold. This appears to be an earlier version similar to what MiniSpares sells, but theirs is so much better made than this. When I measured the flanges they ranged from 3.5 to 4.2 inches - the exhaust flanges are uniform at 3.2". Aha!

So next I'll try to machine the intake manifold flanges down to a uniform thickness. I have one of the good, thick turbo gaskets to use too, but I think getting the pressure even across the flanges is key to fixing this once and for all.

Right now I have the clutch cover off so I can use some good gasket sealer and try to stop the leak on that end - I can't see why it would leak from there as that gasket has an adhesive coating and it's a good thick gasket, but all I can do is seal it up again and see how it does. None of the bolts had worked loose, and I put a straight edge across the cover and the trans and both are nice and flat.

Once I've got that end buttoned up again I'll pull the diff out and reseal the covers - the side covers have new seals in them and the bushings are good plus it looks like it came out from under the covers, not out of the seals. Still debating on whether to change the final drive back to a 3:1 vs the 2.76 but I think I'm just gonna leave it be. I saw a guy on The Mini Forum who had issues with his side covers too - he took a nice flat piece of aluminum and bored a hole that same size as the centering flanges on the inside of the side covers, then glued some sand paper onto the aluminum and worked the covers back and forth - he found his were far from flat and straight, tho it didn't take a lot to get them there. Been thinking about doing something similar.....

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Just to verify, but you did torque down the upper left (facing the car) tower bolt on the subframe?  It's the side I noted was very sloppy when jacking up the subframe, noticing a good 1/4-1/2 inch play when jacking it up.

94touring

For those oil leaks if it's something due to slight warps or just crap mini gaskets, this is the magic stuff the vdub people use.  A very slight smear on your gaskets would be all you'd need.  Where VW put out the bulletin to not use jug gaskets, this stuff is used in it's place and what I used for jug to block oil sealant. 

MiniDave

Yes, both bolts were tight as hell, the play appears to be in the rubber bushes, which I'm going to replace with the solid ones.

I'm going to use this stuff.....cause I already bought it!  ;D



Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Clutch end is buttoned up.......On to the diff


Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Diff is out, everything is cleaned up and ready to go back in......I did find one thing that might have been the source of the leak here - it didn't look like it was coming from the shift shaft, but I found a cut in the shift seal. I'll put it back together with a mew seal then try and figure out where it might have been coming from at the water pump end of the engine.

We're supposed to take our classics to the races at Ozarks International tomorrow - I don't know if I can finish it in time or not. Gonna be a slog!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Putting in a shorter final drive?