What did you do in your shop today?

[MiniDave]

Totally cool stuff!

[cstudep]

It really is pretty cool, I am always amazed every time I pull something off of it and it is exactly how I modeled it up in my 3d software. The only time I have ever had it go too wrong is when the part does not adhere to the bed well.

I'm going to venture out into some other materials that are notoriously more difficult to print with as far as warpage, shrinkage, etc.. so I am sure that will be frustrating at times.

They even have "wood" filament you can print with. I guess it actually has wood fibers in it and it can be stained just like wood. Crazy stuff.

[Willie_B]

cstudep, could you print this? without the mini logo.


https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2099380

[cstudep]

I will pull it out and see what I can do with it.

[MiniDave]

Careful now, this is a family site!!!   :D

[cstudep]

LOL good point, I will download the file and see what I can do with it  ;D

[John Gervais]

I managed to bend a heavy duty tie rod when the mini slid off of the jack.

It bent about 3/16" - 1/4" and I was able to straighten it out such that it's straight again, but I'm concerned about the tab on the front subframe.  Is there a fairly accurate way to measure or check dimensionally if it's been bent or pulled 'rearward'? 

I haven't space in the garage at the moment to be able to set up my tracking equipment for a complete alignment - and yes, I know that I'll have to do that regardless, but I need to be able to be rolling first before I can excavate enough to be able to squeeze between the walls and the car. 

[MiniDave]

If you're talking about the one at the front where the bushings go, it should be perpendicular to the shaft (square to the shaft)

[John Gervais]

Thanks Dave -

I kinda figured that, but it's somewhat hard to tell by eyeballing it and it didn't occur to me this afternoon.  I've got an itty-bitty right-angle square that I use for jewellery work that I can hopefully crawl under with tomorrow before I test the integrity of the new head gasket. 

Yep, still haven't finished doing that head gasket repair - but I fired it up today and it was spewing a lot of condensation from the exhaust, so I've got it sitting overnight with the radiator over-filled and plugs out, just to make sure that it's just residual from when the gasket burned through and not leaking in from the cooling system (when the gasket burned through between 1 & 2, the nr. 1 piston and combustion chamber were clean as a whistle).  The new plugs have a bit o'soot on 'em (nr. 2 is quite dark, #3 a bit lighter, nrs. 1 & 4 are much lighter still), so I think it'll be ok, though I may re-check my valve adjustment. 

[Jimini II]

I find the tabs don't usually bend and i have replaced a few over the years.
I guess it is due to that end of the tie bar having rubber bushings and some room to move, like Dave said just check it when you refit it.

[John Gervais]

Cool, I'll do that; I'll be wedged in there to get the sump guard back on.

[cstudep]

cstudep, could you print this? without the mini logo.

Here you go, it's not perfect but it printed. I don't have any ABS right now to print with so I printed out of the highest temp material I have. If you want to give it a try I would be curious how this material holds up to engine bay Temps as its supposed to be close to ABS. I do not think this stuff shrinks quite as much as ABS either so not sure how it will fit, I don't have an air cleaner to try it on.

Another good thing about ABS is it can be smoothed with acetone to make a nicer looking part, I tried to sand this a bit to see if I could smooth it out but it didn't seem to do much.

If you want it, just drop me a PM with an address to send it to and I will drop it in the mail. If it works ok and you like it I can get some ABS and try printing out of that, been wanting to try it anyway as its supposed to be one of the more difficult to print.

[Willie_B]

That looks great. Just sent you a PM.

[ve9aa]

I managed to bend a heavy duty tie rod when the mini slid off of the jack.

It bent about 3/16" - 1/4" and I was able to straighten it out such that it's straight again, but I'm concerned about the tab on the front subframe.  Is there a fairly accurate way to measure or check dimensionally if it's been bent or pulled 'rearward'? 

I haven't space in the garage at the moment to be able to set up my tracking equipment for a complete alignment - and yes, I know that I'll have to do that regardless, but I need to be able to be rolling first before I can excavate enough to be able to squeeze between the walls and the car.

