Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

[MrBounce]

Well, the weather has turned cold. Lovely. The amazing Mrs B has bought me a present though - I've now got a Propane heater in the garage - stick it on for 10 minutes and it's lovely & toastie in there now! I will interested to see how long the gas canister lasts as the guy at the shop was desperately trying to sell me a bigger one...

Just a short update today: The gear selector and a couple of other parts (carb bits & part of the thermostat housing) have gone through the parts washer and look much improved ready for fresh grease and reassembly. I will of course be modifying the selector as it's a standard Mini part; these need to be sleeved and extended by 16cm I believe to work properly. The car was not fitted with an engine when I got it, but the previous one fitted came with a remote box anyway, which of course was totally different.

I also gave the calipers another coat of paint and have painted only half of the radius arms as they're not the easiest things to hang up...

New heater - looks like a jet engine so definitely one for the boys!



Cleaner looking selector (and other bits).



More paint applied.

[DavidL]

...I will of course be modifying the selector as it's a standard Mini part; these need to be sleeved and extended by 16cm I believe to work properly...

The convertible build manual says 62mm.

Also, they need to be sleeved at opposite ends so there's no contact between the two rods. If that much was obvious, then I apologise for trying to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs.

[MrBounce]

Ha ha David we're BOTH wrong. Have just checked the Bronze build manual and it's 3 3/4 inches; or 9.52cm. Have NO idea where I got the 16cm from!!

Had another couple of hours so popped into the man room and did a little bit more painting. Have now finished painting the radius arms and the calipers so will hopefully be able to start putting stuff together soon!! I was considering building up the rear beam and the front subframe but I will need the work bench for those so I dug out the steering column.

This was not the prettiest thing in my garage. Being sat in a damp car for 11 years had made it look a bit...rusty. The outer column had a few small pock marks on it and the inner section looked like it had been in a field for a month. That said, about 15 minutes with some wet & dry soon had both looking much more usable and ready for the coat of satin black that I don't have in the garage. Nuts...

Other side of the radius arms & calipers done.



Column apart. Not pretty.



Looking more like it. I do have new bushes for both ends.

[DavidL]

Well, that surprised me, I assumed that the "stretch" would have been the same for marks 1, 2, and 3!

I do know the Mk 3 Coupe and Convertible are the same though, I stretched mine by 62mm and it works.

[MrBounce]

Another quick update; not much has gone on this week: I desperately need to tidy the garage as it's in a bit of a state. Meanwhile, I managed to prime and spray the outer steering column, having rubbed it down. I masked up the ignition barrel as the shear bolts had done just that and I wasn't going to spend 3 days trying to drill them out. I also got hold of some proper 3M masking tape after the big roll I had just made me very angry; it was terrible stuff that just ripped at every given opportunity. It went straight into the bin. A bit of satin black and the column is looking nice again.

Primed...



...and now black again.

[MrBounce]

I have started to rebuild the steering column; I say started - the top bush has been greased and put in, but of course the bottom felt bush needs to be soaked in oil before using it, and ideally it should be overnight. 45 minutes is NOT enough. For everyone saying "why don't I use a plastic bush?" I am not convinced that the older columns can use them (I have read conflicting information about this) and there was a brand new felt bush that came with the car; why spend extra when for a little bit of work you already have what you need?

As I was waiting for the bush to soak, it was time to start putting some suspension bits on the front subframe. My mate Matt came over but had conveniently forgotten to bring his cone compressor. Oops. Still, we could get the lower arm pins, lower arms & tie bars fitted. Or so we thought. One side of the car was no problem at all; However as usual, the bits on this car never cease to amaze me. We were able to bolt everything up on the offside but the nuts was no tightening up. We discovered that the lower arm pin had come apart. I have never seen this before. I don't have a welder. Have to get a new one...

And whilst going through various boxes to have a sort out, I pulled out the timing cover to put with the other engine stuff, to find it's got a hole punched through it. Merry Christmas and all that.

Bush soaking. (Stop sniggering at the back!)



Nearside bolted together.



You have to be kidding me!!

[MrBounce]

Timing cover with extra ventilation. Matt thinks he's got a spare in his garage. I hope...

[MrBounce]

Another small update; I popped to the East Anglian Mini Centre and they sorted me out with a spare lower arm pin so I could finish the driver's side. A little gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet and some Copperslip so it doesn't all rust together and everything was done. Cone compressor next so the Hi-Los and doughnuts can go in along with the hubs.

I also had a wonderful struggle getting the felt bush into the steering column. It's now all together but of course I scratched the new paint so had to give it a quick blow-over. And I had forgotten to paint the bracket that goes with it. So that's now primed.

Driver's side lower pins, arms and tiebars now in.



Oops. Didn't mean to do that... Now repainted.



Bracket primed.

[MrBounce]

Well, Christmas has been and gone, and thankfully my family & friends did listen to me! A whole host of "little but useful" bits from Mini Spares along with a new tool box and a couple of tools to go in it as well ! No excuses for not getting back out into the Manroom then...

The engine has been sitting under my workbench (all wrapped up) for long enough now, so I did my World's Strongest Man impersonation (poor, I know...) and took the block outside to get it clean and ready for paint. It was not given a chemical bath when the machining was done so I have a bit more work to do. I gave it a coating of Father-in-law Steve's special degreaser (works well on bus engines!!) then set to work with an old paintbrush and a toothbrush. Much time later once it had been hosed down, I took it back inside and used my special bracket to put it on the engine stand. Works perfectly! I then gave it a coat of blue paint (same as the radius arms and calipers).

Once the paint had dried a bit, I popped out the two core plugs on the clutch end (I say popped - I really mean struggled manly for several minutes with each one) and also managed (after a hell of a fight) to remove the 4 oil gallery plugs (2 at each end of the block). I was then able to clean the oilways, using that most useful (and elusive) tool: the wire coat hanger with a bit of rag on the end. Unsurprisingly there was a load of crap in there. Several applications later it is beautifully clean. I will of course be blasting it through with an airline on numerous occasions before any engine building commences...

Christmas prezzies!



Dirty block.



Cleaner block!

[MrBounce]

Beautiful blue block!



Hmmm. This may need a bit of a clean out.



Oil gallery plugs gone.