kws

Discuss my Mini in here

It's somewhat amazing that its taken me this long, but I finally added a classic Mini to the stable. Its funny. I'm kinda impulsive, but not.... I know what I want, when I see it. I have been keeping an eye on Trademe for a new project, since I'm basically wrapping the Vitesse up as it's about as good as it needs to be now. Trademe is a dangerous place to hang out, the people are generally horrible, and the prices are the worst, but sometimes something even worse happens.... I see a car and it "clicks", and I know that's what I want. That happened the other day, when I spotted a nice little '76 MK3 Mini 1000 on there. It had current Rego and WOF, and apparently it drove well and the rust was "nothing that would affect warrants, yet". It also had an interior that was "showing signs of age but is original and complete". For a road legal classic Mini, it was decently priced too. Naturally I arranged to view the car, and had a look the other day. Well... I didn't end up taking it home. It looked OK in photos. A bit patchy, with obvious paint differences, but no glaringly obvious rust holes. The interior was worn out with a mismatched drivers seat, but didn't look bad. I get there to view the car, and "oh, the battery is dead so it needs a jump". Well ok, not the first time I have seen this, and not a deal breaker. He jumps the car, starts it up and it idles rough as anything, but is idling. No big plumes of smoke or anything, so its promising. One thing I noticed when I was checking out the car before he started it, was that the radiator and engine were hot, so obviously it had been running already that day. We'll come back to this fact. Whilst he was faffing about jump starting the car I had a good look around, and wow, she was rough! The reason you can't see any rust in the photos? It had been quickly and badly painted over. Every single panel had bubbling paint/rust to some degree. The interior was falling to bits, with missing trim, no carpets, mismatched and torn seats, and a general sense of decay and neglect. Since I was there, and I was looking for a project, I thought I may as well take it for a drive and see how it goes. Who knows, if it runs like a mighty stallion, I might just take the project on anyway. Having a stuffed battery, I was told I could test drive it, but only up and down the road within eyeshot of the seller just in case I stall it and it needs to be jump started again. So I jump in the hot seat, click it into gear and off I go. "Hows it running" the guy said when I returned. "Like a bag of Sh*t" I quickly whipped back. And it was. It was bucking, surging, backfiring and misfiring badly. "oh, it must need warming up with the choke. Jump in the passenger's seat and I'll take it for a drive". Needless to say the choke made no difference since the engine was already well and truly up to temperature, and even with his magical abilities, it ran like rubbish. "Must be the flat battery then", so he hooks up the jumper leads again, but even with this amazing technology, it ran badly. Nope. Even if I wanted to drive it home, the suburb it was in had one road in and out, which was over a steep hill. There was no way this car would make it over that hill. I told him to let me know if he gets it running properly, and wished him a good day. Good luck to him. So with that disappointment, I headed home. Later that evening I checked Trademe, and low and behold another round nose classic Mini had just been listed locally. This time it was advertised as "rust free, runs and drives well". The photos looked good, showing decent paint (in green too!) and interior. It had some massive 13x7 alloys on it, but no flares. The downside? It was deregistered due to the previous owner forgetting to put the rego on hold a few years ago. This isn't a huge issue on older cars, so I teed up a time to view the car anyway. I get there and once again the car isn't ready. "It just needs the brakes bled, it was meant to be done" the seller states. Ok, no worries. I have a look around the car anyway. For once the seller was right, the body was damn tidy with minimal rust, and no obvious bubbling. Compared to the red one, this car was factory fresh. The one thing that was pointed out was that the wide wheels don't clear the standard arches, and you can't turn full lock. The seller attempted to bleed the brakes for over an hour, but they just couldn't get a good pedal. We gave up for the day, and I left them to trying to bleed it more. The next day I get a call about lunch time, saying that the brakes were bled and it was ready to go. I head on down there, jump in the car and attempt to take it for a test drive. I get stopped straight away; the engine is pouring out oil! It turned out that the feed for the mechanical oil pressure gauge was leaking, so the seller crimped off the pipe, and the leak stopped. The brakes still don't work. Eventually I worked out that if you double pump the brakes at least one of the front brakes would work, but you had to be damn careful not to lock the wheel. I managed to get it down the road and around the block, and although the clutch pedal engages on the floor and is soft, the car drove pretty well. Gearbox was smooth, and the suspension did its thing. I did note that the speedo wasn't working, but that's not an issue (turns out its not connected). I get back to the workshop again and advise that the brakes still aren't working properly, so they try to bleed them again. Still no pedal. No worries, I said i don't care how it gets to my house, but if you can get it there I'll buy it. We settled on a price, without the wide wheels (he had the standard wheels with near new tires), and he said he would get a trailer and deliver it. About 10 minutes after I get home I hear this odd, very British sounding ruckus heading up the street. Oh hey, its my Mini, and the sellers other Mini. It turns out he just chose to drive it the 20 mins to my place, despite having little to no brakes, and no reg/wof. It made it here OK though. So what do I have? It's a MK4 1980 NZ built Leyland Mini 1000. The reason the brakes needed to be bled is that there was an issue with the original 998cc engine, so the seller swapped in the 998cc from his earlier MK3 Mini, which necessitated dropping the front subframe. There are a few small changes, but generally the engines are basically the same between the two cars. It hasn't had a warrant in a few years There are a few issues, other than the speedo and brakes not working. So far this is what I have found in my travels: Electrical gremlins aplenty (One headlight works, no tail lights, intermittent dash lights, no temp gauge, no indicators or hazards, no brake check or rear window de-mister lights, The starter solenoid tried to melt two of its wires, no wipers, no blower fan). I suspect most of them must be linked, there will be something unplugged somewhere. The front LH brake cylinders are leaking and have nuked the shoes. The front seats have almost no padding left in them. Someone has stuffed some foam into them to try to help, but they aren't too good. No choke, the cable is too long? and isn't connected No heater control, the valve is wrong and doesn't match the cable. An oil leak from either the rocker cover gasket or oil cap Uninsulated spark plug leads Oil leak from shifter rod LH outer CV boot torn A smell of fuel from the fuel tank area No radio despite wires running all over the show Battery isn't secured and is missing its cover Boot floor cover missing So that's the bad stuff. The good stuff is that the body is solid, the engine and gearbox seem to work well, it handles OK, and the interior is mostly there. It has a sweet vinyl roof. Oh, and its very similar green to my old Marina. My plan is to get it drivable, and then take it for a re-registration check to see what it needs, or if it will pass and be back on the road. I want to drive the heck out of this car, so need to get it legal. I also plan on tidying the interior and exterior up, maybe look for some better wheels (to fit uncut arches), change the exhaust and then enjoy it. For now, here's some photos. Oh yeah, it's called Snicket. After Lemony Snicket, due to the Mini LE decal on the side.... "Le Mini"

