Hello and welcome to my website. This site aims to follow the progress of my on going project to design and build my ultimate mini using a two litre Vauxhall 16 valve engine.

 

This is my first attempt at a web site so any feed back would be appreciated.

After what feels like a lifetime we have finally got the house to a stage where we can move in, this in-turn means I can do some more work on the project inbetween doing all the little finishing off jobs at home.

First job was to finish off the rear suspension whilst the car is still on its side. This envolved making all the anti-roll bar mounting brackets to the boot floor and modifying the bottom shock mounts to have a pick up point. I also did a check of the rear geometry to make sure things are in the right ballpark. Once the roll bar was in its finalised position (picking up on the unused rear subframe mounts) I then made up the patch to fill the huge hole in the boot floor ensuring there is still enough space for a 14" spare tyre. I also put the mounting bracket for the spare wheel on the rear bulkhead at this time which is made out of a bit of tube and a mk1 spare wheel clamp. Space between the petrol tanks is rather tight for the spare tyre but adequate. Must also find space for the screen wash reservoir and pump in the boot somewhere!!

Next I turned the car back onto its floor so I could start bolting things back in because I have decided it is a good time for the first start up of the engine. This means going through everything making sure it all bolts together correctly, is easy to work on and is possible to service. The front and rear frames were put back in and the suspension bolted to them, the engine and box were lifted into position and the driveshaft were assembled with gaiters and grease for the first time, luckly my calculations seem to be correct and they all fit together OK. Steering rack, pedal box, steering column, gear linkage and handbrake mechanism were all bolted into position ready. I am at the stage now where all the ancillaries are being bolted to the engine ready to be finally plumbed and wired. After a few hours on Monday discussing things with my brother, it was decided that the battery was taking up too much room in the engine bay so its position was rotated through 90degrees and a smaller battery utilised and brackets altered to suit. We decided that the battery from my 2.0litre Clio was the right size and rating so I will have to nip down the motor factors and get one.

I have decided that I will plumb in the front braking circuit, ignition system, cooling fans, oil pressure gauge so I can give the car a test drive when the motor starts for the first time. This will hopefully show up any clearance problems which will enable me to change them before it is sprayed.

Anyway this is all I can think of for the moment, I will try and keep updating the site as work progresses. I have added a few more photos to the gallery which shows the boot floor and rear suspension work.

Mark

Finally got my film developed with the pictures of the car on so I have updated the gallery with the new pictures. They show the work on the rear anti-roll bar and the modifications to the boot floor. I have got things in the right place now so uts just a matter of welding things up and plating the boot floor.

Mark

Had the floor screed laid on the house this weekend which meant I couldn't do any work while it was drying so I decided to do some work on the car! Once room was made in the garage to get to the car I started by fitting the rear frame, radius arms and shock absorbers. I then dug out the Minispares rear anti roll bar which I had bought recently and offered it upto the boot floor to see if I could get it to fit. After much thought and consultation with my brother I decided to cut the rear half of the spare wheel well in the boot floor out to allow the roll bar to mount close to the rear subframe mountings by the rear arches. I then made up some adapter brackets to bolt to the subframe mounting points which in-turn the alloy blocks for the roll bar could be bolted to. The brackets that usually bolt to the radius arm in the standard kit were then adapted and welded to the back of my shock absorber mounts in a position where the rod end drop links would reach. This all seemed to work well and once I get some more gas for the welder I will then carry out the final welding and fabrication of the adapted boot floor. Everything else that I had already fabricated fitted around the new roll bar except for one of the exhaust rubber hanging brackets which can be easily altered. Don't know when the next time I will get in the garage but it was good to do some more work on it. I will add some more photos to the gallery next time I get a film developed (O for a digital camera)

Mark

Have made a few amendments to the site, nothing major. Have decided to use an electric water pump as they seem to have some very good benefits, something else to go on the must buy list! This will mean partially stripping down the engine to modify the existing water pump, I think I will also do the oil pressure relief valve modification at the same time. I will update the site as soon as I have done anything.

Mark

Site Launched . This is how far I've got with my project so have a look and see what you think. There will not be many updates to start with as I'm currently renovating my house so that is taking up most of my time at the moment, however I will update the site as soon as I do anything.

Mark