1971 mk1 replica sleeper with 180bhp

[mk1coopers]

I was just thinking that if the failures were more on the bush type than the RJ at least it would narrow down looking for the potential cause for the manufactures, I’ve always found Minispares more than happy to look at problems if raised but I am dealing with the premier Northern branch (more specifically Rich )

[9330FN]

Gaz I have read your thread with interest and the failure of the arm is worrying but lets hope this is isolated to a few cases. I have had a standard BMC arm go in the past and I and a lot of folks on here are driving around with stressed parts crucial to the car that are now over 50 years old and it certainly does make you think. I recall Don Farr snapping a lower arm on his Cooper S on a Mini run over 20 years ago and a lot of people investigated then whether they should be renewing bottom arms and stressed elements of the car that may have fatigued with age.

One point that I strongly agree with is the testing of replacement parts for classic cars that are crucial to the safety of these cars. There seems to be no authorised testing of parts for classic cars (please correct me if I am wrong) as there would be for a modern car part. I would imagine BMW have to have everything safety tested for the new MINI but not it seems on replacement Mini parts. Coupled with no requirement for an MOT it will not be long before a major fatal accident happens with a Classic Car and all hell lets loose with Classic Cars being tagged a danger to the general public !!

Minispares/ Minisport or any other major classic car supplier should at least now offer a warranty that says the part has been tested to modern car manufacturer standards and carries a kite flag or whatever the safety standard is. I for one wouldn't mind paying an extra tenner on the price knowing that the part is safe.

Finally Gaz with all that power have you considered a roll cage which would stiffen the shell and provide safety.

Mike

[Lakeland997]

I've always looked at those Minispares arms and thought they look weak at that point although I do have them on a couple of my cars (at both ends on the GTM!)
I run these on my rally car now:

https://www.minisport.com/spdsp431a-hea ... -arms.html

[GraemeC]

I’ve run the MiniSpares adjustable arms on my rally car for the best part of 10 years and (so far) not had a problem - and it is abused far more than it deserves!
I will however now add these to my regular checks

[gazwad]

Mike, I don't see the need for a roll cage. It 99% a road car with the occasional track day (one or twice a year at the most) and on the road is driven sensibly like any other mini should be. Also if i fit a roll cage I then have to fit proper race seats, harness and wear a helmet all the time or risk caving my skull in if I do have an accident. It would also look out of place and loose the 'sleeper' look and I like to be able to take my family out in the car so this would become very difficult. I understand the advantages of a roll cage in a mini mostly used for the track but it's just not necessary for me.

On a side note I have done quite a few miles in it since replacing the lower arms with the fixed one-piece items including visiting the goodwood fos and some local shows, as well as a few runs down the 1/4 mile at santa pod and now have my confidence back in the car.

[roger mcnab]

hi all looking at the failed lower arm you can see that small dark part then the larger clean part that is what caused the arm to fail when these parts are made a number of a batck get checked and that clears the rest about 40 years ago i was driving home from work along the motor way when a new ford falcon went past next thing it was all over the road and then on its roof we stopped and the driver got out very shaken and said i just bought it yesterday we looked for the cause and found the drag link had suffered a fatigue failure and the snapped part looked just like your lower arm a small dark part and a large shiney part where it had snapped that little dark bit isthe weak spot cheers roger mcnab

[gazwad]

Some footage from mitp yesterday at mallory park. It's a much faster track than blyton so great for higher power minis but not so much fun for average power ones.
Had a great day, did 4 sessions on the track and nothing overtook me all day! Flew past most of the bini's, only one race prepared one nearly managed to keep up. Can't believe how well this car goes now, not just on the straights but also through the bends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XraUR79Yy2U

[e-type]

I have just seen the same fault, but that was on a race car hitting a concrete wall, castor arm nut was pulled through the washer, so the wheel came off the car.

