Project blue

A panel join

2012-01-24T21:07:00.003Z

Looking at all the hard work that has gone into the mini I decided that the line between the A panel and the scuttle is out of place. I had already put some thought into removing the panels many months ago.

Earlier in the year I had removed all the welded studs and replaced all the fixings with bolts to enable both the a panels and scuttle to be lifted off in on go. It will be bulky but will ultimately look better and will go with the scuttle vent theme of making the whole panel look like it was pressed and formed

Here is the panel just welded up, it will need flatting out and smoothing but considering its very thin metal it welded very nicely!

More roof grp

2012-01-22T18:27:00.002Z

Today the car took almost a step back even though it is a positive move forward, the roof skin that was made previously was popped out of the mould, this will need a little work not to mention bonding on to the car again but it is all in hand.

With the grp roof skin made the metal could be removed leaving just a small bonding lip all the way round the edge.

fiberglass roof day

2012-01-22T08:40:00.001Z

Using the previously made roof mould it was time to make the roof skin.
Firstly the mould was waxed to ensure that the roof would release, once done the gel coat was added, done in black

The gel coat was then left to cure

With the gel coat cured 2layers of 450g chop strand matt was added and then followed with a single layer of tissue

While the gel coat was curing time was spent removing any left over bungs, screws etc, also the vents have been blended in

Work started on the scuttle / a panel to remove the join between the two panels

Due to the car being a 2002 shell the front structure members we welded on to add extra strength

Wiring loom hell

2012-01-15T20:38:00.001Z

My trial and tribulations continue and leave me sitting out side in the -3 frost on a cold slab with a soldering iron in one hand and solder in the other I set about cutting 2 wiring looms to make 1 good loom with all the functions that I wanted.

My issue as I go along is 1 loom is the original and melted at the front from the fire and the latter which is off a 2004 plate facelift so in some cases the loom has more or less features depending which way you go... Confused? I have been although I am nearly there now!

This is the initial pile on the floor of the 2 wiring looms

As you can see a large pile of wires, I knew before I started to cut anything I was going to have to lay out everything as it would be in the car. Once laid out I could then start to find out what features I wanted and others I did not. The principal from there was easy, remove or add wires...

From the back of the car I had to break the loom as it was for a hatch back and I don't really have that any more. I first freed the wires out of the loom and then set them up in sets, heated window, brake light, tail lights, and removed the wiper motor loom. I had already got the wires for the convertible boot which come out in another place, this meant moving wires round to have the lock loom in a different place to normal and then removing several wires for the bottom lock as it works differently.

Once the rear was sorted I set about adding the wires which had been chopped when the loom was removed, such as fuel pump wires etc. All abs sensors wires where removed and will be un-coded from the ECU once I have my system up and running. The 2 pre tensioners will disabled by using a 3.9ohm resistor soldered in line.

The front of the loom is still an on going project as currently there is a deviance with fans which changed between the 2 looms and I have 8 extra wires the other side for items I wont install, they will need to be removed once I an 100% happy I know what they do (probably - heated washers, washer bottle level sensor and ...)

Here is the huge pile of wires, enough to drive you mad and they are all really sticky under the adhesive wrap - "not nice"

Blower alignment

2012-01-08T18:52:00.002Z

I have decided that I would love to get this car done and at mini united in the South of France this year so will have to get my finger out and really push this.
I spent a day at mini mats stripping a mini for the wiring loom as mine was damaged however I know I will need to revisit the loom to add the extra features I want. I had to remove so many items but I really want to thank Mat for his help as this build would be very difficult without him and sourcing parts would have been costly if all brought new ~ thank you Mat, I appreciate your help.

