Restoration-Mini

Greetings,
Having acquired an older mini and researching on the restoration I had considered posting progress for others to follow but was unsure of what place to do that such as a forum Blog or dedicated site. As others have said it could aid in staying motivated and active.  Having followed spartimetoys progress from the first and seeing his and other restoration projects I kinda decided that this forum may be fun to do.  I mention spartimetoys becaused my Austin 850 is an Early 1960 build date of January 20,1960 about one week after sparetimetoys' Austin was built making them almost twins. Hopefully this will be mutually beneficial.
First photo is how we found it in the weeds.

Glad to see you showed up over here. Looks like you have a bunch of the trim that I lack on mine. What was the factory color?

yeah fortunately lots of the hard to get trim stayed. Trim around arches and sill are missing but are easy replacement.  Originally it was Tartan Red. I found out that Rustoleum Regal Red is almost a dead match. LOL. I'll throw out some more details shortly. 

Painting it tartan red again?  I have codes in DuPont if you end up going that route. 

Awesome, another project on board - welcome!

I need to keep a better eye out for Mini's in the weeds...  4.gif

Quote from: 94touring on May 22, 2014, 09:52:16 PM
Painting it tartan red again?  I have codes in DuPont if you end up going that route.

yeah plan Tartan Red. Finish body work and paint prep is next on to do list.

The car was acquired in May 2012 from my brother who had had it for 5  or 6 years. I was looking for a rust free "project" to keep me busy on my summer range near South Fork Colorado. It seemed to have a few isolated surface rust spots with no body rot that I could see. Didn't want to learn how to weld. A few pics of car "as received".

For some reason at this point I hadn't taken a pic of the engine bay and the obvious missing engine. Here's later pic.

Wow you have the door pull cables. Im going to have to make my own.

Can't see in the pic but the pulls are later grooved pulls rather than early smooth. I think one is also broke and taped back together. Also note the door lock on PAX side has early round button.

Gathered all the mini parts I had hauled back to East Texas last fall and didn't do much to and loaded into 4x 8 uhaul and brought  them back to my summer pasture in Colorado. Haven't figgered out how that much stuff can fit into a trailer but cant fit in a one car garage.
Anyway trying to make room to prep shell for paint. need to strip paint and fix a few dents then figger out paint.

Just a few lines to show some progress after various summertime "to do's"
Repaired steering wheel which was cracked and in pretty bad shape. 3M 8115 panel adhesive works very well. I used dental floss to work the adhesive into all the cracks. It's all sanded but not yet painted. Not quite sure what paint to use.

Considered sandblasting the shell but couldn't find local sandblaster. One wanted $20 each to blast wheels and didn't seem very interested in doing it. Another was a powder coater that didn't want to blast only. But then my brother told me about a local shop which overhauls oil field equipment that did blasting. Shown are two sets of wheels which I had blasted for $100. Mounted wheels are wheels from a 1960 Morris mini. They are original '59 vintage riveted wheels.  All tires are old as dirt. One with white sidewall is Dunlop Gold Seal. It didn't have the "C41" as shown on the 59 Registry as original tires. Other non-mounted wheels are wheels picked up previously. I need to primer and then paint. Dan, do you have the paint?

Found three cracks in the mount holes. Scrap.


One wheel with damaged hole. Probably weld repair.

Brought the doors, bonnet and boot lid down for blasting yesterday. We'll see the results and maybe consider doing the shell. Unfortunately my trailer is full and would have to unload it, load the shell unload shell after blasting and reload the stuff now on it. So I kinda decided that I would strip the paint using paint stripper.

I did strip the roof which took a few hours. Original paint is tough to get off. There was surface rust and minor pitting. May need some guidance on how to treat the rusty areas.

How did the bonnet and boot lid turn out?

Talked with the blasting guy a couple of days later and asked to watch blasting and make sure they didn't warp them. He said their compressor was down and he would let me know but hasn't called yet and presume they're not done. I'll have to call them again tomorrow Mon. I kinda stopped stripping and hope that they can do the shell without warping it.

When I get ours down to the shell I'm taking it to this place.   www.dustfreeblasters.com/ (http://www.dustfreeblasters.com/)  They use the crushed glass in water blast. The metal actuall cools from the blast so no warping. If I had a larger compressor that would keep up I would buy the small shop and hobby one from the place in Houston that makes the unit these guys use.

Yeah the wheels were fine but hard to screw up wheels. Talked to blaster guy this am and is supposed to set up door blasting sometime this week. Not sure what the media is but called it "slag". Need to check that out.

Here is what the dustless guy sent.

Hello Larry. We can defiantly help you with that. Without seeing the car an
estimate would be between 1000.00 to 1400.00. Again I just need to see what
all you have to get you a closer figure. We will also clean the car after
wards to remove as much media as we can.  If you would call us to discuss
and We will get you fixed up. Thank You again for the reply.


Best Regards,

Johnny Rineer
Dust Free Blasters
111 Industrial Ct.
Kennedale, TX 76060
Office 817-478-2005
Mobile 817-721-9190
www.DUSTFREEBLASTERS.com (http://www.dustfreeblasters.com)


But Rick the guy with the 60 mini that is close to me found a local place that rents the whole blasting setup for $500 a day. I know we could knock out two in a day. All the places who do the blasting say it takes one to two hours to do a car inside and out. I'm going to talk to the rental place it's about 2 miles from work. Only thing is its soda blasting not the crushed glass.

I want to buy one of those dustless blasters so bad but $$$.

I asked my guy if he did soda blasting. He said yes but took forever to strip paint so in the long run would cost more. Kinda bummed that I didn't pay more attention to blasting in my working days but it was usually silicon carbide on Hastelloy X and a guy could destroy a part in seconds.
Looks like there are so many variations in blasting it would be a major project just to guess what is best for your operation.

I have one of the texas built Dustless Blasters and can strip and complete mini inside and out with the doors, boot, and bonnet, in about a day and a half.  Here is a video of me stripping a rusty bonnet.

Quote from: Nicholasupton on July 15, 2014, 06:14:14 PM
I have one of the texas built Dustless Blasters and can strip and complete mini inside and out with the doors, boot, and bonnet, in about a day and a half.  Here is a video of me stripping a rusty bonnet.

I can't open the video on my iPhone or iPad. Is your the crushed glass system made down in Houston?  I would like one of those but my little home compressor will not keep up 22.gif. 

My local blasting place wants to do the car with plastic. I saw their work on an old triumph and it seemed to do fine. Didn't clean rust but removed the paint so that you can see it. The local guy wants <$600 for the entire car. $1100 seems high.

went to a local soda blast rental place that rents the set up to blast what ever you want for $500 a day to check it out.  Turns out if I take the car to them its $100 an hour for them to blast it.  He says it takes an hour and a half or so to blast a car.  so I figure about three hours for inside and out.  I asked about all the soda causing troubles rumors and he said just pressure wash and use a leaf blower to dry it and it will be fine.

Posted this in the Lounge and duplicated here to show a little progress.
Did manage to get Brake and Clutch Master cylinders honed and seals replaced. Clutch MC is 59 correct bean can with removable nut on top. Tested both with no leaks and worked good.

Quote from: Nicholasupton on July 15, 2014, 06:14:14 PM
I have one of the texas built Dustless Blasters and can strip and complete mini inside and out with the doors, boot, and bonnet, in about a day and a half.  Here is a video of me stripping a rusty bonnet.

The DB guys claim to strip a car in about an hour and a half. What media do you use?

Finally got to blaster guy. They blasted a strip on the bottom of the door and hinges with the same media that did the wheels. Decided this was way too aggressive and very coarse so they finished the top with soda blast.  Much nicer finish and won't need the filler that the coarse part needs. Since there is very little rust will use soda blast and take care of the rusty areas later. Charging $100/hr for soda blast. Will cost a little more than coarse blast but will have a better texture and won't have to fill. Appears to be easier to prep the soda blasted areas than the coarse blasted areas.Probably will bring the shell down for blasting shortly.

Got doors, bonnet, boot lid and license holder back yesterday. Pleased with result. Hinges on one door need rust removal but all the others just need a final light sanding. Blasting guy recommended wiping with vinegar to negate the alkaline soda but doesn't make sense to me. I use soda to negate acid such as vinegar but haven't heard of vice versa.
Billing dept wasn't there so they're going to bill me. Estimate about $200 maybe a little high ($100/hr). I'll use to estimate blasting shell. Looks like about $800 for shell inside and out.
But plan to soda blast the shell; basically don't look forward to hand stripping the shell.

The vinegar wash down is one of the big drawbacks to the soda blast. that and I was told by an independant body guy after soda blasting you still need to sand the car so the paint has something to grip onto.  He has seen nice paint jobs flake off in two years after soda blasting from failure to wash and prep. 

Wouldn't it make more sense to use an acid etch primer, followed by epoxy sealer,  rather than sand the entire body down?  I've done minor soda blasting and it seemed to have a slightly rough surface that would allow for adhesion, but if there's doubt perhaps acid etch would be the way to go.  In my case when I was done I used a metal prep on the airplane I was spraying to clean the surface.  Never heard of vinegar.

ive got an extra riveted rim if you are interested. it does have some curb rash

Quote from: racingflea on July 29, 2014, 08:57:38 PM
ive got an extra riveted rim if you are interested. it does have some curb rash

Thanks for the offer but I have four and not quite sure what to do with them other than possibly use for display. I'll use the welded ones for running as riveted ones I understand are suspect.

Quote from: 94touring on July 29, 2014, 10:53:16 AM
Wouldn't it make more sense to use an acid etch primer, followed by epoxy sealer,  rather than sand the entire body down?  I've done minor soda blasting and it seemed to have a slightly rough surface that would allow for adhesion, but if there's doubt perhaps acid etch would be the way to go.  In my case when I was done I used a metal prep on the airplane I was spraying to clean the surface.  Never heard of vinegar.

Acid etch primer was what I was thinking also. Should do the same job as vinegar (Acetic acid). Think I'll hit blasted areas anyway with sandpaper.

Quote from: sparetimetoys on July 29, 2014, 10:10:28 AM
The vinegar wash down is one of the big drawbacks to the soda blast. that and I was told by an independant body guy after soda blasting you still need to sand the car so the paint has something to grip onto.  He has seen nice paint jobs flake off in two years after soda blasting from failure to wash and prep.

Just did a quick search on neutralizing soda on the chevelle forum. Sentiment is 95% against even if washed thoroughly.
Problem seems to be residue left from soda (alkaline) which must be rinsed. Then it seems to be a question if the surface then needs to be sanded to provide a decent mechanical texture to adhere to. Looked at other sand blasted areas and maybe I could go with this. Need to talk to my brother who has a blasting setup but compressor needs work.
Re-thinking shell blast now.
ETA "against" 

Thought maybe I should make a little progress so I won't have to call my 60 year old car a 70 year old car.
Working on doors bonnet and boot. Had some filler to do and got them primered. Washed them with a mild acid and lightly sanded them. Insides as pouinted out before is rather PITA.
Also honed the clutch and brake Master cylinders and tested for leakage. Brake MC was not leaking staticly and sta for about a month. I put the brake MC on a shelf full to check if fluid leaked out the seals. Found some drops but they were on the soldered seam of the bean can. Confirmed seam leak by blowing air through the seam and seeing bubbles inside. 5 minute soldering job fixed it.
Through a MM forum I had found out that clutch MC had been installed backward and had interfered with the Brake MC  so that the brake MC had a dent and separated seam from the interference.

Incorrect Install

Correct install. Notice gap between cylinders. and dented seam.

Finally after much procrastination and distractions got the shell soda blasted and primered. Still have to do some manual rust removal on floors and back deck and then primer.
Blasting showed up sheet metal flaws and minor dings. Top was kinda disappointing as there were three hand sized round bottom dents that wouldn't pop out.
I'm running out of time here and headed back to Texas in a couple of weeks so plan to paint the car next spring. Weather isn't very conducive to painting as it's rather cool until the afternoon and humidity is high. I grew up in these parts and have never seen this much rain. Raining this AM.
Went to an auction and endedn up with a mini aircleaner. Couldn't believe it was just lying on a heap of junk.

Cool deal on the air cleaner. Body looks nice

x2 - body looks great!!!   4.gif

Little more rust inside than I expected but was cheap. If i don't screw up the decal it will be fine.

body looks good, i'll be there Monday to help you with those dents , will need maybe an hour 4.gif    I will bring this thing and we will play after body work

Quote from: tsumini on September 30, 2014, 11:19:08 AM
Little more rust inside than I expected but was cheap. If i don't screw up the decal it will be fine.

If not that guy who I worked with sells the placard for like $10

Quote from: sparetimetoys on October 07, 2014, 09:29:55 PM

Quote from: tsumini on September 30, 2014, 11:19:08 AM
Little more rust inside than I expected but was cheap. If i don't screw up the decal it will be fine.

If not that guy who I worked with sells the placard for like $10

Yeah I've got his details. Probably order one for the one I ruined.

Little more progress after hauling some parts back to refurbish.
Since I was learning to weld didn't actually know how hard it was going to be. Couldn't seem to get a decent weld; blowing holes where I wanted weld; generally crappy job. Trie another weld a couple days ago and it was crappy. So decided to clean out all the dingleberries in the gun tip nozzle and it kinda disintegrated . Found wire blocking the CO2 gas. A couple of false starts like ordering wrong parts got it put back together and what a difference. Could actually make a nice shiny bead and plug welded several holes easily.

Dingleberries, never a good thing  :D

Ok time to show a little progress. Two weeks to get over a cold and other obstructions.
Anyway the car is missing the gas tank so I hastily bought a tank with sending unit but it was the later unit that is a bayonette fit into the tank and require a new guage and voltage stabilizer. Since I wanted to stay period correct some time last summer  I got  the earlier tank (along with a sending) with six mount screws on sending unit. The seller warned that it needed cleaning.  I looked into the tank and there are globs of brown crap all over and the inside coated with brown crust. I think someone tried to coat the inside for corrosion protection and just overdid it. So I found that the only thing that would cut it was acetone. So about one gallon of acetone and shaking with a few pounds of misc hardware it finally cleaned up and looked pretty decent with what looked like a galvanized inside. This is what it looked like halfway thru cleaning. I kinda botched the painting of the outside so needs re-painting.

So I looked at the sending unit and it didn't look to healthy either> it seemed stuck and wouldn't rotate full to empty. Rather than force it and bend thins up I decide to take the sending unit apart. Since I had never seen one of these before and didn't even know how they came apart I decide to try anyway. It didn't work anyway so nothing to lose. Of course I took it apart the wrong way and succeeded in breaking the insulating piece that supports the electrical connecting post. In so doing that I haad to rebuild the broken piece and make anew post or transfer the old one to the new piece. I succeeded in transferring the old post but in doing so I worked the connecting wire to the core so that it fatigued and broke at the core. Since the wire was now short I had to unwind a turn from the coil to secure it again. The same crud was covering the inside of the sending unit and the pivot inside was frozen solid. I think I soaked it in Acetone for a bout a day and it cleaned up pretty well although I didn't get too aggressive as it seemed slightly fragile. Wire wheel with a dremel worked pretty good. Float pivot broke loose and after exercising it several times it loosened up to what I thought was good.

I had read that the sender works by changing resistance from full to empty so it should be a variable resistor. The guts of the sending unit is a core wound with resistance wire. The float pivots inside the housing and a wiper blade travels between each end of the core depending on fullness or emptyness. Shown are 100 ohms  at left side of core and about 0.5 Ohms at the right side. since I don't have a wheatsone bridge I'm not sure resistance is accurate or not. It really doesn't matter if the gage reads right. So hookup to the gage shows what should be E is about 1/4 on the gage and Full is above the F mark about 1/4. Basically I need to bend the needle back about 1/4 and it should be close.

Finally put the cover back on and bend the tabs and check resistance and appears to be ready for install.

Trying a video from photobucket showing sending unit operation with gage.
http://vid305.photobucket.com/albums/nn221/heersia/My%20Mini%20Stuff/DSCN0342_zpsnzyflhr1.mp4 (http://vid305.photobucket.com/albums/nn221/heersia/My%20Mini%20Stuff/DSCN0342_zpsnzyflhr1.mp4)

Visors cleaned up pretty well.

Quote from: tsumini on February 13, 2015, 10:29:08 PM
Trying a video from photobucket showing sending unit operation with gage.
http://vid305.photobucket.com/albums/nn221/heersia/My%20Mini%20Stuff/DSCN0342_zpsnzyflhr1.mp4 (http://vid305.photobucket.com/albums/nn221/heersia/My%20Mini%20Stuff/DSCN0342_zpsnzyflhr1.mp4)

Wow that's wicked cool!   4.gif

Nice work!

Quote from: tsumini on February 13, 2015, 10:09:06 PM
I had read that the sender works by changing resistance from full to empty so it should be a variable resistor. The guts of the sending unit is a core wound with resistance wire. The float pivots inside the housing and a wiper blade travels between each end of the core depending on fullness or emptyness. Shown are 100 ohms  at left side of core and about 0.5 Ohms at the right side. since I don't have a wheatsone bridge I'm not sure resistance is accurate or not. It really doesn't matter if the gage reads right. So hookup to the gage shows what should be E is about 1/4 on the gage and Full is above the F mark about 1/4. Basically I need to bend the needle back about 1/4 and it should be close.

Finally put the cover back on and bend the tabs and check resistance and appears to be ready for install.

Before you bend the needle hold the gauge upright like it's mounted in the car and see where it reads.
That made a difference on mine I still had to bend the needle a little to get it perfect.
Nice work.


Jeff

Yeah good point.

Bend the needle, or bend the arm with the float on it?

My gauge is equally wonky, and in the same direction. When I fill the tank it takes 75 miles for it to drop to full, and only 75 more to get to 1/4, at which point I can put in more than 6 gallons - in a 7 gallon tank.

