Tom Booth Posted June 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Subframe wouldn't be to bad if it comes to it dude. It's easiest to drop subby an engine, lift car over an just swap. Looks well thou mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Yeh it's no too bad a job but having got this close now would be a shame to have to! I'm not sure what to do about my soundproofing, i ripped it all up off the footwells. Was thinking of putting some roof flashing tape cause it's cheap and did an ok job on the bulkhead. I'm tempted to buy new carpets cause i cut my old ones up and i have half a brand new set for the front but they are awful quality. Anybody know any good/decent ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 What have you taken off on the front suspension that's thrown out the tracking? I can't remember if anything got bent in the crash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) Not taken off or touched anything yet really. I guessed the arm on top of the hub could have bent slightly. Either way will try and track it nicely without touching anything but if i do come across anything bent/damaged there is a mini outside i can nick bits off for the time being Edit: the floor got bent where the subframe mounts of coars but that has been rectified, probably not perfectly straight though. Edited June 10, 2012 by Duncy H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King C Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 The weakest part would be the tie bar so I'd expect that to take most of the shunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoze Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) Looks f**king sweet Dunc! I want a shiny car In related news; my sister's badgering me about getting her a Mini sorted around the end of the year, would i be looking at much decent for around the £2k mark or is it gonna be a case of getting saving? Land Rovers i can handle price-wise, Mini's and old VW's etc seem to be an absolute mystery to me - scene tax doesn't exist with what i'm used to haha! Just after something that looks good and isn't rotten, happy to sort some mechanical gremlins out. No real rush as she's not 17 'til the beginning of next year but driveway space just opened up and she wants it filled... Edited June 10, 2012 by Skoze Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 I have heavy duty adjustable tie bars, they're rather beefy, will check them out anyway. Cheers skoze, you should be able to find something decent for a first car at that price but it's a case of waiting for the right one to pop up and disregarding all the minis that naive people put try to sell with a fancy set of wheels on them and expect the amount of money that a mk1 goes for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Duncy, did the crash actually hit the wheel? or was it just the front of the bodywork/subframe? I would VERY carefully check why something's out of line. Check you wheel-base side to side, and measure some diagonals across anything you can. Bent cars are no fun to get to drive right, you want to find why it's out before you just adjust things to get around it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Will do that Its easily visible as it is that the tracking is out. I do think the wheel took a hit which is why it's making me think bent bar that joins to track rod end but you can't be too careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 "Bar that joins to track rod end" made me giggle. (It's called a track rod for the record ) Yeah, if the wheel took the hit then it may well just be something simple like that, check all the steering system just in case. I'd still spend a few minutes with a tape measure though. I know it's not what you want to do at this stage though, with it so nearly done . It does look really good since the repairs, I need a shiny car sooner or later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 What I think I meant was the steering arm but could be track rod too! As I say no biggy if can source what's bent cause there is a mini parked outside work that I can nick bits off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Steering arm's not quite the same, but in the case of a mini most people would know what you meant. It just made me giggle that you used the correct name, in trying to describe it from it's use. Sounds good having access to those bits, I'm just repeating my self about checking the shell's straight, which I'm sure you've done, but you can never be too careful with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Gave it a good once over today, everything seems to be in check. Can't obviously see anything that is bent. Tracked it with a bit of string and it seemed to come out fairly decent and it drove ok. Getting the proppa tracking gear back tomorrow so going to do it more accurately. Looks like what's thrown it out most is that the subframe mounts area isn't exactly perfectly straight so probably threw it off a little. For peace of mind though while i have some spare time i might just strip and replace everything. Shell is all well and good anyway. Can't wait to drive it properly again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King C Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 That looks great Duncan. Glad the tracking has sorted the handling out for you.Right, I'm home for a few days so I've done a couple of bits and bobs. Cam cover ready for AN fittings to be welded on: The rear hub nuts were properly stuck on so I ended up grinding away at them and smacking them with a chisel. Finally got them off in the end. Rear radius arms built up with SC hubs and lightened superfins: Lockwired my steering arm bolts too: It's quite satisfying to do when it goes right. Want to have my rear subframe built up this week but snapped/stuck bolts are holding me back. Any ideas, I've tried welding nuts onto the ends but I can't get any good penetration and they keep snapping. Tried drilling a hole into some 2mm steel and welding them together but again can't get good enough penetration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Heat!!! And lots of it, not just a poxy stickered up heat gun that's actually a hair dryer. Love the work you've done on yours, all very smart and clean. Unlike mine haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 what on earth are those rear drums king C? It looks like you've taken the cooling fins of a super fin, and just machined them off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 built up with SC hubs and lightened superfins: Thats exactly what hes done Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King C Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 I think the cooling fins are a bit of a gimmick. The rear drums don't do that much anyway and it saved me a fair chunk of weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Finally finished been tinkering with it all night and had a good drive out and all seems to be well, except going from tea coaster wheels with power steering to wide 13s feels really odd, must have had popeye arms before but probably didn't know no different! Anyway pics speak a thousand words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Good times, it's looking nice again. I know what you mean about going back to manual steering, I did that when I wen't back to my Scirocco after my MX-5 and Volvo, it took me a bit more by surprise than I'd expected, but it didn't take long to get used to it again. Same with the brakes as Scirocco's might as well not have a servo, good brakes, but you have to stamp on them bloody hard compared to modern stuff! I'm curious to see how my mini turns out steering wise, the front axle should only have about 260kg on it (compared to at least 390 in a standard mini), but it'll have a very quick rack and I think steeper caster/kpi compared to a normal Mini. Ah well, only time will tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Yeh it's very odd to get used to again, but then i remember thinking woah wo woo wah am i actually turning this wheel or thin air? When first driving the hire car Seriously considering 10s again though, just nothing seems to pop up second hand ever :/ Going to be doing more hours per week at work though soon so i may be able to splash out Yeh yours could be interesting, what are you doin wheel wise? I can't quite remember if you were sticking to mini fitment or some other form? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Wheels will be 13x7 compomotive CXR's up front, +20mm offset and 4x100mm PCD. I'll be running mini sized front tyres though, so 175/50R13. I'm tempted to drop down to 6.5"width though, to save a little weight. Rears will be the same, but 13x8.5 and +10mm offset with 215/50R13s for track used, and then I'll have some 14x8.5s for road use with 225/40R14 tyres, not sure what wheels they'll sit on yet though, probably something japanese as they do plenty of 14s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Ah I feared for your sake you were going to go massive on the wheels. I'm guessing variation in wheel diameter is to interchange a bit between acceleration and top speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Nah, no silly big wheels for me, if I could I'd go smaller than 13", but there'd just be no hope of getting the power on the ground. Plus with the height it'll be running bigger wheels wouldn't actually fit under the bonnet, and the rears would need tubbing into the windows! haha. The different sizes out back are purely down to tyre choice. The rolling diameter is pretty much the same on both, but you can only really get track day tyres in 215/50R13, which at £118 each before fitting, combined with a very short ware life compared to a road tyre will bankrupt me in no time! You can get Toyo T1r's in 225/40R14 for £60 each, and they'll wear decently on the road, so that's what I'll be using. I'll use the 13's for shows as well as track use, but I couldn't afford to use it on the road with them. I'll have two sets of 13x7's for the front too, one with track tyre and one with road for the same reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hint: Put some new subframe mounts on and steering column bushes and they have made an awesome difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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