Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

[MrBounce]

I have given up waiting for a machine shop which clearly has bigger fish to fry than my rebore, crank polish and balance (they never bothered to call back with a quote in other words...) I spoke to a very good friend of mine who builds SS100 & C-type Jag replicas for a living and he put me in touch with a very pleasant gentleman. He is very much "old school" in that he has a house in the country with a massive engineering shed in the garden where he does his work. Almost my dream house... Having had a lovely chat to him he has taken all the engine parts and will sort what I need over the next few weeks as I told him I was in no rush.

Back in the garage though, it has been a frustrating time. Once more the ugly spectre of seized rusty bolts has raised its evil head and I spent the best part of 3 hours trying to remove 3 bolts. No, REALLY. They were three of the four bolts through the bottom of the dash that hold the brackets for the heater. What should have been a simple 5 minute job with two 7/16" spanners was at first thwarted by the fact that the top of the bolts (and washers) had rusted together to form an amorphous blob of what once was metal. And of course trying to undo the nut just turned the blobs. Because of the angle they were at, I could not get the Dremel in there to cut it off flush. So I spent WAY too long cutting little bits of the bolt heads off before eventually chiselling the rest off. Then the Dremel died. The switch has killed itself. For the price of a new switch I can almost get a new Dremel; I will probably do that then sell the old one on ebay as "Spares or Repair". I really can't be bothered to try to repair it. Plus it was starting to sound a bit rough...

I dug out the engine front plate from the spares box as I remembered it REALLY needed a clean. Several years of sitting about in a box meant it was still covered in bits of old gasket sealant, some remains of the gaskets and a large amount of surface rust. I gave it a going over first with the scraper to get the gasket & sealant off, then with the wire brush attachment to remove the rust. I also cleaned the threads for the timing cover as they were full of all sorts of crud.

Finally I spent a bit of time painting the rear beam and a few brackets with Hammerite, as well as giving the brake backplates another spray coating. Note to self: when cleaning your brush with white spirit, do not drip it on the graze on your hand. Ow...

Poxy heater bracket bolts: 3 out, one to go... (I had already thrown the other one away!!)



Beam & brackets in the process of drying.



Brake backplates after a second coat



Engine front plate after a damn good clean

[MrBounce]

After much beer, lazing around by the pool and too much food in Fuerteventura, a bank holiday beckoned and it was time to get into the Manroom again.

I had received a parcel through the post: a new Dremel. I instantly put it to good use to get rid of the 5 bolts that were still left to remove; one from the heater and 4 in the floor where the old subframe used to sit. I found out that there was an easier way to remove them rather than cutting them off: Grind away with the Dremel until the bolt gets hot, then twist it out with pliers as the fibreglass will be warmed suitably to allow it to move. Made my job a lot easier, though it did stink a bit...

I turned my attention to the rusty-looking bias valve which was fitted to the beam. It had still contained brake fluid when I removed it and a quick clean-up revealed that it was surface rust only. I have covered the unions and put it to one side to be painted in due course.

After taking the bonnet off, I noticed that it still had plenty of insulation/soundproofing/heat-proofing stuff on the underside. This was over 30 years old and was hard and brittle. It was also stuck to the bonnet with the strongest glue known to mankind. It took me the best part of a morning to remove it all, with the help of a chef's blowtorch (not as brutal as one you would get from B&Q - I don't have a heat gun) and a scraper. The glue remover that my Father-in-law supplied was evil personified but whatever it was, it got the old glue off easily when applied. I also made a point of removing the bonnet hinge pins as well as the clasp, giving them all a good clean-up in preparation for paint sometime in the future.

Turning my attention to under the bonnet, I decided I was going to cut off the strange "pins" that appeared to be badly fitted close to where the carb sits. They were off centre and didn't appear to serve any purpose. If they turned out to be important they could always be re-added and relocated. They were odd things. They were some sort of plastic outer with a metal post (bolt?) in the centre. They looked like a battery terminal but weren't. Maybe they were some sort of earthing point? I guess I will never know! I have cleaned up the area where they once were and with a small amount of work it will look factory fresh.

Still under the bonnet it time to remove the final bit of brake pipework and get started on the pedal box. After a squirt of WD40, the unions on the splitter undid easily and that was cleaned up. I have kept the pipes for reference purposes when it all goes back together. When I came to remove the pedal box, I found that it is rather badly situated and I may need to modify it slightly. The bolts are just below the main crossmember and as such have been cut about so that they will fit. Just over half a washer and an angled nut does not inspire much confidence. I wondered why it was so difficult to hang a spanner on it. I used Molegrips in the end. Amazingly everything undid nice and easily (must have been all the WD40 I had been regularly feeding it!) and I soon had the pedalbox on the bench.

It was not pretty. There was a lot of rust on it. First thing was first - I had to get it apart. So I covered it in penetrating oil and left it overnight. After a good nights' soaking in 3 in 1 I was able to get the centre pin which the pedals hang on out with a LOT of effort (hammer, molegrips, brute force). I need to give the shaft a bit of a going over with some emery cloth to make sure it doesn't get stuck again before refitting it. I have recut all the threads I can, then attacked the whole lot with the wire brush and Dremel to clean it all up. They now have a coat of paint and look an awful lot better than before!

Dremel! For only £10 more than a new switch too



Brake bias valve now looks healthier: saved myself £70-odd...



Bolts out. At last!



Bonnet covered in nasty soundproofing.



Midway through stripping



All done - there was a lot.