Bend the needle back by 1/4 since gage is shifted up. Float arm may have to be bent if when tank is full it doesn't correspond to my F mark on paper.
Tank is such an odd shape that level is not linear yet is being read by a linear resistor and linear gage.  I don't expect much accuracy from the gage other than it hopefully registers near empty and near full; anything in between is just between E and F. It is very simple and should be reliable  but is not a precision instrument by any stretch.

Yeah, the vid makes things much more clear.....but I don't think you want to bend the needle, rather remove it and re-install a little bit counter clockwise of where it is on the spindle.

Hmmm haven't had one apart and haven't looked closely.

It’s been a long time since I updated this. Between son’s race car and house maintenance Mini took a back seat.
But I finished a few things and worked on several others. I tend to work on different things depending on what I feel like that day so have several projects going at once.
I did finish the gearshift although I need to finish off the knob with paint. 
The steering rack was fairly easy. Not sure why I disassembled it. It was pristine. Just need to buy new gaiters although they are actually in pretty good shape with a few cracks.
I thought the heater would be straight forward but gave me fits. I decide to leak check to make sure I ddin’t put it back with a leak and sure enough there were 3 or 4 pinholes where the cooling straws go into the end caps.  I tried to solder from the outside but made them worse as expected. So I desoldered the end caps and soldered the straws on the end that had some solder broken away. I re-soldered the end caps and  found I still had leaks only a few more. Long story short I tried JB weld soldered and leak checked about six times. (After the second time I just RTV’d the end caps and leak checked . About to give up when I realized I was seating the end caps to solder by putting the unit in a vise. This I realized was breaking the solder joints  the straws while I was reassembling it. I resoldered one more time and reassembled without putting stress on the straws and luckily that worked and it passed leak check.

1st pic of rust from pinhole leak
2nd of core Data plate. Wondering if C129 is date for 12 59?

1st pic is core showing straws. JB weld was removed and soldered.
2nd pic is heater motor date stamped 12 59
3rd pic completed heater to the done pile.

I did that to my 11 of 59 radiator I de soldered the top tank to inspect the rad was perfect when re soldering I melted around two tubes 50.gif Had to take the tank off again and re solder the tubes then put the tank back on more carefully lots of flux is your friend when doing this.  My radiator works perfect no leaks.

Well here it is spring 2017 and I see the last update was May 2015.  Hmmm, I think I need to re-boot this thing. I did do a few things but didn't seem to be motivated summer of 2015. Car is at my cabin in southern Colorado so I try to work on the shell body work. Painting has been a struggle with not very good painting environment. I have primered the body and painted (Tartan Red) the bottom, floor and engine bay. (summer 2016). I usually loaded my trailer with all the removed parts that needed refurb and brought them back to Tyler TX where I spend the winter. My Tyler  place keeps me pretty busy so haven't done too much refurbing. So I've been hauling parts back and forth without much progress.
I intended to make a bunch of progress summer of 2016 but two weeks after arriving at the cabin I ended up in a King Air Med Evac with pulmonary embolism. I understand that I was really lucky to have survived that. 10 days hospital and rest of summer recovering and slowly prepping the shell for paint. 8200 ft above sea level doesn't help either.

Anyway I'm re-booting and trying to get the front and rear subframes assembled in Texas and hauling them back to Colorado this summer.

I do have to apologize to jeff10049 for not following up with the speedometer face repaint.  I'll write up a separate post on this problem. It's rather embarrassing but needs fixing yet.

Hopefully I'll make more progress and not get too distracted with other things.

No apology needed here, Sorry to hear about the pulmonary embolism that sucks. What were the symptoms/treatment? How do you prevent another?

Cool that you're back on the mini looking forward to the progress, and if you need any assistance on the speedometer let me know glad to help.

Jeff

Yes I actually did a few things. Most recent is re-stenciling MOWOG on front subframe.
I found a free font that works in Word called Stencil Gothic which looked close enough.
A exacto knife was used to cut the stencil. The "M" is cut a little different to conform to the original.

Quote from: jeff10049 on February 27, 2017, 10:08:20 PM
No apology needed here, Sorry to hear about the pulmonary embolism that sucks. What were the symptoms/treatment? How do you prevent another?

Cool that you're back on the mini looking forward to the progress, and if you need any assistance on the speedometer let me know glad to help.

Jeff

Jeff, Thanks for your comments.
Didn't have the normal symptoms, just shortness of breath but thought that was just adjustment to altitude. Couldn't walk 10 feet without being out of breath. Pushed it too far and was airlifted. Pilot maintained 4000 ft Pressure altitude (normal 8000?) over 14,000 Sangre de Christo Mountain Range. Treatment was clot buster, heparin in ICU. Coumadin/warfarin blood thinner since. Was supposed to get off warfarin in January but a blood test pushed that out. May be stuck on thinners for life.
Pretty severe DVT but never had any pain and didn't recognize symptoms. Clots  in both legs and both lungs. At my previous annual physical doctor said I had "thick blood" and now think that was a precursor to DVT. 
Suggest everyone learn about it and prevention, may be a life saver.

Anyway on the speedo I had the speedo and loom in the back of a trailer and a Texas rain storm leaked in and filled the plastic container I had it in and didn't discover til the face was damaged. http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/Smileys/smile/embarrassed.gif
The problem is that the original Austin speedo apparently was replaced by a Morris speedo with silver face and different needle. I tried to get a needle from a company that overhauls them but wouldn't sell me a new one. I was going to re-paint cream colored as Austin but the Model number would still be wrong. I wasn't able to find an Austin speedo for a reasonable price so still looking. I do have an original Morris speedo from a Aug 1960 build that would work so may use that. Still up in the air.

So I am making some progreess although slowly. I finished painting the inside and the bottom and right rear panel as test.
Also painted a test panel to compare new paint to old paint. see 3rd photo of test panel in back seat. (fourth photo). Little hard to see but the only photo with new paint against original Tartan red paint. I got 1.5 gals of the Milano Red 93 Honda 466283 as Dan suggested would be very similar to Tartan Red.
I then ran across a photo posted on the forum which showed a car as Painted with Tartan red. My paint seemed not nearly as dark. I got a screeen shot of the Tartan Red and put it side by side with my photo of the right hand side of my car (fifth photo). Compared to other car it would seem that my paint may not be dark enough.
It's too late to change the color ( don't really want to repaint the interior) so will continue with it.

Glad to hear you're better and still with us!

Where is your place in Colorado?

I wanted to retire there, as I lived in Colorado Springs for years and have been back almost every summer, including three Minis in the Mountains events at Winter Park. The last time we went we were in Pagosa Springs and I had such bad altitude sickness we cut our trip short and drove straight back to KC. I haven't been back since and I miss it.....

My cabin is between South Fork and Creede just east of Pagosa and Wolf Creek pass. The Rio Grande River is just on the other side of the power lines in the top photo. It's at 8300 feet elevation probably too high for my condition but I kinda like it here. I grew up in this area but left in the 70's and came back in 2009 for summers. It's not fit to live year year around. I have to take it easy for a couple of days to avoid altitude sickness when I come up.  My DIL is a pharmacist and she recommends Diamox for altitude. I've talked  to several people who say it works if you take it a couple of days prior to travel. I would suggest not to let a little altitude sickness stop you. It sure beats 100 degree 90% humidity.
On the mini side I'm planning on installing brake and fuel lines after my salmon fishing trip to Ketchikan AK mid August.

Nice part of Colorado......I love it there and I've driven all around that part of the state. After my episode at Pagosa, when I got home and went to see my Doc he said he could give me something for the altitude sickness, and that I had to start taking it a week in advance but that I wouldn't have any problems if I did.....unfortunately, he retired before I could find out what it was - so now at least I know what to ask for!

We won't be coming to Colorado this summer - too bad too as there's a Mini meet at Steamboat this year and I haven't been there - but with two new puppies we're not ready to take a long trip. We may do a long weekend at the end of October with them for our anniversary - a trial to see how they travel, they'll be six months old then. The place we usually go to is on Beaver Lake in Arkansas, only about 4 hours away from our home in KC.

I wanted to retire to southwestern Colorado, but the wife won't tolerate the dry air - which I revel in! - and I got scared off after our last trip.

My uncle lived in Tyler, too hot for me there......but I guess it's all in what you get used to.....

This is my next area of Colorado to explore.  This past June the family and I came in south of Durango and explored all the way up to Grand Junction.  Ouray was gorgeous.  Then came across 50 all the way to the springs ( went to college here in the late 90's)

Looking to explore norther NM and this part of CO in the future.  Definite retirement plans.  My wife's issue is the cold.  I'll get her a good heater   ;D

Northern NM is very nice Chama,Farmington, Raton etc. Finding I can tolerate less and less cold but it's a dry cold. -20F was routine when growing up but no more. I prefer a place where you don't have to bury the water pipes 3 ft underground. I too like dry air but doesn't play well with noses, skin etc.
gr8korn, I hope you didn't miss the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on your trip down Hiway 50. One of my favorite  scenic drives. Also Colorado National Monument by Grand Junction is great drive.

Missed National Monument, just looked it up too, that'd been fun.  We took hwy 62 over Grand Mesa and did see a lot of the Black Canyon from our drive on Hwy 92 from Crawford to the Gunnison dam.  Those roads made Hwy 550 between Durango and Ouray look like a cake walk.  Of course eveyone in the car would've been sick if I'd had a mini.  Wife wasn't thrilled in the Highlander, of course the direction we went on the roads always seemed to have her on the cliff side.

Well, I escaped Colorado before cold set in. I loaded up the mini and took it back to Tyler with parts. I wanted to get it painted but couldn't seem to get it right. Tried to paint the top and just couldn't get the gun to cooperate. (Don't think I was meant to paint.) re-did top twice still not right will have to re-sand and do again. Didn't get that much done this summer as the altitude really bogs me down.

So, Dan I was wondering if you could take on a paint job. I did the bottom and interior so just needs exterior painted. It is ready for final prep. Hopefully i'll get more motivated this winter.
Dan I'll send you a message. Check out the photos above of current condition of the car.

As I told Dan, i am considering selling the mini. I may not have enough time to complete it and health issues make it more difficult. Procrastination doesn't help either. Anyway if anyone has suggestions please let me know. Not sure of how much to ask. I can answer any questions about the car. The biggest thing is it doesn't have a title. My brother bought it several years ago from a guy that had done some work on it but didn't get paid so stored it out in a field for several years. That was probably 20 years ago and its history is probably very difficult to find.

So i decide to take the car back to Texas instead of leaving it in Colorado. I finally got the car painted. After much struggling to lay down a smooth coat I kinda muddled to an acceptable result, not concours but acceptable. I think I repainted the to  six times and the rest of the car at least twice.I used a nitrogen to paint but ran out half way through the first coat.Rather than stop I just hooked up the air compressor but used straight thru line instead  of the water separator circuit which I wasn't sure worked well. Coat looked good until morning when I saw as many divots as a tee box. So total re-sand and re-paint. I used a gallon and three quarters and have only enough for touch up. So wasted  lots of paint trying to put on too thick I think. Now I can think about assembly. I need to get a new loom.
 

Glad to see you decided to keep it, now just keep plugging away till its on the road again!

Yeah house is for sale and I have three trips ot take this year plus family reunion so the presuure is on.

Those dots or dimples are fish eyes.  Just finite oil residue.  Car looks good from here  77.gif

I've got an NOS AutoSparks loom if you're interested.  Cooper S type for stock electrics.

Quote from: 94touring on March 03, 2018, 08:45:48 PM
Those dots or dimples are fish eyes.  Just finite oil residue.  Car looks good from here  77.gif

Yeah I had oil in the tank too. Total screwup.

Quote from: velopackrat on March 04, 2018, 07:18:32 AM
I've got an NOS AutoSparks loom if you're interested.  Cooper S type for stock electrics.

I need a loom but not Cooper S. Can it be altered fo Basic saloon Part No. 322 according to their website.

Autosparks says Cooper S loom won't work too well so I'll ust order the basic loom thanks for the offer.

Wirine harness is seven weeks out. Bummer. Was going to install first but thinking it can go in anytime?

Unfortunately, it should be one of the very first things you put in the car......maybe you can work on building all the other subsytems up and have them ready to install? Or have you already done that?

Quote from: tsumini on March 06, 2018, 08:48:52 AM
Wirine harness is seven weeks out. Bummer. Was going to install first but thinking it can go in anytime?

I think 8-9 weeks is their standard system sent reply time. I was told the same for the moke harness I ordered, it was delivered less than 2 weeks later. I did get an email that it was shipped so knew to expect it.

Quote from: Willie_B on March 06, 2018, 10:30:20 AM

Quote from: tsumini on March 06, 2018, 08:48:52 AM
Wirine harness is seven weeks out. Bummer. Was going to install first but thinking it can go in anytime?

I think 8-9 weeks is their standard system sent reply time. I was told the same for the moke harness I ordered, it was delivered less than 2 weeks later. I did get an email that it was shipped so knew to expect it.

Thanks i am hoping that will happen.

Re-thinking loom install. I see Mplayle installed all components then the loom. Makes more sense.

The wiring loom install can go both ways.  I have replaced looms in several Minis over the years in the hobby - Saloons, Vans and now the Moke.

On one of the Saloons, everything was out of the car as I was doing a full mechanical refurbishment.  Running the rear harness of a saloon works better with the car empty and the fuel tank out.

Others I have replaced the harness with everything else in place.

On the Moke, I have been working from back-to-front in putting everything back together.  I did the rear harness first on the empty shell, installed the rear lights, and then worked forward with the exception of getting the engine & front subframe in place for balance.  As open as the Moke is, it is easy to work around having other stuff already installed.  The front wiring harness I had already attached to the instrument pod, so those are going in as the same step.

When I did the 1961 Saloon I had a while back, it was getting a custom dash.  I built the dash up (all new gauges including an electronic speedometer) as a sub-assembly.  I installed the main harness into the car and then connected to the dash.

Well, looks like loom will take the full lead time. It's been four weeks. Meanwhile i've done a few other things.

Painted the doors bonnet and boot. Had to re-do the doors. Too many ripples in the finish. Apparently surfaces weren't as straight as I thought. So far everything has been re-painted at least once.

Installed the first part: the brake and clutch master cylinders. There were three spacers when dissassmbled but I didn't notice why. The clutch clevis is about .050 shorter than brake so I put two spacers under the clutch MC Then checked position of pedals. Pedals turned out to be close even. I put new clevis pins in both but there was still a little looseness in each about .005 slop so I checked the "play" of each one and decided it was acceptable (about 1/8 inch). If it's not good then I'll need to get a larger diameter pin or find MC yokes with smaller holes. See video.

Also checked operation of each by hooking up a dummy wheel cylinder and bleeding. Hard pedal and no seepage.

Planned to build up the front subframe but the engine was mounted in it so decided jump ahead and clean and paint the engine. 1st photo is my feeble attempt at mixing and trying to match Rustoleum paint to the valve cover which turned out to be a waste of time so went to Sherwin Williams and had them match to the valve cover with their oil based satin paint. 

Last photo, somewhat unorthodox with accent of raised lettering. This is common on repainting piano plates. (I restored some a few years back). I dabbed paint on but a small paint brush works usually is used.

Looks like they got a really good match on the paint, I like the little details!

I see you remembered to install your bypass hose. I can't count the number of times I've put a cylinder head on only to remove the water pump so I could install the bypass hose......I don't use the accordion style, I cut a piece of silicone hose to match the  length I need.

Yeah I've been building the subframes and have been plague by putting somethiung together then having to remove it because the next part won't go in. ex. I found out that the bump stop on the front needs to go on before the upper arm( can't get a wrench in to tighten the mount bolts).  Also was missing the dust seal on upper arm support shaft. Also found it was reuired for the rear subby also. Basicaly i do everthing at least twice. LOL

I hope I've taken enough pictures and notes and labeled parts that I save some of these issues. But I'm sure I'll do it too. Thanks for sharing.

Lol you're just getting lots of practice!

Quote from: 94touring on April 08, 2018, 08:17:27 PM
Lol you're just getting lots of practice!

Yes, second time is easier and faster. i've always said you have to do/ study everything at least three times to learn it then you can teach it.

So I started to build up the front subframe and found out I only had two upper arm dust seals (takes two each side) so had to order two more so ordered two more. Needs to go inside of frame on the upper arm. So decide to build up the rear subframe. It didn't take long to figger out I needed four more seals (same as front) for the rear swingarm.  I tried to note parts needed when I tore it down but those escaped me. I did find remnants of them in the pile of removed parts but didn't recognise them as being parts.

So I ordered some more and worked on brake plumbing. I had ordered premade pipes and found out that they came with double flare ends. The removed pipes had bubble flare so I called MiniMania and the parts guy said they would work ok so I tried. If I torqued them more than I thought necessary.  So I bought a flaring tool and trried bubble flare which IMO worked better (less leak with less torque).

As I discovered building the front subby the new wheel cylinders had a roll pin location and anti rotation feature but none of my backplates had the hole. Instead they have two raised nubs on the backplate which serve the same purpose. I cut off the roll pin flush with the surface (didn't know how to pull them out). Unfortunately the wheel cylinders don't quite fit between the two nubs so had to grind a relief cut (about 0.020) in the wheel cylinders so they fit snug.

If I had watched the video of http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=805.225 (http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=805.225) I could have avioided installing the brake shoe spring wrong. Instead I mounted the hub and checked fit and heard hub hitting the spring...

I installed brake pipes and leak checked from the wheels to regulating valve. The regulating valve gave me fits. I could maintain 80 psig for ten minutes but the copper washer at the cover had a small foaming leak. I flattened all surface the best I could. Cover itself was most difficult and apparently couldn't get it perfect. So I backed it a crack and looped a length of dental floss  into the crack and tightened again. Leak check again showed  no foaming at the valve and pressure held for two hours at 70 psig which should be OK.

Rear subframe ready to install. Camera battery dead so no photo. Saw ad recently: dead batteries, Free of charge.

