Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

If you're taking on the task of rebuilding the whole Midas, please put the project in here.

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:18 pm

Appreciated Rich, although it's rather a long way to go... :)
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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby Rich » Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:25 pm

MrBounce wrote:Appreciated Rich, although it's rather a long way to go... :)


Just fill a box with bits and cover the return postage, it makes the world of difference to stuff like your bonnet stay.
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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:10 pm

Managed to get away from work nice and early today (bonus when you start at 7.30 - you can finish at 3.30 :) )

Thought I would clear a bit more of the engine bay and set about removing the radiator. Now this was supposed to be an Allegro item - I think not as the top hose connection is on the wrong side of the engine bay. I think it's more likely to have been from something with an inline rather than transverse engine so possibly a Marina? Anyhow, undoing the 2 bolts on the front panel under where the bumper would normally sit was a doddle, presumably because they weren't rusty. The rad just lifted nicely out. It does look a bit knackered though at the bottom - a layer of rust probably means it's had a smaall amount of water sitting in it for several years and has started rotting out. Replacement is on the cards. If anyone works at a Motor Factors can they let me know of a radiator roughly 270mm x 500mm (excluding end tanks) that has a top and bottom hose connection on the left? Much appreciated :)

The fan was bolted to the radiator by means of some extremely rusty bolts, 2 of which sheared immediately. These needed drilling out. I shall probably re-use this as apart from the rusty bolts, it looks in good condition.

Now the rad was missing it was easy to remove the wire mesh from the air intake - it was held on by 3 rusty wingnuts. The numberplate brackets were taken off (2 more sheared bolts...) I also took my time removing the weird engine steady bracket from the passenger side of the car. This took some time as the bolts and the bracket had become one mass of rust. Still, no match for my spanner and 2ft extension bar and socket. Apart from the various bolts that need to be released from inside the car via use of a helper, I am pretty much done in the engine bay now.

Rad out, rust at bottom... (rad is upside down...)

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Electric fan removed

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A gaping hole at the front now

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Strange bracket (broken). I'm sure those bushes will go again... :lol:

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The pile of nasty, rusty seized bolts and knackered bushes from just tonight's work. :o Stainless next time methinks...

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:30 pm

I have been given an oil cooler by a mate (well I swapped it for some scampi tails...) but the scrap pipes on it were so solidly on there they wouldn't budge without extreme force. Now, as it's an OIL cooler and therefore has oil in it, heat would be a problem, especially with a naked flame. So I chucked it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer overnight. Took it out this morning (after about 10 hours) and said unions undid easily. So that's my top tip of the day. :lol:

I then got the heater I'd bought and thought if I am going to put a new matrix in it, I need to make sure it's not covered in rust and crap. So out came the angle grinder with wire brush attachment and I sorted the heater side panels no problem. However, the main heater body was scrap. I brushed of the paint and the wire brush went straight through. So that's another punch from me Mr Dodgy Mini parts vendor. Perfectly serviceable my donkey! :x Amazingly the main body from the heater that had been left in the Midas for 10 years cleaned up ok, so I'll use that. Just need to sort some paint now...

Frozen oil cooler union

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Pipes off! Woo-hoo!

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Rubbish heater, part 2

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Cleaned bits ready for paint.

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby Geoff Butcher » Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:18 pm

My Metro rad has both connections on the nearside, facing back.
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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby manifold » Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:28 pm

Just a heads up.

If your going to fit a second hand cooler from someone else make sure you swill it out thoroughly. Well known to be collectors of swarf....bad for pump and shells.
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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Sun Aug 14, 2011 5:32 pm

Geoff - that's good to know - many thanks! :D

And Mr Manifold, I shall bear that it mind - you are a good source of useful info!! :)

As it was a sunny afternoon it was time to push the little beast out of its brick prison and give the thing a proper clean - its first in about 10 years judging by the amount of moss and other interesting marks on it. Luckily for me my father-in-law runs a chemical company which manufactures car cleaning products (wholesale) and he has an excellent general purpose cleaner which will shift most things.

So I pushed the car out into the sun and taped up every hole which led to the interior. This would then give me an idea of just how shot the door and window seals were. So I spent the best part of 2 1/2 hours giving it a good scrub and hose down. I also was able to get an idea of the last few little jobs left to clear out the engine bay and interior, as it's not always apparent in the tiny garage I have. As I was cleaning it anyway, I gave the wheels a squirt of alloy cleaner to see how much work they'd need to refurbish. Still a lot. Ho hum...