[gazwad]

I've done quite a few bits to the mini since the last update so thought I would do a new update incase anyone is interested.
I've been struggling with poor quality steering racks since I built the mini, the new ones seen either notchy or sloppy in the bushes, so I tried a reconed one which lasted a few weeks before the bush in the passenger side wore. This results in knocking over rough roads (which there are a lot of near me) so i ordered a new bush but that had even more play! I found an old rack in the shed which was better so i used that for a while but there was still some play in the bush.
I decided to make my own solution by machining an oilite bronze bush (oilite are self lubricating) to replace the crappy plastic bush. This worked to an extent but there was too much clearance on the bush to shaft so it was still knocking. I cut through one side of the bush so it could be clamped up tighter onto the shaft:
DSC_0772 by garrywadey, on Flickr
I then drilled and tapped two holes in the steering rack and screwed in some m6 bolts, these clamp on the bush and squeeze it closed to take up any slack and should hopefully allow adjustment for wear
DSC_0773 by garrywadey, on Flickr
DSC_0774 by garrywadey, on Flickr
It seems to have worked initially so we will see how long it lasts

Thrashed the mini around mallory park (mitp 2019)
IMG_20190818_105857396_BURST000_COVER_TOP by garrywadey, on Flickr
DSC_8178 by garrywadey, on Flickr

I had a clonk from the rear when hitting pot holes etc, this has only been happening since I lowered the car a bit more so I knew it was something to do with that. It turned out to be the brake pipe brackets on the trailing arms bottoming out on the boot floor, it would seem this is worse on the KAD arms as the raised boss it attaches to sits a bit higher, I made a new bracket which moves the pipe lower and more in-board giving about 20mm more clearance.
The next thing I wanted to do was to wrap the exhaust manifold to protect the alternator. I went for this titanium wrap as I think it looks awesome and will hopefully not discolour like the white stuff does:
DSC_0872 by garrywadey, on Flickr

Another job i've done is to make some new dash cards/panels. The old ones were made from some old headlining and I used the wrong type of glue so the headlining material had lifted away from the backing and bubbled up. These were just made from some very thick card with new grey headliner fabric from newton glued on:
DSC_0978 by garrywadey, on Flickr

I removed, stripped and rebuilt the gearbox with a slightly taller 5th gear from a austin meastro van along with a quaife ATB differential and new stronger steel caged bearings, the gearbox seemed fine but when I stripped it I did find the lock nut on the end of the mainshaft was loose so could have come loose at any moment and smashed the gearbox to bits!
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Decided to replace the crusty steel coolant pipe with a new stainless steel one, the rear one is a normal rover part:
DSC_1032 by garrywadey, on Flickr
but the front is custom made:
DSC_0942 by garrywadey, on Flickr

Modified the plastic spi heater to look 'older' by making a front panel and painting it crackle black:
DSC_1057 by garrywadey, on Flickr
DSC_1060 by garrywadey, on Flickr
adapted the mk2/3 indicator stalk to take the mk1 flashing end so I can still operate the high beam/flasher from it:
DSC_1084 by garrywadey, on Flickr

Did a driving weekend in wales with my dad in his mayfair between lockdowns:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Installed a load of soundproofing (this stuff is the only thing I've found that actually makes a noticable difference):
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Plumbed in a willwood rear brake propotioning valve as I've had 2 brand new late mini ones fail leaving the rear brakes not working:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

coated the suspension etc in ACF50 to protect it:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Built a roofrack from stainless steel and oak during lockdown 2:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
yes the lights do work

I've found the rear suspension a bit harsh for a while and wasn't sure why until I noticed the minispares Hi-los have a different seat profile to the standard trumpets effectively stiffening the cones, great for a track/race car but not ideal for the road! Shame they don't mention this on the website. So I modified them to near the standard trumpet profile and it's much smoother especially over big bumps:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Did the north coast 500 (about 1800miles in total over a week)
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

Changed the cambelts and found a hole in one! lucky scape there!
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