Again in the theme of making my life difficult I managed to get hold of a cooper water pump, which fitted where the alternator used to be, sadly this meant finding a new home for the alternator. The alternator had 15mm removed from the lug to drop the height so it does not stick out so much. I still need to make a lower support for the unit but I am not to worried as it will be easy to make.
I decided to bring the blower further out from the block as early supercharger conversions I have done, I put the blower too close to the block which caused a few issues. This position does fowl on the radiator but I consider that a minor issue which will be easy to fix. I have left more than enough room around the sensors and water pipes.
I will need to revisit the water pump as the current belt wrap would meant the back non grooved side would be driving the belt.

I sat around with my TIG welder and started to make up some simple brackets to start mocking out how the blower will be held, the blower will be held at the nose, rear and also the outlet flange so there will be 4 fixing points.

All the aux devices fitted

Flange bracket which would be welded onto the outlet plate of the blower

Modified alternator brought in closer to the sump, the bottom side will need a bracket making. The sheet of metal represents the level of the sump and is showing that there will be lots of clearance so the car can be slammed.

While thinking about the engine and the fixings I have been adding resin to the carbon parts I am currently making. Decided I hate carbon skinning but the results make it worth it.

Carbon skinning

2011-12-31T19:11:00.001Z

With the car at the body shop I decided to get on with some carbon skinning, this is not something I have much experience with but I have played with it in the past. As I am having a carbon roof skin made there are several non structural items I want to match to the roof.

The basics of skinning is to lay resin, let it tack and then lay the carbon. With the carbon laid the resin is then applied layer by layer, once built up the clear resin is then wet sanded and polished to give a deep gloss shine.

This is the start of two of the items started;

More roof and some progress

2011-12-03T14:27:00.001Z

The roof being the area to have required the most amount of work it is finally at the stage where the mould can be taken, it has taken many hours of sanding and filling to get to this level though I am very happy to be here now.

With the roof in primer, wax and release fluid has been applied, this will allow the mould to be removed when it is dry.
With the wax on the roof, the gel coat was then applied.

The gel coat is white which you can just make out on the roof. Once the gel coat had gone tacky we then started to apply glass chop strand mat and adding resin with 1% catalyst ratio resin. This gives a nice slow mix and we hope will not change or sag the roof.

Once this is dry and the extra supported have been added we will then start making the carbon replacement roof. Already quite excited.

I hope to add another post soon

Back from the powder coaters

2011-11-13T16:18:00.001Z

Recently the car has been at the body shop and the guys there have been busy getting on with what I want while I have been busy with other stuff. I have been feeling a little bit down about the project probably down to the money pit it is becoming and also the time it is taking... Any how I got a call from city powder coaters in Birmingham saying that the fist batch of parts are now ready to collect, I though this would be something to really pick me up again and it may just have done that. The finish of the parts is really good and very well done.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I may start to assemble the sub frames soon. I do think I have some parts I do not need and some are not there so I may still have them in my storage or they are part of the second batch. I will be wax oiling the inside of all the frames to ensure they don't rot away as I plan to keep the car.

from here they are to be stored for a while and I will also be placing in my bushes where needed. I am very pleased that they powder coaters took their time and produced a stunning finish.

The wheels are RS Drift and came in red when I got them so I shipped them off to be gun metal grey which I really like them in.

At the body shop

2011-10-01T22:28:00.002+01:00

Well not much to report, the car has taken another trip after many hours of sanding and is now at the body shop.

Body shop (Cartrix ~ Simon 07817951400 or cartrix@live.co.uk)

I hope that this will now really start to move as its been a long time in the making

guide coat

2011-08-30T21:12:00.000+01:00

Just another update of some of the guide coat going on the read half, as you can see the shape is looking as it should

Also on another note I also started to cut the foam for the seats I am going to be making

Sanding smooth

2011-08-29T20:01:00.000+01:00

Since the last few updates not much has changed that is worth updating but it's been a while so a progress update is due. The hours of sanding have now left me with an almost perfect roof and soon it will be done I'm sure.

One of the biggest issues was the filler was not thin enough and was dragging so I thinned it down with GRP resin which makes it much more workable. This helped a lot

I had a couple of issues when I mixed too much filler and then applied it in an area which was dented, unfortunately it was too much and produced too much heat, this caused the roof to sag, once dry I had to press the roof out which meant the filler had to be broken out and replaced.