And of course it all filled with water. My drive is on a slant, so it all collected in the rear. It took a while with a sponge to clear it out. The sun helped dry it out too. Still, it's now much cleaner (although still in need of a further deep clean) so will be nicer to work on. And I'm not too worried about the other marks as they're all going to attacked with an orbital sander and resprayed anyway!! :lol:

Dirty Car!

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Moss growing on the rear end...

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Holes taped up in the front...

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...and the back

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Bang! And the dirt is gone!!

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Clean!

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Bonnet off and cleaner engine bay

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It's full of water!!

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Clean-ish alloy

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Back in the garage

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:02 pm

I have neglected the poor little thing over the last couple of weeks. I have been a busy boy but... It's all to do with not actually wanting to do that favourite of jobs, removing the split pin to get the master cylinders out. I will do it I promise... :lol:

Had half an hour to spare this afternoon so got a couple of little jobs done. Sprayed up the heater side panels and the washer bottle bracket with some black Hammerite. There was also a pair of drive flanges in the box of bits I have, but one of them was attached to an old 8.4" disc. I removed the drive flange (damn I love that word :lol:) using WD40, a 1 1/2 foot long extension bar and aggression factor 5. It worked! :twisted:

Parts ready for paint

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Couple of coats on (finish not too important - they're mostly hidden away!)

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About to get medieval on the flange bolts... :twisted:

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...which gave up without too much of a fight.

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby MrBounce » Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:19 pm

As I walked into the garage today I knew it was time. I could put it off no longer. The master cylinders had to come out. To anyone who doesn't know Minis that well, that means putting your head under the pedals, your feet where the back seats should be and using a pair of needle nose pliers to get to 2 split pins out of the most inaccessible place on the car. Or something like that anyway. So having given the heater panels and washer bottle bracket another spray of hammerite, I set about the horrible task that awaited my feeble skills.

It took about 4 minutes, one of which was contorting myself into position then realising my screwdriver was still on the workbench. The master cylinders were held in with "R" clips. All I had to do was push them out using the flat end of a screwdriver and then move the pins so they came out. I want to buy the man who put them in a beer! The master cylinders themselves need a refurb (no surprise there!) so I will have to put that on the Xmas list. Times is hard!!

I then set about removing the rest of the stuff in the engine bay that I could. This meant all bolts, brackets and heatsheilding. My Dremel went through 9 cutting discs going through all the rusty bolts that wouldn't budge, which was nearly all of them. The bonnet release cable and bracket was a particular pain as although I was able to undo the bulkhead bolts without any issues by jamming a spanner on the nuts inside the car, the bolts holding on the lever beneath the dashboard shelf were so rusty and inaccessible that cutting was the only option. It still took 15 minutes as I couldn't get the Dremel at the right angle due to the windscreen. I did annoy 2 earwigs which were living behind the bracket. They had to find new homes...

The heatshielding appeared to be a piece of carpet-like substance which had been siliconed to the bulkhead. This of course took ages to get off and had a collection of dead leaves and insects underneath. Tasty. The exhaust had obviously had an effect on the bulkhead in the past due to the scorched fibreglass I found. I will sand that out and build it back up before I figure out what sort of heatshield to use.

All the brackets are now off and only the pedal box and shock mounts remain until I can get the subframe off to attend to the brake and fuel lines. Could be a long time...

I love the man that put these in :lol:

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Master cylinders out (and needing a refurb!)

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Bracket held on by horrible silicone. What's wrong with a damn gasket?!

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Horrible stuff behind the heatshield...

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...which was also held on with bloomin' silicone!!

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Burnt bulkhead

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The collection of brackets and bars that came off. All need a clean-up and repaint.

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All the stuff for the bin. There's a lot of bolts which have been cut in half...

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The engine bay is almost completely clear!!!

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Re: Mk 1 Project Zippy (Picture Heavy!)

Postby Jon » Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:56 pm

MrBounce,

When I refurbished the engine bay of my Mk2 I used the self-adhesive floor tunnel heat/sound insulating material sold by Agriemach. It's not cheap but it does the job very well. Mine has been on the car for over two years and ten thousand miles with no sign of deterioration.

Regards, Jon

http://www.agriemach.com/default.php?cPath=7_102

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