Rusty hinge pins

[MrBounce]

All cleaned up



Weird post thingy removed...



...which looks like this



Carb area cleaned up.



Brake splitter now clean



Cut about bolt holding the pedal box in place



Pedal box out



In bits on the bench



Thread cleaned up - pin shaft needs work though



All cleaned...



..and painted.

[Hans Efde]

I think we should use your infostream for a "how to restore a Bronze" guide.

[MrBounce]

High praise indeed Hans! I actually believe it should be entitled "How to tear a Mk1 Midas to bits"

[MrBounce]

Hubba Hubba Hubba



New pistons bought from Mini Spares and given to the man with the amazing shed. All the machining should be done within a couple of weeks. Very excited!

[All That Glisters]

"man with the amazing shed"
I like that but I refuse to put one of those smilies on this reply (I'm not putting text speak for lots of love out loud either).

The reason it tickled my fancy is that I've been to see the man who is making me some stub axles today and his shed is amazing too, it is an overgrown double garage so chock full of engineering tools that I'm just blown away. I'll see if I can get a photo of it when I go to pick the axles up.

Regards Mark

[max midas]

Likewise, the toys that my man has in Cardiff are wonderful, moreover he knows how to use them whereas I just gawp at them (love the smell of a good engineering workshop too), this is getting to sound a bit like porn for car mechanics!

[MrBounce]

Decided to do some more stuff in the Manroom so dug out the clutch cover and gave it a deep clean in the parts washer. This had been fitted to the spare engine that had come with the project. The oil seal had failed on this and there was caked-on oily grime all over the inside of the cover. 20 minutes' work had removed the worst, and having left it to dry I cracked on with removing everything to check whether it was reusable. The clutch arm was stiff, but I think this is more down to not being used for a VERY long time. There was all sorts of gunge and dirt but nothing had got into the actual mechanism. A bit of penetrating oil had it all apart and I reckon the arm, plunger & release bearing are all good to go again. Success!

After this, I decided that the spare pair of axle stands had been hanging around under workbench for too long. It was time to remove the front subframe. So I started undoing the bolts on the rear mountings. I say "undo" - there were no nuts on them!! I simply pushed them through into the cabin. I also thought that loosening the hub nuts whilst the car was still on its wheels would be a good plan. The nearside one had no split pin at all and was finger tight, but I couldn't get the socket on the offside one. It had been butchered beyond all recognition, and I have no idea why. Still, a bigger socket had no issues with it, so it'll be something else from this car that goes straight in the bin.The tower bolts came out next. Nice and easy, with no need for big extension bars or WD40. Then the front mounts, again, not complicated at all, just two 1/2" spanners. I pushed the shocks off their mountings then undid the two track-rod ends.

Using the trolley jack and a nice large bit of wood, up came the car and down stayed the subframe. It sounds as easy as that, although it did take a bit of time as I was on my own and being careful! So the Midas now sits on bits of wood atop four axle stands. The suspension bits all seem to be recent and/or reconditioned but are all painted in a rather grim gold shade of Hammerite. There are yellow poly bushes in abundance (including the rear mounts), and the bottom mounts for the tower bolts are made by Deflex so should be good enough to go again. I am not so sure about the others... The shocks are garbage, and the subframe is missing the bracket for the steady bar (broken off as usual). The steering rack looks fairly new. I will have to inspect it in due course... It is very obvious where the old-style subframe used to fit. The holes in the floor need filling.

Disgusting clutch cover after a clean (it was virtually all black).



Now in bits - more cleaning required.



Butchered hub nut



Tower bolts out



Subframe out! My car's got no wheels on it!



Deflex bushes - they'll go again.



Good looking steering rack - doubt it's seen the road in anger. Poly rear mounts very visible on the floor.



Broken bracket. I must learn to weld...



Shocks fit for the bin.

[MrBounce]

I finished off cleaning up the clutch components. The arm was in pretty good nick apart from the grime on it; everything went through the parts washer until it was completely clean. I then fell over the subframe, so decided to do something about it. Without having a large mate to hand, I part lifted it with the trolley jack and then slid it on to the workbench. Usually I don't have too many issues with lifting subframes on their own, but this wasn't bare - it had everything including driveshafts and a pair of vented discs fitted, so it was a bit of a handful.

The driveshafts were the first to go - I popped off the pot joints and slid the shafts out of the subframe having pushed them throught the hubs. No problems, and aside from being a bit rusty in places they look in pretty good nick. I'll inspect the cvs at a later date and replace if necessary, but all the boots will be renewed as a matter of course.

Then I moved my attention to the hubs. And the fact I didn't have a balljoint splitter... Nevermind - nothing a few gentle clouts from MC hammer couldn't sort. At least on one side anyway. The other side was not moving at all. I resorted to the blowtorch, and eventually I used the power of gravity to get it off. It appears that the nearside top arm is seized, so that's something that will need attention. The bearings look good though.

I moved on to the bottom arms and tie-bars. There was no problem with these at all; everything came apart easily and the only bad thing about them was the strange mixture of standard and poly bushes and the fact that they were covered in that revolting gold Hammerite... The front mounts looked very used which was a bit odd - why put new bits on only half the car???

Cleaned up clutch arm. Ready for paint and it'll go again.



Subframe on bench. Bloody heavy as I found out...



Driveshafts out



Hubs on bench. New balljoints required. And NEW PAINT PLEASE!!



Bumpstops look almost new.



Knackered looking teardrop mounts



Tiebars and bottom arms with odd bushes and more of that evil paint.