63 Austin Super de luxe project

[roymck]

You know that’s really weird , are you saying the photo is upside down ? Because on my device the photo is correct , it’s not the first time somebody has said that . IPAD issues ?

[timmy201]

You know that’s really weird , are you saying the photo is upside down ? Because on my device the photo is correct , it’s not the first time somebody has said that . IPAD issues ?

It's upside down on my laptop, but the right way up on the iPhone. It's one of the quirks of the auto rotation on the phone

[Daz1968]

Think catmint do the heater fresh air hose

[roymck]

Last time I looked Catmint out of stock , ordered one from Nippycars .

[TRP]

Last time I looked Catmint out of stock , ordered one from Nippycars .

I thought someone on here was selling reproduction hose in the 'for sale' section.

Nice project! It looks to be in great shape from your photos! You car *really* makes me wish I had painted mine green.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the clean up.

[roymck]

Well you know how one job leads to another , I knew the wiper motor was wrong not only was the wrong age and style but the wipers done a good job of wiping the bulkhead as well as the screen except when the passenger arm and blade made a continual bid for freedom down the road more than once.

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. So the dash backing had to come out to access the wiper motor , pulled the rack out and it was a dry as a bone then took everything out and found that the passenger wheelbox was a pattern part with poor splines . Just managed to source a S/H wheelbox .
The replacement Dr3 motor was a self parking unit so now the heater had to come out to replace the wiper switch wiring . You know with the heater out might as well strip that down and clean rebuild and repaint . Also the demister vent hoses had come adrift behind the dash and although they are the old style paper style I wanted to save them . Got hold of some large electrical shrink wrap and sleeved the hoses at the vent and it’s stopped any further deterioration and tightened them up no end , can just be seen in the photo.
If the heater is out it would be a good opportunity to add some extra sound deadening . Also the heated windscreen needs wiring up. Each job leads to 2 others and so it goes on .

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[roymck]

Got hold of a DR3a self parking wiper motor with a 120dg Drive cog so as it was out of the car stripped it down and cleaned all the old grease out from it , regreased Drive and checked brushes . Bit odd I thought that when taking out the modern motor had a 110dg drive cog on it ?
Fitted the s/h genuine wheel box and cleaned and greased the rack it was dry as a bone , fitted back in car with the DR3a motor and modified the wiring to get the self parking function . Works a treat and no more over sweeping .
As said before the early DR3 motor must be used with early style wheelboxes . An early and late wiper motor marked up with the same sweep will sweep different angles . The motor and wheelboxes must match to give you the correct sweep .Old motor = old style wheel boxes . New motor = new style wheel boxes . My experience of the early repro wheel boxes are just very poor quality especially the wiper arm spline fitment .
Took the speedo out and fitted a later fuel gauge and a voltage stabiliser as the car has a later tank fitted and now the reading works just fine , again one of the problems of mix and match new and old parts.
Decided to fit a oil pressure light , the speedo had a solid black jewel fitted in between 40 and 50 position , so hunting through the garage found an old BMC speedo and stole the Orange Jewel and fitted it in the speedo bezel , took a PWR feed from the 12v side of the voltage stabiliser through a suitable bulb holder and ran a wire down to the engine . Fitted a Tee piece into the oil pressure line fitting and gained an working oil light .
Getting there , one step forward 2 steps backwards .

[roger mcnab]

that is good to see some one else with that problem it makes life worth while doing well keep at it and you will get it finished and get to drive it cheers roger mcnab

[roymck]

All back together now , the new speedo housing that incorporates a rev counter from Nippycars is a nice piece of work , just a bit of minor trimming to make it fit nice and snug . Plenty of sound deadening fitted and new trim parts from Newton , the old Porcelain green speedo surround panels had distorted after 50 + years of damp and misuse . Hidden behind all this is the wiring and relay for the heated screen . Also fitted a hazard warning light unit as the thought of breaking down at night on a smart motorway in a normal car let alone a Mini horrifies me , not that I intend to make a habit of going on motorways .
This was all made easier as the heater was out so a good opportunity to fit new heater and choke cables and to reroute them properly and also sort new wiring out for a self parking wiper motor . Repair of the existing paper demister tubes was successful and a new fresh air hose was routed through with a new bulkhead grommet . The missing heater ear was fitted and the heater hoses shortened as everything was a hanging down in the passenger footwell.
From when I bought the car for the first time everything electrical is working as it should .
What’s next , get out and enjoy it a bit before they start gritting the roads .

