Weekend driver, occasional run down a 1/4 mile maybe, the odd car show. It was more just to give me something to do in my spare time, although it's starting to look like heroin might have been a cheaper route.
Wow, really slipped on keeping this up to date. Quick photo dump to give you guys an update of what I have been up to the last few months. Front sub frame and motor mounted back in. Honda inner with mini out, custom shaft and spider gear New disks and 4 pot calipers Wilwood pedal kit with remote reservoirs Fitting the front flip kit. A lot of people will weld the hood down and make it one solid piece, I wanted to have easy access so I welded a support across the back and tabs on the front corners to mount hood pins. Also my first attempt at vinyl wrap. Here's how it opens.
Couple more of the front flip. Then it was on to what I was dreading the most....electrical. I picked up a custom engine harness for this conversion, eliminating everything I don't need, as well as Painless Wiring Harness so I could rewire the entire thing while adding a proper fuse block. Here's the old versus the new. Fun times.....you can see the gauge pod on the seat with Autometer Gauges. The electrical has gone well, it's 90% complete. Everything is has been tested and works. Shift linkage, I had to cut, shorten, tack, test fit, re-cut, re-tack, re-test before finally welding it up. Installed. I've been working on all new lines for the brake and clutch, which are mostly complete. Parts should be here next week to run fuel lines, button up a few loose ends and hopefully try and fire it up in the next couple weeks.
Well, this will be my last update for awhile, heading to South America for 2 months, so I'll try and make it a good one. Fuel cell and battery installed. (yes the fuel cell is a massive 40L, figured I could use the weight) I had to weld up a frame for the cell to sit in, still need to fab up mounting straps. Fuel lines, pump, filters. Ran hardlines all the way. Subframe back in, brake lines and battery cable which runs in the small channel along the tunnel. Throttle pedal (awesome I know!) brakes and clutch bled. Rad, Fan, and all hoses and heater valve installed. Tight like first night. Here you can see the remote reservoirs for the clutch and brakes. Engine bay damn near finished! Still need an intake and clean up a little bit of wiring. Seems to all fit. Might remove a little material from the fenders near the valve cover and the rad. Bonus shot of the hybrid bumper, 10k winch and light bar I installed in the wife's Taco!
me 6 months ago "man get wheels" shawn "ehhhh i will soon" shawn yesterday " man i shoulda got wheels"
If you ever get bored with that car you can always finish this project lol https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/6073059915.html
Haven't had a chance to make any progress since getting back from South America. Got sent out of town for work. I did find a cheap set of wheels on Kijiji this week that I hope to pick up this weekend. Hopefully by next weekend I'll have it rolling and maybe a short test run around the block. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted though!
Ok, here's a quick update. Gauges mounted, ECU mounted, dash pad in, most of the wiring tucked. Kijiji wheels mounted. They're a bit of a shit show, they were never meant for a Mini and the PO had the bolt pattern machined to fit with custom lug nuts, and he only had 12 of the 16. They will work for now though. Intake mounted, and engine bay 95% complete. Fab'd up some brackets to support the rad and intake manifold, notched the hood to clear the rad also. Still need to add a catch can and washer fluid bottle. Couple more... Took care of a few odds and ends, parking brake hooked up, centered the steering wheel, very rough alignment with a string box... ....took it for it's maiden trip around the block....and had to push it home Turns out I ran out of gas. After putting some gas in it, I got about half way around the block and the fuel pump started making some awful noises and struggled to supply enough fuel to make it the rest of the way around. Shut it down and cycled the pump, sounded like a wounded animal. I let it sit for an hour and cycled the pump, sounded fine, started fine, and idled fine for a few minutes, then the pump got progressively louder and idle started to drop. I've got another pump on the way, and a fuel pressure tester. Thinking I might have fried the pump, the other issue might be my fuel cell, the feed and return ports are side by side in the sump, which might cause on issue. I have no video of it driving, I was alone and it is definitely a two hands on the wheel at all times kind of ride. I'm hoping after having it corner balanced and properly aligned it will reduce some of the torque steer
2 months and no update... Wish I had more progress to report, but I haven't had much time and the fuel pump has caused me nothing but grief for the last 2 months. Last update it was squealing like a stuck pig. I'll lay out what I went through in order to solve the problem. Started with a new pump and pressure tester(which didn't fit and was returned). New pump didn't solve the issue, I had ordered the exact same model (which was the pump recommended my MiniTec). Next up, since the tester wouldn't work, I picked up a tapped AN fitting and a small fuel pressure gauge, that I was able to mount at the fuel rail. 40-45 Psi, even as the pump would get louder, pressure remained constant. Thought perhaps having the feed and return line side by side in the sump was causing some problems as it's not recommended. There were enough threads on the inside of the bulk head fitting inside the cell to attach an AN barbed fitting, so I was able to run a length of hose to the far corner of the fuel cell. No change. Tried pulling the filter elements out of the filters to see if they were causing a restriction. Thought maybe it was the model of pump, ordered a Walbro 255 (that should solve the problem!). No. After some discussion with some builders on a Mini forum, it was suggested that the 5/16 hard line from the cell to the pump was too small and causing cavitation, made sense, so I upgraded the size of the line. Same Same At this point I was starting to get frustrated, as I'm sure you can imagine the number of times I've siphoned fuel out of this cell lol. So, finally I had the idea of moving the pressure gauge closer to the pump, sure enough, 90psi. I must have kinked a bend in my hardline, the only ones I couldn't really see were the ones going up and over the subframe. After a bit of struggling I managed to get that section cut out, ran a small section of fuel hose and that's all folks, 45psi and a happy dance. Found the wooden shift knob from Beaker's Beatle while rooting around in his garage. It was only going to be temporary but it's grown on me, the shift pattern isn't right but I think I'll leave it anyway. Also got the tab and fasteners sorted out to support the fenders. I have abandoned the idea of wrapping it....and it's off to the paint shop this week. I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
