Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

[MrBounce]

Much appreciated Jon. It does look pricey but oh so worth it!

[Geoff Butcher]

I'm sure I've seen bits like some of those dug up on 'Time Team.!

[MrBounce]

Oi Geoff you cheeky sod!

Another spare half an hour and I thought it was time to shift some unwanted stuff from the garage, which just happens to be attached to the Midas. There were a pair of 4-pot callipers on the car (not plumbed in) so these have been unbolted and chucked on the bay of E to free up some cash for more bits. I'm sure the previous owner said they'd been refurbished but this may have been a while before it fell into my hands. They need to be redone.

As for the reason why I am not keeping them? There is no servo on my car; I don't want to have to shell out for a complete servo kit as a) I won't know its condition if secondhand, b) it'll be expensive new and c) the car weighs less than 750kg so 4-pots aren't really needed in my eyes. Standard 8.4" discs have always been fine on my last 3 Minis that had them, none of which used a servo. I've also got a second set of hubs I can recondition along with a pair of callipers and drive flanges. It's a no brainer! Plus standard 8.4" discs are cheap, even for the good ones!

Link for the 4-pots on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AP-4-Pot-Metr ... 45fcce90c6

4-pots on the car...



...and dismantled.

[MrBounce]

The front end (other than the subframe and pedal box is now stripped so I turned my attention to the rear end. This meant the petrol tank. I didn't have an assistant for the day, so I thought first of all I'd stick a jack under the tank and tackle the bolts that were inside the car. I thought that as everything on this car was so rusty I might be lucky and they'd just shear off. Yeah, some hope. Of course they simply turned on themselves. As I was by myself, there was only one thing for it. Dremel cuts!

First of all I removed the screws at the back end. How I coped without a drill driver before I will never know. Two came out with no problems but the third was so crap it practically disintegrated and went through the mounting hole in the tank. Good enough for now

Out came my friend the Dremel along with my favourite bit, the cutting disc (Or 4 of them actually as these bolts were particularly tough). I decided that as they were tough I would cut halfway through the bolts then give them a clout with MC hammer. There were no issue with the first 2, but the third was difficult (typically!). I was able to cut through it practically all the way then snapped it off with a pair of pliers.

All I had to do now was to lower it down using the jack which was surprisingly easy, with a little bit of manouevring and jiggling to get the filler neck through the boot floor. Condition isn't fantastic, but it does appear to be mainly surface rust. I will give it a clean up before making a decision on whether it needs replacing. The big flexi pipe definitely does!

Finally I needed to drain the tank so out came the funnel and fuel can. That and 2 fizzy drinks bottles as I ran out of room! 7 1/2 litres of some sort of fuel was left in it. Amazingly it doesn't smell "off" (I'm sure the car hasn't run since about 2001) so it may be usable for a lawn mower or strimmer. Think I've got a mate with one so I may earn myself a pint or similar.

Nuts. They just turned with the bolts...



Jack under the tank



Dremel cuts. The bolts didn't stand a chance!



Lowering the tank.



Tank is out. Closer inspection required.



Potential lawn mower food

[MrBounce]

I've been doing a bit of research over the past few days. It turns out that the previous engine which was in the Midas came from a 60's Cooper S and was fitted along with the 60's twin bolt subframe and the large alloy remote gear selector housing. The holes for the original subframe towers have been filled in and a later subframe fitted by previous owner Andy (thanks for your info) but the original rear mouting bolts are still there, rusted in place through the floor. These will be cut out in due course. Good old Dremel! As a result, the rod-change gear selector I have will need to be lengthened to sit properly in the car, and a chat with a friend revealed he would be happy to do this for me.

A twisted knee meant I couldn't do any crawling around under or around the car so I thought I would clean up and re-grease the gear selector I had before handing it over for modifictaion. So I hauled it out from under the bench and set to with a brush and some degreaser. It cleaned up fairly nicely, but I assumed it had a whole load of nasty going on inside as moving the gear leaver around didn't feel quite "right". So, once it was a bit cleaner (and smellier as my degreaser stinks!) I whipped the bottom cover off. My worst fears were realised: it was scrap. The gearstick sits in a cup which is held in place to the rod with 2 roll pins. One half of this one piece cup had sheared off. So I need a new gear selector before I can get it modified. Now where was I? Oh yeah - yeehaa...

Before its degreaser bath with years' worth of road grim and old oil on it. Yum...