Smoothed rear section in progress

Front section

More filler being added

This will continue for a while but once ready I will get an update going.

Engine build P2

2011-07-24T21:24:00.003+01:00

The engine build continues with the hussey copper head gasket being annealed and coated with wellseal to ensure a good seal.

With the gasket in place the cylinder head was bolted and torqued down the chain guides, chain, chain tension, and the cam went in.

I then set about rebuilding the oil pump, I cleaned it all and then installed all new parts to ensure the pump is as new. The pump was installed followed by a new light solid mass crank pulley. (managed to get it in the oven to help it to fit, was still quite tight but its on, the other half wasn't happy as I squeezed the pulley in while the dinner was in the oven...)

Engine build P1

2011-07-17T22:22:00.001+01:00

Today I took some time to relax and start on the assembly process of the engine as I have a nice pile of new parts.
The first thing I started to do is to clean all the components, even where new as I wanted to be sure everything was clean and without any contaminates.

With the parts clean I started to gap the rings, which I found did not need too much work but in general opening by about 0.10 mm.

Before fitting the rings I installed the gudgeon pin and spring clips then laid out all the parts in order ready for assembly which certainly looked like a camera moment

I like taking the time to gap the rings but always hate fitting them due to the risk of snapping a ring but I am relieved that they all fitted without any issues.

A photo of a ring top ring in place gapped correctly for my needs

Here is a piston fully build ready to go into the engine

With the piston and rings all in place I decided that I would get them all built up and then using a piston ring compressor installed the pistons into the block

The lower half of the engine bearings were installed and then placed together

Then lastly for the day I decided to put the cylinder in place but it is not fitted as I will need to lift it off and apply the copper gasket correctly

Engine balanced

2011-07-08T21:33:00.000+01:00

Recently all of the engine components took a trip to auto sprint for some balancing to ensure the best running and performance.

The parts sent were, pistons, con rods, lightened flywheel, sprung plate, crank, crank pulley

The results found that the difference between the lightest and heavyset con rod was 30g which is a huge difference consider they are stock and would have been fitted by BMW without any balancing. The clutch masters flywheel was also out of balance and was drilled to bring it back into balance.

The crank pulley was perfectly in balance as was the pistons.

On the picture you can see the drilled balancing on the flywheel and the grinding which has taken place on the crank and the sides / bottom of the con rods.

I hope to be able to clean everything and start building the engine very soon

Blue comes home

2011-06-22T22:09:00.000+01:00

With the day job picking up and overspilling into the weekend I thought it wise to bring blue back home to enable me to get on with the work when I have some spare time.

With a few friends we struggled to pull the car onto the low loader and I loved the way the car looked just how I wanted on the back of the truck.

With the car home I set about sanding the roof, all I can say is this is going to take a while with a few hours here and there

I plan to get this work done as quick as I can so I can start thinking about more exciting jobs like paint and carbon fibre...

Engine tart up P1

2011-05-18T21:48:00.000+01:00

After spending quite a lot of time cleaning the engine block I was able to mask it up and apply the first coat of engine enamel.

While the engine was drying I turned my attention to the alternator which I had stripped, cleaned and painted a few weeks ago, with several coats cured I rebuilt it

Convertible boot

2011-05-15T07:48:00.002+01:00

Spent today out and about mostly, managed to spend a few hours in mini matts scrap yard finding bits for both my MG and the mini and also managed to collect from someone else 2 brand new front screens ready for cutting

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about the boot I had made and the fact with the car slammed on the floor the boot hatch will only open to my chest which makes this almost useless so I was left with the decision to either weld shut the boot or find another way of making a boot.

I decided that I would look into the convertible boot as a fitting, I spent some time at the himley hall show looking at the metalwork, hinges fixinxg etc and also spent time talking with matt again. We both thought it could be done quite easily.

