Adoom

It looks halfway between image 1 and 6. There is abrasion damage near the top of the rod that would have damaged the seal. I suspect VTNZ will fail it. I guess I must cross my fingers for working on car outside weather this weekend because my shed is full of projects and there is no room for the daily.

Are leaking shock/struts a wof fail? Or just a comment? New ones arrived today Ex japan, but I may or may not get a chance to fit them before the wof is due.

I wanted to have a better tow bar mounting system than the factory one, which relied far to much on the spare wheel well sheet metal. I originally intended to fold up something that would replace the support for the boot floor boards. But I didn't have any suitable sheet metal and it would have been too long and thick to fit in my folder. So I decided that using some rectangular section would be FAR simpler. I made some access holes so I could weld in the captive nuts and if I ever need to replace them, I can get in there with a die grinder. I also notched the bottom with the mill so it fit over the raised sections of floor. Just a couple of spot welds on this side. I'm not sure if I should be worried about bending forces where it's welded on below the strut, it's 1.2mm sheet there, or if I should add some structure in to tie it in with the cross member above it... There is double skinned structure in the rear quarters that wraps around and across the back panel and ties into the bumper mounts, so the back of the car is actually supported. Gives me three M10X1.25 bolt holes. Don't mind the washers, they were just to clamp it for welding. Now I need to do the other side.

Thanks to @Lord Gruntfuttock my heater system arrived today. I gave the bits a bath in the paddling pool. An outside hot tap is so convenient for this. Looks like I've got almost 2 sets of bits. And a couple of mystery round bits that I suspect may not be from a mini.(left and up from the blue brush) Hopefully the fan works and the heater matrix is not full of holes.

Please paint those engine pulleys!

I got all my holes filled. And drilled another orifice so I can tickle the nut on the diff mount.

Filling in the hole. 1.2mm is so nice to weld.

I have a 2zzge Allex. Goes real good. Lift kicks in at 6400 and starts pulling harder up to 8200 redline. 140 killingwhats apparently. I reckon now must be the best/cheapest time for sourcing these engines. Not uncommon to see at PickAPart now.

Two coats of epotec brushed on. Needs another coat. I used about 1.2L. I'd probably get better coverage spraying, but I'm not set up to spray yet and I also didn't want to paint everything in the shed white too. I splooged it on heavy around the seams and gaps etc and pushed in the cracks as best I could. Plenty of runs, but it's never really going to be seen. The underside of the parcel tray was a real cunt to get clean enough to paint. It had a lot of surface rust... and rust coloured paint which was covered in old hard glue, that was also brown, which was covered in that fluffy sound deadening. The whole back panel was completely coated in glue and fluffy stuff too. The rotisserie bits in the way, small space and lack of light was an added bonus. I ended up using turps with steel wool and various hand and drill/grinders to get the glue and fluff off. Then I tried using phosphoric acid on the rust and discovered the paint. So had to use paint stripper to get that off. Then I could use the acid and more steel wool and wire brushes. After many hours over days and weeks I decided it was acceptable and I was okay with painting it. Then wax and grease remover.

Nice! Thanks for that. I've been busy with the front panel and getting the underside prepped for epoxy primer.

Does anyone mix their epotec 408 by weight and have the numbers? I used the digital kitchen scales and weighed 500ml (in a mixing cup) of hardener and 500ml of the 408 and came up these numbers. I didn't get around to weighing the thinners... Someone sanity check this?

Mine is an old boc 170p. must be about 18 years old.

Voltage, or whatever is on the power knob...(mine is just 1 to 6) then adjust the wire speed to keep up with the voltage.

I write my settings on the side of the welder with a vivid.

The rest of the stuff I ordered. Teeny tiny little disc brakes. These are the biggest brakes you can get that will fit in (most...some)10" wheels. My options for brakes were: Drum brakes. Most mini's had drums. It's not hard to out drive them. So, just no. 7.5" disc brakes. solid disc. fits 10" wheels. also needs disc brake hub and 7.5" specific drive flange. Only came on the early cooper S minis. Like hens teeth now. 8.4" disc brakes. solid disc. needs 12" wheels. also needs disc brake hub and 8.4" specific drive flange. Only came on 1275cc minis, so way less of them. Come up occasionally, but people want $$$ and they will still need rebuilding. 8.4" MG Metro disc brakes. vented disc. needs 12" wheels. The whole hub assembly will bolt straight on, but you will get positive camber. Only came on the MG Metro turbo. When is the last time you saw one of those. You can get new 7.5" brake/hub assembly from minispares/minisport. But the 7.5" brakes were not particularly good anyway, or so I have been told. Or you can get new 8.4" brake/hub assembly from minispares/minisport. But I kinda want 10" wheels. So I got the minisport 7.9" vented brake/hub assembly for just a few hundred more than the 7.5 or 8.4 so I can have good brakes and 10" wheels. It's basically the 8.4 brakes with different discs and alloy 4 piston calipers. I justified it by telling myself, it's all new. If I got some used brakes, the hub could be damaged, the bearings, CVs, balljoints and discs will probably need replacing, the calipers will need rebuilding.

That's option 2.

Yep, been using my old auto darkening helmet. It works fine, but the work area needs to be well lit because the base tint of the lens is fairly dark.

Supplier has said it's technically out of warranty, but told me to send it in and they will take it up with Optrel to see what can be done.

Maybe half the diameter of the nozzle I guess. But it varies a a little depending on what you are welding. On thin <1mm stuff I like to get as close as possible while still being able to see what I am doing.

Maybe, there could be clearance issues between the usb charging plug and forehead. I've googled replacing the battery, but all I found was for an older model that is not even remotely similar to mine.

Well shit. My expensive $800 Optrel panoramaxx 2.5 helmet I bought in 2019 doesn't charge anymore. The battery is supposed to "never need replacing", so is not user accessible. The helmet still works while the charging cable is plugged in, but totally dead when unplugged. I've optimistically emailed the supplier in the hope that it's a known fault and covered by some warranty. I really can't justify buying a new one every three years.

And the front panel is welded in! It definitely needed lots of convincing and about a million vise grips to get the panels to line up properly. There is a couple of spots where I will need to use some filler to get the levels closer. I added in some little bits of angle to stiffen the panel join, like there is between the wing and the a-panel. It feels pretty solid. Still got a bunch of visible welds to grind down.

Thanks. In my case, it was cheaper from minisport UK vs minispares UK because they had the gaz shocks and adjusta-ride as a kit.

STUFF!!! I won't need this stuff for quite a while, but I thought I'd better get it now because I was thinking prices might go up with the looming recession, or whatever. I got all this, including the GST and freight from UK for about the same price as buying only the shocks and rubber "cones" locally. So the adjusta-ride and new knuckes were basically free. Still quite a bit of money. Apparently the rubber cones are supposed to be replaced after about 6 years! I'd bet not many people did that. For those not in the know, the rubber cones are the 'springs' in mini suspension.

Be sure to store your CDs in the dark. Had some dropped on my desk at work that must have been kept in the sun or something, they were totally fucked and turning weird colours. Straight in the bin.