Pre- Engine install Q's

[stan360]

Got everything lined up....had to elongate the lower bracket holes a tad bit and use one washer shim on the rear attachment point of the top bracket and give that point a little bend with channel locks.  Radiator spacing is good with just the 4mm spacer pulley.  I think I am going to leave the brackets / shroud on for install, maybe even the radiator if after I get it low in there I feel like I have room to safely maneuver.

Driveshafts are in and the  rubber gaiters finally made it to the mailbox today.  I think I am just going to use plastic zip ties on the CV gaiters and maybe also on the HS inner gaiters....or just some wire as they were originally ??.....anything wrong with just using zip ties ?   Those steel clamps look good , but its just rubber and shouldn't take much to hold it on.

Also,  I put the CV packet grease in the CV joint and HS yokes.  Should I put some grease in the gaiters themselves?

[tmsmini]

I had success with the radiator attached last time and even had to do it twice as I got some of the bad motor mounts where the holes were placed incorrectly.
Just taped the cardboard to the radiator to protect and dropped it in very slowly. And this was on an early body with the fender shroud as well.
Terry

[John Gervais]

Glad to hear that you've got it sorted -

Gee Terry, to me, those photos look like they should have the tube and bushes.

[MiniDave]

Zip ties are fine, the only place I had trouble with them was on the outermost CV, where the little tab stuck up and hit the housing .....but they make Zip ties that lie flat - with those you can do it easily.

However, if you need the tool that cinches up the metal ones, I have it....I just used it to do up the ones on my Audi's CV joints.

[tmsmini]

One has the right diameter for the bushes and the other doesn't. Also the bush version has a nice shoulder for the bush to sit on and the other is an edge which would cut through the bush as I thouhgt about drilling it our to make the bushes fit.

I do not know if this was a Rover change at some point.
I was experimenting with one piece cowls, so I had two that ended up being different. I went with the two piece cowls.

[stan360]

So, the engine is in there now.  Lowered it in,  then realized I needed to take the left HS yoke off so I could get the driveshafts in.  Pulling an engine out on disassembly, the shafts just slipped right out....putting one in however....no such luck of slipping them both right back in. Not sure what I was doing different....if anything. 

Lifted the engine back out to remove that.  Back in.  Now I had installed the two subbie brackets from minispares that were to give me the correct resting points for the engine mounts.  This required elongating one existing hole on passenger side and boring two new holes to hold the brackets in.  Easy enough.   Engine back down in there and resting on the mounts and as you can see in one of these pictures , the mount holes are completely above the bracket holes on one side and cannot even fit into the other side at all.

Lifted the engine up an inch or so.  took the brackets out , thinned them down quite a bit.  I was quite pissy about this all by then realizing after putting one side  back in that I would spend half a day grinding these to a thin wafer.  Everywhere I read said 9-10mm brackets on either side. 18-20 mm total  spacing difference on the auto subbie...  Thats what they sell for about $25.  That's what I bought.   But what I actually needed was about 3mm on either side.... 76 cents worth of thick grade 8  washers....one on each bolt.  I found 2 rubber plugs in the parts that fit the extra 2 bracket holes that are now useless ...smeared a bit of ultra black round the edge.  Looks fine.  Not sure what was different about my auto subbie or gear box that was out of the norm ...now on to other "put it together , take it back apart , redo its "   on the car.

[John Gervais]

Wow! It' looking great!  I really love the color combo in the engine bay.   77.gif

[stan360]

I wanted it look like the blue paint on some of the old pontiacs when they used a metallic blue.  I had some sort of pontiac over at least 20 years time.

Hey Dan...I didn't put any nicks in the paint !  4.gif

[jeff10049]

Thats what the paint reminded me of and it seems some old gm diesel of some kind was that color too.
When you said grind to a thin wafer all I could think of was this scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZPzQESq_0

[stan360]

HA!  Its only wafer thin

I wish I had some thin brackets in there to rest against the entire mounts but I cannot make these brackets that thin.  I thought about getting a piece of thin steel plate and making a new brackets. If these washers won't cause a problem , then they will stay.  Otherwise I may make new thin brackets.

[stan360]

...now on to other "put it together , take it back apart , redo its "   on the car.

When putting on the exhaust header.  Would it be a good idea to wrap that?   

[94touring]

I like how much space you have between the radiator and inner wing at the front.  Mine rubs and a piece of rubber was required for me there. 

[MiniDave]

I wound up cutting a little notch in my fender for radiator tank clearance. This 73 I worked on had an inch or more of room!

I like the idea of wrapping the header, tho some people disagree saying that it causes the header to rot out prematurely - but I like keeping the heat downstream and away from the firewall. Plus too and also, less chance of burning yourself if you have to reach back there to adjust a carb or something!

