Build Up 02 + Radiator Change

I had a day off work between working away on different sites and managed to get a bit more done.

I cleaned and installed my oil relocation kit. Note the gold fitting on the filter housing, which connects to my mechanical oil pressure gauge.

I then installed my standard exhaust manifold + heat shield, turbo and dump pipe. You will see that i installed a T piece for the vacuum between the turbo, waste gate actuator and back to the standard boost controller.

Radiator

I wasn't really ever happy with my radiator setup. It was a cheap Chinese radiator and it was just that little bit too physically big.

Lucky for me though, my friend Alan had gone out and had a few custom ones made up. Still from someone in China but custom sized to fit neatly in a Mini engine bay and a large enough volume to suit the 4EFTE engine.

Upon opening the box the radiator was definitely a lot nicer built than my previous one and had seemed to be polished as well. Alan had designed the radiator to allow for custom mounting and once again i was lucky that it ended up fitting nicely and installation was relatively easy.

The radiator was mounted to the inside of the engine bay by M6 bolts through a rubber grommet and flat washers on either end.

It was then supported underneath by a bracket that bolted to my previous radiator mount. This was rather lazy of me but seeing as everything has already been painted i didn't want to damage anything. The bracket is similar to Alan's (image) but is fixed slightly different to the front sub frame support bar.

Next i mounted the 10" radiator fan with a simple fan mounting kit.

The new radiator all snug in his new home.

  

One of the major reasons for replacing the radiator was its original vicinity to the dump pipe. As you can see now there is more room and hopefully less heat on the radiator.

And finally.. How the mini currently sits.

Build Up

With the engine all painted it was time to drop it in the engine bay for the last time. I did manage to install it without scratching the body.

Once the engine was in I was able to spend quite a few nights getting other parts installed. First was the front suspension and arms, then the driveshafts, layshaft and hubs. I made sure i purchased some new CV grease and installed brand new stainless boot ties.

I moved onto the brake lines and master cylinders and eventually installed the brake rotors and calipers.

 

Next was the alternator, both belts and tensioner. Forgot how little room there is too work with.

Here is how my car currently sits and will do for a few more weeks as i work away. 

This is a fitted fleece cover i purchased to protect her.

Painting Engine + Parts

After completing a few upgrades to the engine and gearbox it was time to paint them up and install them for the last time. I kept things simple and made sure i used high temp paint all round.

I had originally painted the rocker cover in gloss red but wasnt happy with the result, so i resprayed it with a wrinkle red finish. It did take me 2 attempts as the first time i had over-wrinkled the paint.

After painting my car i didnt really have anywhere to put them so they wouldnt get scratched during build up. I did managed to find a little spot away from anything or anyone. ^_^

Upgrades 02

The next upgrade was installing the timing belt and seals.

I chose to use a Gates Racing timing belt but still needed the idler pulley, tensioner pulley and seals. It was cheaper buying the kit from Dayco than it was buying them individually, although I ended up having a spare belt afterwards.

I also installed a new water pump while i was in the vicinity.

Parts & Numbers:

Gates Performance Timing Belt    - T900R

Dayco Timing Belt Kit                  - KTBA111

Water Pump w/ Pressed Pulley    - CWP7036



Here are the old seals and new seals. Nice and blue thanks to Dayco.

 

 

Below is the whole kit installed. For DIY installation see my friend Alan's blog (link)

Upgrades 01

The first part of the upgrades were on the gearbox which included swapping out the standard diff with a new upgraded one. The one i purchased was the Quaife ATB LSD. It was highly rated by others and was suppose to feel very standard until the diff was pushed hard.

I followed the guide from another forum (link) which helped out heaps but what they failed to elaborate on was the installation of the bearings. These had to be sourced else where as the diff does not come with any. You may also want to look at replacing the driveshaft dust seals and the diff speedo gear driver if ordering from Toyota. I opted to use the existing speedo gear driver from the standard diff as it was still in good condition. I had originally intended in purchasing new bearings from Toyota but found this to be expensive ($90 each) and time consuming (3-6 weeks from Japan). I decided to remove the bearings and take them into my local bearings shop, Statewide Bearings, and had hoped they could match them. Luckily the guy was able to source one locally and the other interstate. The cost at no more than $140 including dust seals and the interstate shipping. Pretty happy with that!!


The part numbers are as follows:

Top bearing         - Koyo TR080702J/1D
Bottom bearing    - Nachi 038KC68

Note that removing and installing of bearings had to be done using a hydraulic press.

Diff ready and waiting to be installed.

With the gearbox off it was a good reason to upgrade the clutch and replace the rear main seal. I did forget to take progress pictures during the install but see below for the clutch used.

