AGRORB

HOOOOO SHIT ITS UPDATE TIME, not a hell of a lot going on, Mini has a new WOF n shit, which is good, I bought some new door and window seals, which I haven't fitted because slack, tackled some surface rust, added some shiny bits, my EBay heater tap disintegrated so I've replaced it with a take-off elbow... yeah. Here's some copypasta from another build thread, the more interesting stuff though: Decided to get stuck into my rusty floor with my day off. It's mostly only surface rust and the passenger side was very minor, however the drivers side was a bit worse. The old house carpet they were using as underlay was saturated, mouldy and starting to rot, so it's now residing comfortably in a skip. Dried the floor off and got stuck in with a wire brush, as you can see it's had repairs in the past, passenger side: Driver: Paint time, no etch primer so I used filler primer instead, and some gloss black. Only a footwell, not like anyone's gonna see it: First two coats of primer: Took its time drying, so I dragged my carpet upstairs for a meeting with some Shake 'n' Vac, then, back down for paint, one basecoat, two layers of topcoat: Finally came the smelly and most unpleasant stage, Lanocote. Shit smells rank, never spraying large amounts without a mask again Gave that about 15 minutes to go waxy, then biffed the carpet back in, fits so much better now with all the crap underneath gone and I could actually button it down to its securing points, I'll be pulling it out for a black or dark grey one eventually but it's a Damn sight better than it was: Actually got full travel in my clutch now and my steering column isn't binding up in strands of ruined carpet and insulation. Productive Thursday was productive. I'll likely have to replace the floor sections at some stage as the drivers side is pretty bad in places, but hopefully this combined with the underseal on the bottom should keep the tinworm at bay a bit longer Especially with the new window and door seals.

Rodgee, sounds good

Preferably before I sell the Mini

Sorry if I've missed a post or whatever but do any of the Dunedin crowd meet up regularly at all?

So basically there's a fair bit of lateral slop in the gear lever in my Clubman. Does anybody know how I eliminate this? Is it a case of replacing a nylon bush at the base of the lever as with most gearboxes or, because old, British and stubborn, is there some sort of fucked up sorcery requiring special tools and bath salts to remedy this? My selector seals are leaking (REALLY?!) so I may as well replace, er, whatever needs replacing while I'm under the car/swearing and spilling beer. I'm definitely getting quick release rod couplings as apparently they save many headaches, will replacing the roll pins in the selector rods also tighten things up? Never had to do this before so if someone could tell me what I need before I spend money that'd be awesome. It's definitely a rod change box, 4 synchro, 998 motor

See what you mean about the tappet cover, tried giving mine.a polish before but instead of restoring a shine to it it's become a dull, sort of semi gloss silver degrease and paint sounds like the way to go, far too fussy for that shit The radiator is just a little too wide for a standard shroud, no biggy if all your parts match but when they don't, it makes already misaligned parts misalign even more tossing up between selling or keeping it as a spare.

Massive update! Excuse the choppiness of it, copied and pasted from another forum, I haven't been able to access oldschool until today :facepalm:

And that's where everything stands currently!

Biffed old steering wheel, Cleaned it up, drove it places... Steering wheel in looks fuggin' sweet, makes the indicator stalk a bit of a stretch but no biggy Photobucket seems to have killed image quality Engine bay shot with everything in place Gonna pull the tappet cover off tomorrow and give it a proper polish. Considering spraying it with Metalcast anodized red or red wrinkle coat, leaving the fins, cap and T-bars polished, just to match my pulley and stabilizer bar, plus the raw polished alloy finish can be a prick to keep clean. Just need an amp and I can start my 6x9 install Went for a lunchtime cruise out to Tomahawk beach, followed by a good cane up the hill out the peninsula to Larnach Castle, and then decided to see where the end of our road is... Waitati it seems Car never skipped a beat, temperature got up to just under half so still nothing to worry about. Here's some pics of my newly shined up little money pit overlooking some pretty coastal scenery. Because cunts love pictures. And a majestic hill/cliff thingy. Forgotten just how much fun throwing one of these around really is, even though you're not hauling arse every twisty narrow road feels like a Special Stage and the go-kart steering and little bits of lift off overstee just completes the experience One of the only cars I can confidently left foot brake in with out ending up with my face lodged in the steering wheel too Starting to wonder if I can give this car up tbh...