You're really making great progress - I think you will be ready in time to go to Texas with us!

[MiniDave]

Anyone know what you call that plate that covers the hole in the firewall behind the carb? I need one.

[94touring]

Firewall hole carb blocker thing plate.  I've seen a few but pretty certain they weren't reproduced.

[MPlayle]

I think they were called "firewall blanking plates".  As Dan says, they don't seem to be reproduced and used ones don't show up very often.

[stan360]

Is it this thing you are refering too Dave ?  I think this is a good idea for keeping unwanteds out of the instrument pod. I seen it referenced as a bulkhead sealing or blanking plate on some internet search...??   When I got to tearing into my car, the pod had a mouse nest in it made from a festive  fabric  with pictures of candy corn on it in it.   Or if you are using the side mounted instrument cluster, this hole needs a better cover.   M-Machine has one ...product code 11.92.00.00   Speedo Blanking Plate.

I have a piece of this material  that I have contemplated using.... seems like it would be a pain in the ass to install all the bits and bobs through and over top of it though... Maybe most of them should be behind the material like the photo...don't know, hard to access anything then ...It is made to fit the bulkhead same as what was used to sound proof the bonnet ,  It covers that hole allowing access through a slit opening   :o   

The Texas trek sounds like a lot of fun. I need to hustle to make that one.

Yeah Dan, I have right at an inch of space on that top front corner.   I just checked top clearance before I replace the rocker cover with something different. Plenty there.

[MiniDave]

I'd love to get one like this, but even a flat one would do as there's nothing in there now.....I didn't find that part number in M-Machine's catalog......where is it?

[stan360]

Here is a link....
http://preview.m-machine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/MINI-catalogue-February-2016-for-web.pdf

under the competition accesories block in APX 1...near the bottom of all the scrolling .  Says it is Feb 2016 edition , so I imagine its current.  I have no idea what their offering looks like and could not find a picture , but found that info on a TMF forum thread here....

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/130142-front-bulkhead/

And here is a lengthy build thread where I found the cover you referred to.....I have not read through it by any stretch, but there are several pics of the cover plate front and rear , possibly something he made.

http://www.edition38.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=386782&page=10

[John Gervais]

Firewall hole carb blocker thing plate.  I've seen a few but pretty certain they weren't reproduced.

I bought mine from M-Machine (P/N 11.92.00.00 Speedo Blanking Panel) back in 2006.  Of course, my mini has the wiring harness coming into the engine compartment through here, as well as the speedo cable, so I cut a big notch in it, thus defeating it's purpose. 

I found a thread on TMF last week, as the state of my blanking plate bothers me.  According to the posts, the welded nuts on the bulkhead aren't really 10-32 (10 UNF), they're 2BA threads but apparently are easily tapped to 3/16UNF or '10-32 or '10 UNF''.

TMF Thread:  Speedo Blanking Plate

Having checked the M-Machine website, they don't appear in the .pdf catalogue, but a phone call to M-Machine could work.  I think that's actually how I got mine, as mine is sheet steel, not alloy as some mention.

EDIT:  Wow, I would have never found it again - thanks Stan - 'Competition Accessories' - who would have known that section existed!

[stan360]

What does your M-Machine speedo plate look like John ?

[MiniDave]

Yeah, if it's just a square sheet of metal, I can make one of those.....if it's formed like the one I posted back, that would be cool.

[John Gervais]

It's a simple, contour-shaped flat steel plate that I mounted from the inside in order to give just a little bit of extra room for the carb(s) - I can't remember if I was using twins at the time.  I had to butcher it to clear the wiring harness and speedo cable that poked from the 850's original single-gauge (speedo) aparature, and cut additional slots for the mechanical oil and temp gauges.  If I were to do it over again, I'd mount it using longer screws from the inside and perhaps a bit more judicious in my carving.

I still wonder how folks gain access to the speedo cable nut without needing to remove the carb and slide the blanking plate down the cable.

[Vikram]

If it's any help, I did a diy plate on my car. I was at Lowe's in the plumbing aisle, when I spotted a blanking plate that I added two tabs to. The tabs screw into two existing captive nuts that I had on my engine bay side (possibly for the speedo cowl that I no longer use). I used a hole saw to cut a section that accepts the wiring harness and my speedo cable.
You can see it vaguely in Dan's most recent picture on my thread.  It's not the most refined solution but it should do the job.

[jeff10049]

I helped rhino fabrication develop replacement single gauge pod. we could come up with a nice molded plastic block off if there is enough demand. I want one for my car that still works while using the center speedometer.