What a great looking car (from a distance). Also always wanted one, but never got around to it.

Awesome, thanks guys. Will give it a good degrease beforehand. Previous "mechanic" at some point over tightened the sump bolts and squished out the cork gasket.

Thats promising. The leak from my sump gasket is getting fairly bad and my WOF is due soon. Not sure if ill have a chance to change the gasket before i need a wof. Its coated the underside of the engine, and trans in oil. None leaking on exhaust AFAIK. Its just some rust proofing. Cmon guys.

How much oil is a British car allowed to leak before it fails a wof....?

Hey is anyone familiar with Link G1 ECU and hand controllers? Im thinking of converting to Speeduino, but would like to save the tune from the link and use it as a base map on the Speeduino. Its not PC tuneable though because made in 1990, so is there a way to review each fuel or ignition cell and write down the value? I know its a lot of cells to record down, but its only time.

That doesnt look too bad. This is the one for my Rover

i agree, and disagree on this statement. The difference with the Rover tune was that standard they run VERY conservative ignition timing and weak fuelling. Add a lot more timing and fuel, and it had more punch from idle to redline.

Going from the factory Rover V8 injection system with distributor to ECU controlled wasted spark and fuelling, even with my basic "science dog" road tuning was a huge difference in butt dyno power. Economy didnt get any better, but that was more likely down to me not really knowing what i was doing.

Oops weldtech, one of these https://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/W1100 Cheaper than chips for a new player at home.

Also signed up for the Weltec intro to MIG/TIG course that starts in July. Once i have done that ill buy a reg for my welder, and choose either MIG or TIG depending on which i like better during the course. https://2018.weltec.ac.nz/courses/mechanical-trades/mig-and-tig-welding-introduction/

Just ordered one of those Weldwells on sale from Machinaryhouse, along with a decent mask. Just waiting on shipping costs now.

