1983 Mini City

[woody]

For soundproof you really need to cover the entire bulkhead.
http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... o%20search

[colinf1]

A few touch ups of blue paint done this morning before work, mainly on the underside where parts had touched against the paint during installation. Fully dried by the time I went out this evening.

Drained the oil, oil filter removed, not too much crud in the oil, a small amount of particles in the sump magnet, probably from everything bedding in. Need to get more oil as the one I got was only 4.25L...

Drilled some extra holes in the front side of airbox (watching too many AC Dood videos!) then noticed the breather pipe attachment point wasn't open, so drilled through that, hopefully that was cause of oil leak through lack of block breathing...

Swapped out spark plugs to new set that had gaps pre-set (Thanks Neil @ Richmonds classics) so hopefully get it back on its wheels tomorrow and ready to use at the weekend!

[woody]

Thats interesting about the breather pipe , never noticed a closed one before .

[ctwomey]

It should be connected to the carb which I see is blocked off in a previous picture. A slight vacuum via the carb will have the crankcase at lower pressure which will help reduce oil leaks.

[colinf1]

Thats interesting about the breather pipe , never noticed a closed one before .

I've another standard airbox there, I'll have to check to see if that one is open or closed.

It should be connected to the carb which I see is blocked off in a previous picture. A slight vacuum via the carb will have the crankcase at lower pressure which will help reduce oil leaks.

I blocked that off to allow me to run it through the airbox and filter, hopefully reduce the amount of crud going through the carb and getting bunged up.

[colinf1]

Got it out of the shed this morning, then back out to front of the house this evening. Tried adjusting the fuel mixture and idle speed, idle speed is now too high but it's running without having to have choke on a bit. Don't think I have improved the fuel mixture, if anything it's slightly worse now, so may turn it back a few flats. I'm a bit lost with getting it set right so may need to find someone local to help.

Still an oil leak, suspect its from timing cover or timing plate gasket. But it's not much, it's just frustrating that it's happening even with the uprated gaskets.



A wash and a polish to get rid of all the tree sap from parking under a tree at the show the other week..

[colinf1]

Took it out for a nice spin this evening, 75km round trip, going to cars and coffee meet in the morning, so will check the oil before going

[colinf1]

A nice morning out at Cars and Coffee North East yesterday, lots of nice cars about and a fair few minis. Was great to get chatting to some other mini nuts.

A few photos courtesy of John Boland and Patrick Zawko...

[colinf1]

Thats interesting about the breather pipe , never noticed a closed one before .

Here's a spare airbox I have, same closed stub for the breather. Strange....

[colinf1]

Started the strip down on the radiator side of the engine, fair amount parts need removing to get to the timing cover and plate..

[colinf1]

Timing plate removed and I decided to remove the powder coating incase this is a possible cause for a leak. Once fully removed I flattend it back with wet/dry & wd40 to get a good flat surface for gasket.

I also removed the head to replace the copper gasket with a Victor reinz type gasket. This also gave me an opportunity to inspect the bores, all looking pretty good. There was a small amount of water and gunk in blank hole close to the waterway hole near water pump, so not sure if this was going to fail at this point sometime down the line.

Having trouble finding any torque specs or sequence for this type of head gasket, is it just the same as a normal copper one?



Hopefully get it all back together tomorrow...

[colinf1]

Timing chain and cover back on now, also new fuel pump installed. Not much more to put back on and hopefully that will be the leak sorted....

[colinf1]

Got it all back together this evening, just need to put front passenger wheel back on and pull it out of the shed.



Managed to lose a bolt from engine mount, had another one to hand, eventually found it tucked under the trolley jack once everything bolted back in and jack was moved...

[colinf1]

Started engine and ran it for a minute without coolant yesterday morning, then let it sit til evening before re-torquing head nuts. Got wheel back on and was giving the underside of the engine another clean, then noticed a drip forming on the jiggle pin on flywheel housing...which led to this scenario this evening...

Small weep from bottom side of the primary seal...



Primary gear and seal removed, cleaned up housing ready for new seal to go in tomorrow evening...



3d printing a seal installer tool that will hopefully help get the seal in the correct place, then get it all back together AGAIN.....

We are down to 6 weeks to go for baby no2, so times running out to get out and enjoy the car before I become sleep deprived....

[colinf1]

3d printed seal tool done the trick, nice and even square push on the seal til it's home.



And all reassembled AGAIN....If it still drips oil it will have to wait til over the winter....

[colinf1]

Took it out for a local vintage run today, 5km to the starting point and engine temp had risen to 110degs. Let it cool down while waiting for run to start, topped it up with plain water and it ran at 95c. No sign of dripping from clutch side, small drip forming on radiator side but nothing dripped down onto concrete after I parked up at home, so fingers crossed its sorted.



