Next Mini has finally arrived.

[MPlayle]

Got the new alternator and headlight switch installed.

With a new, fully charged battery and the new alternator it starts stronger than it ever has for me.

I had to revert the front turn signals back to the standard bulbs to keep the turn signal flasher unit happy as it did not want to work initially when I took the car to finally wash it after last week's drives in the wet.

All is right for Miss Ruby (for now).

[Brit_in_TX]

Edit: not sure you were aware that the meetup place changed from Chick-fil-A to Whataburger. But it has.

It is because Whataburger’s dining room is open and Chick-fil-A is drive only.

[MPlayle]

The next "project" popped up on Miss Ruby just before the forum went down, so time to update.

I started hearing a "humming" from a wheel while driving.  It was speed sensitive and persistent even with the clutch in so probably bearings or a CV joint.  I had a spare full set of front wheel bearings for disk brake hubs, so the project was going to start as a repack/replace job.  That did not last long.

I found the rear brake shoes worn more on the right rear than the left rear.  The right rear wheel cylinder had been leaking.  The springs for the rear brakes were likely still the 30 year old originals.  The rear bearings were also likely the originals and had never been repacked (dry, cakey grease).  That part of the original project turned into replacing the bearings, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, and springs.

The "humming" turned out to be from the left front.  I decided to I would use the spare bearing sets and replace the front bearings on both sides.  While I was going to be at it, I also decided I would convert the brakes to the 7.5" size for opening the possibility for running 10" wheels.  While I would be doing that I decided it would be a good time to refresh the ball joints (likely still the originals) and ordered the new style from Classic Minis Japan along with a set of their castle nuts.  When I went to try to remove the original castle nuts, they would not even budge.  I managed to start bending my angle iron brace and broke a wheel stud trying with my usual breaker bar.  I got a 400 ft-lb air impact gun and tried that - still no luck.  This is the first time I have encountered castle nuts self-welded to the CVs.  That has turned doing the fronts into a complete hub replacement effort of new everything - including steering arms as one of those will not come off the hub.

I am waiting on parts to trickle in from Mini Sport and Mini Spares.  Some have already arrived (those I thought I needed for the initial effort).  The rest are in transit as of today.

I hope I can still manage to get it done in time for the TxABCD show at the end of September.

[cstudep]

If I was closer I would let you borrow my 1400 ft/lb battery powered impact. I have yet to find a nut it won't remove one way or another.

[94touring]

That sucks.  Are you having to cut the castle nuts off?

[MPlayle]

I'm replacing the hubs, bearings, CV joints, etc. - basically everything.  I pulled the hubs and axles today and knocked them off the axles.  After looking over the assemblies once free from the car, they are ready for the junk pile.

[MiniDave]

Will you get it done in time for the upcoming car show?

[MPlayle]

Will you get it done in time for the upcoming car show?

That is my goal.  All of the parts ordered are currently in transit and "scheduled" to arrive by Tuesday.  I think I have everything I need ordered.

[MPlayle]

Progress!  The right rear (the one with the leaking wheel cylinder and stuck hard line) is now all back together.  It has a new hard line, wheel cylinder, bearings, seals, brake shoes, and brake springs.

I hope to get the left rear done tomorrow.  It is a repeat of the right with the exception of already having a newer hard line that came off the old wheel cylinder without any problems.

[MPlayle]

More progress: the left rear is now done and I am moving on to the left front.

I will be taking a break (no pun intended) tomorrow as I have a work related conference with one of the UK guys tomorrow afternoon.

I hope to resume the work on the Mini on Monday and see how far I get.

[MPlayle]

More progress and another setback.   

I got the left front hub assembly built up.  I then cleaned the inner pot-joint end to evaluate it and prep for re-greasing it only to discover rust had begun on the ball cage and there was pitting starting on some of the balls.    

Time to replace the pot-joints while I am at it.  I just put in another Mini Spares order for the pot-joints and diff-cover seals.

Time to go back out and start assembling the right side hub while I still have some ambition.   


Edit:

I got the right side assembled as well before I "melted" for the day.  98*F temp with 103*F heat index tends to "melt" me rather fast - good for about 4 - 5 hours per day working in the garage.

I just have the steering rack ball joints to replace while waiting for the pot-joints.

[MiniDave]

Do you have A/C bleed over from the house if you leave a door open and put a box fan in the doorway?

I can't work when it's that hot in the shop, just not possible. Shoot, I get uncomfortable when it gets 80* in my shop, even with the box fan blowing on me - of course, we have humidity.

When it gets that warm with high humidity the shop A/C goes on....best thing I ever did was adding the big window A/C to the shop.

Does anyone know how you get rust pits in a device that's running in grease all the time? I mean, I can understand how it could happen if the boot is torn and most or all of the grease gets washed out and replaced with water and/or dirt.....

