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Tim wrote:The focus of your new globes probably won't be quite the same. The position of the filament relative to the focal point of the reflector controls the spread of the beam. The two original globes have different filaments, one for flood and one for spot, so you would need to align the position of the filaments of your two H3 bulbs differently to get them focussing the same as they would with the original mismatched pair of globes.

That's a great set of lights, they really look the part.

Tim

Hi Tim,

I had thought about that when I was putting them back together. I decided that I’ll try and get both set up to have the same beam as the spot lamp side. As far as I can tell, apart from the globe everything else is the same. I’ve never used fog lights in any car I’ve owned (they’ve also never had them fitted) so I’m happy to set them both up as driving lights and have them symmetrical. Form over function in this instance

Its not only the bulb placement .... the fog light has a heavily ribbed lens that provides a wide beam with a strong vertical cut-off. Looking at the bulbs it looks like the orientation of the filament might play a part too....

Drive down Kiera on a foggy winter night and you might see the value in a proper fog light.... (I'm convinced ..especially if you can get a yellow lens.

Cheers, Ian

1071 S wrote:Its not only the bulb placement .... the fog light has a heavily ribbed lens that provides a wide beam with a strong vertical cut-off. Looking at the bulbs it looks like the orientation of the filament might play a part too....

Drive down Kiera on a foggy winter night and you might see the value in a proper fog light.... (I'm convinced ..especially if you can get a yellow lens.

Cheers, Ian

Thanks Ian. I'll do a bit more thinking about the bulb and how to wire them up.

I had a busy day in the garage Sunday! The engine block got a good scrub, threads cleaned out and a coat of paint

 
I did a quick mock up for couple of inspiration photos, hopefully it'll be together again soon, but I'm really happy with the look    

 

 
I installed the crank and checked the end float. I bought original size thrust washers a few years ago and they turned out to be too loose. I got some +003 oversize thrust washers and now the end float is in spec. This block came back from the engine shop with no additional external parts fitted and it had been a couple of years since I stripped them so I wasn't quite sure which parts went where. Luckily I had a spare 998 block set aside so I was able to get an oil pressure relief assembly, oil feed banjo bolt, distributor drive and housing and a whole selection of nuts and bolts. 

 
So next:
Replace the cam bearings (all the engine bearings that were initially available were cheap King bearings and now I've got ACL bearings to replace them all)
Install cam + oil pump
Install timing gears + modify to suit duplex chain
Build one good rocker assembly from the two I have + find a set of pushrods
Install welch plugs

hi timmy
engine is looking good you sure get around in your mini i have never been to braidwood looks like a nice place i passed through batemans bay in january 1978 on our way back from phillip island bike races with a very sick xy ute with blown head gaskets just made it to woy woy at 5am and it stopped in the drive way
2 new head gaskets and the next friday were at surfers paradise for more bike races phillip island was new years day before that it was mt gambier for proclaimation day races a busy few weeks but the xy was a very fast cruiser 130 mph was easy cruising no radar then
well those days are gone
keep up the good work cheers roger

hi timmy
you might know of a front windscreen for an old rusted out mini that i could get as i am working out the specifications for a unipower gt and that frame is what was used so as i work out what i need i will shop around for the bits it is a big project but will get done some time
happy mini work i built lots of those engines when we had the 850
cheers roger

roger mcnab wrote:hi timmy
you might know of a front windscreen for an old rusted out mini that i could get as i am working out the specifications for a unipower gt and that frame is what was used so as i work out what i need i will shop around for the bits it is a big project but will get done some time
happy mini work i built lots of those engines when we had the 850
cheers roger

The windscreen and surround on a Unipower come from a Triumph Spitfire, not a Mini.

hi smithyrc 30
yes i know but where can i get a spitfire one from also t think the spitfire supplied the rear screen same problem where do i find one
cheers roger

No the rear screen on the unipower is a bespoke item and unique to them, formed in Perspex or whatever its called now. the only person who I know who has the buck for one to be made is Gerry Hulford unless any other owners have done the same.

The sliding side windows are chopped down mini as is the window runner, catches mini.

The front screen frame is, as you say Triumph Spitfire Mk1 or 2, although Mk3's are close and I beleive the same as TR4 & 5 but I am sure someone will correct.

External/internal door handles Mk1 Cortina, Column wiper/indicator switches Hillman Imp, Viva HA bonnet catch and cable the list goes on....

Regards
Gary

Hi Roger, that sounds like a fun project! Sorry I can’t help with any of those windows.

One of the next jobs to finish was the rocker assembly as it's needed to torque the head down. I pulled apart two assemblies and one set had much better condition rocker arms.


The old rocker shafts were pretty worn on both sets so I ordered in a new "heavy duty" shaft


All looks good on the head.


I ordered some new ARP rod bolts to replace the standard ones.


This meant that I could torque up the main bearing caps and the rods


Three of my new rocker studs just wouldn't tighten up. One snapped and I pulled out the other two before they snapped. Old ones I had in stock worked fine!