Having tinted windows has its advantages, and its disadvantages. I finally got sick of one of the biggest disadvantages, you can't see through the windows when they are dirty... and the rear wiper doesn't work. I originally wasn't too bothered by the wiper not working, I even planned on removing it completely and just plugging the hole in the glass, but having spent some time driving the car, I soon realised that in the dark if the tailgate glass is dirty or wet, its damn near impossible to see through. Without a wiper, you just cant clear that muck. The rear washer also doesn't work (the piping to the front is AWOL, and the pump outlet is plugged). I know the switches get dirty and fail to work, but when the button is pressed I can hear a relay clicking from the rear. No response from the actual wiper though. So yesterday I started by removing the wiper motor from the window and having a look over it. I knew from ages ago that the motor had previously been submerged in water, and didn't look good. The wiper spindle bushing through the glass had been leaking badly. Looks like its been under the damn ocean. A sandy ocean. Removal is easy. Well, if yours is as bodged in as mine was, it is. Remove the wiper arm by removing the plastic cap, and the 13mm nut. Remove the two screws on the underside of the motor housing and remove the cover. The wiring needs to be disconnected, the connector should be inside the lower edge of the tailgate, behind the lower plastic trim. My connector was missing, and someone had used spade terminals instead. Yay. Then there are two bolts on the inside of the boot lid, a 12mm and 13mm, and the lot should drop off and come out. Argh, not good looking. There should be a large nut on the top of the spindle too, but mine was missing. Mine was missing more than I thought, but thankfully I had a couple of spare motor assemblies in my spares, and between the three I had enough parts to make a complete assembly. This is how the spindle should be setup. First there is a lower plastic sleeve (missing from my original assembly) Then the rubber bushing that goes through the glass. I removed mine to clean and seal under it. This has another plastic sleeve that goes inside/on top of it. And then a washer and big nut on top of that (both missing previously). When this nut is tightened, it actually compresses the bushing against the glass, creating a seal. No wonder mine leaked, it wasn't compressed. This wouldn't help either, my bushing is super tired, and they are NLA now. Before fitting a replacement motor I chose to test one to make sure it actually worked. I whacked some 12V into the motor, and sure enough the replacement came to life nicely. The original, nothing but a big blue spark. Completely seized. Refitting isn't rocket surgery, but I did a couple of quick things to make my life better. First, removing the motor allowed me to clean up and treat some rust in the tailgate and then I smeared some Sikaflex on the glass, and refit the bushing. Then it was time to refit the motor. You can see how much squish there is in the bushing once tightened And then on went the elusive rubber cap. WD40 helped to get this into place. Then it was wiring time. I thought this would be straight forward, but no, someone had been here before and made some bodges. This is the wiring diagram Looks easy enough, just connect the colours up and away I go. NOPE. Someone has messed with the car side of the wiring, so instead of the required Red, Brown/Green, Black and Green, I had Green, Blue, Black and Red. I connected them as I would expect, Red to Red, Black to Black, and winged it with the other two (which are for the parking feature, where the wiper will stop at the bottom when the switch is turned off). Nothing. I suspected the fuse may have blown because of the seized motor in the past, so had a look and sure enough, a blown fuse. Replaced it, and bam, the fuse blows again. Damnit. Long story short, red isn't the power feed. With some multimeter work I worked out that Blue is actually the main feed for the motor, black is of course ground, and the other two are for the park feature. With that revelation I managed to get the motor working when the switch is pressed. No amount of work could get the parking to work. I even disassembled the gearbox for the wiper to check the contacts. But it didn't matter. I did further digging and found why the wiring colours didn't match That's where the random coloured wiring terminates. Presumably this replaces the original wiring. No idea why. That's not the worst part though, I can work with that wiring, the worst part is that someone has replaced the rear wiper delay timer unit with a standard relay... The delay timer should look like this But instead someone took the time to make this (grey box at the top) I don't know why, and from what I can establish, a normal relay wont do the same function as the delay unit. I'm also not sure why, no matter how it's connected, the parking function blows the fuse. It's obviously shorting, but without looking further into the relay and wiring, I don't know why. They were too lazy to even run the wiring inside the guard, instead its on the outside of the inner guard, and gets trapped behind the plate the fuse box is on I have decided at this point to just abandon the parking function, as I have the motor and wiper actually working properly as it is, I just have to time when I turn the switch off to where I want the wiper to stop. I did chew through a few fuses during testing though (ignore the horrible stained carpet, its scheduled for cleaning next month) So I insulated the spare terminals, wrapped all the wiring, zip tied the loose relay to the wiring harness (so it isn't rattling around) and reassembled the wiper housing Back on went the wiper arm, after cycling the motor and checking it was at dead bottom when I fitted the arm Wipe wipe The one good thing about having no parking function, is that I can park it where ever I damn well please. The wiper normally parks at the bottom, as per above photo, but it always bothered me that it collects dirt and gunk down there, so I parked it vertical (I really need to clean up that excess sealant). Now I should be able to see out the back in the dark, since it seems to rain every day here at the moment. Speaking of rain, I also replaced the front wiper refills the other day. I wanted to replace the whole blade, but since they are pin fitting blades, I'm not sure about finding a replacement. Refills work for now. The old ones were a tad had it. This was the Drivers one. I did find out the hard way that if your replacement refills have two widths (wide and narrow) and you accidentally fit it into the narrow instead of wide, when you wipe the screen on the motorway the refill will be torn out of the clips on the holder, and then you have no wipers. Thankfully they stayed on the car, so a quick pull over and refit them correctly and I was on my way again. Rookie move. Rookie. Move.