[MPlayle]

I live in an apartment.  The garages are in a detached building, downstairs in the parking area.

I do have a small pedestal fan blowing in the garage as I work.  It helps a bit, but not a lot.

Edit:
The boot of the one pot joint I cleaned did have some cracking starting, but was still full of really dark (basically black) grease.  I had to spray it with quite a bit of brake cleaner to get rid of the grease to inspect the joint and found the rust and pitting.

[MiniDave]

No way to put a window A/C or something in it?

[MPlayle]

Nope, no way to put a window unit into it.  The apartment management likely would not allow it either.

There is only 1 outlet in each garage ceiling and one of the two plugs is taken by the garage door opener.  I use a heavy duty extension cord in the other and watch carefully what I have plugged in at any one time.

I have been hunting for an affordable, small house with at least a 2 car garage.  However, the housing prices have been rising significantly while my housing budget stays fixed and available "starter" size homes are few.

[94touring]

You need one of those portable units I use in my condo and bus. Just pop in the vent into the window when you're working and take it out when you're done. No heavy lifting or eye sore like a standard window unit.

[MiniDave]

 I doubt he has a window.....my son had one of those for his garage and just put the hose out the bottom of the door, but it didn't do a thing against Phoenix heat.

Hang in there Michael, I think housing prices are going to soften up a bit as the mortgage delay/forgiveness programs end and some of those folks have to sell....there will be more houses available then so it should stop or at least slow the increases we've been seeing.

[MPlayle]

I got the next step of progress done today.

I removed the old steering rack ball joints/ends and installed new ones.  The new ones are the same type and length as the old ones.  I used my digital caliper to measure the length of the old ones on each side from the outer edge to the inner most thread to get a fixed reference point for each side.  When I installed the new ends, I set them to the same measurements as an attempt to preserve the toe settings.

I also installed the new brake calipers onto the hoses with new copper washers, drained the oil,  and got the old pot-joint shells out of the differential.

Next is to pry out the old diff cover seals for installing new ones with the new pot-joints.

Parts are on the way.  They are still "scheduled" for delivery Monday, 13th Sept. though tracking shows they left New York City gateway earlier today.  My guess is either tomorrow or Friday for actual delivery.

[MPlayle]

More progress today - an end is finally in sight.

I got the new pot-joints and seals installed, axle and hub assemblies installed, new calipers installed, ball joints greased, and brake pads installed.  I also refilled the engine oil since I had to drain it for changing the pot-joints.

I just have to refill the brake fluid, bleed the brakes, and verify the toe setting.  I have a friend coming over in the morning to assist doing the final steps.

[MiniDave]

Wow, you zoomed right thru this - good job!   
 

[MPlayle]

We did not get as far as I wanted to today. 

Bleeding the brakes took a lot longer than anticipated to get fluid back into the lines all the way around.  We ended up going to the parts store and buying a vacuum bleeder kit to finally get fluid out to the furthest rear wheel as the pump/hold method was making only tiny progress.  Once we got decent fluid at all corners using the vacuum tool, we reverted to the pump/hold method for getting the remaining air out of the lines.  We stopped once all four corners had two rounds of clear fluid with no bubbles.

With the wheels back on and the car back on the ground, the toe looks like it definitely needs a bit more attention.  We went to Lowes and got some 3/4" pvc pipe and made a "reference square" for doing alignments by myself.  This gives me a frame to have a proper parallel reference along each front wheel.  later this week I will settle the suspension from being on the jack stands and then use the frame and my toe plates to center the steering and set the toe.

Then I will "test drive" the work around the apartment parking lot to test the results.

Tomorrow I have to help my friend change the alternator on his sister's Kia.

[gr8kornholio]

Great progress.  I need to get back on mine. Sad I’ve had it back for a year now.  Every time I get going on it something comes up. 

Bring the swear jar for that Kia alternator.  If it’s anything like my friends Hyundai or brother in laws Nissan you going to need it. 

[MPlayle]

I will keep the "Swear Jar" in mind tomorrow.

[MPlayle]

The alternator job on the Kia was not as bad as anticipated.  There were only a couple of "swear jar" moments.

Today I dealt with the toe setting on the Mini.  The initial setup had a lot of toe out to it.  I started by centering the steering rack and steering wheel.  Then I used the pvc frame to get each side real close to straight ahead.  Once I had them both near straight, I switched to my toe plates and dialed it in from there.  According to the plates and tape measures I have just under 1/4" total toe out.  I will see how that turns out.

A quick loop around the apartment parking lot showed I have very little brake pedal, so I need to beld them some more.  That will be Wednesday's task.

[MiniDave]

1/4" toe out is too much 1/16" is plenty