Mini ST Hotrod

Started by MiniDave, May 21, 2023, 10:42:51 AM

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MiniDave

Yes, Don has autometer gauges in his car too.....I've looked at all the major gauge mfrs and I've found one set that's fairly reminiscent of a Porsche 911 that I'm considering. All the gauges in one panel.....really spendy tho, plus I'd have to buy a couple of sending units....That purchase is still far off in the future tho

My goal with the A/C is to not have a big ol hunk of plastic hanging down under the dash......I'm sure part of it will but I'm hoping I can hide most of it. If necessary I'll make a panel - much like they did on Binky - to cover it.

Did they pull the tach, water temp and oil pressure signals out of the ECU too? I need to get a pin out diagram for this
ECU.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Quote from: Red Riley on August 04, 2023, 06:58:11 AMI wanted to keep my dash looking stock(ish), so I decided to go with Autometer electronic analog gauges. They have a custom shop online so you can get pretty much any combination of faces and trims. The programmable speedo is super easy to calibrate and just uses the VSS signal from the ECU, so no trying to figure out cables and adapters and stuff.


That's a good look.

Red Riley

To be honest, it's been so long since I put them in that I don't remember where the signal for the tach comes from. I think maybe there was an existing wire in the dash harness. The temp and pressure gauges need senders on the engine.

MiniDave

New radiator and A/C condenser appeared, so for the umpteenth time I bolted the front subframe in again and mocked up the locations. It looks like it's all going to fit well....I still need to fab up brackets and such but it all went together pretty much the way I saw it in my mind's eye.

So I'll make all the locations and build out the brackets and mount it up one last time for a final fit check, then that part is mostly done.

I also got the mock up A/C evaporator box, with a little bit of cutting of the sheet metal it looks like it's going to fit right in the dash too, so I won't have to Binky an air box together!

I've been mocking up other bits and bobs too, the accelerator is mounted to its own bracket and it looks like it will bolt right to the bulkhead and be placed perfectly. I love it when complicated things go together easily!

There will be challenges plenty yet to come!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

The engine is now off the pallet, getting rid of that 4'X7' pallet really opened up some room in my tiny shop!

Now I can get to stripping off things I won't need and figuring out how to modify those I do need so they'll fit in the car.

Most of the things I imagined while laying in bed sleepless look like they will build out exactly as I imagined. Some not so much..... :grin:

One thing I am puzzling over. The shift linkage at the gearbox has a couple of fairly heavy weights attached, I know MINIs (which use a very similar Getrag gearbox) do not use these weights. I'm debating cutting them off, as it would simplify my shift linkage considerably. I can't fathom any real use for them unless it's for the general "feel" of the shift mechanism.



Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Those weights might be something to research before cutting them off.  Unless of course they're easily put back on.

MiniDave

It's a cast part, so I don't think it would be easy to re-attach them...... :017:
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#57
Today's project was to get the engine settled on the hydraulic table and remove the engine electrical harness......which was a total PITA! But I didn't want to have it in the way when lifting the engine in and out of the car to mock up the subframe and suspension.

With that done I'll probably move back to the front subframe and build and weld in all the brackets needed to mount the fuel tank, A/C condenser and radiator. With that in place I can start thinking about how to run the pipes from the front to the back, I have some basic ideas already but I'll need to refine them as I go along. Looks like the two big hoses will be in the right place to hook them to the pipes, and I'd like to put some elbows in the front part to match up to the radiator, so all I'll need are a couple of short elbows to connect them. However, there are a couple of small bleed pipes that were attached between the coolant recovery tank and the thermostat housing, that used proprietary fittings. I'm not sure how I'm going to make those work, or even plug them off if I can't make them work as intended. Challenges....

By the way, each one of those little blue tape markers are for a sensor or control........there are a bunch of them!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Scargo

Dave .... in case you've not seen this, I thought I'd send a little motivation your way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8O6l2gzh2w


MiniDave

I had not seen that one, very interesting! I also got sent a link to a FB group devoted to people who put other engines in classic Minis, and one fellow has done exactly what I'm doing. I messaged him about whether he has a build somewhere that I can see. No point in reinventing the wheel if someone else has already done it successfully!

