Well the last of the parts arrived for the gearbox including a limited slip diff and the synchro parts that are needed to repair second gear. The issue that started this whole adventure. Now I am running out of excuses for why the rebuild isn’t done. So before this month is up I hope to actually show some real progress again…
Suspension Work
July 8th, 2010
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I don’t have any picture for you this time around, but the front subframe is painted and so are a bunch of the other suspensions parts. Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time to get it finished before I left. Other then ordering parts there won’t be a whole lot of changes till I get back. 🙁
Gearbox & Suspension Teardown
June 23rd, 2010
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Well I finally made some good progress in the last week. The suspension and everything tied to the front sub-frame has been taken off. The sub-frame has been cleaned up and soon it will be ready to be repainted!
The gearbox is also finally apart. Next step is ordering a rebuild kit and a cross pin diff.
Jesse has also started porting and polishing the head. I had some pictures, but they didn’t come through on the camera to well.
So… hopefully it wont be long before everything starts to get built again. I would just like to do a bit of cleanup on the engine bay before I head back to Madagascar. Who knows by the end of summer I might actually be putting everything back in the car… well maybe. 🙂
Painting the Mini
June 15th, 2010
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So… what do you think? Paint the Mini a dark Metalic grey. Add some ghost flames/racing stripes just like this Cobra….
Now I may be getting a bit ahead of myself seeing as there are a lot of other things to get taken care of, but I am making some progress on them as well. I am also spending a little extra time in the UK on this next Madagascar trip and may need to pick up a few things…
Gear Box tear down
May 10th, 2010
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I didn’t take any pictures, but I have made it half way through tearing down the gear box. I am just planning out what parts will be purchased. I don’t want to use straight cut drops and I am hoping I can sort out an alternative. I have seen some interesting posts where others have tried to deal with the loading on the idler gear including using a fixed shaft with tapered roller bearings or needle thrust bearings between the idler gear and the case. We will see… a little more research is needed.
I will however definitely be upgrading the diff to a cross pin diff from Mini Spares plus a rebuild kit to deal with the grinding in second gear. The second gear trouble is what started all this craziness. 🙂
First set of Engine Parts
April 29th, 2010
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Well the first set of Engine parts finally arrived. Hopefully this week or next I can get going on the build. Next week I am also going to take the gearbox apart so that I can order the parts before I leave for Madagascar. This way they will hopefully be here when I get back and I can keep moving on the build. 🙂
Volcano Delays Parts
April 19th, 2010
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I am sure everyone has heard about the Volcano in Iceland and all the flights that have been canceled. Well… worse yet the engine parts have been delayed. This the latest update I got from UPS…
Location
STANSTED, GB
Date / Time
19/04/2010 / 16:54
Description
NATURAL DISASTER
Looks like this project may get delayed further. On the other hand the Ash from the volcano may delay my trip back to Madagascar and I will have some more time to work on the car…
Parts Order #1
April 7th, 2010
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The first order of parts is finally on it’s way. By mid next week I should have the following in hand:
Turbo Head Gasket Set
Block Gasket Set
New set of larger Valves (1.464″ Intake and 1.161 Exh) plus guides, etc…
Turbo Oil Pump
Adjustable Duplex Timing Set
Roller Rockers
Very shortly pistons, cam shaft, head & main bolts and so on will be ordered out of the states. Then I need to start specingout what is going to happen with the Gear Box and if I am going to do EFI…
One other plus is that Mini Spares gives a bit of a discount to Mini Clubs/Forums, Living in Canada you don’t have to pay VAT, and the Canadian dollar is strong compared to the pound!
Flowing the Head
April 6th, 2010
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First off as I go through the planning for this engine build I keep getting pulled all over the place. Not to mention I think I am going to be breaking the hearts of the die hard ERA fans. It will still look like an ERA, but I am going to be targeting an engine build that will give me 200HP. At least I wont be putting a Honda motor in it… That being said there are all kinds of ideas on turbominis.co.uk and I was starting to think about a 16v Head and in the end I am sticking with the head I’ve got. Not to mention I am wasting a lot of time flip flopping about on what is going to be done.
So here is a little update… the engine is completely apart and yesterday the Head made it to the flow bench to get some initial numbers. Now I think what needs to be understood is that I am not an engine expert, but I am learning tones. This is also why I am relying on my friend Jesse over at Fast Engines. So here is a shot of the head on the flow bench…
I was going to get into a big explanation as to what is happening, but suffice it to say that air is being pulled through the head. The rating for how much air is getting pulled through is CFMs. With the intial flow on the Mini head 104.9 CFM when flowing the head stock. This will be our baseline to compare to once the head has been ported and polished. As a reference point a stock Honda Civic is probably about 250+ CFM. So hopefully after the head is port and polished and bigger valves are in, etc… we will see a significant increase. The valves and a bunch of other parts are being ordered to day so hopefully the head will be back on the flow bench in a couple of weeks.
Engine Parts Purchase
March 25th, 2010
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Well, the engine has been torn down and now I am just purchasing the parts. Hopefully they will be here in the next couple of weeks. I am just not to sure about what changes there will be to the tranny…