I see none of the welders come with gas regulators. Are they all much of a muchness? The websites for that Weldwell one call for a GR101C02, which is https://www.trademe.co.nz/business-farming-industry/industrial/manufacturing-metalwork/welders/auction-1650543665.htm Do i specifically have to buy that one? I would want a regulator that works with the Bunnings swap out bottles.

The fuse box/board is in the garage (under the house) so i can trace back the garage plugs to see what else is on the circuit. Would also be easy to get a 15A plug installed i guess. Machinaryhouse is already on backorder for those Weldtech MIGs. Its a good price though.

Our house was built in 1965, and the fuse box hasnt been updated yet (still has old ceramic/wire fuses), but according to the building inspection guy the wiring was decent (and the wiring to the garage 10A sockets is thick TPS wire). Not sure i'd want to rely on just the house fuses protecting from overload; which is the advantage of that Jaycar adaptor, it has a 10A circuit breaker in it.

I have now narrowed down to three options. The CigWeld 135 Inverter. Single phase 10A plug, 20% @ 135A. Can do MIG and ARC http://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/Product/Cigweld-WeldSkill-135-Inverter-Plant-MIG-ARC-W1008135/554061 The Weldtech 160A inverter. Also single phase 10A, 20% @ 160A. MIG, TIG, ARC https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1650839556 Or the Toolshed branded 160A inverter MIG. Single phase, but 15A plug. 20% @ 160A. MIG and ARC. https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/10344-toolshed-160a-inverter-mig-welder The issue with the last one is that it would either need me to get a 15A plug installed in the garage, or use an adaptor like this, https://www.jaycar.co.nz/portable-rcd-with-15a-to-10a-mains-plug-conversion/p/MS4044 but i guess i risk not being able to run it at full grunt? is that even an issue? The Toolshed looks like a nice little unit, backed with a good warranty by a local shop. The Cigweld is a known brand, backed by a warranty with supercheap. The Weldtech is an unknown, likely Chinese special, with unknown warranty backing, but is 10A and can do TIG. Thoughts?

To stop me filling up the tech spam thread with my questions, I thought it best to make a new thread. Hopefully this might help someone else that stumbles across this in future. First the back story, Which left me with the question, MIG or TIG?

I like the idea of TIG, but realistically MIG would be all I need to glue some BLMC "steel" back together. Now to find a good unit at a good price. Have seen a couple of used MIG come up on FB, but either really old, or there was a Telwin unit on there but the duty cycle was stupidly low, 60% @ 80A, 15% @ 140A. Seems a bit weak compared to other units around.

Thanks lads, looks like priority is MIG, but might be nice to get one that does TIG too.

SUrely its gotta be easier to just grab one of those heaters in the AliX thread, and plumb it into your cooling system? Seems pretty extreme having to have a diesel heater, when you have coolant lines just on the otherside of the firewall.

Ah, thats another thing to note, i only have single phase 10A, so i need to keep that in mind. No intention of welding alu (way beyond my skills; maybe in future).

Looking around, im now a little conflicted. I just want to be able to do some basic welding on rust repairs and the usual Oldschool stuff; is it best to go for a cheap MIG (with gas), or get a semi-decent ARC that can do lift-TIG? @Raizer you clearly have a TIG, whats your opinion on your machine and your welding? Do you wish you had MIG instead? I have done some gas welding before, but never electric. I know the basics behind them, but will have to learn from scratch.