I cut the sections I needed from the back of a crash damaged mini and brought them back to the unit with me.

Firstly I spot welded the top section of the old tailgate in place and roughly chopped the bottom section off, I will be rebuilding so will need to trim it back further once I have the seal from the dealer.

I then removed the hinge brackets from the rear end I chopped out and welded them to the car, this was quite easy to locate and fix in place.This would have been even easier if the spot weld drill was not already blunted to start, maybe I should order some more...

Next I had to modify the strap and catch bracket as the rear of the convertible is a different shape, so after modification it was welded in and it works well. I spent quite a while moaning about the supports either side the they were too long, then I realised they were connected to each other so when I pulled the two cords together not surprising really they were the correct length.

New convertible boot fitted and I like it a lot, I am going to leave the top fixed I think though with me that could always change. Just have one more catch to weld in and its done

Thank you for reading

roof skin smoothing

2011-05-01T22:21:00.000+01:00

With the sections of the roof joined I decided that I was going to make a mould off the roof once I have the shape correct. The plan will be to make a full replacement carbon fibre roof skin but first I have to ensure that the shape is correct and smooth so this means many hours of filling and sanding, its not going too bad but I can see this going on for quite a while yet.

While the roof is drying I have also been building the front of the car back together and I decided that the scuttle vents I had made are going to be moulded in. The aim will be to build the car up over the next few weeks to get all the bodywork done and sorting the other issues such as the windscreen wipers which still need to be worked out.

Lots to do over the coming weeks but this it should be rewarding

Soda electrolysis results

2011-05-01T21:51:00.000+01:00

After a few hours it is quite clear to see that it has started to work, the rust is drawn from the component to the scrap positively charged metal.

Over the next 72 hours the part was left in the tub

The Part was taken out after its time in the tub, it was then washed with clean water. With the part cleaned it was dried and then I prepared it ready for paint

soda electrolysis start

2011-04-15T19:28:00.000+01:00

With many of the engine components rusty from the years of being outside and the small issue of the fire I decided that I wanted to paint everything and make it as new. There are several ways to do this and sand blasting may be used on some of the components being powder coated but I wanted to try electrolysis to remove the rust from more delicate parts.

So here we have the first part subjected to soda electrolysis.

soda electrolysis uses water, tub, sacrificial metal, soda (Not baking soda but washing soda), 12v DC battery charger, any automotive unit can be used. With the positive connected to the sacrificial metal the negative on the part I wish to de-rust the rust will be drawn towards the positive.

Quite soon after connecting and switching on I could see the rust floating in the water which I will try an capture on the camera for later photos. Small bubbles are produced during the process, this is hydrogen being produced so performing this in an open space is a must.

Should take about 24 hours and then I will take another look

roof skin P2

2011-04-02T22:03:00.001+01:00

Over the last few weeks the project had a little struggle mostly being with the roof skin, the part I was most concerned about, while cutting with the angle grinder the skin warped due to the heat, this has made me decide that I will tack the roof skin together and smooth it out. Once smooth the plan is to have a full carbon fibre roof skin made which will be as strong but will be lighter weight than the steel part.

Knowing the plan is now not to use a steel roof I am a little relieved but there is still lots of work needed.

The front section of one roof was cut and mated with the two sides, this helped to give me the shape and strength in the front of the roof

With the front section in I then looked at the side, as it stood there was 2 joins in the side, well 4 in total so I decided to remove the middle part and add a full length piece taken from a spare roof, this went in quite easily and helped with the shape.

Next I just tacked in some pieces to bridge the gap, this will be sorted later, as the roof skin will be smoothed, filled and a mould will be taken from it so strength is not important though the form will be

Well I hope to be able to get the other gaps filled quickly so I can start to filler and shape the roof.

LSD

2011-04-02T21:45:00.000+01:00

With the evenings starting again to be longer, I was able to spend some time out in the shed working on the gearbox. The plan is a full over haul of all the seals, bearings, and cleaning of the internal ring magnet.

