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1983 Mini City

This section is for Mini projects and restorations and also the place to show off your pride and joy.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

That might take a lot of convincing Woody....😂😂

About 90% there with headliner, all glued in and seals holding it in place. Front, rear and drivers side trimmed. Small bit of tidying to do in A-pillars but not too bad. Still a few wrinkles, but hopefully they fall out, they appear to be from the way the fabric was folded.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

My goodness me, what a battle to get the fixed side window in. About 2 hours yesterday and another hour and a half today and it's finally in. New rubber seems to be a shade too big and very tough. Hoping the other side goes a bit smoother.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Got the other fixed window in, less of a struggle with this as I had half an idea of what to do. But it's not sitting exactly right on lower B post, needs to go in a shade more but can't get it to budge. Maybe once car is on its wheels I can get more weight behind it.

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Also got drivers door window in, but my goodness it's stiff to wind up, hopefully it loosens up a bit with use..

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Got the passenger window in, inner and outer weather strips put on too. Opted to stick these on rather than use the clips that will rust in no time.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Got door handle on passenger door. Holes for it where about 3mm out on the magnum door skin. I should have tried a handle on before paint, but there's a lot of things I should have done differently 🤣🤣

Wheels came back from powder-coaters, getting the tyres put on tomorrow. I'm measuring 35mm of tyre thread exposed so have to figure out what arches to run with.

This is with a 20mm spacer, I'm going to remove that and change studs for shorter ones..

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I might hold off until its back on its wheels to measure tyre thread when it's sat on its wheels..

Passenger door levers also put on and door card test fitted. Need some lagging tape to go behind lever rods to prevent rattles.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Rear screen cleaned of decals and in...

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Had hoped to keep the original dealer sticker, but it was flaking off so just removed it.

Also got tyres fitted to rims and new wheel nuts to suit. Think I can get away without arches...

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woody
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by woody »

Its the front that will determine weather or not you need arches.Looking good
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The Marcos Graveyard
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by The Marcos Graveyard »

Any wheel over 5" on a disc setup will need an arch.
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A fully carbon fiber Mini Marcos shell weighs just 7.25kg.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Picked up a windscreen fillet tool on Amazon and managed to get it next day delivery.. Ordered 11pm, arrived next day at 1pm.

Put it to good use, front screen is in, locking strip on front and rear just need trimmed and thats all the glass in!

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

All glass in, locking strips cut and tidied up. Drivers door weather strips installed, all levers put on and connected to latch. Just waiting on a small parcel from minispares with door handle gaskets before I can put door cards on properly.

Front hub studs swapped out for shorter ones, wheels put onto car and pallet removed. It's on axles stands until the front to rear pipes and battery cable are finished, then it could be lowered onto it's wheels....but one tyre has gone down, not sure if it's the valve or the tyre bead.

Front number plate, seat locking bars, handbrake lever and cable, drivers side floor bungs and underlay. Need to find 1 bung that has gone AWOL and refill my mini gas torch for heating the seal to finish passenger side.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Another good run at it today, all floor bungs in and extra bit of protection with some seam sealer on the outside of them. Rear seats put in, then got the rest of the underlay in, then was time to start on the carpet. Budget set from minispares, but looks fairly decent. Bit hard to fit in places, but got there in the end. Steering rack centred and steering column put in. Wheel then centred on column. All in and torqued up.

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Hopefully get the brake lines done tomorrow, then it's nearly engine fitting time!
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Billy
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by Billy »

Jeepers. Really coming along. You should be able to get a dealer sticker made up if you have a photo of the original.

True what you say about Magnum panels. They're OK but not great.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Thanks Billy!

Onto the brake lines today, I had kept mostly all the old ones to use as templates. All new pipework in, braided flexing pipes all round too.

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Also got the seat belts fitted, had to do some research on how the spacers fit, but the MPi workshop manual came in very handy as it has this diagram

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Also fitted the heater, minus the water pipes, gearbox cotton reels, reverse light switch and trimmed the carpet around the gearlever opening.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Spent most the day trying to sort out the wiring loom, checking for damaged wires and removing wires that had been badly spliced in. Wired up the new headlight loom with the sidelight holder on passenger side. Searched the entire shed looking for the drivers side sidelight holder, only to remember placing it on the actual lamp that I had temporarily put on the car. Oh well, only the 2 hours looking and doing a bit of a tidy-up.

