Clancy's Moke Restoration

Started by MiniDave, October 08, 2018, 09:10:58 AM

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MiniDave

Quote from: Willie_B on June 25, 2021, 02:02:15 PM
Quote from: MiniDave on June 25, 2021, 01:47:29 PM
I had to get my burrs out and reshape the hole in the subframe a little so I could get a 3/8 coarse tap to start, then I ran all four holes and put new bolts and washers in and tightened it up.

Does the body have captive nuts for the lower subframe mounts?

Yes, there were captive nuts in the body work
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Quote from: MPlayle on June 25, 2021, 02:10:49 PM
That exhaust looks like a large bore down-pipe transitioning into a small bore exhaust the rest of the way back.  Won't that be a bit restrictive on the engine performance?

Actually, it's a small bore header (for a 998) and yes that goes into an aftermarket pipe and muffler that Clancy had a local muffler shop weld up for him. But it doesn't seem to hurt performance any. OTOH, no one will be driving this car at 70+, it's an in-town car only!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Drove the Moke around the block and boy howdy is it quick! Considering it's out of an AA our guess is that is has the 3:65 final drive that those came with, so I would bet 55-60 mph is about the best you want to do, although now that it's leveled out and aligned, it drives pretty well.

Clancy brought his big trailer down to take the Moke back to Lawrence as it was supposed to rain and the little one car trailer is full of an MGB GT V8 right now, we loaded it up and off he went - very pleased with the fact that it now has brakes, and that the turn signal repeater light is easy to see even in bright sunlight.

Next week I'll tear down his race motor so I can assess the work it needs and get parts ordered.

I also now have all three Sprite transmissions to build, tho I don't have parts yet for one of them.

More as it happens.

Clancy brought me some wall art for the shop, this is a laser cut accurate layout of the track at Blackhawk Farms!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Jimini II

Quote from: MiniDave on June 25, 2021, 02:31:33 PM
Quote from: Willie_B on June 25, 2021, 02:02:15 PM
Quote from: MiniDave on June 25, 2021, 01:47:29 PM
I had to get my burrs out and reshape the hole in the subframe a little so I could get a 3/8 coarse tap to start, then I ran all four holes and put new bolts and washers in and tightened it up.

Does the body have captive nuts for the lower subframe mounts?

Yes, there were captive nuts in the body work

That's a first, I have never seen those on any Moke or Mini front sub frame, only seen them on places where you could not reach like the rear sub frame mounts into the heel board/sill section.

MiniDave

Out Moking around at CoTA....we're behind the main pits....

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#230
Clancy's Moke is back in the shop for a bunch of small stuff:

1) install an alternator - the genny was working but just doesn't keep up at the slow speeds he trundles around in the pits or on a parade. I've got it bolted in and the belt tensioned, and I've made up a wiring harness. Now I need to drop the dash and make sure there's a wire to the ign light as that's what energizes the alternator. I'll also have to relocate the coil as it was attached to the genny.

2) install a new speedo - the impetus for this is less the speedo as we think it has an AA gearbox, so the ratio will be wrong and the speedo will be slow - but also to get his fuel gauge working.

3) install the column surround - this won't work with the steering wheel he has now, so unless he has another wheel or wants to buy one of mine, I can't do this. (he's decided to go steering wheel shopping, so for now we'll shelve this.

4) change oil and filter.

5) bolt down the loose electric fan in the wheel well.....probably need to make a bracket for this.

6) raise the left front corner a bit more to level out the car.

7) general tune up, valve adj, points, plugs, carb clean and tune

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

If you had a couple more "Clancy's" you'd be working full time on minis!

MiniDave

#232
I am desperately trying to get out of the repair business! Clancy is the only one I'm working on anymore, and he does a lot of favors for me so it's a fair exchange.

Running the engine in the engine stand for Dave Long a couple weeks ago was supposed to be just him borrowing the stand but turned out to be me doing most of the work as usual. Oh well. It's done and gone too.

Once I get this last engine built and delivered I'm out of the Mini engine/trans business, except for my own, if at all possible.

Got the dash opened up and the old speedo out, there were no bulbs in any of the sockets, so I'll have to try and find some. You need the ign light to excite the alternator and get it to make power, plus it would probably be nice if the other lights worked too. I also saw that the fuel gauge was not hooked up properly, no wonder it doesn't work.