The horrors inside.



And the offending part closer up (and clean!)

[DavidL]

The gearstick sits in a cup which is held in place to the rod with 2 roll pins. One half of this one piece cup had sheared off. So I need a new gear selector before I can get it modified. Now where was I? Oh yeah - yeehaa...

Two roll pins? Are you sure - I thought it was just one...

And the offending part closer up (and clean!)

I think I'll be needing one of those things too. Does anyone know what their official name is, so I could at least search for one on eBay?

Or indeed, which supplier I can get one from?

[MrBounce]

Try this: http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=33677

And yes, it does need 2 roll pins coz one of mine won't come out...

[DavidL]

Try this: http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=33677

And yes, it does need 2 roll pins coz one of mine won't come out...

Cheers, not too bad for price I suppose.

It was a guess based upon memory about the roll pins, I haven't looked one of those in the eye for about 24 years...

(edit) ...aha, just realised, there's a short rod coming out the rear side of it too, isn't there?

[MrBounce]

Well, having been thwarted by my broken gear selectors, I thought I could at least salvage something by getting a replacement extension yoke for the gear lever so set about cutting the remains of the old one off. Unfortunately I ran out of Dremel Cutting discs halfway through this. It was irrelevent anyway as I discovered that the selector rod was badly bent. I could straighten it, but for less effort I could get another whole rod change assembly. Ho hum...

I then cleaned up the petrol tank. It looked like it was mainly surface rust so out with the wire brush and most of it came off; mainly bits of old paint and a lot of iron oxide. Still, a bit of rust convertor may go on this before I paint it with something heavy duty. I can't see any holes at all, but the piece of pipe I took off was well past its best.

I decided that as I'd painted the heater side panels I ought to take a look at the rest of the heater. The switch panel was a bit bent and the lever to move between "car" and "screen" was completely seized. I took everything to bits and cleaned everything up with the wire brush attachment on the angle grinder. I then was able to get the lever moving with use of the vice and brute force. I lubricated the little spring and dropped a dab of grease on the mechanism. It's now a lot better. The rest of the bits (including the main heater housing) were then ready to paint. I managed to do half the body then ran out of paint. Note to self: Buy more paint...

Bent rods



Rusty tank



Nasty Pipe



Slightly cleaner tank



Heater bits, before cleaning up



Lever now working thatnks to brute force, grease and ignorance



Cleaner bits



Oh b******s - out of paint!!

[MrBounce]

Still haven't bought any new paint, so left the heater bits for a while and turned my attention to getting the last of the stuff out of the interior. The headling (a one-piece bit of fibreglass) was going to need to come out, especially as I wanted to remove that horrid aerial stub. By the looks of things, all I needed to do was remove the gas struts (knackered) for the rear glass hatch and undo the four screws at the front to remove it. Simple! As the Haynes manual usually says, "Undo the screws/bolts/clips and lift out". What they don't have for their stripdown is a car that's been standing for 10 years in the damp. The nuts for the gas struts were easy; just use a 9/16" spanner to undo and they came away easily. The front screws? Well... One came out with no arguments. The other 3? Well let's just say that what should have been a 10 minute job at most became an hours' worth of struggle.

I really didn't want to get evil with the power tools, but after the first one came out, the other 3 just ended up with chewed heads. No amount of WD40 or shock treatment was going to make them move. I got some new Dremel cutting discs from Ebay last week and put them to use immediately. My plan was to cut off part of the screw and then just snap the rest of it off with a pair of pliers to avoid damaging the headlining too much. It was fiddly (because you're effectively working upside down, which I hate...) but 3 rusty and broken screw heads later the headlining fell on me. Only a few minor scratches around where it was screwed in. I will get the screw stubs out in time. No rush...

Well, the headlining had some strange mouldy bits on it and will get properly cleaned up in due course. For a moment I wasn't really sure where to put a 4ft x 4ft piece of fibreglass then I realised as it was so light the easiest place to put it was to hang it on the wall. 30 seconds with a hammer drill, rawlplug and screw, there it was. The aerial stub was stuck to a piece of aluminium, which was swiftly removed. Headlining out, sunroof and last bits of the internal loom will be next...

Horrible headling in place; sunvisors (one was already off) will need to be remade.



Gas strut undone



It's out! You can just about see the rusty screw stubs...



Nasty aerial stub and bit of ali.



The headlining's new home