I generally don't get too revved up about black cars or motorcycles, but John...I have to say....I love that MASCOT.
It's one of the nicer black minis around.

Well done !

[cstudep]

Well since I had the printer all set up to print the air intake I decided I might as well print one of these. Dave will for sure know what this is for. I didn't want to dig through boxes or parts yet this morning to find the springs and balls to try it out fully, but I think its going to work just fine.

[MiniDave]

Where did you find the dimensions to make that? I can't see any reason why it won't work either....I use mine on Mini gears, but it doesn't work on Sprites - the springs are longer and stiffer on Sprites. I may be able to get it to work on those at some point but for now I just use a hose clamp, and keep LOTS of extra detent balls on hand. My wife finds them all over the shop from time to time - she has way better eyesight than I do.....

Using that tool for Minis I never lose them, BTW.

The trick to using that tool successfully is remembering which way the operating sleeve fits over the hub - and of course, lining it up correctly   ::) ;D

I can't tell you how many times I've put one together, put it on the mainshaft and went "nope, it goes the other way" and had to take it apart again.  50.gif

[cstudep]

Where did you find the dimensions to make that? I can't see any reason why it won't work either....I use mine on Mini gears, but it doesn't work on Sprites - the springs are longer and stiffer on Sprites.

Oddly enough someone  else already did the hard part, it was on thingiverse so all i had to do was download and print. I was planning to hit you up at some point since I knew you had one so I could draw it up but didn't need to.

I could modify it a bit with deeper slots for the longer springs/balls and lengthen out the ramps a little more to see if it would work for you on the sprite parts. It only took about 5 hours to print and doesn't use much material.

[MiniDave]

That could be a fun project - I think it would need longer ramps too.... 8.gif

I could send you an inner hub and a couple of springs and balls to play with......actually I think the inner hub is the same for a Sprite or a Mini.....next Mini gearbox I tear down I'll have to do a compare/contrast and see.

[cstudep]

How much longer do you suppose the springs are. I could probably just make the slots that much deeper and then lengthen out the ramps to match the same basic angle they are now. Might have to make the outside diameter slightly larger but that should be easy enough to do.

[MiniDave]

Let me round up some Sprite parts and send them to you - then you can see for yourself......the problem I had was that even tho I could get the balls into place atop the springs with the hub in the fixture, I couldn't rotate the hub in the holder to push the balls into the holes. So, I think you need the parts in hand to see what the issue was and try and figure out how to solve it.

My tool is made out of "aluminium" (came from Guessworks in England) and very smooth inside just FYI. I don't know if some texture would help or hurt the process.

When I do the Mini hubs it works easily, and the only difference I can see is the length of spring as they use the same balls.

[cstudep]

Sounds like its less the initial notch depth and more the ramp length/angle being too steep for the longer spring which would be applying more pressure out on the ball. Makes sense.

I can certainly play around with it if you have a few extra springs and balls laying about. I have an inner hub (obviously) if you think they are the same between the sprite and mini.

[Willie_B]

Took a break from working on the woody due to waiting on parts. Finally got the top/hood for the moke. Got the lift-the-dot fasteners installed on the windshield frame. Now I can get the windshield all put together and on the moke.

[Willie_B]

Got the filter housing extension in today. Slid on with a snug fit. Will find out tomorrow how it does. Have to go out to have the muffler replaced, it rusted out in the bottom after only 11 years.

[MiniDave]

I remember when if your muffler lasted 2 years you were doing good! That's what gave rise to Midas Muffler shops that guaranteed your muffler for life - well, at least as long as you owned the car. I don't think their mufflers lasted a whole lot longer, but they figured people traded every couple of years so all they had to do was last that long! There were stories of people who kept their cars for 20-30 years and got a LOT of new mufflers off of Midas.....

I ran a hose from the nozzle on Buzz up to the front grill so I could get cold air into the air cleaner - not sure it made any difference in performance - what's your goal with this? Noise reduction or performance improvement?

[Willie_B]

Maybe slightly cooler air going into it as the opening is not right over the exhaust manifold. Also it covers that part of the filter housing that looks bad when you pull the hot air intake off the housing that goes there.