Today I'm making brackets and such to weld in to mount all the stuff in front.....to that end I got to use a new tool today! I needed to remove the big heavy bracket that the clutch hose attaches to, so I got out my spot weld cutter kit. I bought it about 30 years ago and never had used it before, so there was a learning curve as I broke one fairly quickly - but, once I got the hang of it, it worked really well, even in this thick metal. Should make separating some of these other panels easier that just ripping them apart with an air chisel.

I was concerned that if I just chiseled it off it would tear the underlying metal and I would have to weld in a patch.


Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

I had to pause my bracket making when I realized that if I set the tank all the way down in the subframe, the pipes for the coolant wouldn't clear and would hang down below the subframe......so.......

I decided I was tired of working in filth and I need to get the shell outside where I can go after the mud and mud dauber's nests with my pressure washer. To do that I needed to make some sort of dolly. I dug around an found these 5" casters, I bolted them to a 2X6 and bolted that to the subframe. I figure if I can get a couple of my young, strong neighbors to help, we can "wheelbarrow" it out onto the driveway. Getting back in might be a trick, but we'll figure it out. I had to make it wide enough that the casters would ride on the boards beside the lift....

I had a problem with the front panel not being square to the subframe, so Don brought his porta power over and we moved it out enough to get the spacer in place. Things lined up pretty well except for the gap that opened up at the outer corner between the fender and the valance. Dan thinks it will pull together with a judicious application of clamps and welds.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

I still haven't gotten the car out of the garage as I'm having trouble co-ordinating with strong/younger neighbors to give me a hand (one's wife had a baby this weekend so he's excused), and since a car ran over my foot at the car show last Sunday I'm not really in any shape to lift it, so I decided to get started on cutting out the old rusty floor panels and welding in new shiny ones.

I started by removing this crossmember - I noticed after drilling out a few spot welds that a LOT of big rust chunks were falling at my feet.

When I got the crossmember out, this is what I found - yes the blue paper towel was in there too - it looked like someone had closed up a hole by shoving that paper towel in there and gobbing a bunch of bathroom silicone over it.

You'll also notice there is a fairly thick sound deadening applied to these panels which I have to remove in order to get at the spot welds, and it is a royal PITA to get off of there. Sometimes if I can catch an edge I can drive a scraper under it and lift off a section, but usually I have to take my heat gun to it to get it soft enough to scrape off. PITA!

With that out of the way I dropped the new panel into place so I can start figuring out where exactly to cut out the old one and start welding in the new. I'm a little undecided about the sequence of what to cut and weld first as I'll be rebuilding the entire lower side of the car. On Binky they welded in the door step area first and I need to do that as well, so I may do that before cutting out the floor. It's a mess, no question!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

That sound deadening comes up lickity split with an air chisel fyi.

MiniDave

I figure since I'm removing the whole panel, I don't need to remove all of it......I only need to remove the areas where I'm going to drill the spotwelds out and reweld it.

But I do have an air chisel, so I'll try that......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Finally got the hot rod off the rack and out into the driveway for a bath! It only took me and one other guy to do that but I'll have a spare helper to get it back in - over the lip into the shop and up the ramps onto the rack again. It's a nice, warm, dry day so once it's baked a while we'll roll it back in again.....with so many holes in the floors and sheet metal, it drained easily!  :rolleyes:

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Did you put the air chisel to work yet?

MiniDave

No, the Inno is back on the rack so I can drain the gas and put fresh in and button up the last bits, then I'll get the hot rod moved over and bring the Inno down when I come down for the races first week of Oct.

Then while I have an empty garage I can get to grinding and welding without worrying about splatter hitting another car.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

It was surprisingly easy to roll it back into the shop.....

Also the front coilovers came in today. Once I get a few more suspension bits in I can build the front end up and roll it around on actual wheels!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

If you build a dolly with those bigger inflatable rubber wheels that thing will move nicely over all those cracks and lips in the concrete.