Ryans '73 Clubman

[AGRORB]

Holy shit its been a while since this has had an update! Basically, over the last year and a bit, i've been stockpiling parts, and the car has sat for most of that time too. The motor was knackered, the wheel bearings and balljoints were shot, the steering rack had play, the brakes were in need of an overhaul, the suspension bushes were worn, it just needed a bloody good birthday. And a WOF. And a serious injection of cash. So I parked it up and tootled around in 2 quite boring daily drivers, a Honda Shuttle and lately, a Caldina CZ... Until the beginning of last week, which, with the help of Mini.Mad (cheers Josh), we got stuck in with the storage unit full of brand new goodies I've bought for the car. Before all that though, the carburetor was rebuilt by Glenn Lawrence at Eclipse engineering with new throttle shaft bushes, a new throttle plate, linkages, the works, it actually works properly again! I've also sourced a few goodies from Japan, the first being a set of Group 2 flares with chrome trims and set of late model Cooper 1.3i door  and rear trims, those haven't arrived yet though We did however, mock the flares up, fuck yes we did.

 

 

 

These will be refinished in a nice gloss black eventually, unfortunately the Old English White just looks like gelcoat against the blue. We then got onto more pressing matters, the following is copied from another forum i'm on...

 

What a massive week its been for the old girl, now sitting in pieces ready for reassembly  The story pans out something like this:

I showed up from work on Monday to my mate Josh (minimad for you OS members) dismantling the front end of the car. Grille off, bonnet off, manifolds off, engine ancillaries off, wiring disconnected and part way through dropping the exhaust. Without further adieu and a bad back I got stuck in myself:

Wheels off first, as the hubs were to be removed. I'll be glad to see the back of those ugly rusty drums:

Next up, smack the ball joints free. The passenger side was easy, the drivers side proved to be a right cunt though:

As we got frustrated with the drivers side ball joints we decided to come back to it and press on with other things, like dropping the shift linkage out. What a nightmare, as the roll pins had seized inside the connecting sleeve, at least the stabiliser rod was easy. A couple of different punches, awkward swinging with a hammer and lots of swearing later we had it out. The gear lever has to be in the reverse position to allow access to the two roll pins:

Poos photo but the little nub sticking out the back of the gearbox next to the diff housing is the selector input:

Once that was done we removed the  broken drive couplings (inboard cross joints). This was made difficult as the broken knuckles were preventing the axles from being spun fully to allow it to be removed, we got there though. 

After that, the exhaust was removed entirely, the engine mounts were undone, and the engine was ready for removal. We sat the hubs loosely back in the suspension arms and refitted the wheels to make this a little bit safer, as we didn't trust the jack stands:

Going up: 

Aaaaand shes out 

Great success. It's still full of oil and water, so we'll deal with that at some stage, other than that this is very much ready for scrap:

Finally it was a case of smack the tie rods out of the hub carriers, removing the axles and withrdawing the hubs. Pretty easy.

 

 

We decided to call it a day and pack up after that.

[AGRORB]

Et part deux...

 

Day two. Steering column disconnected. LEFT HOOK HOMUHGAWD:

The next step was to start removing the subframe and steering rack, which is about 12 bolts/nuts all up. Josh got to work around the engine bay while I dealt with the 4 subframe bolts under the floor and the steering rack nuts:

Two on each side, the underfloor subframe bolts sit just below these, again, two on each side. There are two above the suspension turrets on each side:

And two in each of the holes in the front valance, one of mine however, was missing 

Then, we dropped the whole lot out. A little persuasion with a rubber mallet helped break it away from the body. It was simply a case of lower the jack and wheel the subframe complete with suspension out from under the car.

Ezpz. Steering rack was even easier, tap the 2 u-bolts out and out she falls:

The next step can be a right pain with most Minis, refitting the rack, as the U-bolts have to pass through a plate in the engine bay as well as the floor pan, and the holes dont always line up, mine however, went in relatively trouble free, much to the disgust of Josh 

ITS SO NEW. Oh, while I was under there I wire brushed all the surface rust and attacked it with etch primer, this will be re-done in satin black:

I removed the castor rods and that was enough for one day, it was time for a beer.

Fast forward to today, Sunday, 10th January. About to go grab some satin black paint and get the hubs fully dismantled. Will also be degreasing and repainting the subframe today and if time allows, reassembling the hubs, relining the brakes, fitting the new drums and getting the subframe back in. Exciting...

 

And that was that. Along with the steering rack, inner CV's and new front brake hoses, here's the other bits I also have in storage:

 

 

Genuine Superfin drums for the front, genuine Rover Timken front wheel bearings, NSK heavy duty rear wheel bearings, urethane/rubber castor rod bushes, full ball joint set, new drum retaining screws, Cooper S studs and new grease nipples. The carb rebuild kit is obviously in the carb already (y) Can't wait to get everything fitted, work out why my RH dip beam keeps blowing and finally go for a WOF