1965 Canadian Austin 850 Restoration (again)

[JC T ONE]

Thats a ballast coil = you will need to fit a resistor to the plus wire, if you are going to use it.

this type is normally fitted to cars, that has a different starter relay.
It gives 12volt around the resistor, while the starter motor is turning = easier start.

[formulaphoto]

April 8th! Just 20 days left before our 1200km Spring Thaw tour! Some of the Vancouver Mini Club folks came over today to help turn some wrenches.

Wheels were on the car today, but only temporarily as I need to make new brake cross-over pipes for the front brakes, and get the rear brakes connected. Motor is also in, with all the wiring hooked up.

One of the club members suggested a great substitute for the felt washers on my rear helper spring - furniture pads that go on the bottom of chair legs to stop scratching on hardwood floors. Brilliant! A few minutes with the hole punch and scissors and we had 4 new ones.


The door hinges needed a bit of work to get the studs cleaned up. It turns out the replacement hardware kit I bought from the UK is a different thread (metric?), and so I needed to find all the old items. Missing one stud, so I'll have to make one up from a bolt.


I also found out that the new pins provided with the hydrolastic front shock kit from Mini Spares don't fit in my hydrolastic upper suspension arms. Might have to see if they fit in later model arms or something.

Still a big list of things to accomplish...install glass, pressurize the hydrolastic, bleed brakes and clutch, hang the doors, etc, etc. Going to be a long two weeks ahead!













Also got the new side window seals installed. They are a much better fit, although still very tight. Once I've got it latched and compressed for a while, they should be fine.



Onwards!
Warwick

[ricardo]

If you're referring to the bottom pins used in the dry setup, then it's normal they will not fit hydro arms.

You have to either remove the arms and enlarge the the holes, fit dry arms or have some proper pins made.

Check this: http://rsn-mk1.blogspot.pt/2010/10/wet- ... rsion.html

The rest looks good. Lots of work to do in 2 weeks, good luck.

[JC T ONE]

almost there nice work

[Chalkie]

Very good resto Love it

Just one question

Have you put your rear radius arms on upside down? cause on all mini's ive worked on the brake line was always onto of the arm not under

might be different I'm not sure

[Gray]

Very good resto Love it

Just one question

Have you put your rear radius arms on upside down? cause on all mini's ive worked on the brake line was always onto of the arm not under

might be different I'm not sure

Not on Hydro's

[Chalkie]

Very good resto Love it

Just one question

Have you put your rear radius arms on upside down? cause on all mini's ive worked on the brake line was always onto of the arm not under

might be different I'm not sure

Not on Hydro's

Learn something new every day then

[formulaphoto]

It runs! And rolls!

Fired it up for the first time in 2.5 years today. There was an oil leak from somewhere behind the generator that I will have to diagnose tomorrow so I didn't run it for very long, but a huge grin was on my face when the motor whirred into life without a hesitation. Still a huge to-do list, and our three-day endurance tour starts in 5.5 days, but today it felt like I might actually make it in time!

Still some hydrolastic ride-height setup to do, but we pumped it up enough to roll around the garage for fire-up.


Abby sees sunlight after two years of solitary confinement!


Rear subframe with fuel pump and inline fuel filter installed




With the HS6 carb, the fuel line routing is a bit longer than my previous carb, so I tried to keep it all neat and tidy. I used another in-line filter (a nice, small Russell Fittings re-usable one).





Now, to find that oil leak...I hope it is minor and easily fixable!!!

W

[rolesyboy]

Great looking restoration and the car looks fab. My Mk 1 is Island Blue with a white top. Re your oil leak it sounds like a timing cover leak. Makes me wonder if you centred the oil seal over the crank pulley when you tightened it up? I had murders with an oil leak that seemed to come from the timing cover (a brand new item) and changed it 5 times with no success until I discovered that the brand new timing cover had been badly manufactured. The breather had only been welded on 2/3 of the way round and it was only by removing the cover, putting it on its belly and filling it with brake cleaner that I discovered that the actual metal cover was leaking like a sieve. Only raised this as I know what a ball ache it was to figure it out not to mention the expense and man hours I put in. Good luck with your adventure. BW Mark

[Chalkie]

Looks amazing! wish Mine look better than a mess haha very nice work

Oh and the little drain on back of the block is a Morris minor/ Early mini 850 Water drain tap installed for cold country when yo had to change the coolant over from summer to winter made draining the system a lot easier

Stephen.

[formulaphoto]

Oh and the little drain on back of the block is a Morris minor/ Early mini 850 Water drain tap installed for cold country when yo had to change the coolant over from summer to winter made draining the system a lot easier
Stephen.

I also found out which way was "open" after I started filling the car with coolant and started to hear a waterfall under the car

W

[JC T ONE]

I also found out which way was "open" after I started filling the car with coolant and started to hear a waterfall under the car

Rather that one, instead of the oilplug

[Chalkie]

I also found out which way was "open" after I started filling the car with coolant and started to hear a waterfall under the car

W

Rather that one, instead of the oilplug

Agree'd! rather water than Oil

[formulaphoto]

No time for updates....one more day to get it ready! Installing sliding windows and hanging the doors today, plus sorting out the brakes and tuning the carbs and timing.

My "break in" run will be the 200km run to the start of the Spring Thaw tour!

Hopefully tonight I will be posting photos while enjoying a beer on the couch! (one can dream anyways!)

[abri]

This is exciting! Good luck!!

[Chalkie]

Good luck!

[formulaphoto]

We just got back from a great weekend of driving...the car was a champ! Apart from a sticking throttle on day 1, it was a rocket ship with very few problems. I'll write more this week about the last push to get it done, but here's a photo at about 2pm on Thursday - the first time it had moved under its own power since 2009!



And here it is on Day 3 of the Spring Thaw Tour...

[JC T ONE]

well done bet that was a good feeling

where is that second pic taken ?

[georgek]

Nice work, the car looks great.

[formulaphoto]

well done bet that was a good feeling

where is that second pic taken ?

That is "Old Hedley Road" in southern British Columbia, Canada.