Building the front subframe. Tried to install CV gaiters on drive shaft. Drive shaft is the early 18 spline.
1st pic shows that gaiter appears to be too short for the band to fit the groove in the cv joint. Installed with tiewrap seems to be stretched too far and not fir well.
Question. Is gaiter groove supposed to fit the groove in the CV or is it supposed to fit on the flat of the CV?

BTW I couldn't secure the metal bands so installed tiewraps which I plan to replace with iron wire.

Part is Minisport Part No: BAU2019EVA Genuine Outer CV Joint Boot Kit
As you can guess I haven't done too many boot replacements.

I use tie straps too, however I use a kind where the tab doesn't stick up - those foul the hub. I'll bring some with me to CMU59. I can't see from your pic if that's the type you used too, but mine are black.

The tie strap and gaiter groove are supposed to fit the groove in the CV.  In the second picture, you have the gaiter pulled too far towards the hub and it will foul with the hub.

The lower profile straps like Dave suggests are also a good idea.

Hmm... this is  Minisport BAU20119EVA supposedly for early CV. The red mark on photo with parts separated is about the distance from the edge of the boot to the groove in the boot. The green line on the CV joint is about the distance the red line should be for grooves to line up so the boot rode up too far. It was either that or try to draw down the boot well behind the CV groove and hope it didn't back off. I redid the boots with wire wrap so eliminate the tiewrap problem.
I think there are several diffent boots out there but there doesn't seem to be any info on the above distance problem and not too keen on buying to find out.
Anyone know if any will fit?

I tried a few and never found anything to fit the early cv I ended up cutting off a couple ribs of a honda civic boot to get to a smaller section seems to be wroking fine. I read years ago on MM about a quad boot that was perfect polaris sportsman 500 maybe can't remember for sure.

Quote from: jeff10049 on April 11, 2018, 09:56:05 PM
I tried a few and never found anything to fit the early cv I ended up cutting off a couple ribs of a honda civic boot to get to a smaller section seems to be wroking fine. I read years ago on MM about a quad boot that was perfect polaris sportsman 500 maybe can't remember for sure.

I'll check some out. Thanks

Chased some gaitors and pretty much came up empty handed. In retrospect I could have turned a groove forward of the existing groove but that would mean taking them apart again so I did the best I could and hopefully sucure them well eniough to stay and not foul on the hub.

Built up the rear subframe and installed in the car. leak checked the brake line after connecting the pipe from the proportioning valve in the rear to the tee on the firewall. Maintained 60 psig for about two hours. When the front SF goes in then I can connect the pipe from brakes to the brass tee pictured. Using the same setup I can leak check both front and rear at the same time. Then all that's left is from the brass Tee to the Master Cylinder. I tried to check the front but I had to use copper washers from Oreillys which weren't correct so didn't work.  The correct washers should arrive Tues. along with gaitors for the shaft at the differential. Somehow missed ordering those. Also turned the drums.
Front SF is almost complete , discovered one of the rubber u joint was delaminated? so it stuck out far enough to foul on the engine case. Very little clearance there. So am delaying the install for the ujoint unless MM can't get it quick.

Front SF ready to go in when parts arrive. Pic shows shade tree method of installing SF and engine. A main beam is probably better than a tree branch.  Tiedown straps are run underneath the car to the rear SF and tied off there. Come alongs are hung from floor joists and then hooked to the straps. The intent is to draw up the front with the come along with the rear pivoting on the rear tires. When the front is high enough run the SF into position with the floor jack. Drop the front onto the SF mounts and secure. Other folks have used this method so don't see any big problems.

A couple of healthy young men can lift the front end of that car, it's so light without the engine!

I put the engine into my Clubman Estate this way with no issues, I used the engine crane to lift the car high enough to roll the engine and subframe under it, then let it down. Then hooked the crane to the engine and lifted it up into place as I found balancing the subframe on the jack was near impossible unless you just put it under the sump.

After all, from the bottom is how the factory built it.

I also pull E-type engines this way, drop it down the bottom, lift the car and roll it out.....installation is the reverse as they say.

You're making great progress! Got to git er done before the heat comes, right?

Unfortunately I'm not tyhat healthy so have to do it the couch potato way.
Thanks for the suggestion to lift the engine. I left the chain attached in case i needed it.

I ordered a rubber ujoint but I found out MM has to reorder and won't get til the 27th. I'm going to post a asking if anyone has a good used on to replace the bad one. A piece of rubber from one end is protruding and fouling on the engine. Worse comes to worse I will trim the protrusion and install. I would like to get this thing installed in the next couple of days. I could change it later but looks much more difficult. So if you have any laying around...

I actually prefer the replacement ujoint kits that eliminate the rubber

7 Enterprises has those rubber joints in stock - their part number  GCD0101 800-992-7007

Quote from: MiniDave on April 16, 2018, 09:27:09 AM
I actually prefer the replacement ujoint kits that eliminate the rubber

7 Enterprises has those rubber joints in stock - their part number  GCD0101 800-992-7007

I think i cheaped out since i had one good one.
Just ordered from minispares. Thanks

Beating the dead horse again I ran across the old CV boots I had taken off and saw that the main part was longer so it would have fit better. Now I just have to be on the lookout for something similar. There was no indentifying marks on the boots.

I was expecting a shipment of parts from minspares today to finish the Front SF but got surprised to get my order of tires instead which I ordered after.  Falken 145/80/10. So they arrived about 1:30 PM but didn'ty see the box until about 3:00.  i grabbed the newly painted rims and run them up to a neighborhood tire shop in North Tyler who had resealed some 10 inch tires for me a few months ago. After a little reluctance the guy said he'd give it a shot. 1st one went on like a charm as did the rest (4 total), $50 for four which didn't include balance apparently so add balance at $5 ea. So for $70 and $10 tip I was headed home in less than  an hour. Last three tires took 20 minutes.
ONe rim was NFG with cracked holes so I couldn't mount the spare.I'll be looking for another wheel. I have four from the Morris but they are all early rivited type. I may use onr for a spare though.
Picture shows mounted tires with two binnacles. The one on the left is the binnacle from the 60 Morris front end I have. Sherwin Williams used this one to match the paint.  The one on the right is the original binnacle that was repainted with the SW oil based paint. Also painted the rims with the paint.

This is what I have extra. 2 with the lines 1 smooth. All about 1" of area till the flex part. Yours for postage.

Thanks willie that would be great. Let me know what postage is  i'll paypal.  Do you have part number for the smooth one to order if i need another.
I PMd my mailing address.

Re-capping some activity since last post.
Firstly thanks to WillieB and MiniDave for the CV gators and low profile tie wraps. Since the front end was already assembled I decided to not remove axles to install them. I will keep an eye on them once I got the car running.

My objective at that time around 4/20 was to get the engine installed, the wiring harness installed sufficiently for the car to run. Since I was headed back to Colorado the end of may I wanted to be able to drive the car into my enclosed trailer and drive it off.

Engine and subframe wheeld around with pallet jack and positioned under the car. String was used to plumb and line up the mount bolts frome shell to subframe but turned out not to be very usefull. My son did  the work guiding it while I dropped the body. Manuevering was tricky but didn't take too long.

Clutch slave installed

Starting loom install. So far all the wires are correct and fairly easy to connect. Auto sparks does nice work and connections are easy.
Connected Ignition. Had some trouble early with ignition light but was connected wrong and works now.
Connected coil, distributor,generator and starter.
Installed and connected battery. Battery cable to the floor start was installed when the car had been turned on its side. No smoke so far. Floor start made contact and trurned engine over although I did see some smoke wafting from the starter. I hit starter several times and decide the smoke was from the inside of the starter. I had painted the starter and had removed the cover to clean the brush area so guessed there was some debris on the brushes. Smoke disappeared after repeatedly hitting floor start. No fuel supply yet.

The engine had been sitting for some time so confirmed oil pressure before giving it a shot of fuel.
This seemed to be the minimum required to run so I turned on the ignition pured a little gas into the carb and hit the starter. It coughed and sputtered some before dieing. A few more shots of fuel and I was convinced it would run when the fuel supply was connected.
A final item was to fill with water. Wouldn't you know the water pump showed up leaking. It was coming from the seal area so i fuggered that the carbon face seal was leaking. As before the engine had been sitting for a bout a year. It waan't leaking much and I should have just kept on keeping on and hope it would re-seal but I pulled the radiator and removed the pump. Newpump has been ordered and expect it along with other parts this week. (June 8th)

I had run out of time to get it running as I was due in Denver Memorial day weekend so had to pack and load the mini. I was hoping to get further this winter but was slow going so decided to bring it back to Colorado since it was on its wheels now.

Car is now in Colorado and hopefully  should have some progress this summer.

Photo shows how car sits now. I was hoping car would sit lower but weight of the rest of the parts installed should help but still expect it to sit too high. Not sure how or if adjustment possible. New cones all around.

Great progress! So glad you decided to carry on with the project....

If you look at pics of these cars when they were new that's how they sat, it will settle down some with time and miles but unless you have HiLos installed it will always ride a little high, but to me that's perfectly Ok, they ride so much better when they have some suspension travel available.

You should make great progress from here, can't wait to see more!

You're lucky to be in Colorado, it's hot as hell here in the midwest - hope the wildfires are under control now......

Glad to see it coming around.

Radiator and water pump removed

Brakes

A few observations about the braking system on my 1960 Austin 850.

This is first experience with the mini brake system so wasn't sure what to expect when installing. Have my share of American brakes;
fairly easy to bleed and adjust.
When I first started restoring the car I looked into updating to two LE brakes. I found out quickly that I would have to replace
everything including shafts (I have early 18 spline shafts), hubs, CV joints bearings and would cost a small fortune. Disassembly showed that the bearings and CV Joints were in almost prisitne condition. All that was required was new grease and bearing seals. So I decided to stay with the existing single LE brakes.

I purchased all new brake lines from Minimania. I immediately noticed that all the pipes had double flares; the pipes removed had bubble flares
\to go along with female mating flares. I thought MM had made a mistake and sent the wrong thing  so I called MM the person who answered (don't recal name) assured me that was correect and the double flare of the pipe would work fine. I was skeptical but tried a couple, they both leaked unless I torqued them VERY high such that I was a little worried that threads would dtrip especially on those brass tees. So I bought a flare tool and proceeded to repalce the flares with bubble flares. Without exception the bubble flares did not leak even with considerable less torque.

I had read on the forums of lots of brake problems that were difficult for some with little experience and so was careful about this install. First of all I wanted no leaks and proceeded to leak check wwith air pressure. I leak checked both subframes before installing in the car. Rear subframe was checked from   the regulator valve to wheel cylinders as detailed in my April 16 post.Had some diffculty with the copper washer on the Reg Valve but got it tight. Also had some front subframe leak problems at the banjo fitting tee. It has two sizes of copper washer and the old ones just kept leaking so gave up and ordered some from MiniSpares which took a while to get. Once I got them it sealed fine and front Subbby maintained 60 psi for a couple hours and was satisfactory. After installing both subframes  i leak checked at the brass tee on the firewall to all wheel cylinders. No leaks.and ready to fill the system.

I adjusted brakes so there was little drag (1/4 trurn locked them up) I had no helper so tried gravity fill with a few pumps.
with bleed open. Found out  MC have very little capaicity and sucked air a few times. Finally it appeared that there was no more air in the sytem. Initial pedal went hard about halfway down with no mushiness or fade. I was quite disappointed that the pedal went halway dowm before getting hard. My earlier experience on American cars showed less than 1/4 pedal travel was good. I got me a helper and bled the system again; didn't see any air come out. Again pedal travel was about the same. Since I had never even driven a mini I wasn't sure if this was normal so I set about to figger out some things.

I measured the pedal travel and full pedal was 4.5 inches. Hard pedal was 2.5 inches and 3 inches after pumping brakes. See photos.
I first took off the front drums, lifted shoes off the wheel cylinders and clamped the wheel cylinders closed. Rear brakes couldn't be clamped because hand brake prevented lifting shoes off so I adjusted brakes tight then checke pedal travel. It went to 3.0 inches so barring any hidden air bubbles it looked like there was about 1.5 inches of  "lost motion" for lack of a better term. I had earlier determined that pedal travel due to play in pin and hinge was about 0.25 inches (start of pedal travel to initial piston motion). That leaves about 1.25 inch pedal for wheel cylinder travel and MC piston travel before it covers the drain back hole. This may be best possible at this point. I do recall that there was some spacers between piston and main cup. I wasn't sure why they were there and how many there should be but now believe they are used to position the piston so that the drainback hole is covered immediately on pedal depression. I'm not about to take it apart and check that theory and don't have a spare MC to experiment so I'll live with what I have for now unless someone has a suggestion to try.

Am a little concerned that an air bubble may exist in the arch above the MC. This has to be the most difficult bubble to purge. Most MC pipes exit out the side so a bubble is easier to drive out. I'll probably buy another can of Brake fluid and bleed the sytem and try to drive out any bubbles.

Just for fun and comparison, I will go check my 60 mini tomorrow and see what amount of travel it has on the brake pedal.
The single leading brakes on my car work very well not sure what all the hype about twin leading is. Just keep them adjusted.

Adjustment took a while on my car I'd adjust em up tight stomp the pedal a few times repeat adjustment until it the shoes centered and the adjustment quit changing then the pedal felt great but I never measured the travel so i will do that in the am.

Thanks that would be great. I'm still waiting for my water pump so I can get it running and real life test it. I'm comfortable with the 3 inch travel left but was curious about the "dead" initial travel.

I think you're correct, the single LE probably gets a bad rap. My guess is that the twin LE needs the same attention to adjusting. According to the book there are two adjusting mechanisms  on each wheel one for each wheel cylinder that would seem to complicate matters.

BTW I ordered several copper washers for the banjo fitting location at the brake light switch in case someone needs one.

i have a total of 1-3/4" stroke before firm pressure. I am trying to upload a video I did some of the stroke is free play some is lost master travel the rest is getting the brakes out to the drum. Anyway, I'll post the video as soon as it uploads I even cut a master open and checked out the travel to cover the hole.
All in all I think your car is perfect may have less travel than mine and mine stops great and feels good on the pedal.

video, keep in mind my 1" off the floor has to do with the thick sound deading and coco mat all that stuff compresses down pretty easy in the event that the travel was needed if something went south in the brakes.

Jeff, that was an excellent and rigorous explanation of the mini brake system. It answered a lot of questions I had. I was thinking about shimming the piston to reduce lost motion but you convinced me not to. Now wondering what the pupose of shims are that I found in the MC main cup. I understood the extra pedal travel required before hole closed but was unaware of the fine points of the  re-charging cycle.
Right now I have about 1 1/2 inches of travel to your 1 3/4 but my adjustment if probably a little too tight. I would expect to get about 1 3/4 about the same as yours. I feel much better now that you have confirmed my experience.
Your comment about the total stroke being rather small suggested to me that is reason the pedal needs to be pumped and also suggested that adjustment to get the shoes out sooner is in order.
Can't help but expect that twin leading brakes system MC total stroke moves shoes out less since the MC bore is smaller and both front and rear wheel cylinder bores are larger and more pedal travel.

Again thanks for your time, I'll consider my brakes satisfactory now.

Not sure what is happening but just prior to leaving for Colorado I got brakes working and topped up the resevoir on the beancan. When I got here I discovered that some brake fluid under the front wheels. Couldn't believe I had a leak then followed it to the MC. Fluid had apparently been forced? out the vent of the lid and had leaked down the subframe onto the backpalte and onto the floor. It had collected in the depression in the frame next to th MC. Cleaned up the residue and ended up repainting the depression. No more leaks until I revisited the brakes detailed in tyhe posts above. I finished and topped up the MC as I recall up to the rim. I wanted as much in as possible knowing the limited capacity of the beancan.
A couple of days later I noticed a puddle of brake fluid in the same depression I had just repainted ARGH! Fluid had leaked out again from the lid. Unless the is a pinhole leak at the lid it appears that the MC can be overfilled. I suspect  maybe the piston was still returning and pusing fluid back into resevoir as Jeff explained in his post above.

Waited til June to order the water pump from Minispares. Added an exhaust to the order along with some other small parts. Was disappointed when it didn't arive until the 18th. The exhaus was additional shipping charge and seemed to disrupt what i expected to be about 4-5 days.
Anyway I installed the exhaust but wasn't exactly thrilled with the fit. The front section from the manifold was not even close to the original. A bend in the pipe was in the wrong direction bending toward the floor start instead of away to give ith clearance. Contemplating sheild of some sort to prevent shorting floor start. Now it's secure and firm but looks like any wear or loosening may be a problem.
Also received the new water pump and installed. Also installed the correct generator adjusting bracket.

Hate to say it but I have seen pinhole leaks in the sides of the cans too, you might carefully feel around the sides of the can for moisture....

That exhaust pipe just looks wrong for your car, I'm surprised you could make it work.

I need to install a thottle cable and accel pedal. I got the car without an engine so throttle cable was not installed. In the pile of parts I got the pictured throttle cable but it doesn't look to be correct.
Anyone want to confirm. If it is wrong i'll order a throttle cable and trunnion pin kit. Is there any other thing I need. Also could anyone provide some photos or refereence to the installation especially through the firewall. I see a firewall boss where the cable goes thru but parts books don't show installation.
Thanks 

I don't know about these early 850 cars, but that's not a throttle cable I've seen before.....that looks more like a cable for a motorcycle.

MiniDave,
I did repair a leak in the bottom seam. see Reply #38 on: August 26, 2014, 11:19:58 , Clutch MC had been installed turned 180 degrees and caused interference with the Brake MC.
For the time being i guess I'll put a diaper on the outside to absorb any fluid until I can leak check it. Maybe the top seam has a hole.

That exhaust seems to be the only one available for '59 '60 vintage. All parts suppliers showw the same thing.
I was considering having one built but I couldn't find a source for 1 1/4 Dia exhaust pipe. It promised to be a big project. Since I have an original I may re-visit custom build. The new one comes in two pieces; the rear with muffler is Ok so custom pipe need only the front recontoured.