Once the gearbox was open I took the stock differential out, this is always a job I hate doing as holding everything still and achieving the torque level is difficult without an impact gun. In a short period the quaife limited slip differential (LSD) was installed into the final drive, however I could not do the bolts tights as I need to fetch my loctite 270 from the unit.

Skinning the roof P1

2011-03-07T12:21:00.001Z

With the sun starting to appear and shine down on us and all my friends driving around in some very nice minis it really makes me want to finish this car and get it on the road. With that in mind I took the decision to work on my own in the unit so I have no distractions.

My aim was to pin the roof skin in place and also finish most of the grinding on the welds. however I could only grind them so far back because I had ran out of flap disks to achieve a good finish, never mind, something to do later.

Sat in the car with my angle grinder I started to smooth the welds back and tidy them up, I had been leaving this because I am not overly keen with the way the sparks seam to attack me within the car bouncing off the metal work back to me. After a short time I had the pillars ground back as far as I was willing to go with the coarse grinding disc, then to protect the metal work I gave it a quick coat of primer, this will be removed when I go over the metal work again to smooth it out with a flap disc.

With the majority of the grinding finished within the car and the majority of the body work finished I decided to go ahead and start placing the segments of the roof skin on the car. Using what I though was my large collection of mole grips I held the skin in place. As it happens I actually need many more grips...

With the roof skin held in place I then moved over to the spare roof skin. I have been advised on several ways to make the new roof, from filling the sections to building a glass fibre roof. The chosen method I have decided to go with is taking the main section of another roof and placing it in the centre and then filling the small areas, its still hours and hours of work but I think the roof skin will indeed keep its shape better this way.
With the plan firmly in my head I marked out the spare roof in the least curved section to keep the job simple or at least as simple as it can be.

I then proceeded to cut the panel out and then offer it on to the car, with it on the car I then marked out the sections and cut them to the same size and the panel.

Once cut I used some nifty little holding devices call inter grips, I was advised to try them from an ex collogue and they are wonderful, I just underestimated how many I actually needed so in some of the photos the roof is still sagging. Not a huge issue because I still have a lot of moving about to get it perfect and I will order lots more of the grips to keep the skin in place. The strap is in the pictures because I ran out of inter grips...

Next I will be placing the skin on the roof for a perfect fit and will start to spot weld the skin together.
Until then take it easy.

Cage fitting P3 & subframe

2011-02-25T20:12:00.000Z

With the majority of the cage in place I set about adding a B-pillar support and also started to polish the frame and smooth out the welds so that the profiles blend together without compromising the welds.

With the frame coming together I decided to take some time away from the grinder and spend some time working on the seat frame to allow the new style of seats to mount to the runners. Once the box section was cut and placed onto the frame I tack welded the across bars in which fits the seats perfectly so this is ready for the belt bolts. With the frame in I had to cut and change the position of the handle for sliding the seat, it was taken from the side and move to the centre with a angle change.

Cage fitting P2

2011-02-19T19:05:00.001Z

Glad to be back working on the car after taking some time off to get on with other projects, I have decided to get the project moving and put the car back together

With the main hoop in place and the two sides attached, I notched and added a cross bar, originally I did plan to have 2 bars but have re-arranged the layout of the cage

With the cross bar tacked into place I then placed the seats in to give the needed height for the harness bar, the top harness bar is to be attached in to the main hoop, this was notched and placed into the main hoop

With the top harness bar in the car the lower harness bar was then added

With all the bars in place I stared to fully weld the cage starting at the top and will continue welding next time I am working on the car.

I am pleased with the outcome of the cage and so far have only been trapped between the cage once as I crawl through to weld.

With the bars in place I then put the seats back in to ensure that both them and myself fitted with no issues. Once I have made the seat runners and I am happy with the seat height I will be re-trimming the seats to match the planned interior.