Last Thursday, it came home! More copypasta! GAIZ GAIZ GAIZ LUK IT GOZE!! Like under its own power n shit! Hefty bill for the mountain of work done and parts replaced, and there's still a lot more to do but for now, all is well! Went up Signal Hill to load it up a bit, temperature didn't budge, went for a spirited drive to Portobello, temperature didn't budge, sits on quarter constantly engine temp has been checked at different points and the readings averaged 82 degrees which is bang on, with a healthy 65 degrees in the bottom tank. Engine bays looking good, will get some photos tomorrow in better light, but for now, has thees =DDDDDD Bought a very svelte Rover solid wood gear knob, looks and feels great, despite what potato photo may lead you to believe, extra height makes it much more comfortable too. Also got the obligatory chrome GB badges as fitted to Sportspack Coopers And a cheeky sticker, because truck mad :giggle: So yes there is a still a hill to climb, but, at least it's not the mountain it used to be. Going back in a few weeks for RH engine mount as they're waiting on the part, after that it'll be minor tidy ups with wiring, fixing the rattly bonnet, tappets, just a good birthday really. Faith in my humble Mini restored, stoked to be driving it again

Hold onto your wigs, it's huge update copypasta time! Alloy rad was a nightmare to fit, professional help was required... So I won't go into the boring details of my radiator not fitting, but here's an engine bay teaser shot: Y U MAEK FAN HIT SHROUD U SHINY ALLOY CUNT. And today's progress... Baaaiiiii Mini off to a local specialist for rad support mods, compression and leakdown tests, a service and tune Then I bought some sounds... Well that's 4 day's it's been gone, gotta say it's been kinda dumb not having it at home Eased the pain with some retail therapy today, bought a new headunit as mine is on its way out. Does pretty much everything my old Sony did in the Skyline and was a whole $5 cheaper just need new speakers to replace the hideous Carrozeria ones I have at the moment, looking at 6x9's for the parcel shelf, whatever size components I can fit in a speaker board under the rear seats for mid and probably just tweeters up front, I'm not into big installs. Been looking at dash kits from the UK and so so keen to get one, woodgrain, charcoal burr and genuine carbon fibre available with door cappings to match cheap too... Everythings hinging on the state of my engine though. Days and weeks went past. Ally rad was just a prick to fit so I bought an Adrad one instead. Mechanic found a list of shit wrong, too, here's how that went down... New 6x9 board came today from.Miniworks in.Wellington Very nicely made in-house too. Decided to rip out the alloy rad and replace it with a copper two core type from Silverdale Radiators, all the cooling performance of the alloy radiator with none of the arsehole fitting issues. Should have just got one in the first place. Garage don't seem too pleased that I've made their job easier though, got a call from the owner today a couple hours after I told them I was pulling the alloy rad out. I lolled. Let's try radiator number two, shall we? Nice Adrad Aussie jobby, should do the job Seriously considering boron nitrate coating the core next service though, just for mega cooling efficiency, seeing as Mini's love to pop headgaskets as soon as the temp gauge even sniffs the hotter side of halfway... At last, progress. Just back from a visit to.the garage, they've found a nice little list of issues without even getting into the radiator fitting and compression/leakdown tests: Two broken engine mounts Lower radiator bracket is completely wrong Starter motor has been installed incorrectly Most rubber fuel lines have perished LH front brake line had been crushed and kinked It's had a frontal at some stage Fuel pump cap has been installed backwards Hopefully that's the end of my woes There was literally nothing left of the mounts at all, just rusty worn steel and crumbly rubber, two new one's are in now. He's re routed and lengthened most of the fuel lines so they aren't running so close to the exhaust and is relocating the filter to the bulkhead. He's also redone the buggered brake line and sorted the fuel pump, it just needs the right Clubman rad brackets and he can install the radiator. New waterpump bypass hose was also installed as my one was swollen and cracking. Pointed out it's had a new nose and pair of guards at some stage, I asked if he thinks the car or front subframe is twisted at all as the LH front sits higher but he says there's no sign of anything untoward damage wise and it's more than likely worn bushes or subframe mounting pads causing the lean... As I said, I hope this is the last of it...

Part deux: Whoever done the work last time put the fan on back to front. Fuckwits, its clearly marked: So, with that massive anticlimax, I chucked my new steady brace on, complete with bushes: The old one, much ugliness: Thats as far as I got, painted the top rad support a fresh coat of black and I'll do the upper shroud tomorrow. I'll give BNT a call on Tuesday (Otago anniversary, long weekend, w00t) and hopefully get the radiator in nek weekend. Glad the hardest parts are done, and having brand new hardware for the pump certainly helped, old ones were fair rusty. Was talking to an old English joker who was walking by and he said the best thing to do is simply bin the thermostat and fit a blanking sleeve, and unless you have a catastrophic failure the cooling system should never give problems again (y) With that in mind I'll fit one next spring, no point having an engine that doesn't warm up in freezing Dunedin winters Productive 4 hours tbh!