Next outing is Mourne Mini Clubs annual show in Newcastle Co.Down in 2 weeks, a few minor jobs to be done by then

- Bumpers need to be dulled on the bottom edge, they are very sharp and too easy to slice yourself open on them. There's also 1 of the bolts that has strip some thread, so will try to get a new one welded in.

- Dash liner on drivers side needs more insulation, I've added a layer of closed cell foam to passenger side and it really has lessened the noise into the cabin, so need to repeat this on drivers side, then tidy it up with some leatherette vinyl

- inlet/exhaust manifold gasket needs replacing as its blowing a bit, I damaged it when putting the head back on but must have damaged it too much and is now blowing.

- Headlights and wheel alignment still need doing, it's tracking much better now that I've adjusted it to be wheel straight to go straight, but just want to get it done properly to reduce wear and tear.

[woody]

Hard to get good quality bumpers these days. While you have it off paint the inside of it to prevent rusting from the back.

[colinf1]

Hard to get good quality bumpers these days. While you have it off paint the inside of it to prevent rusting from the back.

They are stainless so hoping rust shouldn't be an issue! But I suppose a lick of paint wouldn't hurt either....

[colinf1]

Bumpers done today, finger power file then a run down with 320. Gave the backs of them a spray paint, then 2 coats of stonechip.



Exhaust gasket arrived today, so will get that sorted the weekend.

[colinf1]

Got the bumpers back on this evening, very awkward to get rear one on, it fowls on the boot hinges - guess this is due to it being non genuine...

Also got the exhaust gasket done, some more antifreeze added to coolant to strengthen it up and dashpot oil swapped out for some 3in1 oil.

[colinf1]

Drove the car to work on Friday, just to check on coolant/Engine temp, all seemed fine. Nothing to report on the oil leak, so thankfully that seems to be rectified. Rocker cover gasket seems to be weeping, I'm going to get a silicone one and maybe even go for a alloy cover.

Noticed a slight blow from manifold to down pipe clamp, due to pushing the carb back to get the exhaust gasket in place, loosened it off and some more paste on the joint and tightened it back up this evening.

We had constant heavy rain from Friday evening to Sunday night, and didn't get home in time before the rain started on Friday to get the cover on it, so it's been getting soaked, thankfully theres nothing getting in to the interior or boot.

[HarveyHD]

Got the bumpers back on this evening, very awkward to get rear one on, it fowls on the boot hinges - guess this is due to it being non genuine...

Also got the exhaust gasket done, some more antifreeze added to coolant to strengthen it up and dashpot oil swapped out for some 3in1 oil.

What's not genuine? You mean Chinese? And what company, please tell me.

[colinf1]

Had a great day out at the Mourne Mini Club annual show. 150km round trip, pretty happy with how it went, no major issues, a shade hot on the motorway on way home, but once it was back on minor roads temp settled back down to 90c.

A good bit of work needed to be done yesterday, was concerned about it getting too hot on Friday 110c, so stripped radiator out and flushed everything out, swapped to a 74c thermostat. Took off carb and reset fueling to base line settings (2 turns clockwise after setting it flush with bridge) the all back on to discover a leak on some rubber hose and bowl to jet pipe leaking. Swapped out for a good one, then had to steal a bit of rubber pipe from the bowl overflow as I didn't have anything else.

Lots of really nice minis on show, weather was good until an hour before it finished and hasn't stopped rain since...

[colinf1]

Been managing to get a few outings in the car recently, been to a few coffee mornings. Car was still hesitating under part throttle so took it to Cian at CCMinis in Moira to have the fueling and timing looked at. 85km each way which made it the longest continuous drive so far, all motorway/dual carriageway. Stuck to 95km/hr, a few trucks and buses overtook me but wasn't too bad of a drive. Cian was able to set fueling correctly, enriched the mixture and slightly advanced the timing. Drive home was much better, no hesitation under part throttle. He also bled and adjusted the brakes and tightened the handbrake, pedal is much firmer now.

It has developed some squeaks and rattles, latest on seems to be coming from exhaust bracket, so need to investigate that. Brake pads develop a chirp once there heated up and sounds like a washer rattling somewhere around front of car.

Let my dad take it for a spin, his first time driving a mini since he owned one in the mid 80s until I arrived on the scene . He managed to navigate the steep driveway with ease...

VID-20230812-WA0000

It hasn't been using or losing any oil which is great because it's no longer making a mess of my driveway

We are nearing the final few days of pregnancy, so it will probably be covered and parked up once that all kicks in, but hopefully I can get to one or two flvintage shows/ coffee mornings before putting it away for the winter...

[Billy]

Fair play. You've some serious work put into this Mini and it's great that it's not a trailer queen and that you're getting out and about with it. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh in the future.