Quote from: MiniDave on June 19, 2018, 06:52:53 AM
I don't know about these early 850 cars, but that's not a throttle cable I've seen before.....that looks more like a cable for a motorcycle.

Yeah it just doesn't look  right.

Right, according to the Somerford catalog, they show the old style pipe but say it's unavailable - to use the new style like you bought and modify it Wonder why you couldn't take both pipes to a muffler shop and have them bend the new one to match the old, since you have it to use as a pattern?

Yes I thought about that but that would mean taking it out and re-installing. Not really up to it now. It was a real struggle this time. Crawling underneath cars at my age is inappropriate.

Getting ready to re-install fan and radiator. Had ordered and received the rubber radiator surround and installed it around the wing opening. It was 1/8 inch thick and a little difficult to fit onto the wing opening. The tabs had to be spread a little but it is obviuos they will have to be crimped tightly to make sure it doesn't come off. I recall reading an incident where one had come off mid flight and had destroyed the plastic fan. Not sure the crimped tabs are adequat without additional security. Installing the radiator and fan looks rather difficult so
I am now wondering if I should leave it out. It should improve cooling and help prevent overheating but am not sure of its overall effectiveness.
Any recommendations/experience pro and con for installing the rubber surround?

It does not improve cooling to leave it out - the air will take the path of least resistance - right thru the gap - instead of going thru the radiator.

Dave,

The gap covered by the rubber seal is on the back side of the radiator - between the radiator and the fender/shroud - after the air has been pushed by the fan through the radiator.  It is supposed to work with the inner fender shroud to keep the hot air from backwashing into the engine bay.

I have no information one way or the other as to whether having it in improves cooling or not.  In all the Minis I have had that had the inner fender shroud, the rubber seal was already missing.

True, but it's fitted on the back side of the radiator.  Not as effective as a tight fitting shroud around the radiator, usually with a foam to seal the radiator to shroud.  What this rubber surround will do is help the high pressure air from within the engine compartment be directed to the low pressure air within the wheel well.  I personally think you're fine without it if it's fussy.

Edit: posted same time as playle

Quote from: MiniDave on June 25, 2018, 07:43:20 AM
It does not improve cooling to leave it out - the air will take the path of least resistance - right thru the gap - instead of going thru the radiator.

Oops, meant to say it should improve cooling with it installed not left out. But looking at it now it won't make much difference. In the same league as "fan is on backward"  I agree with Dan that the gap around the shroud is more important although I haven't yet tried to put in foam seal.
I installed without rubber seal and withou foam seal. We'll see what happens.
Most important is the fan blade tip clearance which is the same all around after adjusting the radiator position.

Ok got the fan, radiator and carb installed and Antifreeze in. Loose fitting in the back was leaking:tightened. Thermostat housing was leaking previously at the stud so i took nut off and dabbed RTV around the stud. Didn't help and was still leaking. Probably will have to pull the stud and seal it in the head. Tried to fire it off with shot of gas in the carb. Sounded like it would run but wouldn't fire off. Re checked dizzy position and plug wires (one switched). Agiain put a shot of gas and seemed like it wanted to run but didn't.
Hooked up the SU fuel pump but it pissed fuel at the outlet. Again wanted to run but couldn't. Backed of timing improved and ran breifly and weekly. Backed off the timing and engine started! Finally. Adjusted idle and exercised throttle several times. Seems to be a little boggy at the bottom end but accelerates nicely. Runs very smoothly, no sign of vibration.
Now that i know the engine runs and runs well I can install tank and fuel pump after it is repaired (ordered Viton seals) fix the leaks and install electricals with the new loom.
Oil pressure gage leaks on the back side fitting and Oil pressure regulating valve is seeping around the gasket. I took it off to paint the engine and had to make anew gasket which is seeping.
Overall some progress with a few stumbles.
Plan is to get the car so I can move it under its own power so in case we have to evacuate from a fire I can drive it into the trailer and be gone in a few minutes.

Last few days trying to install fuel system. The car came missing the fuel pump, engine and throttle cables so have been researching the install.
I built a temporary bracket to mount the fuel pump (SU204) to the subframe. Brackets are available so need to order.
Throttle and choke cable mount was a little more difficult. Somerford and others showed PN 12A ABUTMENT PLATE-THROTTLE & CHOKE CABLES-HS2 '59-'69 NLA.
So if anyone out there have one in their stash I would appreciate hearing.

Got fuel tank installed and built temporary bracket for fuel pump. Then installed rear elect loom. As usual did thing backasswards. Loom had to go behind tank so pulled it back out.

Mostly distracted by the Spring fire around La Veta Co about 100 miles east of where i'm at. Currently 60,000 acres biggest of 8 fires in CO. 104 homes reported destoyed today, about half of that subdivision where it started. Fire split into two, one going south and one going North.

I had bought a 35 acre lot near La Veta Pass (NE of where it started). Fire spread quickly and over ran it. Right now it's about in the center of burned out area and shows to have been burned up. I sold it a few years ago to a guy retiriung from the Air Force. He built a cabin/stucture. Anxious to see if it survived.
Always liked the area. It's gonna leave a huge scar.

Catching up. Old lot is toast.
Replaced thermostat gasket. Fixed leak.
Replaced Fuel Pump seals with Viton seals. No more leaks.
Waitng (today?) forFP mount bracket. Secured fuel tank. Checked sender, appears the gage may bew bad. Was working last time I checked. I'll try the one from the Morris.
Coil is leaking oil onto the starter. It gets pretty hot. May need to install the resistor.

Got motor running again but found fuel seeping from the bowl outlet to jet assembly. Seal sold as AUD2194 was hard and brittle. Looked at MM $2.95 for seal $5.00 for Handing and $16.19 for shipping for total $24.xx. Apparently the smaller the part the more it costs to ship? Orderd from Minispares $1.00 for seal $5.00 postage.

Little more update. Checked brake fluid leaking from top of bean can. Staticaly it did not leak. Attached a baloon to the cap opening for low pressure. 24 hours balloon stayed inflated so no pinholes. I think the MC was overfilled so that the cap displaced enough fluid to push it past cap threads. Anyway no more leaks so far. Keeping the level below the neck.

The balloon is a pretty inventive way to test the tank's integrity   77.gif

I take it you mean the old lot is now burnt toast? Sad if he lost his place there too.....

To test the fuel gauge, first see if you have voltage at the sender, if you do ground the tank sensor wire, the gauge should go full scale, if it doesn't then test the gauge by grounding the sensor wire at the gauge, if it doesn't move, bad gauge.

If you don't have voltage at the sender, you need to go back to the gauge and see if you have voltage there.....proceed accordingly.

Loom installation.
I connected loom enough to get engine running. Made a makeshift seat so I wouldn't have to sit on the crossmember and proctology bracket. Seat is just a 3/4 thick board 13 inches wide with a 4x4 screwed in the back and a 1x2 cleat in front of the crossmember. Works great.

Autosparks loom is excellent. I is excellent quality and very accurate. With one exception(loom has spade connector for the wiper motor;it needs an eyelet connector) I have yet to find a mistake in either the location of connectors, color code or connector type. It even had the wider generator spade connector so i didn't have to guess which post went where. I find it almost fool proof.

I did find out that spade connector needs the outside foreskin pulled back before pushing connector on. If not pulled back the insulaion may keep connector from fully contacting.

Getting some parts shipment shortly so continue lights install and loom.

Quote from: MiniDave on July 12, 2018, 11:02:55 AM
The balloon is a pretty inventive way to test the tank's integrity   77.gif

I take it you mean the old lot is now burnt toast? Sad if he lost his place there too.....

To test the fuel gauge, first see if you have voltage at the sender, if you do ground the tank sensor wire, the gauge should go full scale, if it doesn't then test the gauge by grounding the sensor wire at the gauge, if it doesn't move, bad gauge.

If you don't have voltage at the sender, you need to go back to the gauge and see if you have voltage there.....proceed accordingly.

The balloon idea came when i tried to figger out how to pressurize it without taking it off.
Didn't take the time to troubleshoot the gage. Sener seemd to have the proper resistance (see page three of this thread) so guessed that gage was the problem. I'll check gage using your check.
Yeah burnt toast, the lot was heavy pine timber, prime fuel. Saw a video of a section about 1/4 mile below and it was complete burn up. Hoping the house/barn owner had was not burned.

Test fit tthe RH door. It looks like it will fit pretty good. Didn't see where I needed to tweek.

I'm trying to order the door seals. I've read some seals are too thcik and cause problems. I've also rewad that Phoenix trim is good. It tells you to install the door and put Blue Tack Test but visually I can see there's not much variation in the gaps. It is about 3/8 inch around the door itself but is about 1/2 inch around the window. I'm not exactly sure what door seal I should order.  There's DX 73,DX 85, DX 88P and SRS 122. I may ahve to email Phoenix Trim with the gap info and see what they recommend.

Also got the throttle cable but had ordered the long (31 in) instead of the short (24 in) so I'll need to re-order. Anyone need a long Throttle cable? Don't see any way of cutting it shorter.

The throttle cable should have a crimped on tab at just one end, unless the throttle cable has tabs on both ends like for the fuel injected Minis and those will not work with a SU carb.

To shorten, slide the inner cable out of the sheath.  Cut the sheath with a hacksaw or cutting wheel on a dremel tool.  Slide the inner cable back into the sheath.  Shorten the inner cable with wire cutters AFTER installing on the carb through the trunion.  The factory end is usually easier to get through the trunion than a cut end.

Ok this one has swaged ends both ends. Didn't know the one end at the carb didn't have the swaged end. So yes I can cut it back. Looks like I may have to rob the abutment plate from the morris or fashion a homemade one. These apparently are rare. I found one in Spain for 30 euros plus shipping... The plate without the choke cable part is just as rare too. I think I need something to secure the end?

Give me a couple days to check the stuff left over from the Moke project.  I don't recall if I have that plate still or not.

Mike thanks appreciate it but no need. I fashioned a rube goldberg temporary plate that will work until i can get the Morris one. It is back in Texas so will ahve to wait till I get back there.

So back to the mini... Month long vacation four days fishing in Ketchikan Alaska... worst fishiong ever, two salmon (silver) 2 halibut babies, 2 good yellow eye (better eating than halibut. A week on Rocky Mountaineer Railroad Vancouver BC to Banff( Probably the best service I've had from any cruise or tour). 6 days of choking smoke. Mountains were barely visible. Highlight was a Maclaren at the hotel. Lake Louise, more smoke. Fly to Spokane to pickup Columbia River Cruise. Cruise was pleasant, service a couple notches below Railroad. Went to see Mt St Helens (third Photo) could barely make it out at the Johnson Visitor Center) Smoky until Astoria the last day. six more days of smoke. longest smoke break I've ever had. Missing a meeting where the Commander of my American Legion Post ripped off the post assest for about 10% of it's value. Plenty bummed. Almost get rear ended by an 18 wheeler 50 miles from cabin. Arrive at cabin. Low and behold nothing wrong.

Again back to the mini... just before leaving on the disastrous vacay the seal for the jet tube oin the HS2 Carb ($0.25 plus $4 shipping) arrived and  I installed it only to find out it leaked...apparently I had squashed the little brass tube that fits into the bowl. Ordered the whole jet assembly $20 plus shipping and it weas here when I got back. Installed the jet and leak checked; Hooray no leaks, finaly a leak free fuel sytem.
So I fired it up, had to jump it since I'd been grinding away without the generator hooked up. Anyway got it started but as before rough idle strong top end. So I turne the jet adjusting nut down beacuase it didn't seem to be getting fuel. Got it cranked up again and seemed to be greatly improved but exhaust was really smoky and smelled too rich so I raised the nut agin to where it idled good. Th carb is rather old and found out the little lever tha raises the piston was corroded so it didnt move so I didn't fine tune the idle richness. Engine idled good and got quick response from the accelerator so it is roughed in now.

So, since I had gotten the engine to run fairly decent ( may have to fine tune the Idle) but top end is great. accelerates fast and very smooth with virtually no vibration.
I wanted to get it up to temperature to see if I had any issues. I didn't get any road work (clutch is not right) so ran it at idle until it warmed up. Everthing looked pretty good, temp gage steady at 170 deg F. OAT about 80 degrees so i did a few accels (no load). Temps stayed steady. I have an Infra Red camera for my phone which has bee useful on coccaisions so I thought I'd look at the engine with infra red.
I'll digress and relate an issue with a house we built in 2007. My son wanted a hot water system that circulated continuously so the hot ware was always hot at the tap. This spring i noticed that there was unusual usage and found out there was water flowing somewhere but didn't know where but found out it was coming up in the guest bathroom. All the plumbing was in the cement pad and was copper (didn't trust PEX yet). I took out my iphone infrared camers and sure enough it showed was a huge hotpot under the guest bathroom vanity later confirmed by plumbers microphone. Found out later copper with constant hot water will corroder and fail so a hot circulation is bad. $10,000 retrofit with PEX.
Back to the mini... I took some photos with the infrared for those interested. I believe it is fairly accurate. Outlet temp agrees within a couple of degrees.

2nd run (1st didn't get video) Didn't run so well today. Idle was poor. Idled fine yesterday but today not so good even when warm.  I need to fine tune the idle. Top end still good.
Was testing the clutch and brakes. Clutch feels good maybe a little too much travel before disengaging. Brakes seem good. Steering a little squirrely. Tireod ends need adjusting and aligning. Short jaunt, need to adjust idle. Engine died and had some trouble getting restarted.

Had some issues with the clutch adjustment. Should have done this when I had the engine out but would have been more difficult without runnign engine.
1st photo shows initial setting. Pedal went all the way to the floor without any pressure. Did not disengage. Scratched my head and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day figgering out what made the clutch tick. Setting is slave cylinder pushrod fully retracted into the cylinder then set the 0.060 gap at the stop.
Long story short, 2nd photo shows setting in which the clucth works: half pedal to initial diseengagement the to the floor. It uses up the last .500 throw of the pushrod. Pic show stop not adjusted but was set at .060 later. The return spring is stretched almost too far and was difficult to get on. After much study I believe the gap shown in last photo is too large as slave throw is at it's end. Wear at the lever ball was measured at .023.
Since it was alltogether allready and I didn't feel like taking the clutch out, I'll stick with it. Now I'm wondering if the circlip (5) is missing. Can't find in parts book. Does anyone know how thick it is?
Anyway the car is actually mobile now.

It's rare, but I have had to lengthen a push rod in order to get the piston down in the bore far enough to work, but once you do that it works perfect.

Yes I ended up welding up a temporary pushrod. Added about 1/2 inch and that works much better. I'll have to make or buy a longer one for permanent.
Enough free pedal before disengagement and enough pedal pressure half way down. I have a built up clutch assembly like the one pictured. I spent enough time studying it so now I have it figgered out how it works.
I think a 1/16 thick washer between pressure spring housing 13 and driving strap 16 would solve the problem and position the lever properly. In fact If I were building engines I would measure and modify the clutch stackup so that the gap I showed is held within a determined dimension. I don't have a shop manual so maybe it is there?

Ran the car some more. Started running rough so I checked timing again. It was difficult to see the advance markings so left it where it ran the best. It seemed to run well for a while then it started backfiring and was hard to start.
Left it for a couple of days and my brother came over to look at it. He's a wizard with engines; if it's capable of runnuing he'll have it running in minutes. He had this engine running like a top in about half an hour. Set idle and started it several timeswith out touching accelerator or choke. Ran great.
Climbed in next morning, ground on starter til it died then jumpered it ground a couple more minutes and finally stumbled to life. Warmed it up with choke hit the throttle a couple times. It ran like crap. Midd throttle it started to backfire and kept backfiring then shut it down and scratched my head.
Thought it may be getting flooded since I haven't really gone thru the carb and #2 and #3 sprkplugs were sooty. Thought i even had a blown head gasket. Points Gap looked to be good.  Took the float cover off and check that didn't seem to be anything wrong but ordered the needle and seat anyway.
Removed the points and found points were black and burned. The coil had been getting hot and I haven't run it with the resistor so I think I've been burning the points.  Ordered some points which will be here the 24th so hope  this helps. Trying to ban aid it til; i get back to Texas.

Installed the signal light stalk and horn button with a few issues but only had to do it twice as usual. The original 1960 flasher unit worked but didn't flash the bulb on the stalk. Got a replacement flasher and installed it but it wouldn't flash the stalk either. Then i discovered i  didn't have the stalk grounded. I was testing it without mounting on the steering column. When i mounted it on the column and checked ground it worked properly. Went back and rechecked the original flasher but it still didn't flash the stalk so it looks like the old flasher part doesn't work either.

Installed a Koso digital Water temperature gage before the last run. Didn't caqlibrate it yet but it appears to work well. I installed the gage on an L bracket mounted to the steering bracket bolt. I presumed that a digital gage would display all the time but this one I have to push a button on the gage for display. I ordereds this without knowing this so I'll probably tale it out when the battery goes dead (2 - 3 years?).

Getting ready to build up the doors. Door seal is pretty tight on RH door. Bottom of door sticks out somewhat 1/8 in.? when latch area is even. Both were exactly right without seal in. May have to settle in.

Question. Is it easier /better to install sliding windows while doors are hung or should they be installed on a bench/talble then hung?

I've always put glass in mounted to the body. 

Fitted the door seals and boot seal. I used Phoenix DX73 door seal. Was rather disappointed that the seals are too tight especially around the latch area. I have to trim the seal at the latch indent. It wasn't clear from phoenix what seal was thickest. Boot seal seams to be OK.

New points improved running immensely old points were burned so I installaed aballast rersistor. Needle and seat for the carb stopped the leak into tthe carb. Fuel pump now stops when shut off.

The engine runs better now but is still hard to start and cold blooded. Its has to get up to normal temperauture before it will idle without choke. Since it was so difficult to see the marks thru the wok port, I put some marks on the front fan belt pulley roughly every 10 degrees. It seams to idle about 10 degrees with about 30 degrees advance. I will probably go thru carb when I get back to Texa next week.
Took some photos with doors, boot and bonnet on just to see what it looked like. It needs more polishing so it looks kinda dull.
Also a sneak peak at the interior with drivers side seat upholstered in reproduction 60's cloth. I used to be 6'3" before I got old and arthritis dropped me to 5' 13" so I just don't fit especially since my legs haven't shortened.

looking good 4.gif

weatherstrip in an early car seems to be impossible to get correct just have to compromise
I bought 3 different sets of door seals Phoenix was the best by far but now it dose not touch in a couple spots that or If I move the stryker in you have to slam the door so hard it might end up dented or broken.

I never did find quarter window seals that will work at all not even a little bit so I just spent about 1 hour per side getting the windows closed hoping the seal would settle in I may never open them.

I still have no boot seal on my car but I have three that don't work going to order 1/2" half round stick on generic seal from soft seal and try that I read about that working well on early cars somewhere.

I like the seat fabric to you get that through the 59 mini register?

Yeah it looks like i'll be fiddling with the seals fo a while. Boot seal seems fine. I used the one that has double stick tape without using the clips.
Cloth is the stuff 59 Registry sells. It is very nice although the hounds tooth may seem overwhelming. After seeing yours I would I think using the houndstooth as a  insert in a gray vinyl background would really look good.

It's been some time since I've updated  progress as I've taken a couple of detours since October. I brought the mini back to Texas with me this fall. My son's house and my house share a lot so when my son and his wife decided they waanted to move to "town" wee decided to sell our two houses and lot. Long story short we sold and closed Dec 3 at the same time we bought another house some 15 miles south  in Bullard TX. We leasedd back the property til Feb 1st so have been busy downsizing, getting rid of tons of "stuff" and generally being too busy to work on the mini.
The new house has a two car garage with another 16x24 detached garage. My part of the 40x50 shop we have to cleasr is 116x25 so is about the same working space but a lot less space such as the 2 post lift. I have about two more weeks to take advantage of the lift and did so the last few days.
Earlier I had installed an exhaust system in which the tailpipe was bent in the wrong direction placing the bend too close to the floor start button and the connecting posts which may have shorted the system if the exhaust got loose.

It appeared that I could simply Bend the center section back to clear the floor start and "unbend" the bend where it gets bolted to the transmission. Aftyer spending a half a day searching muffler shops to bend the pipe I found out the smallest bending tool they had was 1 1/2 "Dia and using that would break the bend. So rebending did not seem to be an option.
I decided that I could cut the pipe at the bend by the transmission and rotate it 180 degrees would come close to what was needed. I marked the pipe for cutting to ensure a half turn. Sure enough it worked a treat. No worries about shorting the floor start.
A lift sure beats crawling under a car on jack stands.

So while on the lift I was able to access the gearshift anti rattle feature. I had put the engine in and had lost or mislaid the original piece so had to order it.  I wasn't inclined to install by crawling underneath so I installed it when i got the opportunity on the lift.

Also realized that the charging system wasn't working. The ignition light stayed on after start. Checked the generator and it was OK so took the voltage regulator of to check it. I ran sandpaper on the points per the manual. I set the gaps on the voltage cutout. which seamed to be off but the manual was a little unclear as to how the gaps were adjusted. I decide to re-install it and check and adjust while running. When i started the car the ignition light went out and voltage measured 13 volts at idle and  13.75 in higher RPM with lights on. Got called away before I could try adjusting the output voltage. I 'm going to try adjusting to get about 14.7 volts but it's charging for now.

I just went back and read your thread from the beginning and I had a few questions and some hopefully useful comments.  Did you ever get the proper speedometer?  If not, email me as I have the correct one you need.  Next, the spacers under the brake MC are absolutely necessary.  If the spacing is incorrect, the fluid will not come back into the can as it is supposed to.  When you drive the car, after using the brakes several times the brakes will lock up and won't release until you let the pressure off by opening the bleed valves.  I've seen this happen on several rebuilds, and it will frustrate the heck out of you.  Next item, is the engine and transmission that you are using the original unit?  The reason I ask, is that on the early Minis the clutch throwout didn't have the nut on the end for adjustment.  I would think if your car was early Jan 60 that it wouldn't have the clutch adjustment nut.  I am attaching a photo of the early style clutch housing for you to see.

drmini
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. here's some answers to your questions.
No I never got the proper speedometer. The speedo that came with the car is a SN4410/00 listed as Morris installation. I talked with Bill Bell  on this and we came to the conclusion that the speedo was replaced after delivery and had accumulated about 44k miles. I intended to re-install it but I had it stored in a palce that got rained on and waas immersed in water for about two weeks. needles to say this destroyed the paint on the dial so it needed re-paint. I talked with jeff1049 and he had a brilliant solution in a laser etching the face after painting a cream color. The needle had been beat down with Colorado sun and disintegrated on touch. I couldn't seem to find a replacement needle (Austin Type) so abandoned that. Meanwhile I had acquired a front end from  a June built 1960 Morris mini  which had a working speedo which I have installed and is working. I'm not inclined at this point to change it out.
I believe I have the brakes sorted now. Again jeff1049 offered suggestions and advice which helped immensely.  As I recall the piston has to retract far enough to relaease the brakes and the spacer is necessaary for that to happen. In the short runs I've made the brakes work great.
You are correct, the engine is not original to the car. The engine was missing  when I acquired the car. I prurchase two 850's for replacement but didn't find a "correct" early engine. I had my brother build one of the engines. When I can get the carb and ignition corect it runs like a banshee. Not sure of the vintage but it is a later engine as you pointed out.
I bought the Morris front end I mentioned above and pictured mostly to rob the wheel covers and other things that i needed including the engine which was  close to what I needed for the Austin. It was used in parades but wasn't working to well as I recall. I split it to haul away. I got the thing running but it had a burned valve so I had  the head rebuilt. I runs good but I don't htink they had changed the oil in twenty years. Anyway the engine is the correct engine for this chassis acoording to British Heritage. British Heritage offers to answer one question for 5 pounds. I asked what the Engine SN was installed in the this original   chassis. The answer was the engine number installed. I guess the chassis to be about May June 1960. and may have been Canadian since it had the carb heaters installed on the inlet.
So I kept the front end, it runs so it could be installed in the Austin as "period correct?"
Again thanks for your commants, suggestions and time.

These early cars are an absolute maze of different parts! I've never seen that heater valve for example, and I didn't know till I read Hugh's post about the early cars not having the stop nuts on the clutch arm.

You're really coming along now tsumini, keep up the good work! Will you be showing your car at Aspen/Snowmass this summer?

BTW tsumini, I really need a steering column for a MK1 for Clancy's Moke restoration, would you sell the one on your parts car?

Dave, I guess you didn't see the water drain tap on the rear of the engine in the photo either.  Another early item.  Anyway, here's a photo of the speedo if anyone is interested.  The needle came off and I haven't attempted to put it back on.  $50 if tsumini or anyone else wants it.

I've seen those drain taps before, my '62 Cooper S had one.....

drmini, I'll take the speedo. That's the parts I need. Just let me know shipping charges to Bullard TX. Hopefully three speedos will make a passable Austin speedo.
Incidentally my fuel gage that came with the car had a cream face (with the silver dial) further ssubstantaiting that it was swapped out but retained the fuel gage.
Thanks for this.

MiniDave
I answered your message on the stering column. I presume you want the shaft, column felt bushing and the brass signal collar. I amy have used the horn push on the Austin.
Aspen Snowmass probably out of the question. Would like to but going salmaon fishing in Alaska same weekend. Altitude probably too much for me anymore I use protable oxygen at 8300 ft which is really to high for me. There is a show in Alamosa CO On Labor Day weekend called Early Iron which is has about 500 cars but 99 % American. I think there was probably one or to English cars (jags)  so wanted to take it there but I don't know if I'll bring it back to Colorado this year. May leave it in TX.
Yeah the early cars and engines had some unique things. Hard to see but the damper cap is brass, Oil cap is metal. Most of the dated parts on this car are 11 or 12 /59 unless replaced. Light toggle switches are 5/60 but were missing and came from the Morris.

Quote from: tsumini on January 16, 2019, 07:30:33 PM
drmini, I'll take the speedo. That's the parts I need. Just let me know shipping charges to Bullard TX. Hopefully three speedos will make a passable Austin speedo.
Incidentally my fuel gage that came with the car had a cream face (with the silver dial) further ssubstantaiting that it was swapped out but retained the fuel gage.
Thanks for this.

Email me at: hockey91dad@hotmail.com
I will get a shipping price today and reply to your email.  Cheers, Hugh

Just sent paypal Thanks Hugh

Quote from: MiniDave on January 16, 2019, 09:09:46 AM
These early cars are an absolute maze of different parts! I've never seen that heater valve for example, and I didn't know till I read Hugh's post about the early cars not having the stop nuts on the clutch arm.

You're really coming along now tsumini, keep up the good work! Will you be showing your car at Aspen/Snowmass this summer?

BTW tsumini, I really need a steering column for a MK1 for Clancy's Moke restoration, would you sell the one on your parts car?

my car also has the heater valve, drain valve, and no clutch stop

edit- the metal oil cap is an early car thing too

Quote from: tsumini on January 17, 2019, 09:32:10 PM
Just sent paypal Thanks Hugh

Thanks!  Since the needle is already off the speedo, if your speedometer already works I would just swap faces and needles.

Yes my thoughts too.

jeff10049, Mine doen't have the early drain valve

Jeff if you don't mind could you show how the choke is cable is routed and hooked up. I'm having some trouble getting it to return and adjusted. I suspect that maybe the torsion return spring on the carb is not put on right.

I will get pictures tomorrow morning and post them.

JEFF, in the photos I see what looks like a makeshift bonnet safety catch.  Is that something you fabricated?  AFAIK, there wasn't a safety catch until maybe 61?  Would like to see a better photo of that, and more info on it.

drmini, speedo arrived yesterday rode hard and put away wet LOL but parts i needed are there and good. Thanks

my choke cable may not be correct I had a box of carbs and made one from parts but here is  picture of what I have.

Drmini my hood came open while driving did alot of damage it didnt have a catch when i got it but had some sort of bracket on it the blue part in the pic the black was just 20 gauge sheet metal I bent up temporary and used the springiness of the metal catch the front panel it was rivited to whatever that bracket was. It did not work that well I have since bought the later style and cut off what was on the hood in welded on the later style it works great.

Hopefully getting done moving and fixing broken fragile antique furniture. I couldn't remember the thread but someone tipped us thaat Moss Motors were selleing mini windscrens for $105 so I checked it out and seemed legit so I ordered on with $19 S&H plus $35 oversize charge for $159 total. Got it yesterday and with an eyeball fitcheck looks like it may work.
Thanks to whoever for the tip.

That's a good deal on a windshield.....from MiniSpares they're about £35, plus about $100 shipping. The best way to do that is to get together with friends and buy several, cause the shipping is the same for 3 or 4 as it is for one....then your unit cost really goes down.

Car is really coming along, won't be long before you're driving it again!

Doing some interior work. First try putting together the headliner. Couldn't seem get the material tight. Flimsy frame. Doesn't look too good but the more I fiddled with it the worse I made it. So... is this good enough or do I need to take it apart and do it again? Will it tightened up when I install it in the car? What one goes in first. Couldn't seem to find this info. None of the "How to's" show this early headliner.

You can get it tighter.  But, having done a mk1 headliner, I can tell you it's a major pita and I couldn't get the perimeter where it loops over the ribs perfectly wrinkle free. And the new material is thicker than original, making it basically impossible to clip together in the center.  I yanked and pulled till I felt the frame would crush and called it good.

Yeah, I'll have to peel it all back and re-do tweaking seems to make it worse. But that's par. I thyink I di9d everything on this car at least twice. 50.gif

I gave up and took the frames and fabric to an interior shop it is perfect but they fought it and I paid for it about 225 if I remember but I think it was worth it.
They had a very experienced guy on it for about 4 hrs I think the early ones are just hard to do.

It will shrink some with heat you might need too once it's in as installing the frames may squeeze them slightly and create small wrinkles.

make sure you don't pull the frames out of square at all even 1/8" with the fabric or it will not fit the car without adding massive wrinkles.

Hmmm... that's what I was afraid of. can't be done (by me). BTW yours looks great. jealous.

Mine looked wrinkle free like that prior to the install and got a few wrinkles at the ribs by the perimeter once installed.

Think about the guys who installed those all day every day at the factory!  ::)

I just wanted it one time; didn't want a career. 8.gif

Dan, did you try a heat gun after install? I used a hairdryer as not to overheat it and the after install wrinkles came out.

tsumini, you might be able to do it I just didn't have the patience to keep efing with it long enough or the soft trim experience to know the best way to go about it. I wish I would of watched the guy do it.

My instructions talked about stapling it and using clips on the edges I think. when I got it back there were zero staples or clips all done with glue and/or stitching.  still looks as good today as then so i guess they knew what they were doing.

Quote from: jeff10049 on March 27, 2019, 09:53:35 PM
I gave up and took the frames and fabric to an interior shop it is perfect but they fought it and I paid for it about 225 if I remember but I think it was worth it.
They had a very experienced guy on it for about 4 hrs I think the early ones are just hard to do.

It will shrink some with heat you might need too once it's in as installing the frames may squeeze them slightly and create small wrinkles.

make sure you don't pull the frames out of square at all even 1/8" with the fabric or it will not fit the car without adding massive wrinkles.

No Mini ever left Longbridge with a headliner that good. 

I unglued the front and re-did it. Tried to be more careful. pulling stretching tweaking. Didn't help so just decide to put it in the car the way it was. Not pretty. Tried hairdrier a little. May try it in the car. like jeff I kinda ran out of patience. At least I don't have to tear apart the car to correct it. Installing headliners has to be learned i believe.
Jeff I followed directions staples etc. The second time it ook staples out of one section and tried just glue but that didn't seem to help either. ::shrug::

The headliner is one of those areas I don't mind paying a guy to do it for me..... ::) 50.gif

I had an upholsterer bind the carpet and asked about the leadliner. I brought it in and she showed how she would tighten it up with stitching so I had her do it for $150. Looks 100% better and sytyed that way after install. Top photo after.
So that's a lot better.
Now on to finish carpet door cards and interior. Going to colorado for a month so will have to wait (again)

I had tried installing the sliding windows a while back. LH windows weren't sliding very well and hung up. I installed the channels for the RH door but sandeed down channel surfaces as in photo. That seemd to help and RH windows slide fairly good. I ordered a new set of channels and thy came in a couple days ago. Ripped the old one out. It was mangled from trying to trim while installed. I sanded down the three surfaces of it and installed. Looks like windows will slide ok.
It seems as if thePhoenix trim chsnnels are about .020 to thick on each side so. Maybe the door channels are too narrow. Wondering if early  doors on the '60 had narrower channels. ANyway looks like window install will work.
Next up is builpd up door cards and install hardware. Then install carpet and rst of interior.
Having a liitle trouble getting motivated in the Texas heat compared to Colorado cool but then had altitude problems.

Glad you got that sorted.....I wonder if you might be right about the channels being narrower? My buddy has a Pup (no idea what year) and he put a set in and they fit perfectly.

I hear you about the heat - you need to get some A/C in your shop/garage. Being in Kansas, we deal with the heat and high humidity - I put the biggest window A/C unit in I could find - 18,000 BTU - and it cools it nicely. I couldn't work in my garage without it.....

In a couple of months you'll be driving it, just in time for the cooler (well, relatively) weather.

Quote from: tsumini on August 02, 2019, 07:14:08 PM
I had tried installing the sliding windows a while back. LH windows weren't sliding very well and hung up. I installed the channels for the RH door but sandeed down channel surfaces as in photo. That seemd to help and RH windows slide fairly good. I ordered a new set of channels and thy came in a couple days ago. Ripped the old one out. It was mangled from trying to trim while installed. I sanded down the three surfaces of it and installed. Looks like windows will slide ok.
It seems as if thePhoenix trim chsnnels are about .020 to thick on each side so. Maybe the door channels are too narrow. Wondering if early  doors on the '60 had narrower channels. ANyway looks like window install will work.
Next up is builpd up door cards and install hardware. Then install carpet and rst of interior.
Having a liitle trouble getting motivated in the Texas heat compared to Colorado cool but then had altitude problems.

I don't recall having any trouble on mine is it just the bottom or all around that is giving you trouble? is the glass original?

Jeff,
All glass is original with single holes and '59 date codes except left front was missing so I replaced it with later two hole glass. The new one is no problem. Channels measured about .040 smaller than rubber channels. I believe I could have built a tool to spread the channel but found than trimming down the rubber was easier. I now think maybe the door channels are too narrow.
After hearing the good things about Phoenix trim i was disappointed in seal fits; door and window. Door seals I had to bend the bodywork inward and trim with a knife as the doors wouldn't shut.

So continued to have sliding window channel problems. Had tried to trim "in situ" but succeded only in damaging the channels so got new channels. I rigged up a drum sanding tool to remove about .025 from both sides and bottom and lubed with graphite and installed. Sliding glass now slides easily as one would expect so sliding glass and window catches are done. Now to complete doors with door cards and hardware.

Hopefully completed everything in the back seat area before installing rear screen and side window so I had access through the windows so worked on side window and seal install.
Again ran into issues with the seal. Found that the seal Minimania ALA5897 wasn't large enough to capture and sandwich the C pillar trim no matter how much I pushed and shoved. I was simply too small. 1st photo shows comparison of new one and the one I removed. Obviously the one removed is largeenough to capture the trim.
I asked Phoenix Trim for suggestions and also studied the problem. I noticed the the old one was very similar to the door seal Phoenix Part DX 73 which I had installed on the doors. I pulled one of the door and installed it with the flap inward. See 3rd photo for comparison.
I found that the seal fit perfectly and captured the trim. I then installed the window and found a near perfect fit; closed firmly and snugly. The flap is to the inside. It doesn't look bad and didn't think i could trim it without making it look worse so left it.
I have discussed the problem with Phoenix Trim and suggested a design that would eliminate the flap and add molded side "feathers" at window frame interface. This would make an excellent seal for this app.
Phoenix advised that the seal SRS127 (same as ALA5897) was the only thing available and thought that the seal was different in some export Minis (mine is export model) and had never seen the the one I removed from my car. It was hard and brittle when i removed it so am certain it is original.
I have ordered DX 71 door seal to use (it is the same as DX 73 except ther is a bubble instead of a flap to the inside.

I had problems with mine as well they covered fine inside but the window does not fit down inside them as it should I can mess with it and get it in so I just don't open them.
I'll pot a picture of how the seal surrounds the glass.

My seals were from mini mania and were plenty deep enough to capture the trim they must have changed them since then.

Also, Phonix has two different thickness door seals to help with tight-fitting doors.

I ended up trimming the flap to about 1/8 in. I'll reverse the seal and put the trimmed edge on the outside next to the window frame. This looks acceptable
Mini mania advised that the ALA5897 iss the only seal they provide for this. Phoenix said others have had the same problem and had good succes with DX 88 Doorseal similar to my flap airseal but having a bubble instead of the flap.
I need to replace the doorseal I hacked up so may try the DX 88

AWESOME! A Diamond in the rough!

Got some new seals from Phoenix Trim witth DX 88 (alternate door seal) profile with bubble.  this one was able to enclose the trim cards as noted in previous post. The bubble sealed to the window frame perfectly and window shut with perfectly.

 77.gif I might change mine to that.

  easy peasy. Just open the window, take the old one out and install new.
I could send you part of the surplus piece if you want.

Just  catching up with progress update. Have been pecking away at the to do list. A little most days unless i get distracted  which happens too often.
Decided to try the Phoenix D88 trim fgor the doors and ordered two sets. Un fortunately they were too thin so they didn't work very well. I did find that the required thickness varied a lot from top of door gap to gap at the bottom of door. I just trimmed the flap on the one I had. I can open the door without it being too tight now so will leave it for now.
Actually made quite a bit of progress. The end is getting nearer. I just have posted the done list but will do shortly.

Just wrote down some things I did since dealing with the door seals.
Most was interior work. I had purchased the reproduction cloth that was original to this car. Since newton does not do this fabric I made all the cards and lpocket liners. Fortunately I had som decrepit ol ones for a pattern and were fairly easy to make, cover and install.
Installed the door cable pull. The pull was cracked and checked ( early no ribbed kind) so I encapsulated it with heat shrink tubing.
Installed horn daterd 11 59
Glued dowm carpet pad. Ready fo carpet. Put in one of the las things.
Painted number plate, refurbished the lamp and installed.
Painted air filter box. Just need the Coopers decal.
Installed windscreen wipers. Wiper refill still avalable in 10 inch.
Installed washer nozzles and plumbed to the Wingard hand push pump.
Also worked on the steering column and directional signal. Had som e difficulty fitting the signal stalk shroud. I found out that the ears on the steering outer coulumn were off so the shrouds wouldn't fit. It was the original steering column but the bottom shroud was missing. I got an old shroud from a 1960 Morris mini to replace it. I think it was damaged and didn't know it until I tried to fit it. To correct the fit the tabs have to be bent to fit. Bendin broke one so had to remove the column and weld it up. Relocatint he tabs on nthe collumn is a PITA. Finally got it after several trries the discovered that the top felt bushing was worn out and allowed the steering column to rattle. I've had the column out several times and still have a flasher issue.
Anyway working more diligently lately so should go faster.

I don't think I've ever seen that material before.....interesting.

Progress is always good!

Yeah forgot to mention; Cloth is from 59 Mini Register and expensive. $75 a running meter.

Afew more items checked off.
Tried the arch trim with chrome plastic trim from Phoenix Trim. Firstb try got it over the treaar arch but bending it around the smaller rqadius going forward I crumpled it. Put it in warm water but found near bioling was very wrong and it came outlike a pretzel; all deformed. Ruined half the trim and I had gotten extra but about 4 feet too short of doing both so had to order another 8 feet.
Took a little more care and tried a couple of things. Found out that the coil of trim has a permanent "set" and it has to be unrolled in a specific direction. Starting from the rear it has to be unrolled so the permanent "set" is opposite to the wheel arch. That way when it is unrolled to go around the small radius where the wheel arch blends into the straight sill the permanent "set" will be closer to the small radius. This worked pretty well and didn't take too long. If this makes any sense.
I had installed and secured the gas tank without installing the neck donut so I had to loosen th3ew strap enough to pell the tank out enough to get the donut on which required taking the bolt out. I recalled having difficulty linging up the bolt to start the threads the first time and had the same problem again. After about ten minutes of that i got smarter and looped a tiewrap around the nutplates and cinched it down to align. Ten minutes turne into ten seconds. Worked great.
Installed mustach and grill. Found out slam panel was about 1/4 inch too low so ahd the pry the slam panel up a little. Fortunatley didn't have to move it much. Had to learn how to install the whiskers and ended up breaking one of the clips so had to call minimania and add to a backorder. Nothing worse than paying $10 to ship a 50 cent part.
Fired up the car, hadnt run for a couple months and battery was down so had to jumper it. It started as usual and smoothed out after it warmed out. Up and down the street three or four times the got a rubbing sound like brakes rubbing so pulled it into garage. As i set the parking brake i foud that the lever was about half up. Left Rear rims were warm but not smoking. Right rear not so warm. Took it back out for a spin and noise was gone and not surprisingly had more pep.
So couplke more weeks and should be fairly complete.

Well two weeks later and some progress. Got the trim clip for RH whisker. Little tricky to install. Inside of whisker popped off its clip when outside clip secured. Happened several times so squeezed the end together but squeezed too much so it wouldn't slip over the clip so had to open it up a little. Then outside  didn't want to fit right so had to tweak the contour a little. These are a little tricky to install, can't tweak too much.
Put on new Pedal covers.
Painted start switch cup.
Installed dash cam with rear camera. It would  have been easier to have installed the wiring with the loom so had to tuck the wiring under headliner frame.

Look how far you've come! You're in the home stretch now, won't be long till you're going to shows and on drives with it!   77.gif

Yeah my punch list is about 15 items. Bonne install probably the hardest. Saving that till last so I save my head from bonnet dings.

Once you start driving it the punch list will grow again if my experience counts for anything!

I noticed in the photos that at least a couple of your wheels are the rivitted kind.  THOSE ARE DANGEROUS!  Do not attempt to use them to drive on.  For those who don't already know, when they first built the Mini they made the wheels out of 50 thou steel and rivitted them together.  After they had been on the road for a short time they started experiencing cracks throughout the wheels.  Several folks have had wheels break apart on them (including me at 50 mph) and trust me, it is not a fun experience.  Once the BMC people recognized the problem they increased the thickness to 120 thou and welded them together.  So, the rivitted wheels are worth keeping if you want to restore an early car to original specs and show it, but whatever you do, do not drive on those wheels.

Hmmm... Backtracked to find the photos. Found on page 1. Photo below is reposted here.
I'm am aware of the riveted wheel problems. The four wheels in the foreground came with the 1960 Morris parts car I bought. The ancient tires are NFG and won't even hold air. They may make good show wheels. The others are wheels I got somewhere but found that one was cracked three places so scrapped it. (I wasn't a good enough welder and the right welder to weld repair the cracks. I have four new tires mounted on the four good bare rims in the photo. I'm looking for another wheel to mount my spar tire.)  I may use a riveted wheel for it.
Anyway thanks for the headsup but was aware.

Got the bonnet installed. Now I'll have to watch my head. Unfortunately got thr paint chipped while adjausting. Tried to move the bonnet back a little and moved it too much and didn't see the interference untill too late after I raised the bonnet. Just a bad spot.
2nd pic of front end.
Left to do.
Steering wheel and horn
Install carpet
Install front seats
Battery cover
Air filter decal
Find some seatbelts.
Alignment?

Not sure about bumpers.
Original bumpers are the long bumpers but not very good condition. Need repair and re-plate. May just buy some new ones.

Insstalled steering wheel and horn
Installed carpet
Installed battery cover
Installed air filter with decal
Install front seats. Discovered that the upholstere put in some extra foam in the seat so it sits higher. I'm 6'2" so can't afford the loss of head room. Realized i was in midrange of seat adjustment then adjusted full back and was better but still pretty tight.

So mostly done. will have to order seatbelts and look at bumpers.
Then mostly touchup paint and cleanup.
Oh and test drive for a while.

"Oh and test drive for a while."

The best part!   77.gif

Fired up the carand while warming up it sputtered slowed and stumbled and the stopped running. It wanted to run but couldn't seem to accelerate. Kinda seemed like fuel starvation. Rapped on the fuel bowl and retried. Ran a little then died again.
I spent a week in Florida with inlaws so left it and didn't get back until Sat. the 4th.
Hoped it wasn't fuel pump as I replaced all seals and set the points and tested before installing. Also installed new needle and seat but not the float so pulled cover and checked float. It seemed to be OK but no way of telling if it was sticking. Since I didn't have anew one I set the float per the manual and retried. Long story short. Spent past two days removing and re-installing float cover with no success. I did't have a pressure gage that would see 3 psi so couldn't check fuel pressure although it clicked as usual then stopped as usual. Seemed like plenty of fuel when I disconnected it and ran it into a bowl.
Decided to check it with gravity feed and ran with about 2 ft of head pressure on life support . Made sure the IV (Paint sprayer tank) was full then fired it up. It ran like a champ until it drained the tank so figgered I had a bad fuel  pump. Filled up the IV tank a couple of more times then it stareted doing the same thing. Tried to run but couldn't quite then died. Tried again after a couple of minutes, stuggled for a little bit then roared to life. I think the float is sticking somewhere so went inside and ordered a float and new needle.
I also ordered a 12V inline fuel pump to try before getting the float. Fuel pump from Amazon and float from Minimania so pump will get here first. I think a new float should do it but haven't ruled out the pump. Hate the thought of changing the FP.
Any other ideas?

Partially blocked fuel filter or line?

In lieu of glamor shots but thought I'd throw these up to show current shape.
Forgot to put on wheel covers. I have the small  Basic covers in reasonable condition. Also have a set of the deluxe square hole covers in not so great condition.
Bumpers were being worked on.

Quote from: MiniDave on January 07, 2020, 10:18:41 PM
Partially blocked fuel filter or line?

Don't think so. Pump when running will produce a good stream of fuel into a container. As I wrote, I don't have a gage low enough to check pressure which I understand should be about 2-3 psi. New filter; changed to a large one prior.
There was a few times with the pump running the engine ran fine; accelerated normally but then slowly died. Just as I would suspect a stuck float to act when the bowl empties.

blocked intake in tank?   
fuel filter in line blocking up from crud?

Just a recent experience of my own
    _ Bugeye i worked to put back on the road = new pump + lines and filter..    car would go go go just fine for the first 6 Minuets..     then fall on its face like no fuel..
    Fuel filter up by carb turns out was full of mud...after sitting the mud would settle and car would run ok .. but after running the mud would push up to the outlet and block fuel in the filter media.

Fuel tank needed washing...

Done and fixed. Happy little Bugeye.

Sorry if I missed it but if those are early wheels do not drive on them. The material is to thin and they were prone to failure. I had some we welded plates into back in the 60s. That was after a complete failure of right rear in a very rare round about in Norfolk Va. When that rim and tire departed almost flipped her. Steve (CTR)

Quote from: tsumini on January 07, 2020, 10:51:50 PM

Quote from: MiniDave on January 07, 2020, 10:18:41 PM
Partially blocked fuel filter or line?

Don't think so. Pump when running will produce a good stream of fuel into a container. As I wrote, I don't have a gage low enough to check pressure which I understand should be about 2-3 psi. New filter; changed to a large one prior.
There was a few times with the pump running the engine ran fine; accelerated normally but then slowly died. Just as I would suspect a stuck float to act when the bowl empties.

Breather hole on the float lid blocked? If so it creates a vacuum after running for a short time.
When it dies is there any fuel left in the bowl?

Good call!

Quote from: CooperTune on January 08, 2020, 11:06:32 AM
Sorry if I missed it but if those are early wheels do not drive on them. The material is to thin and they were prone to failure. I had some we welded plates into back in the 60s. That was after a complete failure of right rear in a very rare round about in Norfolk Va. When that rim and tire departed almost flipped her. Steve (CTR)

Yes i'm aware of the riveted wheel problem. Please re-read Reply #223 on: December 12, 2019, 10:16:01 PM previous page.

Quote from: Jimini II on January 08, 2020, 01:20:28 PM

Quote from: tsumini on January 07, 2020, 10:51:50 PM

Quote from: MiniDave on January 07, 2020, 10:18:41 PM
Partially blocked fuel filter or line?

Don't think so. Pump when running will produce a good stream of fuel into a container. As I wrote, I don't have a gage low enough to check pressure which I understand should be about 2-3 psi. New filter; changed to a large one prior.
There was a few times with the pump running the engine ran fine; accelerated normally but then slowly died. Just as I would suspect a stuck float to act when the bowl empties.

Breather hole on the float lid blocked? If so it creates a vacuum after running for a short time.
When it dies is there any fuel left in the bowl?

Nope, checked the hole and it was clear.

Quote from: jedduh01 on January 08, 2020, 07:10:03 AM
blocked intake in tank?   
fuel filter in line blocking up from crud?

Just a recent experience of my own
    _ Bugeye i worked to put back on the road = new pump + lines and filter..    car would go go go just fine for the first 6 Minuets..     then fall on its face like no fuel..
    Fuel filter up by carb turns out was full of mud...after sitting the mud would settle and car would run ok .. but after running the mud would push up to the outlet and block fuel in the filter media.

Fuel tank needed washing...

Done and fixed. Happy little Bugeye.

Have not completely eliminated possibility of a problem before fuel filter but wanted to make sure it was there before tackling fuel pump  tank etc. Still hinking float will  fix it. Just put on a new inline filter.  Discharge into a bottle after the filter shows plenty of volume just not sure pressure is sufficient. Haven't invested in a 0-10 psi gage yet.

I'lve been mulling the bumper situation. I could get two new bumpers for a price but the car had the original "long" bumpers but are not in the best condition. Long bumpers are rather rare and were only available for a short time in early 1960.  There were a few dents and the front one was bent. I wasn't sure it was going to be worth repairing and rechroming but gave it a try. It is made with .050 sheet metal and chrome plated. I hammered out the dents, welded in some new sections. It won't be perfect but will be a little wavy and have a few flaws so wondering if saving a long bumper makes sense.
With the rough repair and initial profile shaping done on the belt sander I sprayed them with aluminum paint to get an idea what they would look like say 10 feet/10 mph. Not sure of chrome plating cost though.
Opinions?

I know Chrome plating is expensive now - when I was growing up we had several bumper shops in town where you could get yours replaced, or fixed and re-chromed - those are as long gone as the cars that wore them.

That's probably why all the new ones are polished stainless steel now.

Maybe try some of that new chrome spray paint - it sure looks great in the You Tube vids I've seen of it.

Your repair work looks pretty damn good to me!

Bumper repair looks good just send them to d and r chrome in CA.

Quote from: tsumini on January 08, 2020, 10:35:56 PM
I'lve been mulling the bumper situation. I could get two new bumpers for a price but the car had the original "long" bumpers but are not in the best condition. Long bumpers are rather rare and were only available for a short time in early 1960.  There were a few dents and the front one was bent. I wasn't sure it was going to be worth repairing and rechroming but gave it a try. It is made with .050 sheet metal and chrome plated. I hammered out the dents, welded in some new sections. It won't be perfect but will be a little wavy and have a few flaws so wondering if saving a long bumper makes sense.
With the rough repair and initial profile shaping done on the belt sander I sprayed them with aluminum paint to get an idea what they would look like say 10 feet/10 mph. Not sure of chrome plating cost though.
Opinions?

Nice work.
What are your thoughts of welding the longer earlier ends onto new stock bumpers, apart from three studs mounting them as opposed to the earlier five stud mounting they should look the same.

Thought about welding the ends on a new bumper but would have to re-chrome it on top of the cost of new seemed impractical. I would just go with the new one.

It is tough to know what to do and when to stop when doing a restoration, a lot depends on how original you want it to look or be.
At least with a bumper problem you always have the option of installing what you have or new ones now and addressing the correct length ones at a later date without having to dismantle a lot of stuff to get to them.

I don't have a problem with a flawed bumper. It would be original to the car. Most parts on this car are 60 years old and show their age and flaws from environment so a few new parts don't add a lot of value. You're right, their's some options. I may find some of the chrome paint Dave suggested and see how that goes. I haven't pricede re-chrominging but expect it to be more than new part.

Re chroming around here when you can find someone to do it would likely cost at least twice as much as a new bumper.
Another source may be to chrome wrap it. It seems a lot of owners of various cars are carbon wrapping bumpers etc so I am sure chrome wrap is a possibility.

D and R will also heavy copper plate and use the copper like a filler to further smooth out any imperfections they will look really nice send them photos and let them know they are small and they can quote it for you.
https://www.dandrchrome.com/

I did not have bumpers with my car so it just has new stainless they look fine but maybe someday If I come across a set of long ones I'll fix them up an install.
If you buy new stainless ones watch out they'll cut the shit outta you sharp as a razor on the back edge. File them down before install.

Thanks for the tips Jeff. I was wondering about filler for flaws. I found that my welding leaves some surface inclusions that would show in chrome plating so have reservations there. I'll give d and r a call.

So I got the electric fuel pump and hooked it up drawing from the gravity feed with the old float since I hadn't gotten the new one. Ran pretty good for a while then stumbled and repeated the same trouble so figgered the problem was either the float or the carb itself. pretty sure it's low fuel flow since it dies immediately when the fuel in the gravity tank runs out.

Then today I received the float from MM (GSU200).  I installed it on the float with the pin and discovered there was a problem with the way it fit.
Referring to the 2nd photo, the top two photos compare the old float (Left) vs the new. The new one doesn't allow any movement of the needle and basical locks it closed. It would require severe "bend to fit" to work like the old one.
I installed the old one againg beding the pivot slightly to tighten it up for less slop. Ran it again and no change.
Bottom of photo shows float levers and pivot (red circles). Notice that the old one has its lever about 1/8 inch offset compared to the new one.  I fear I have gotten the wrong float but researching available floats it is not obvious which float to get. The Cover is AUC 8452.
Beginning to think the problem may be in the carb itself. So I removed the Dashpot to inspect. It seemed to move without hangups and seemed to be ok. I had installed a new jet tube earlier due to a leak at the fuel bowl. I blew air back thru the jet tube to the fuel bowl and blew back thru the cover vent so it was clear.
So what I thought to be a relatively easy solution has returned like bad breath.
Anyone know the skinny on the float and cover fit?

That is the wrong float for your float lid.
Get in touch with Joe Curto in New York he has the right part and is very knowledgeable regarding SU's.
I am not sure the float is the problem though.
Have you tried running the car with the float lid removed and just topping the float bowl off to see how long it runs?

Yeah, the only time I've seen a float cause trouble is when it fills with gas and sinks, flooding the engine. You can tell by holding it near your ear and shaking it - you'll hear the liquid if it's in there.

I wonder if it's just the needle - the ones with the rubber tips sometimes react to ethanol fuel and swell up - sticking closed usually.

I think you meant Joe Curto, he has been very helpful.

http://joecurto.com/ (http://joecurto.com/)

Quote from: Jimini II on January 12, 2020, 09:11:57 AM
That is the wrong float for your float lid.
Get in touch with Joe Virgo in New York he has the right part and is very knowledgeable regarding SU's.
I am not sure the float is the problem though.
Have you tried running the car with the float lid removed and just topping the float bowl off to see how long it runs?

Just ran without float; have to coax it to start full choke pump accel pedal. Dies when it goes down to idle.
Looks like resetting the carb.
Yeah float looks wrong.

looks like i need to re-set carb. Check timing etc. Start all over again. Fuel supply ok.

Yes I did mean Joe Curto stupid spell check on this tablet.
I would remove the jet and see if it is kinked or the o ring is damaged or distorted due to ethanol.

Quote from: Jimini II on January 12, 2020, 01:22:18 PM
Yes I did mean Joe Curto stupid spell check on this tablet.
I would remove the jet and see if it is kinked or the o ring is damaged or distorted due to ethanol.

Oh that's a thing?  I hadn't heard that.  I will need to check my carb. 

Quote from: tmsmini on January 12, 2020, 11:17:54 AM
I think you meant Joe Curto, he has been very helpful.

http://joecurto.com/ (http://joecurto.com/)

Just watched his video on covers. Confirmed I got the wrong float. Again I think the float i have is OK . The carb itself is the problem.

The SU is simple in design of you have fuel pressure only the jet, bottom of the float bowl or the needle and seat can stop the flow.
When you replaced the jet did you get the old o ring out as they usually get stuck in the float bowl.
Also did you center the jet? Sometimes it is not necessary if it is centered correctly you can lift the piston and when it drops it should hit the bridge with a nice clunk sound.
Sorry if some of this is repeated.

Thought I had mentioned it before but see that I haven't. I suspected the jet tube may be off so I removed the dashpot housing and cleaned it with carb cleanre. It dropped into the jet tube and showed no signs of being off center. I also blew air back into the bowl and showed the jet tube to be clear. I had rerplaced the jet tube earlier due to a leak at the bowl connector(bad gasket).
I cvould get it started but had to pump the accelerator furiously to get it to run. Then it would sputter a while die when it went back to idle.

Well after several days of checking this and that I decided to take the carb off and see if there was anything wrong. Couldn't reealy find anything that would affect fuel delivery. I found the choke return spring mis-installed. It didn't return the choke lever all the way back.
Jet tube was free to move. Piston was free. I expected maybe to see the throttle shaft worn but .010 total play in the shaft didn't seem enough to affect operation. I ran it later and moved the shaft  back and forth with no change in operation.
Re-installed the carb and didn't see any improvement. I did note that the SU FP stopped running when it was stalling. I thought it should keep running   since the engin exhibited fuel starvation symptoms. So I hooked up the new electric Fuel pump drawing from a tank sitting on the floor. The car ran muck better and started  cold much better.
I decided to install the new FP. While removing it I found that one hose was bent 90 degrees without aaan elbow effectively interfering with the flow. By this time I was committed to the new FP rather than correct the old FP installation. Comleted the install and took a spin. It started cold fine with little choke. It runs well even cold and better at operating temp although i noticed a couple of stumbles where the high idle stumble briefly back to sub idle.
https://youtu.be/2JMvkaTKNRQ (https://youtu.be/2JMvkaTKNRQ)

A few photos of the project.

Wow! This car is fantastic!

Look how far you've come with it, for a while there I wasn't sure you'd finish it, but I bet you're glad now that you stuck with it.

Now to get some miles on it so you can join us in San Antonio for our Texas run in late April.

Looks great.
Since you did a gravity test and the results were similar I would not have guessed a fuel pump or kinked line, glad you have it somewhat sorted.
If you have not already done so remember to set and check everything else before setting the carb up, points, spark plugs, vacuum advance, distributor advance weights and springs, valve clearances, timing, maximum timing advance, then set the carburetor.

Also regarding the bumpers can you tell me the length of the longer early ones as I may have access to a decent early one on an early 62 Mini, not sure if they went to the later shorter ones by then.

Nice car!  I love the very early seat cover material - I've seen an ancient Mini seat beat the hell with that unusual material (a seat with the little 'feet' at the back rather than the bent tubing).  But your seats look fantastic.

Quote from: MiniDave on January 20, 2020, 09:35:24 AM
Wow! This car is fantastic!

Look how far you've come with it, for a while there I wasn't sure you'd finish it, but I bet you're glad now that you stuck with it.

Now to get some miles on it so you can join us in San Antonio for our Texas run in late April.

Thanks for the kind words. It was a struggle staying motivated but got down to it the last couple months. It will certtainly be the last. The old bones wont take much more especially crawling under the car to change a FP. At least my last house had a lift. I'll work on April. Hope I can get the stumble out by then.

Quote from: BruceK on January 20, 2020, 04:47:21 PM
Nice car!  I love the very early seat cover material - I've seen an ancient Mini seat beat the hell with that unusual material (a seat with the little 'feet' at the back rather than the bent tubing).  But your seats look fantastic.

Thanks for the kind words. It is much appreciated.
The seat material is a reproducction of the original material and sold by 1959 Register. It was original to this car (Basic Model) so opted for this. Overall the upholster did a good job on the seats but was a little disappointed in the back Seat back. He didn't make it wide enough and I had bought the original cover to him but couldn't bring the car. But it turned out OK I made the door cards and fillets and rear panel cards.
i look at it now and think the pattern is rather overwhelming  and should have been  moditied. I think it would look great as an insert such as jeff10049 did on his 60 interior. In fact I may have some extra pieces that could work but don't know if there's enough.

Quote from: Jimini II on January 20, 2020, 10:14:13 AM
Looks great.
Since you did a gravity test and the results were similar I would not have guessed a fuel pump or kinked line, glad you have it somewhat sorted.
If you have not already done so remember to set and check everything else before setting the carb up, points, spark plugs, vacuum advance, distributor advance weights and springs, valve clearances, timing, maximum timing advance, then set the carburetor.

Also regarding the bumpers can you tell me the length of the longer early ones as I may have access to a decent early one on an early 62 Mini, not sure if they went to the later shorter ones by then.

Thanks, I think the car is running much better although It stumbles at idle for no apparent reason almost like a momentary glitch is fuel. I may crawl into my trailer and retreive a carb from the 60 Morris and see if that helps.
The long bumpers were designated "long' because they extended back a little. It would be difficult to measure the length. I think they were only about an inch longer and was difficult to identify.  The 59 Registry shows the difference. It also says that they were installed only until April 1960 so this January 60 has the orignal bumpers.I verified long with Bill Bell back in 2016. I have parts of a July 1960 Morris and it had the third bumper in the photo and is a "short" bumper and also with five mount holes. Notice that the bolt holes are square holes as opposed to the slots in the long bumper. The lip with the holes is slightly wider also.
I've also attached a photo of three together.  I exchanged emails and photos with a guy from Canada that had an NOS long bumper that we compared to mine. Regarding your lead on a bumper; a picture of the end should tell if it's long or short.
Thanks again for your help.

Nice  4.gif. My back seat came out a little too wide I guess they really need the car to get it perfect.

Quote from: tsumini on January 11, 2020, 08:12:16 PM
Thanks for the tips Jeff. I was wondering about filler for flaws. I found that my welding leaves some surface inclusions that would show in chrome plating so have reservations there. I'll give d and r a call.

Called D & R this PM. You're right is expensive $250 just to rechrome. each. I asked about filler for weld repair. They said they would have to do the weld themselves so that would be extra to re-do after they looked at them. Transportation to and from adds.
So this ain't happening. Probably leave them for next owner.

I may try this.

I have a cosmichrome set up we use for interior parts and to redo chromed plastic it's ok. The bumpers will need to be absolutely flawless. But you just use reglaur fillers and primers for this.   Sand to 800-1000  then apply the silver you will want to clear coat it on bumpers. Any chips through the clear will oxidize the silver under it so you may want to put the clear rock chip film on the front bumper.

Absolutely clean spray area as well any dirt shows bad maybe make a temporary bumper sized booth out of an old box or something.

It will work and look good but it won't be as easy or durable or shiny as any of the spray chrome places make it sound.

I would give it a try they can still always be chromed later on you got through painting the car you can do this.

I bought this car as a project from my brother who has acquired it years ealier without title, bill of sale only.
S last week I did the necessary paperwork and inspections to get a Bonded Title. Everything came together and I now have a bonded title and registered and insured so I can legally drive it on public roads. It was rather painless ( need to cross your i's and dot your tees) until the final hurdle which was paying for the tiels which maens sales tax. Wasn't sure what it would be based on original cost to me or ??.
Found out it was the value of the bond which was $6000. oops.
To get a Texas Bonded title you must have car valued except that for a car over 25 years old the DMV assigns a value. The minimum acceptable value is $4000 but the value of the bond has to be  1.5 times assigned car value ($6000). With tax, bond and insurance it approached $750.
Well it's done now.

So is a bonded title a sort of non-permanent thing?  Meaning if the bonded title is not challenged by anybody over some period of time it reverts to a normal title? 

Quote from: BruceK on March 08, 2020, 07:14:42 AM
So is a bonded title a sort of non-permanent thing?  Meaning if the bonded title is not challenged by anybody over some period of time it reverts to a normal title?

Yes, good for three years at which time the owner can apply for a regular title with no encumbrances. It stays with the car meaning that the bond is transferred any owner of the car within the three year period so the car is saleable without the new owner re-applying for a bonded title.

Thanks for the explanation

So after fighting an engine issue off and on since January I finally identified and fixed the problem.
The problem? apparently a flaky erratic ignition condenser.

Re-capping: previous posts detail some of the engine run problems encountered; changed fuel pump, replaced kinked fuel line,cleared fuel line, gravity fed carb, changed carburator without improvement.

I was able to run the engine but was hard to start. It showed evidence of fuel problem but couldn't determine if ssupply or caarburation problem. It was run with a timing light which occasionally indicated misfires and would stop flashing when it stumbled and quit. Wasn't sure this was a sparking problem or coli problem.
I checked and adjusted the points (.020 adjusted back to .016) Contacts and condenser had been installed new with not more than five hours run time).  I installed a new 12V coil and saw some improvement but it still stumbled after a few minutes.Took the ignition resistor out even though coli said to use a resistor. all this without nay imporovement. Adjusted the mxture so many times i wasn't sure where it was. Couldn't get it to run long enough to set right. Wasn't sure that I wasn't flooding the engine.
All this and exhibited the same erratic run, start. When it wiould run it would run like a banshee, so WOT ran great but idle was a nightmare.

Last few days I redid all the things I changed; re-installed the SU fuel pump- no change hard to start, stumbled then quit. Ran with gravity feed- no change; stumble then quit. Changed the carb back to the original carb. No change. Back to original parts except new coil. Hard to start, rough runnning, misfiring.
Then got to thinking the only thing i haven't changed are the points and condenser. I was going to change them but needed to order and continued troubleshooting. Seemed that was the only thing left and ignition was suspect anyway.
I wondered about the condenser so I googled symptoms of a bad condenser. At that time I presumed the the engine simply would not start or run. Surprisingly there was info that a condesnser going bad will exhibit hard to start, rough running, misfiring. I realized this described my engine's symptoms to a tee.
Since i hadn't ordered a set of points I didn't have a condenser so I dug around my old parts bin and found an old distributer with a old Lucas condenser. Installed the condenser and strated the engine. I think it was flooded as it sttered around the ran. Blew the cobwbs out WOT and it stated to run like sewing machine. tweaked the mixture, checked the timing ran till running temp reached without a hitch. Shut it down and restarted without any problems.
And Bob's your uncle.

My first experience with a bad condenser.
Now to clean the yellow pollen off. Its in the garage. How does that stuff get in? Duh Open garage door.

Success! Lots of good old mechanical detective work there. 

So much different from just plugging in a scanner and reading the codes.  ;D

And that's why I convert every engine I work on to pointless ignition. I've only had one failure, and it was over 20 years old and easy to diagnose......no spark. Changed it out, runs perfectly again.

Glad you found your demon too - but if you want to make sure it doesn't happen ever again, switch to a Pertronix or the like.

Quote from: MiniDave on March 27, 2020, 08:13:07 AM
And that's why I convert every engine I work on to pointless ignition. I've only had one failure, and it was over 20 years old and easy to diagnose......no spark. Changed it out, runs perfectly again.

Glad you found your demon too - but if you want to make sure it doesn't happen ever again, switch to a Pertronix or the like.

No spark is what I expected of a condenser failure mode, not a "99.9% of the time it works." mode.
Couldn't seem to figger out if it was ignition or fuel problem but  the next step was pointless. ;D

 :D

Electronic distributors for the Mini are dirt cheap.  A complete distributor unit under $75 last time I looked - including a cap.   Probably even cheaper now.

i spent today installing a Pertronix LU142 electronic ignition. What looked like a 15 minute job turned into 5 plus hours. and still doesn't even start. It was running fine with the points but hard to start.  Anyway the screws supplied seemed to be the wrong thread size so fiddled around with those until I found they were just ahrd to start. Turned out ok but the rubber grommet where the wires go thru didn't seem to fit either so looked a a spare dizzy i had and found out that the plate underneath the mounting plate should have been removed and the metal forks  the points mount to, should have been cut off. Since I already had the unit mounted I trimmed the rubber grommet to fit. Since the coil said to use a resistor I wired it per instructions. As usual no start no spark nada. Checked wiring nothing. rewired without the resistor. Still nothing. Not even a sputter. Don't have a remote start button so it was difficult to check for spark but don't think even the coil is sparking.
Gave up for the night so may bring in my helper to check for spark somewhere tomorrow.
Not sure how this thing works so checking the coil for charge may be the only thing.
Anybody have any troubleshooting ideas?
Looks like I'm going back to points. It did run well when hot but hard cold start.

A few things - I have gotten a bad one of these - they either work or they don't.

Next make damn sure you hooked it up right - red wire to coil + and black wire to coil - if you did it wrong, it will fry the unit instantly.

Do you have 12V to the coil? I've not heard of adding a resistor to the coil + before on one of these, but it will not work if it doesn't have 12V to the coil - if you have a ballasted primary wire it won't get the right voltage. To check you can run a jumper from the starter hot lug to the coil and then see if it goes.

Lastly, I've had two Minis that start exactly the same way - they never start cold if I just crank them, but if I give it a 3 second crank, then off, then crank again they always seem to start easily on the second crank. No idea why, but that seems to be how it works. When warm they start normally.....

If its an Ignitor I it will burn out if you leave it on for more than a minute or 2 without turning the motor over.

Easy to fry those as stated. 

So I got out studied Troubleshooting guides. All wires checked for proper install. All resistance and voltage checked Ok. Petronix specified that the igniter gap should be .030. Checked and it was about .075. That could make a difference. The igniter is mounted on two posts with no adjustment either in the ignitor mount or in the plate. So I took out the dremel and elongated both igniter mount holes enough to get .030 gap. Didn't have any other TS to do so buttoned it back up.
Fired right up! better start than with the points. Points needed a strong battery to wind it up but the battery I have tends to fade real fast.
Warmed it up and it runs a lot better. No random missing. It started to rain so will put off shake down until later. I may check valve clearance when running as one valve is noisy.
If I take the valve cover off will oil spray everywhere or can I quickly check clearances before oil gets everywhere?
Somewhat annoyed at Petronix for the hacks needed to install the system. It was made out to be  a fifteen minute job as a bolt in. No mention of a minimum gap until troubleshooting.
I may even put one in my tractor now.

You wouldn't think it would be such a pain in the butt!  I've always just bought a whole new unit and sounds like I'll continue to do so.

By whole new unit you mean distributor all built up right? You're probably right the dizzy I have I think has a few miles. Would have saved some hours.

Yeah a whole dizzy with the electric guts.  Spares has some affordable options all the way up to something more advanced like the csi unit I run with programmable curves.

Quote from: 94touring on May 24, 2020, 12:50:23 PM
Easy to fry those as stated.

The original petronix systems had that issue but the later Petronix II is supposed to have resolved that issue.

A few years back there were a lot of bad condensers and on a Mini run i had one fail even installing another new one it still had issues.
I stopped at a parts store in a small town and having no luck finding the correct condenser i bought one for a 1960s Chevy 6 cylinder. It was too large to install inside the distributor so i attached it to the vacuum advance mounting screw on the outside and it ran better than ever.
I converted to electronic ignition but always carry a set of points and condenser or a complete distributor.

I've been running the car for 5 or 6 miles a day and runs cool but i seemed to have to add watter more than I would expect so I ran the overboard vent into a water bottle instead of overboard. I thought I saw some bubbles aroiund the tank to core joint so figgerd it was leaking so pulled it and found a radiatoe shop about 40 miles distant. He pressured it and found a huge leak around the filler neck. He re-soldered it in 30 minutes for a twenty. It was areely good '62 brass rad so was happy to see it repairable. The neck had apparently been squashed at one time so apparently broke the solder. It doesn't look the best but a little cleanup and paint will make it presentable.
Can't believe I didn't leak check it before I installed it. I usually leak check every thing I can but...

I have a spare tire but the rim has cracks in all four bolt holes. it could be welde but I'm not a good enough welder to do it. it also needs to be fixtured to prevent distortion while welding so it will run true. I haven't yet investigated weld repair locally. I had kinda thought i would find a used one around.
So does anyone have a spare wheel 10" 3.5 PN 21A881 that needs a home?
Thoughts on weld repair? 

I would not weld it, even for a spare.....there are bound to be some steel wheels around.

Looks like MiniSpares sells new ones.....  http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Wheels/Wheels/21A1282.aspx?2003&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/steel%20wheel.aspx|Back%20to%20search (http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Wheels/Wheels/21A1282.aspx?2003&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/steel%20wheel.aspx%7CBack%20to%20search)

Let me check the extra I have for which style and I will get back to you later today.

Here are some pictures of the spare 10" wheel I have.  I checked the lug nut pads on both sides and they are solid.  It is also one of the welded wheels, so no worries about being an early riveted wheel.

Let me know if you are interested.  I would consider $10 or $15 plus shipping.

Edit: Shipping would be from 78232 zip code.

The wheel looks great. i'll do the $15 and shipping. If it's more convenient I have a nephew in San Antonio around Randolph AFB area that you could drop it off.  i'll leave it up to you. Unless shipping is outrageous.
USPS estimate $11.30 for Priority 3 day 12x12x6 box 5 lb to 75757 so shipping charges OK
Thanks much appreciated.

I already have a box for it that just holds the wheel, so about that sizing.  I will box it and get it in the mail to you.

Send me your address in a private message through the forum.

tsumini indicated: ..."I may check valve clearance when running as one valve is noisy.
If I take the valve cover off will oil spray everywhere or can I quickly check clearances before oil gets everywhere?"...

You do not check or adjust rocker clearances with the engine running, so oil spraying will not be an issue. You need to check them with the engine off and set them to the desired clearances when cold.

Yes that's what book says, just wondering... my brother does chevies and they are set with the engine running. Gets a little messy.
The noise was the dizzy rotor had too much up/down travel so lobed shaft clattered up and down when running. Needed a spacer under the screw that secures the lobed shaft to the dizzy drive shaft. Fixed the clatter.
Thanks for th input.

Got mikes tire mounted on  the wheel. Took it downtown Tyler where I had done a set of four wwhich the guys then mounted and bakanced in about twenty minutes for twenty bucks,  Here the kid comes out and says ten dollars. Him and another guy spent about twenty minutes wrestling it on first by trying to pull it on by hand. Finally put it on the machine and somehow managed to get it on with a little damage to the rim. Then wanted  five dollars for a new stem. 50.gif.
But it's now in my boot. Also need to get a spare tire retainer. Any one have one to spare?

Had the head off which neede the throttle disconnected. While re-connecting the throttle cable I noticed one of the strands was loose so I snpped it back so it wouldn't stick me. After it was secured onto the throttle arm it seemed to be hanging up and wouldn't move back and forth as normal. I soon discovered that the strand had detached at the pedal and had ggotten wound around the cable fouling the pedal action. So I withdrew the cable from the sheth rdetached it from the pedal. I didn'tt have a spare cable so tried to make do with whaat I had.
So I unwound the single strand without disturbing the other strands and clipped it off at the pedal. 1st pic is the single strand. Didn't think to photo it twisted. Thinking it wasn't very stable and subject to unwinding I soldered the end at the throttle arm. I got it back together again but had to remove the sheath and poke the cable back thru. I used solder flux to solder the cable but it was not really easy to get enough solder in without leaving blobs. I was able to to that eventual by sanding off some blobs.
Video shows throtttle cable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOOqf7OHYvg&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOOqf7OHYvg&feature=youtu.be)

I thought that the solder flux wasn't getting it so later I took a piece of cable and dipped the end in full strength muriatic acid for a second then with a soldering iron melted solder onto the caable end and it flowed right into the cable strands without leaving blobs.  I recall someone on a thread somewhere having difficuly finishing cable ends, FWIW

So I got the gasket (ordered 6-3 received 6/22 due backorder)  installed head, Gasket compressed without any problems. Checked compression at 117 117 115 and 122 and was happy about that. Then  fired it up. It didn't start very well and idled with no accel. Had to adjust richness quite a bit and  timing a little and started running pretty well I thought. Ran it to test acceleration and was happy it came close to matching spec (time to 10 mph increments).  1st pic is screen shot of  excel sheet with accel data. Fell off a lttle at the top end but was a helluva lot better than B4Valve job.
Engine runs 100% better and sounds better too. Starts cold with a shade of choke; no stumnbling as before. It's seat of the pants tuned so maybe needs a little more tweaking but satisfied now.
Video where I got the accel data from (speedo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUthVSBhVGo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUthVSBhVGo)
Really the first time I've driven  the mini and it is a fun car to drive. Couldn't help but compare it with the 50 60's cars I learned on. The handling is so much better than the 60s tanks and boats.

Success!

Well done...... 77.gif

Thanks Hopefully it will stay together.

It sounded good -

Quote from: John Gervais on June 29, 2020, 07:05:31 PM
It sounded good -

Yeah I like the engine tone.

Wow, that ran really well! Is straight up on the speedo 50 mph?

No straight up is 45. 50 is the mark to the right. Video is little difficult to see. Yeah compression improvement and Pertronix was good medicine. Pertronix was definitely a better spark. It actually does 70 in 39 sec where the spec is 44. Not bad for a tractor engine.

Well, it looked like it drove really well, congrats on getting it on the road again - it's been a long haul for you but the results are terrific!

You'll have to join us on our next get together!

Yeah I'm beginning to trust it now. Earlier I didn't trust it further than I could throw it. Longer trips may be a possibility.

Yeah, short trips are the order of the day for the first 500 miles. Once you get there, change the oil and filter, retorque the head and set the valve clearances and if you've had no issues - go for it!

My '60 Austin Resto Recap
Posted the following to my FaceBook account and received a lot of positive response.

My 1960 Austin 850 Saloon
Body number 010xxx (slam panel)
Build date January 20,1960 One of the first Mini's imported and sold initially in California as a North America Import and badged as an Austin 850
History
Purchased in 2012 from my brother who had acquired from near Canon City Colorado Dry climate preserved the metal but wasn't kind to the to sun expose areas, It had languished in a weed field since mid '70s. It was missing the engine and most of the interior. The drivers side front window was broken which allowed rain into floor causing localized rust damage. Minimal rust allowed soda blast paint removal. The rear window seal had also shrunk and allowed water into boot causing localized pitting in spare tire area. Both areas were repa ired during restoration. Original straight gearshaft was retained. Other than the rust noted it is pretty much rust free
Other missing parts: fuel tank, fuel pump, rear tail lights, seats, Drivers side front window broken and window catch missing.
Most of the interior was missing except rear seat which had original cloth covered in vinyl .
Reproduction cloth from 59 Register was used to upholster to Basic spec.
All brightwork is original except new headlamp rim ring. Both bumpers are the early "long" bumpers but are only fair condition.
Windows: new windscreen, all sliding windows are original single hole dated 4th qtr 1959 with single hole catch; except drivers side front is two hole. Rear quarter windows and rear window are date 1959.
Replacement fuel tank and SU fuel pump are period correct replacements. Fuel gage sending unit is period correct 6 hole type.
Engine is ca. 1962 850 with magic wand gearshaft. It was rebuilt for this project and runs excellent.
Speedometer was damaged after removal and replaced with a silver faced speedo.
No drip rail, early smooth door pull
Original Heater
Front axles are 18 spline as opposed to later 19 spline.
Single LE brakes

more pics

The car looks fantastic, I hope you're driving it and putting some miles on it now!  77.gif

Beautiful. So nice to see Mini like that.  The early cars were so simple and elegant

Agreed, it looks great!

I think that is what I am going to try to shoot for with my 1960 now that I have another one that will be the "sportier" version. I still have the original 850 motor for mine, along with a lot of other original bits off the car.

Quote from: BruceK on November 24, 2020, 11:32:56 AM
Beautiful. So nice to see Mini like that.  The early cars were so simple and elegant

Yep like just swapping battery cables to change polarity.

Thanks for all the kind words. Not sure I would have completed it without this forum and forumites.
Dave I take it out about once a week. There's a nice curvy road behind our development that's fun. I'll get some video sometime.
I'll plan put it up for sale in the near future. Working on it is getting more difficult every day.

Nice work and it looks like you started with a good body which imo makes all the difference.
Well done.

Thanks
Need a good body just like my younger dating days. The only reason i took this was it was rust free. I wouldn't touch anything with visible rust.

Looks fantastic  4.gif

Thought I had the car running pretty good but it seems to get hrder and harder to cold start. i was going to make o Cold Start video but seems to have gotten worse. It usually fired off with full choke and had to maintain some choke until up to operating temp. Then it had good throttle response and was running well.
Lately cold start has become more difficult. Full choke and several starter pulls. Then it doesn't respond to the throttle unless it is slow. Punching it just dies. I gradually gets better until operating temperature then it runs fine.
Not sure what to do next but I'll recheck the timing and richness.
Any other ideas on how to improve cold starting. I understand that the minis don't cold start very well and may have to choke.

Sounds lean to me. 

Yes, but why would it change on it's own?

Do check the mix jet adjustment under the carb and see if you think it's moved. It shouldn't be able to, but like Dan says, it sounds like it's leaned off somehow.

Ok went out to check the jet adjusting nut to richen it up. Found the speedo cable up against the jet adjuster so that it fouled its movement with a side load. I had backed the nut off (richen) prior without noticing the fouling.
After sorting the fouling it started better with only a couple turnovers and about half choke. 100% improvement. I had had this problem before and had pulled the speedo cable aside with a string temporarily and thought I had it fixed. I'll have to build a little more positive standoff to keep the speedo cable clear.
Recheck the carb settings and hope things are better tomorrow. Today cut short due to leaky water heater replacement.

There should be a clip for the speedo cable in a hole in the center of the firewall under the carb.

Apparently for got to attach the photo. is it the round hole i see below the cable in the photo?

Yes there is a clip that slides in the hole to secure it with the outer piece holding the cable in place.

Thanks for that. I was unaware there was a clip. Found one at Somerford for about a pound but by the time I order, get it shipped shipping charges etc...
I think i can adapt a trailer frame clip from Graingers.

I may have one you can have. I just have to find it.

Do you still have a link to the one you found on Somerford? I would be curious to know what it looks like.

I have never heard of the speedo cable changing the mixture! You learn something new every day.....and I always thought that clip was there to keep the cable off the exhaust. I usually just zip tie the cable back to whatever I can find if I don't have the clip. Although, most of the cars I have use the HIF style carbs, so there's no jet hanging down like on the HS style.....

Part no on the clip is 5L90 in metal, or AFU2770 in plastic. However, I see 7 Ent sells the metal one under the plastic one's part number, so it could be the plastic one is NLA.......

https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/instruments-centre-1959-85 (https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/instruments-centre-1959-85)

Thanks Dave, I think the metal clip would probably be preferable based on what it is doing and where it is located. I currently have the speedo cable as well as the throttle cable zip tied to things to keep them where they need to be, but was curious what the "official part" looked like.

Quote from: cstudep on March 18, 2021, 09:17:17 AM
Do you still have a link to the one you found on Somerford? I would be curious to know what it looks like.

https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/catalog/all-products?keywords=5l90 (https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/catalog/all-products?keywords=5l90)
Here's the link. I just brought it up again. I would prefer the AFU2770 but unavailable apparently.

Quote from: tmsmini on March 18, 2021, 08:11:05 AM
I may have one you can have. I just have to find it.

Thanks I would appreciate that.

Quote from: MiniDave on March 18, 2021, 09:28:39 AM
I have never heard of the speedo cable changing the mixture! You learn something new every day.....and I always thought that clip was there to keep the cable off the exhaust. I usually just zip tie the cable back to whatever I can find if I don't have the clip. Although, most of the cars I have use the HIF style carbs, so there's no jet hanging down like on the HS style.....

Part no on the clip is 5L90 in metal, or AFU2770 in plastic. However, I see 7 Ent sells the metal one under the plastic one's part number, so it could be the plastic one is NLA.......

https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/instruments-centre-1959-85 (https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/instruments-centre-1959-85)

Not exactly sure if it changes mixture or how but the effect of removing the fouling when on choke was significant. I presumed that it was sideloading the jet so the needle was displaced was enough to alter the mixture. Kinda goes with the fact that the engine ran excellent when hot and the choke was stowed. I've tied it off with a string temporarily. I also increased the mixture and it does start better. Now I have to set it at hot idle.

It was not where I thought it might be, will require some more digging.

Ok I looked a little at a couple of auto parts stores but didn't find anything suitable. May have to order from 7 ENT

Pretty sure this it, had dig thru a few bins, send me your address if it looks correct

Not sure if this is original, but on my 63, a rubber plug was added on top of the clip which seals the bulkhead nicely.  Also, my speedo cable, which is a standard length, will not fit in the clip without pulling the cable out of its natural line so I don't try to clip it in.

You can buy longer speedo cables, you know?

Quote from: bob01b on March 21, 2021, 06:25:30 PM
Not sure if this is original, but on my 63, a rubber plug was added on top of the clip which seals the bulkhead nicely.  Also, my speedo cable, which is a standard length, will not fit in the clip without pulling the cable out of its natural line so I don't try to clip it in.

I like the rubber plug idea. Been wanting to block that hole in the moke after putting the clip in.

Quote from: tmsmini on March 21, 2021, 04:49:51 PM
Pretty sure this it, had dig thru a few bins, send me your address if it looks correct

That looks correct. I'll send a message with my address.
I appreciate this.

Quote from: Willie_B on March 21, 2021, 07:24:21 PM

Quote from: bob01b on March 21, 2021, 06:25:30 PM
Not sure if this is original, but on my 63, a rubber plug was added on top of the clip which seals the bulkhead nicely.  Also, my speedo cable, which is a standard length, will not fit in the clip without pulling the cable out of its natural line so I don't try to clip it in.

I like the rubber plug idea. Been wanting to block that hole in the moke after putting the clip in.

Yeah like this idea too. Lowes has a selection of plastic plugs that shouild work.

Clip is ready to be mailed.
You might also look into one of these speedo adapters. They were used on a few BMC cars. You have to make sure it has the right ends as I bought one for a B by accident.
It changes the angle that the cable comes out of the speedo.

Quote from: tmsmini on March 22, 2021, 09:43:57 AM
Clip is ready to be mailed.
You might also look into one of these speedo adapters. They were used on a few BMC cars. You have to make sure it has the right ends as I bought one for a B by accident.
It changes the angle that the cable comes out of the speedo.

That makes a lot of sense.
I have seen float bowls with grooves worn into them from rubbing speedometer cables.

Quote from: tmsmini on March 22, 2021, 09:43:57 AM
Clip is ready to be mailed.
You might also look into one of these speedo adapters. They were used on a few BMC cars. You have to make sure it has the right ends as I bought one for a B by accident.
It changes the angle that the cable comes out of the speedo.

Great. I may look at the one from Moss for Austin etc.

Decided to figure out why the gas gage wasn't reading right.
It was parked on E but pegged to F when I turned ignition on. Filling tank didn't change anything and bench check before install was good.
Checked wiring and it checked right so didn't expect swapping connections would help. After the last fill up I looked in the tank and saw the float was submersed when it should have been floating. So I re-checked float installation and found that the whole tank unit had been clocked by one screw hole. Hole marked TOP was mis-indexed so that the posts on the tank unitwere not positioned correctly. The posts are essentially limiting posts for Empty and Full and control the full travel of the float. Since the tank was nearly empty I was able to loosen the tank unit and index it to the next hole. reindexing was successful and ignition ON it showed about 1/4 full. Reaching into the tank with a hook and pulling it up close to the top had the gage reading 3/4 full so it looks like the gage should be fairly accurate.
Hopefully the gasket will not leak since I re-used it.

Another case of most problems caused by original installation error.

Quote from: tmsmini on March 21, 2021, 04:49:51 PM
Pretty sure this it, had dig thru a few bins, send me your address if it looks correct

That looks correct. If you still have and it's not too late I would appreciate having it. I thought I could come op with a workable one but the best I found ws a plastic doyble stick tape thing. I 'll maeesage you my address.

Just have to find it. I have been sorting through stuff and probably moved it from where it was last time.
Terry

Thanks appreciate that. No rush

I was pretty sure I had mailed it, but I got a new message with your address today.
So you never got it?

Don't think I got it but age can play tricks on the mind. If you can't find it no big deal. I'll try the one from Granger.

Sold and said goodbye to the '60 Austin mini today. New home is Houston TX. The new owner is thrilled (as indicated on Mk1 Forum post) to have it restored to original as possible. Cleaned out all the mini parts I had too so I'm out of the mini bidness.
Hmmm... obviuosly haven't mastered video posting yet. ::sigh::
wondering if I can link a MK1 Forum post...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/42221565125 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/42221565125)

Congrats. Glad you got the sale you wanted, out of the Mini biz now but lots of old owners return.

Thanks. I'll be following the mini for as long as I can.