MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby Rich » Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:23 am

That doesn't look too bad at all!

Which part of Dorset are you in? I'm just a few miles from Lyme Regis.
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:50 am

Rich wrote:That doesn't look too bad at all!

Which part of Dorset are you in? I'm just a few miles from Lyme Regis.


Not far from Dorchester. I know there's another Midas owner in Dorch would be good to find some more locals too.

I'm often travelling about the country and hopefully when I get this Bronze fixed up I'll be using that when I'm not towing something. There's quite a few fairly regular car meets in the region so it would be good to maybe drag some Midas cars out to them and have some socials round here too.
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:41 pm

Paperwork from the DVLA arrived so now I'm officially a Midas owner :D

If you're going to the Open Day at Enstone I'll be bringing it along with me so any points that need special attention can be identified and we can compare notes with other owners
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:58 am

I know I've been quiet on the rebuild of my Mk2 here but I've not been quiet with it (actually had one of the neighbours complain about the noise the other day :oops: )

I've been busy with a number of things on it, mostly rubbing down the bodywork and I'm fairly pleased to say that I've managed to get a lot of the microcracking sorted so it's looking smarter :D

Have been working on the rear wheels and breaks too. Not too sure if I'll strip the paint off the wheels and refurbish them myself or get another tidier set off ebay. The breaks seem to be good so far I've found it's had new drums fitted at the rear

The suspension I'm working on at the moment though I may have to find an empty field to work in to wirebrush the rust off with some deaf cows or maybe a crop that doesn't care about noise....

Still mulling over ideas for the interior but at the moment the mods to the bodywork I'm doing have priority and so far I'm well chuffed with what I've come up with but you'll have to wait to see that as I've got to do some GRP first before I'll be happy to put photos of that online. It'll be good though, you'll see :D


Oh I happened across a cracking local Mini meet at Poole Quay last weekend and found a few clubs near by plus some other events so I'm keen to get on and get this Midas on the road and show some Mini owners what they can do with a rusted out Mini. Hopefully we'll get some people re-interested in the Midas as I have.
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby Stuart » Fri Aug 24, 2012 6:09 pm

Any photos yet? also wondering if you've tried your B1 seats in the Midas? I could do with some much cheaper GRP versions of the B1.
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:30 pm

Hi Stuart.

I've a few photos but I'm thinking that it may be better to pop them up all together when I'm done really, partly as I'm jumping about being non systematic in the way I'm working on the car (there's good reasons for this) and partly as a lot of the photos i've taken have quite a few mods in the shot that I'd rather not show until I've got them complete.

Sorry to be a bit of a tease on this but all will be clear in a while and I think most folk will like what I'm doing. I have to say I'm really chuffed with the way it's going but sorry no photos for now.

Re the Tillett seats I've not tried the B1 in the Midas but have tried some others and do intend to have something GRP in mine but at the moment that's down the list of things I'm currently working on.

Front suspension is being stripped currently and I've cleaned up the years of grime and rust. As we speak I've had some parts in vinegar for 24 hours but I have to say I'm not impressed at all with this method and will not bother using it on any other bits, a wire brush is far more effective and 100 times faster too.

Image

Image

I think I already mentioned that I've been doing a bit on the rear suspension too which is really easy to do. I do need to sort out a lower rear ride height though as it's sitting far too high and really does look silly now on the new wheels I've got for the car, though they are not fitted yet as I also need to get some different spacers too.


Image
^ new wheels
v old wheels
Image


Any recommendations regards rear springs will be gratefully received has anyone else changed the ride height on theirs that can remember what springs they got?
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:06 am

Here's a photo of some of the parts from the front suspension after I've had a good go at them with a sturdy wire brush fitted to my grinder. I did also leave the parts soaking in vinegar for about 60 hours in all but to be honest the wire brush did 99% of the work if not more.

Image
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby Stuart » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:04 am

Any recommendations regards rear springs will be gratefully received has anyone else changed the ride height on theirs that can remember what springs they got?


You could lower it a bit using a shorter main spring and a run-flat if you want to retain your dampers. Midas spec Gaz dampers are too long for the mk 2, there is a photo at post 9 of the Gaz in full bump on 165/60x12 still showing a 2" gap.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/mes ... 4.1&maxT=8

Image

I liked 110lb springs on my mk2.
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Re: MK2 and she likes it so I had to have it really

Postby kelvink » Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:22 am

Just a quick update on some of the work recently on my MK2

The clutch system when I got the car was in a pretty dire state, with obvious leaks and spillage of hydraulic fluid everywhere and a lot of corrosion.

So I have replaced the slave cylinder. This took some doing due to the corroded solid actuator arm joints, but copious WD40 and a lot of bashing and banging eventually freed it up.

The master cylinder is currently being worked on (hopefully a overhaul kit will suffice) but I had to go and get myself a reasonable nut splitter in the end as the corrosion to the mounting plate and bolts on the top of the crossmember/bulkhead have rendered it all a solid mass of iron oxide. There's several other nuts and bolts around the car which I'm certain this useful little tool will be applied to as I'm fed up of spending ages trying to get rusty old nuts and bolts apart. A nut splitter is definitely a recommended bit of kit.

I was amazed to find (despite a fair bit of weeping fluid from the pipe junctions) that after a couple of depressions of the clutch pedal, and of course bleading the new cylinder, that I have a working clutch :D I'll be replacing a fair few pipes shortly too.

The main bug bear, other than the corrosion which could have been avoided by a bit of maintenance or use of better quality nuts and bolts, is the usual one of having to be a contortionist to manage to get a spanner or other tool (particularly the hammer) to make contact with the effective surface of which ever mass of iron oxide I'm trying to remove. I have over the years managed to perfect many techniques of getting into foot-wells or behind exhausts etc. with a variety of implements to either loosen or tighten many different fixings, however in addition to getting older these days I have to contend with Evie (that's her in the driving seat) who believes I must want to play if I'm rolling around on my back and kicking feet up in the air in peculiar directions.

So I have grazed knuckles and a couple of blood blisters on my hands and my clothes are covered in paw prints from Evie to balance up the appearance of having been in a fight I do have a pretty big grin though from finding out I've got a clutch that isn't welded solid to the flywheel.
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Re: kit car shows

Postby Stuart » Wed May 08, 2013 9:18 pm

kelvink wrote:but as you saw, I was a bit busy trying to get my car at least partly showable!


How was your car received Kelvin? I've only seen the photos Jon posted, have you or anyone else got some photos you'd like to share online? Ta
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