Mk1Mad

Still looking good Chris. So what does the list of things to do include now? Is it out at you olds place now? What do your folks think? Bet theyre impressed!!! Haha. Im back in NZ on the 12th. Will be making a trip down to Welly for a few days to check this out at some point after that. Were also off to V8's in Hamilton, you should come up!!!

http://www.zcars.org.uk/ I have their Dvd of them building the Bike engined Mini. Actually, I think GAZ has it.

Um. Fly back into Auckland on the 12th of April, then heading down to the NP for a bit. Not sure what im up to from there. Maybe work in petrochemical in NP until grad. Also, am planning on sending in an app to work at Treble Cone for the season as its been mega fun over here working. Otherwise will head back to Welly and get a proper job..... Sounds mean with the wiring, at least it sounds pretty simple to sort, just follow a wiring diagram. Will be good to see it regoed and Wofed, Have you mounted the seats? Driveshaft Loop? Front Brakes? GAz. Will let ya know when the Manifold arrives. and try and see how much it would be to send it back as a "gift"... haha.

Anglia would be nice. Will have to keep an eye out and stop buying stuff over here... Looks totally mean chris. How was it to drive? Cant wait to get back and check it out, hopefully it will be certed and all legal! Hmmm, with that pic of GAz's Cortina and Escort you'dd think you guys have a bit of a Ford tendency.. Haha.

Nice work on getting it going Chris. I now that feeling, well pleased. Let us keep that updates coming. I getting jelous so might try and save a little US$$$ to bring back and find me a project...

Haha ^^^^ nice chirs... I seam to remember that I took that bit off...... Hmmm.

Haha. Like trying to steal the Auto subbie.. haha. poor idiots got half way and then realised it wasent really a WRX... serves them right.

Yo Gaz. Remember that Auto box that you bought down from home that got pinched from outside Chris's house? That had a different output spline diameter and im sure the box itself was a bit of a different size/length. Maybe there were two different types of Auto boxes with different length driveshafts with different gearbox spline sizes! - Oh Yeah Chris, Americas going sweet.

Looking good chris!!! Did you get that pedal box all bolted in proper? How does it look with the driveshaft? Gonna have to get one made or can you use the original two-piece auto shaft?

Looking mean as Chris. Keep the updates coming. Im on a comp over here pretty much every night so can keep a check up. Anything else being done except for body prep? Bet youve bought more stuff off TM. haha. Surf Ebay US and if there are any small things I can get for ya will be able to bring them back or send them over as a gift whenever you want.

Looking mean Chris. A little more work on the front guards and arches and shell be ready. So what you gonna paint first? Engine bay, door jambs, bottom side of boot and bonnet and inside boot, then fit doors and do all the outer panels?

Mean Gaz. Will check it out good and proper on friday. So you better keep Chris motivated on his MK1 and get it out of your shed!! So you recon youll fit the cortina and escort side by side... Theres no more firewood in there so i suppose its possible..

Im pretty sure that goldish colour stuff is a copper-nickel alloy. If it is, it is the same stuff you can use for brake lines. In the past brake lines used pure copper but it tends to workharden with movement and then break/split. Copper/Nickel is better, easy to bend.. depends on the diameter tho I suppose. Theres a good question, what size do you need? Weve got to run a new one on Chris's escort, 2L Pinto, what size should we use??

Yep, $20 to blast and prime per wheel so $100 all up. He can paint as well but I already had the top coat so didnt need it done. Came up really good.

Had some wheels down in welly with me to get stripped and painted. Sand blaster was $20 a wheel to blast and 2K prime which I thought was reasonable (same guy that did my subframe). I got some Old English White paint mixed up a while back so am slowly painting them. Looking really good, cant wait to fit the tyres up and put them on the car. Mini has also had a new exhaust fitted, which I havent seen yet, but I had to get rid of the big bore centre exit pipe which sounded crap on the 850cc. Original Wheels Two on right have 1 coat of paint so far, three on left are still in primer. Painted one closeup Getting some proper work done on Low'n'Slow's escort so will send him the photos to update his post. One more uni exam to go ever, then im off to the states on November 26th for 5 months... Mean.

Note the slightly extended wheel base.... No U-bolts??!!, just use tie-down strapping.

do they have the bolt that fixes to the bottom of the gearbox on the bend? that helps stop flex too. Yeah, if bushes are rooted itll be rocking your world.

Get the exhaust shop to put in a flexable joint up by the gearstick. When engine rocks back and forth it breaks the exhaust. Also replace any steady bar bushes with new. Should stop the exhaust breaking again... hopefully

THE END

So. Me = going to America in November for 5 months Having the mini stored at LOW'n'SLOW's house wasen't the best for his parents.. so it was sell or wreak. Had it on TM for a while.. no takers.. listed engine and subframe on TM, sold within a day. So im wreaking... Got assignments comin up so had to do it quick. Went out there at 11.30am on Sunday morning, left for home at 5pm that night - 1 man and some spanners (insert grinder). Body has gone to pick'a'part, engine is gone.. got the mags which I might keep, lots of other bits to sell. Anyway, pics: At 11.30am on Sunday At 5.00pm on Sunday

So I got my first drive in today with a the right ride height, wheel alignment and everything connected up. Was very fun, worth the wait... got little list of things im not happy with but theres no rush on these: Need one more RH chrome sill strip (on order soon) Get new indicator switch ($300 for Britian - no rush) Have steering wheel refubished (gone slightly tacky and small cracks) New smaller period exhaust (soon - the current one is noisy and centre exit) Track down some good metal (chromed) sliding window catches New steering column shroud Get 2nd set of wheels done in OEW Better hubcaps There is other stuff but at least it can be driven regularly now.. Anyway, pics

So, I fitted up the engine and suspension to the new frame. No problems at all with that. Time to refit to the car, set it up, rolled the car over and dropped it down. Took a bit of fiddling to get it in, now 1st problem.... The tower bolts are different, the dry frames bolts are bigger the the hydro. And thet are also a bugger to line up and get in. So ive got some bolts to get, but can fit everything else up over sunday. This is the new clearance, looks massive but it hasen't settled down yet. Anyway, no more scraping on the grass down the driveway (There are many stones stuck in the cooling fins on the bottom of the gearbox, lucky they wern't too solid).

Got the subframe sandblasted and painted. $90 for blast, prime and 2 topcoats of black paint. Got it done out at seaview, very happy. Anyway, this is the clearance on the front with the hydro subframe in, remember, this is for originality so its way too low. So out came the old subframe, not too much trouble, lifted the body up over the subframe and sat it back behind. This is the old subframe as taken out of the car. So i set it up and transfered all the parts to the new subframe. Isn't it bliss to have a 16 x 12 m shed.... This is the difference between the old and new subframe, notice how the top of the hydro is higher than the dry. This was approx 20mm of extra room for the spring (See. Rubber Donut) to sit up in. Meaning when you start working with lever angles you get an amplified ratio. Hydro Tower Dry Tower More to come from today..

Like how the mags came up thought idd put up a comparison. Also, big ups go out to chris for telling me, "oi, there are a couple of minis out at pick-apart, one with widen steels". Score for $18 each including two good dunlop SP aquajets. Got three in total, one with a bad dent, nothing a hammer wont fix tho. Put them in place of my mags for now. Thinking of going for a black and white theme, with a bit of chrome. Maybe black roof, upper half and wheels and white middle. Or the other way round. Will see...

While you were all fanginn it around the track, I got painting and polishing.