I put the head on and torqued it up. I checked the cam timing and I'll need to get an offset cam woodruff key to bring it back to the recommended spec.


Today I needed to find some crank shims to get the spacing correct on the timing gears. It took me a while to find the stash, and I had 9 thin ones and 1 thick one. I needed 1 thick and 1 thin to get the spacing right


A lot of time is spent cleaning and painting...




The flywheel housing took ages to clean, now I need to install the new idler and outrigger bearings. Then the idler gear is shimmed and it's about time I can add the engine onto the gearbox..


New studs and bolts all around makes it nice to work on

Screens and surrounds occasionally pop up on ebay and you can get the screens new from Rimmer Brothers.

They used to do the frames but these have been out of stock for a while.

There are more than a few Triumph forums around the world like this one where you can post for one.

The Spitfire mk1/2 is the same as the TR4.

Is it just me, or is your idler gear surface damaged on the top? Looks like there is a high spot on the top.

Niclas92 wrote:Is it just me, or is your idler gear surface damaged on the top? Looks like there is a high spot on the top.

I've gone and checked this morning and it looks like the top surface has had a little impact. I'll make sure it's perfectly flat there before I fit anything further. Thanks for keeping an eye out

thanks smithyrc40
that is a bit of help as i should get one some were but i am not in a hurry and just collating all the info beforei start then i will get about it in the meantime the rover v8 powered mini clubman is go
cheers roger

I had a bit of time today so I cleaned up the pot joints, painted, regreased and assembled them. I want to get some proper metal CV ties rather than the plastic zip ties that came in the kit. 

 
The driveshafts also got a good scrub and coat of paint. 

you sure have been a busy little bee the car will not know it self when all this is installed keep up the good work
cheers roger
i have scored the tr4 windscreen frame a guy in adelaide had one for sale he has 1 of all the trs
cheers roger

I found this grubby old rocker cover for sale. It looked like it'd come up OK with a polish and repaint and I'd never seen one like this before.


The only place I could find another one was on the main site here, and it's a Leyland Plusparts cover. With a quick degrease and wipe over it actually looks pretty reasonable. The paint still has a bit of shine to it


I'm thinking it'll go into the rocker cover rotation on the current running engine, it'll need a new coat of paint before it gets used on the new engine. The chrome oil cap looks much better than the red one too


(Don't worry I removed the piece of leaf from near the spark plug hole)

hi timmy
the chrome one looks better than the red one metal always looks better than plastic
cheers roger

I found this photo at my grandparents house recently. It was taken back when my dad owned the car (about 1983 he thinks) , and the house was owned by my grandparents. It's always great to find more photos of the history of the car 

 


And onto the biggest/longest event of the year - the Rylstone Classic. This year we met up at Mingara, which was about 200km from home. My dad came along this year, and there was a record roll up - somewhere north of 150 cars!

 

 

 
We hit the road and it was a fun drive out through the country

 

 

 

 

 
We made it to Rylstone with absolutely no issues, and even with some daylight left.

 

  

 

 
After a cool start on Sunday morning we met up in the main street before heading out to Bathurst

 



 

 

 


After 950km over the three days, mostly above 4000rpm the 998 is finally finished   

 
After a couple of hours of work (and a drive to the auto parts shop for some hydraulic oil for the engine crane) the engine came out, my friend Dean gave me a hand and we had Mr Beam for some inspiration 

 
I pushed the two engines side by side to figure out what I'm missing and start to clean and swap over some parts. So far this has included: water pump, radiator shroud and brackets, fan & pulley, oil filter spin on assembly, alternator brackets, oil pressure gauge adapter, clutch arm & speedo cable


I pulled off the clutch cover to remove the throwout bearing plunger and bearing (the wide face type). The 998 had another surprise for me, it still has the coil spring clutch! I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened with the 998 was installed - originally I assumed it would have just had a whole 998 engine/gearbox installed as it was remote change. Now I'm not sure!


More parts cleaned and repainted


I checked over everything while the engine was still on the stand, installed the water pump and timing cover & set the valve tolerances


I was missing the engine dowels that locate into the gearbox case, and luckily a local guy was able to find some for me. All that was left to do now was a trial assembly to make sure everything fit and I wasn't missing anything

I think, you need a tappet chest cover with breather and maybe on the rocker cover as well. You risk to blow out gaskets if you don´t have enough ventilation. http://minispares.com/catalogues/classi ... spx?1~2~25

e-type wrote:I think, you need a tappet chest cover with breather and maybe on the rocker cover as well. You risk to blow out gaskets if you don´t have enough ventilation. http://minispares.com/catalogues/classi ... spx?1~2~25

I have been thinking about this for a while actually. I was going to run one of the baffled type tappet breathers but I want to use the top engine steady that goes from the thermostat housing to the bulkhead. You can't use both at the same time as they use the same space on the back of the engine. Perhaps with a bit of hammering I can get both to fit.

I do have both the rocker cover breather and flywheel housing breather, which is the same as what later cars had, so hopefully this will be OK. I can also try and track down one of the tappet covers with the curved pipe that aims down at the bottom of the engine