As I had reduced the rear end suspension stiffness by modifying the hilos I decided to upgrade the rear ARB from the minispares 12mm one to the KAD 16mm one, the minispares one is fine and works well but the KAD one is miles ahead in terms of quality and also keeps the car much flatter in the corners, it also fits fine with cooper s wheels, 165 tyres on spacered drums (i think the previous ones were too wide?). I also bought some AVO dampers for track use as athough the KYB AGX dampers are excellent quality and great on the road they don't really adjust stiff enough for the track.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

And finally I bought some minispares minilite wheels for my track tyres, I didn't trust the steel cooper s replicas under track forces and had clearance issues with them on the KAD calipers anyway. The minispares wheels are excellent quality and i'm very pleased with them, they only had the diamond cut versions in stock and as I need them for a trackday tomorrow I couldn't wait for the non diamond cut ones to be in stock, I'm not a fan of the diamond cut edge (looks too modern for me) so had them painted over.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Love how they look on the car.
We have a trackday at bedford autodrome tomorrow so will be interesting to see what difference all these changes make since the last trackday.

[wantafaster1]

Brilliant to see updates and pleased to see you are still enthusiastic about the car. You've done a great job.

[Old English White]

SO many really clever but subtle mods there And it still looks pretty standard! One of my favourite modified Minis for sure

[rolesyboy]

This car is superb and supremely well engineered
Love it

[InnoCooperExport]

This car is all kinds of brilliant. I'm normally not a fan of engine swaps as never look quite right to me but this one is exceptional. The removable front end looks about as factory standard as they get. Hope to see it for real one day. Simply fantastic looking car, I bet it's great fun

[gazwad]

Thanks for the kind comments. The trackday went well, overtook a few porsches and kept up with some serious track cars so pretty pleased with it. The new suspension setup works well, it’s much stiffer and the back end slides nicely but very controllable so the technique seems to be to chuck it in, get the back end sliding slightly then back on the throttle so the diff pulls you out in a nice drift. Not sure if its the fastest way around the corner buts it’s a lot of fun.
short clip of some three wheeling:
https://flic.kr/p/2mbWWvm
there should be a full video soon

[gazwad]

Full videos from the trackday:
https://youtu.be/O0ySOQLX51o

https://youtu.be/x0Wzv9e-aKI
the outer edges of the tyres were very badly worn as the tyre rolls over so much in the corners, I only have around 0.5 dregrees of negative camber on the front and 0 on the back and for these tyres I think I need around 2 degrees on the front so the tyre wears more evenly. Or ideally a tyre with a stiffer sidewall but the only one suitable is the Avon cr6zz but a set of those are over £600 - a bit much just for the odd trackday! Also a bucket seat would be a good idea for the next one

[gazwad]

​Had a slightly odd problem on the trackday - whilst in second gear only on left hand turns there was a clicking noise coming from the front passenger side of the car which meant I avoided using 2nd on the track until I knew what it was. After checking everything in the suspension/hubs etc I worked out it must be the reverse gear selector arm not holding the reverse gear in place properly and with it in second gear (which moves it closer to the reverse gear) a left hand corner was just enough lateral force to allow the reverse gear to contact second gear. So out with the engine and box and a strip down revealed the reverse selector arm indent spring/ball had become weak so a new one was fitted along with a new 1st/2nd syncro hub as it was slightly crunchy getting into first. Also put in a new genuine rover clutch as the borg & beck one I fitted a couple of years ago had a slight judder.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
I all drives nicely now.

I went to the Himley hall mini show and picked up some adjustable bottom arms (the heavy duty minisport ones) so will be able to dial in some more negative camber for the track. I parked in the show & shine mainly so I had a good parking spot next to the traders as my friends had a stand there and the mini got second place! I didn't even clean it so was surprised but happy with that.