Shamelessly copied and pasted from Bwarp : Got ripped into my buggered cooling system today. Started by removing the old, seized heater tap and fitted a new shiny, PROPER one, god knows what the old one was. Easy enough. Next up was a full flush. I've had 5 Finish dishwasher tablets sitting in the system under the advice of forum members from TMF for the last 5 days. Ran some Holts coolant flush through it today, drained the system, removed the radiator and thermostat, and flushed all the shit through: Old crumbling thermostat housing, making way for a nice new one: Beginning the removal process: Handily, the heater hose has a steel fitting a garden hose fits onto!: Backflushing: Next the waterpump was removed. Easy enough, unbolt the alternator and remove 4 bolts.Here's the new one, with the larger, deeper impeller compared to the old one, which is clearly smaller: Genuine English Superseal gasket: New waterpump in place: The new pulley, bit larger than the old one, alongside the high capacity pump this should completely negate any cavitation in the cooling system: This is where the fun began, my brand new belt doesn't fit as I need a Cooper S belt, this is as far as I got: Fitted the fan the CORRECT way:

Righto, question for some of you who may have already done this,what's the easiest way to replace engine steady bushes on one of these? Thr bar between the motor and bulkhead. Replacing both the steady bar and bushes along with all my cooling system shite this weekend. Would I just take the weight of the motor with a jack (solid alloy sumps FTW) or is there another way? Bolt on the motor seems silly tight.

Sweet, sweet billet arrived from the UK today Time to get tore into the old beast at last

My new Griproyal wheel arrived! Ordered Xmas day, finally here Exceptional quality and finish and about the same price as your average Momo wheel, plenty thick and it's heavy too, can't wait to fit this, probably the only one in this colour in the country

The biggest (figuratively and literally) piece of the puzzle arrived today in the shape of this spiffing alloy radiator. Have seen these fitted to a few NZ Mini's and at just $25 cheaper than a Minispares equivalent from the UK I have no doubts about quality despite being a no-name item off trademe. Fuckin light and two nice thick cores, certainly looks a damn sight nicer than my factory one anyway. Also bought a heater tap from an English classic specialist (it seems originals are either out of stock for the mk1-4 head mounted type or horrendously expensive), a NOS and therefore period correct heater cable and some stainless studs to compliment the thermostat housing ones, the whole lot will be replaced with stainless soon enough I.also discovered some pillock has replaced the heater unit with one from a.mk1, so I'll either find a tidy mk3 one and recore it or buy a Minispares universal one as well as all the ducting which has been removed. My RetroSport order of sexy red billet alloy should hopefully land next week and will be the first of many RetroSport parts to call my car home. As soon as they arrive it's off to the doctors for some fettling and offensive part removal, as well as a health check on the engine... That's the one thing I'm not looking forward to.

The difficult part is trying to find one that's healthy, runs, and won't break the bank :lol; Even 998's seem to be fetching big dollars now, when I had my old roundnose about 8 years ago they were worth nothing and a half decent 1275 could be picked up for $700.

Been looking at some of the kits from the UK that use Eaton M45 superchargers, apparently much more efficient than the SC12 plus they include a decompression headgasket, blower, belt, HIF44, intake pipe to blower, crank pulley etc. Not the cheapest but it IS a true bolt on setup, definitely considering that option. Whether I buy the 1100 that's on trademe or hang on for another 1275 is my next dilemma, tbh I'm not expecting a positive diagnosis from my 998 after it's 7 hours of torture back in January, so it may have to be whatever's available.

Looks incredible mate! I've always wanted to see a 4AGE in one, as you say, its a change from the usual Honda B-series. Just out of interest what front hubs and brakes are you using?

Brutal! Sounds like a rotary 125hp is bloody good as well especially on a 5 port head... I'm thinking now... Oh what have you done

Into it again, more parts ordered and arriving by the day Minispares! Silicone hoses, high capacity water pump, thermostat housing, fuel line, gaskets etc: Also got some flares, need a bit of trimming and prep and paint and what not but pleased with them overall: Trial fit: Not bad at all, will need decent sized wheels to fill them out Alloy radiator on the way as well as an underdriven billet pulley and engine steady rod from RetroSport in the UK, that should finish the cooling system off, tossing up between buying another motor or getting this one checked over and building a 1330 while I putt around with my 998. Also, thinking widened steelies...

I did consider the forced induction route, primarily with a Metro turbo motor... The biggest concern for me is reliability and cooling, remembering this WILL be a daily driven car for the most part...

It's got a factory one! In the boot for now, looks nicer without it and we had it off to get as much airflow over the motor as possible on the slog from Chch... I can't drive for another 74 day's anyway... I er, overtook too many people too fast in the space of 24 months in the Skyline

More progress today, did a coolant flush with proper flushy stuff and took most of the skin off my arm trying to remove the bottom.radiator hose too... Ah well, ran it for half an hour, drained the flush/water mix from.the system, grabbed the garden hose... Then realised our house has no outside tap took the top hose off, dumped some clean water down the thermostat housing, put everything back together, topped up the system with coolant and fitted the right cap (15lb). Let it run for a further 20 mins, temperature barely got above 1/4 still going to get a proper chemical flush done on the block, a new radiator and water pump fitted and headgasket done if need be, with the head receiving a tickle up at the same time with 1.3 ratio roller rockers, double springs and some port work...