I'll get all that sorted tomorrow if I can find some bulbs. I'm also going to see if I can find a "universal" shift boot since the one I ordered from Spares doesn't even come close - once again I figure it's because this is an AA remote gearbox converted to be a magic wand and that may have moved the shifter hole - no idea but if I can find one I'll get it patched in.

Updated pic. I had to move the coil but fortunately I had ONE of the longer head studs used to mount the bracket so I had a good way to hang the coil. That may not be the final resting place as I may come up with a different location before I'm thru. It will be fun to see if I can get all this misc BS to work properly!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#233
Well, I'm mostly done with the Moke for this round anyway.....

This trip, I replaced the genny with an alternator, which meant I had to build a wiring harness and move a few wires off the regulator and change them around....but that's done. I needed some screw in 2.2 watt bulbs (those things are a PITA to screw in too!) especially for the ign light, which is what gets the alternator to start producing juice and a local Mini buddy had some so I could carry on.

I pulled the speedo as the one Clancy had was toast - I got one from a Moke from Michael Playle - and took it apart to clean the glass and dials that were dusty/dirty. Once back together I tested both the fuel gauge and speedo to see if they worked (they did - yay!) and installed it in the Moke dash. Those of you who have had a Moke dash pod off know what a PITA that can be too. In this case the speedo was held in the dash with two 10-32 allen head bolts, and there is no room to get an allen wrench in and turn more than one flat at a time, it was tedious so I decided when I put the new one back in I would go another way. The new speedo had speed nuts for phillips head screws, and there was no way I was going to try and do those, so I took the speed nuts out and that left a nice 1/4" hole, so I used nuts and bolts - easy to get a gear wrench on those to tighten them.

Once everything was ready I put the dash back onto the firewall, and turned on the key - no ign light!!?!? I double and triple checked all my wiring and could not find a fault, so the dash came out again. Just to make sure, I tested the "new" light bulb and SOB the damn thing was bad! So, then I tested all the bulbs and found 4 of the 6 OK, put a new bulb in the ign light holder once again and buttoned it all up and re - attached to the firewall and Viola! it works! I also noticed the fuel gauge worked correctly too, now that IT was wired right, so double Yay!

Now I need to drive it so I can see how far off it is. my guess is the gearbox for the car it came out of had a 3:44 diff and I'm guessing the engine in the Moke is out of an AA, which probably had a 3:65, so I expect it to be off some, we'll see.  Friday it's supposed to be in the 50's again so that's the only day I'll get to drive it....(just checked the forecast - 35 today, 60 on Friday, 35 on Sat!)

A few other jobs included a tune up, valve adjustment, points and timing, clean and gap the plugs and replace the rocker cover gasket.

WillieB is sending me a shift boot so I can replace the one that lasted about 2 months - I hope his is better quality than the one I bought!

I also made a seal for his gas cap out of a spare piece of buna I had laying around.

More as it happens!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Clancy came to load up the Moke yesterday morning, of course it was 19* out so it wouldn't start. He has a really small battery in the car and I think it just doesn't have enough cold cranking power for winter weather, so we wound up pushing it onto the trailer, which is no biggy since it's so light and we had 3 people.

I still have a few things to do to this car on the next round - the handbrake doesn't work. I thought it didn't have a button to push so I asked Willie B to make one for me and when I went to install it I found it did have one, it was just pushed so far into the handle you couldn't see it!

I also need to replace the leaking axle seals and it's still sitting a bit low on the left front side, so I need to put another turn into the adjuster on that corner, I guess. It also looks like it's sitting a bit low on the left rear, but I don't have any more old hilo adjusters I can throw at it. I'd hate to buy a whole set for it when I really only need one.

Don and I drove it on Sat to make sure everything was working correctly and we found the speedo to be off 5 mph fast at 35 mph. since that's about the speed he usually drives it, it will be easy to remember that. He said don't tell his "hot rod" son, so maybe he'll not speed in it so much!

His combo oil pressure/water temp gauge leaks oil internally and drips oil on your feet, and the temp part is off too so we're going to replace it. I'm going to suggest he gets one of those SS braided line kits for it too.

If I can get those things sorted, it should pretty well be ready for the upcoming racing season. Clancy loves taking it to the track, he says it's a real chick magnet!  :grin:
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad