What did you do in your shop today?

[MiniDave]

It was pretty easy to use, the thing that really drove this purchase is that they were the only ones that offered labels in this exact size. Why was that important? They perfectly cover the old labels so I didn't have to spend days scraping them off!   :D


I also like the large font, so I can read them without my glasses!

A shrink tube printer is an excellent idea! Especially if you do a lot of electrical repairs like you do.

[94touring]

Justin came by with a truck bed for me to paint.   I owed him big favors for helping me move into the shop years ago and for giving me the monster air compressor.   So got it painted for him.  Also putting my bonnet buttons on and seeing how they blend in.  Happy with them.

[MiniDave]

Not quite in it, but just outside it..... 77.gif

Took advantage of the 64* temps and gave the '89 Racing green Mini a bath. Also swapped it off the lift with the '66 Cooper S

[94touring]

Next job smooth-a-rides for you?

[MiniDave]

Still need to do more work on the basement, finish the transmission for Clancy and a bunch of other small projects....maybe buy my new compressor too. Besides, the Inno will be back soon and I want to finish it.....

[BruceK]

I repaired my garage door today. It was having trouble because a couple of panels started sagging in the middle and they would come in contact during the closing process and bind - causing too much resistance so the door would trigger the safety and open back up. I went to Home Depot and looked for some type of strengthening metal I could use such as angle iron. But none of that stuff really seem to be what I wanted. I had success in the electrical aisle where I found some bracing used for hanging electrical conduit. Not only was it pre-drilled but it was in a U-shape providing the extra strength and light weight I wanted. Bingo! 

My local Home Depot has a pretty limited selection of available nuts and bolts – I couldn't find what I needed for this project.   So I took a trip to Tractor Supply and they had a great selection of nuts and bolts hardware. The best part was it's priced in bulk - just $3.59 per pound rather than the per unit pricing of Home Depot (28 cents per nut?!).  Tractor Supply pricing makes it probably 1/4 the price of the same stuff at Home Depot.  I know where I'm going to shop for that stuff from now on.

[MiniDave]

I bought a new Harbor Freight compression tester, these newer engines have tiny little spark plugs and I couldn't find the correct adaptor to make my old tester work so for $26 I bought their set.......except.

We ran compression on Don's Pup trying to find where he's losing water and while the cylinders were even, it only showed 120-125 lbs.......today we decided to retest with a warm engine and holding the throttle open but got the same results. On a lark I decided to try my old tester - 175-170 across the board!

So my brand new HF compression tester is off by 50lbs.  :-[ ::) 22.gif

I'm continuing to work on cleaning out the basement and garage, so far I have thrown out about 50 lbs of old nuts, bolts and other hardware and I bet I can find 50 more before I'm done. I also just seem to have a lot of stuff - hard to throw away stuff.  And tools.....I have so many extra tools. I think that stuff will wind up going to Habitat or Restore.....I can't bear to throw it away when it's good usable stuff.

I have a couple of extra tool boxes I could fill, but that's just putting it off again.....time for it to go somewhere else.

[BruceK]

We ran compression on Don's Pup trying to find where he's losing water and while the cylinders were even, it only showed 120-125 lbs.....

I'm picturing Don's near-heart attack at that result.  He must have been so happy to learn the readings were wrong.

[MiniDave]

Yes, but......

We're no closer to understanding why it's using so much water and overheating. All the plugs look normal, compression is even and good, and we stuck a borescope down the plug holes and all the pistons look evenly carboned up.

So, where the hell is the water going?

We've looked it over carefully and have yet to find any trace of a leak.............anywhere.

[94touring]

Top it off, fire it up, and watch for leaks?

[MiniDave]

We've done that extensively, even had it up on the rack!   77.gif

[jeff10049]

Do you have a cooling system pressure tester? Not only can you do a pressure test all night if needed but also put it on and watch the gauge to make sure combustion gasses are not overpressuring the cooling system.  If you pressure it overnight and it loses pressure with no sign of leak pull the plugs before you crank it (I know you know that just a reminder)

Or go the other way if you have a cylinder leak down tester or rig one pressure up each cylinder and watch for bubbles in the coolant. 

One of the testers where the fluid changes from blue to yellow or a 4 or 5 gas analyzer sniffer over the radiator opening is the best way.
Be patience with either method it takes several minutes or longer to show up.

Hate to even suggest it but back in my full-time automotive days we did a ton of head gaskets on those and they were always hard to diagnose mystery coolant loss pass all the normal tests etc... Half the time the cracks around the exhaust valve seat are bad enough to junk the head or were the problem to start with. The only engine worse for head gaskets at that time was the dodge neon.


Worth mentioning even though most have been replaced during a timing belt the early water pumps tended to have impeller erosion problems.

Maybe the coolant is just going out the overflow from the overheat and it'll be simple.

[Willie_B]

Turned this.

[Willie_B]

Into this for Dave. I know, what a guy that I am willing to do it.

[Willie_B]

Or rather this.

[Willie_B]

A tool to pull a bushing out of a transmission.

[MiniDave]

Looks pretty good now, much better than that rats nest!   ;D

Pretty cool how you turned a pile of steel "hair" into a solid part!   77.gif

Did you bore the 3/8" hole in that one?

[Willie_B]

Did you bore the 3/8" hole in that one?

Yep, I did drill the hole.
Still getting used to drilling holes with a lathe. Different seeing the drill bit stationary and the part turning.

[MiniDave]

While I'm waiting for parts to build this trans, I may push that old bushing back in and pull it out again just to verify that the tool works and get some experience with it.

[Willie_B]

Both done. The one with the hole to pull it, other one to push new one in. Now to clean up.

[MiniDave]

I tried to buy a new bushing from Vicky Brits....they were out of them.  ::)

Wish I had a place to put one of those mini-lathes, I don't need one often, but when you do......

[jeff10049]

Replaced the belt on the 2013 countryman today at 97k it was about to remove itself I think.
Easy to do but all the snow and ice in the wheel well didn't help.

[MiniDave]

Whew, I guess it was done! You were on borrowed time with that one.....my water pump was replaced a couple of months ago so they did my belt at the same time, mine had 95K but didn't look bad at all. Those inner wheel well shields really do seem to work, keeping crap off the steel....

I just flushed all my brake fluid too, but it also was surprisingly clean and clear considering I hadn't done it in about 5 years.

[tmsmini]

I am being stupid. I pulled out a slot cat set that includes items from the 60s and stuff I added when my children were young. My children are in their 30s now.

I am finishing off a wiring project that I never completed close to 20 years ago.

As you can see in the background there are bins of old mini parts to be sorted and new parts to be installed. Yet here i am trying to make a "vintage" slot car set run again...

[MiniDave]

Finally hard lined my shop for air. No more running a 50' rubber line. I have two drops one near my blast cabinet and one at the front roll up door.

What do those desiccant cartridges cost?