Mini World magazine has published my write up from my welsh road trip with my dad (out this month) which I'm really pleased with and it made my dad very happy being in the mag. They have asked my to do one for our Scotland trip as well.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr

And finally something I have been planning to do for a while:
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
A full stainless steel exhaust. My maniflow one is still in good nick and did the job very well (seemed to make good power) but I just wanted a shiney one. The maniflow is 2" diameter and this new one is 2.25" which is supposed to be optimum for the vvc, the boxes are almost the same outside dimensions as the maniflow as I didn't want it any louder. All the parts were from profusion exhausts and are very good quality and reasonable prices as well. I took a bit of time to get the bends right but there's plenty of clearance. I welded it up with stainless wire in the mig.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr


I have ordered a Cobra classic RSR seat for track use, they are trimming it in a very similar colour to my current seats so it will be a few weeks before it arrives.​

[gazwad]

Little update, firstly my write up of our trip to the north of scotland got a 7 page feature in Miniworld this month (March 2022) along with a pull out poster which was a nice surprise
Nc500 article by garrywadey, on Flickr
This also reminded me I wanted to change back from fixed rear quarter windows to opening ones as on hot days there isn't much air flow through the car with the sliding door windows. I trimmed down the polycarbonate fixed windows to fit the stainless opening frames then bonded them in using clear sikaflex, they wobbly slightly when driving with them open but not enough to cause a problem.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Next is a new interior. As nice a the red leather Mpi interior is, I had a few reasons for changing it - firstly I always thought it looked a bit too modern for the style of the car, secondly the front seats are fairly bulky compared to earlier mini seats so I can never get the seat quite far enough back to be comfortable and thirdly they restrict access and legroom in the back (and the kids do go in the back sometimes).
I wanted a mk1 style interior but wasn't too sure what style would work best but I really liked the grey fleck (as used in the very early mk1's) from newton which I already have on the dash so I decided on an early morris mini style but with the grenadine red (as per the mpi leather seats) instead of the bright tartan red for a bit more class! I already had some mk1 seat frames so ordered the covers as well as new grey fleck door & rear quarter cards from netwon commercial.
They wereexpensive but newton are the only ones which do the correct grey fleck vinyl and the quality is exceptional, the only downside being a 3 month wait for them to be made. The door cards were a special order as well, they don't normally do mk3 panels in grey fleck but I also wanted them supplied with just the door release hole and no other holes as I have no window winder and I have moved the lock lever and handle to make it look more like a mk1 panel. I fitted new diaphragms and foam to the seat frames and then the covers which wasn't too hard but a bit nerve wracking cutting into the expensive covers. It's transformed the car - it feels much older now but to my surprise the seats are actually more comfortable than the mpi seats. There is also much more interior space so it is more practical and it feels lighter with less of the dark red everywhere, plus the mk1 seats are half the weight of the mpi seats!

Mini red fleck seats by garrywadey, on Flickr
Mini red fleck seats by garrywadey, on Flickr
Mini red fleck seats by garrywadey, on Flickr
And the final change was fitting an Mpi steering column. The Mpi columns have bearings instead of plastic bushes so don't tend to wear and suffer from play like my old column had. The only issue it the mpi column uses a different size spline for the airbag steering wheels. To be able to use my original wheel I cut the end of the column off and welded on the splined end from an earlier column, at the same time cutting it a bit longer to bring the steering wheel slightly closer, this meant I also had to extend the outer tube to alllow the indicator stalk to clamp in the right place. I wanted to be able to easily adjust the height of the cloumn so carefully ground off the weld around the bottom clamp of the inner column and knocked it off leaving the splines. I then found a suitable universal joint with the matching splines for both the column and the rack and simply bolted it on - this means the column height can be moved without having to loosen the steering rack U bolts. Finally I made a new slotted bracket and removed the original bracket welded to the mpi column, modified it and welded it back on in a suitable position. It works brilliantly - much smoother than the old column partly due to the bearings and partly to the universal joint which eliminates and binding from miss-alignment with the rack. And the heavier duty bracket has eleminated and flexing making the steering feel sharper.
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
Untitled by garrywadey, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2n3Ncuw][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/518 ... b74bded534

[W1NG3D]

That interior looks incredible!

[NotNormal]

Looks great, love the stealthy ethos of this

[Old English White]

Love the new interior Transforms the look of the car - and the feel of it I'm sure.