Xtreme HD Clutch Kit - KTY22066-01A
This is a upgraded pressure plate (40%) and an organic type disc.

Machined standard flywheel - a must do for new clutches

Paint

Finally onto the most important job: Paint.

The day i chose to paint the car was suppose to be a cloudy yet very minimal rainy day. It happened so to rain first thing in the morning and by the afternoon it had become one of Perth's worst storms.

Getting to the hired booth in the morning required a trailer and the mini wrapped in a external car cover - which didnt do the best job. It did manage to keep majority of the water off but it still took a while to clean up then rub down with wax and grease remover.

My painter friend Trav, advised me to purchase a wet-on-wet primer that is flashed on just before paint. This helped fill in any small imperfections that i may of missed during the last rub down.

I decided to paint the roof and arches first - in black. Followed then by a quick bake and cooldown before colour.

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The roof turned out beautifully, but im just a bit worried now about the future scratches.

 

Now onto the colour.

Getting all the panels to sit was a little tedious at first. We hung them from the roof with wires then tied them down to the floor with electrical cable. This worked rather well and had to be done since we were painting both sides of the panels at the same time and had a limited time frame to work with.

 

The final paint turned out reasonably well. Since i did the panel work myself i did notice a few imperfections afterwards. Probably not normally visible to most until pointed out. Another issue that Trav wasnt happy with was a bit of overspray on the body from when he was spraying the hanging panels. We have yet to, but will do a bit later, is buff out the overspray and any other scratches they may occur during build up.

If i were to ever paint a car again id be sure to:

- Paint the inside of the car separately to the outside

- Paint the car itself AWAY from the panels BUT still using the same mixed batch of paint (to ensure proper colour)

- Spend a few more hours on blocking and sanding (if i wanted to get a show room finish)


Lastly the car on the trailer, not yet strapped down, but ready to be driven back to the workshop.

Prep and last prime

After long hours of body preparation i have prepared my panels for their last primer and rub back before paint.

I had already booked a spray booth to hire at M'Mates Place @ $440 for 8 hours and a friend had already cleared his day to help me spray the Mini on the weekend.

Below are all the panels before the last prime. I had to block and wet sand back all parts again using very fine sandpaper such as 800 grit. The more time spent doing this the better the paint would turn out, so i managed to borrow a friend for the day to help me do this.

Note there are a lot of other little parts you need to prepare for paint also.

 

All parts to be primed and prepared:

- Car body
- Side doors
- Bonnet
- Bootlid
- Wheel arches
- External door hinges
- Bootlid hinges + screws
- Rear subframe sill covers

New toolbox

I very recently purchased a new toolbox for work and having some paint left over from spraying my Mini I decided to give the toolbox a coat... Just to be a little different!

Im rather happy with the end result!

Bootlid

I have 3 bootlids amongst my junk of mini parts. One is sandblasted and rusted out, the second one is also rusted out which i later discovered after removing the paint, and the last one was bought from a local and is pretty much brand new except for a few dings. Now the thing is that the first two are normal MK1 / Aussie Clubman bootlids (although the clubman license plate surround is actually shorter as seen the the real life pictures) and the last one is a UK MK3 type bootlid. As mentioned before they dont really make reproduction parts for Aussie Clubmans so getting a new one wasnt really an option.

The difference between them are that they have different license plate lights and the moulding around the license plate is different. See below.

I decided on the MK3 bootlid as it was the easiest choice but adopted the license plate light from the MK1 simply because i didnt like the MK3 light. I cleaned up the bootlid and mounted the plate with some rivet nuts.

 

It took awhile mounting the license plate and light but im still convinced its not straight. If you look carefully its actually the moulding of the bootlid that isnt straight. Trust me i measured it over and over and over again. >_<

Doors

I have decided to replace the door skins on my doors.

Originally i was planning on just repairing the doors i had but i don't like the thought of the rust and rot inside. I was only able to find a clubman passenger door skin that was 'New Old Stock'. This was from Mini King in NSW which cost me just over $200 shipped. See the thing with Australian clubman doors is they no longer make door skins for them and they never had a door in the UK with the same door handle. So as it stands i am only able to fix one of the doors.

I had previously researched on how to replace the door skin of a Mini and found a nice write up by a member on The Mini Forums. Looked easy enough.

How To ~ Change Your Doorskin. - The Mini Forum

This is the door skin i removed. Looks better than it actually is.

Underneath i found a bit of rust and rot.

Cleaned up, primed and replaced the rubber (i think this stops the skin from rattling with its support)

Here are the supports to take note of when re-assembling the door skins.

Door skin on. Need to apply some knife putty over the spot weld and prime.

Finished door mounted.