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Also finished off the rear lamp wiring, put the number plate lamp on with new rubber seal. Picked up some Dot4 brake fluid, so could possibly attempt bleeding the brakes tomorrow. Left wheel back to get a leaking valve sorted.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Some more wiring sorted today, all main switches wired up, steering wheel cowl put on. Fitted fuel tank, strap bracket needed some fettling with the dremel, was a tad too high even though I made it based on the old bracket, but its in now.
Rear badge put on, based it's location on the 1983 sales brochure. Picked up tyre from getting valve sorted and minispares parcel arrived so can crack on and get doors finished up now.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Had put the M/C to pwda valve on the wrong sides, so pipes reshaped and swapped over, then gaskets under each one. Pedal box clevis pins are A LOT easier to remove and get back in without everything is the way!!

Got the boot seal on, new indicator rubber boots and stainless locking rings and wiper hole blanks in stainless steel.

Starter solenoid bolted on, then made a start on getting the wiring loom to where it needs to be, indicator loom connectors need to be replaced, with something better than the ones from Amazon that I had started to put on - the wire connector doesn't seem to lock into place and the wire just comes out with little to no pressure.

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

A bit more done on wiring loom today,joined rear loom into main loom and connected up the front indicators. Wiper motor and rack cleaned up, one wheel box replaced as one had seized. Fitting kit on, washer jets D holes opened up to accept chrome style jets.

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Fuse box put on and 3 clock binnacle put in between the two dash rails - had to loosen off the top rail to give it a bit more clearance to get it in, still had to squeeze it slightly.

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Got a nice delivery - smiths oil pressure and water temp and nylon capillary pipe

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Got dials into binnacle today, very fiddley indeed. Binnacle needed to be tilted downwards to allow clock to be visible due to top dash rail. I understand now why most people run without the top rail with a 3 clock binnacle.

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Inside doors wax oiled, then openings in door frame sealed up with some fibreglass reinforced vinyl, plastic liner and door cards put on. Alloy door handles put on too. Front seats reinstalled. Wipers put on, but went to put motor on but park switch housing came away from the motor body, looks like a broken clip so will probably need to replace that.
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by woody »

The center binnacle never came with the top dash cover. Personally I prefer to cover the top rail in black leather or vynal .
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

woody wrote: Sun May 07, 2023 9:26 pm The center binnacle never came with the top dash cover. Personally I prefer to cover the top rail in black leather or vynal .
Well it's in now and it ain't coming out :D

I have fixed it down to the lower parcel shelf, just need to make 2 small brackets to steady the top of it back to the bulkhead, then some closed cell foam to close the gap.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

A 3d printed bracket to secure the binnacle to the bulkhead, offset to pickup on the captive nuts for the blanking plate. It's really steady now, just some foam insulation needed to fill the gap and reduce noise transfer...

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Also put the original bulkhead sound deadening mat in, had to reshape it for the oval binnacle, tachometer mocked up in rough location.

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Made up some card templates for parcel shelf and door bin covers, hopefully get some made up tomorrow.
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Got the lower dash rail liners cut out and wrapped in vinyl this evening...

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Also got the rear number plate on, bit tricky due to the location of the holes, having them centred across the plate would mean the screw would have to go through the Z, so dropped it down slightly to avoid this.

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Drivers door window is really stiff to wind up or down, so may have to remove door card again to see what's going on
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Made a start on the engine install, using the bracket show here...

and the lifting bracket;
 
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Lifting Bracket in use;
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Up she goes..left it sitting for a few minutes to make sure bracket was holding firmly..

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And in,

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But...I used engine mounts with the captive nuts and they started to spin when I went to tighten them, I could get one side lined up but then was still out on other side. I have other mounts without the captive nuts, I'm going to lift the engine slightly and swap them out and try again...
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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Attempt #2...

Lifted the engine up a few inches to allow access to the engine side bolts, bit fiddley but got them out and new mounts on both sides, dropped it down and lined up pretty much straight away, small bit of prying but much easier than other mounts.


Then the struggle to get the bolts in from the inside of engine began, but got them in with some narrow vice grips and a telescopic magnet wand.

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And put these where they belong...

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colinf1
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Re: 1983 Mini City

Post by colinf1 »

Spent most of the day under the car, driveshafts in and boots on securely, gear lever and rods put on. Had to remove the exhaust hanger bracket to get the roll pin in, got a little leak from diff housing but hopefully now that it's all bolted back on it will be fine. Basic string alignment done then front wheels back on

Then started on the exhaust fitting, just going standard 998 from minispares. Got genuine rover fitting kit, but a good few of the bolts spun on fine then would cross thread after a few turns. It's half on now, but its pushing the engine forward that I can't get the bulkhead steady in place, so I've loosened it all off again and will have another go tomorrow evening.

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