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[roger mcnab]

roymck
do you live in australia or new zealand as your pics are always upside down car is coming along nicely soon be driving down the road again
cheers roger mcnab

[morris-miner]

What sort of sound insulation is that roymck ?

[roymck]

Just some random stuff bought from eBay 3 or 4 yrs ago. Peel the backing off and it moulds easily with a heat gun and heat also helps it stick .

Roy

[roymck]

Took it out to Brooklands on new years day and the exhaust started rattling more than ever , it’s always felt like it’s vibrating against the floor , but it was getting worse . Was when I bought it fitted with a new stainless exhaust so it’s probably less than six months old . Took the complete system off and could see it was rubbing against the 2 floor pan brackets that are folded over and secure the main power cable into the edge of the tunnel , by folding them back the opposite way managed to run the cable more on the floor pan and away from the exhaust . Also twisted the floor start so the terminals face north / south instead of east / west it was perilously close to the exhaust . Fitted new mounting to the front of the subframe and fitted 2 bobbins to the back instead of only one fitted . Previous owner had fitted the metal hangers to the wrong mountings so the exhaust was too low and also not steady and tended to rock sideways.Now it’s a lot better but has anything been done properly on this car ?

As an order was with Minispares bought a fly off hand brake kit , might stop some scrote driving off with the car as most people don’t know what they are or how to release handbrake . Any thing that makes it more secure is a bonus . Cleaned up the handbrake and repainted it as well .

As the wheels are right on the edge of the rear arches it’s noticeable from behind how much positive camber was on the back , so fitted a pair of negative camber brackets on the back , as been said before you don’t end up with loads of negative camber if you start off with positive camber . Looks a lot better, just a bit high at the rear so car needs dropping down .

So as it was jacked up thought I would lower the rear suspension as it was fitted with new adjusters , surprised to find or maybe not that the lock nuts were not tight so wound them in and tightened up the locknuts after carefully measuring adjuster side to side . Wound them in quite a bit and thought I might have gone too low but dropping it too the ground it’s doesnt look any different ,can get over 4 fingers between arches and tyres , what’s going on ? Think I might know but going to put a post on the technical page .

My wife said what you going to do when your retired ? She doesn’t see me now , this project keeps me busy .

[miniminor]

What make is your black leather steering wheel?, looks great.

[9330FN]

What make is your black leather steering wheel?, looks great.

Looks like a Motolita

[roymck]

What make is your black leather steering wheel?, looks great.

Astrali from a company called Bad Boy Classics on EBay . About £60 fits and looks like a Motolita .

They do a Vinyl covered wheel , also Suede and what I have is a Leather wheel all slightly different prices but good value for money and I recommend them.

[roymck]

Today’s choice build an Ark because of the rain or stay in the garage , Mmm garage it is then .
After successfully sorting out rear suspension on drivers side started on the passenger side , But the tank has to come out and the previous owner fitted just before purchase a Monza cap and in doing so glued a brass threaded fitting on the neck so the choice is destroy the tank neck or destroy the brass threaded ring . Think I will give it some thought as I do have sitting around a larger 7.5 gallon tank so maybe that’s the way to go .
Left that and moved onto other jobs , as I said before one job leads to another , the rear parcel shelf cover is a bit crinkly so took it out and found water underneath, the rear glass must be leaking so although I could take out the chrome insert to squeeze in screen sealer behind the rubber ( the rubber is new and glass was fitted unsealed ) , the rear C pillar trim needs replacing and it tucks behind the rear glass rubber so the glass will have to come out , so leave that until I have new C pillar trims . Managed to pull the vinyl off the crinkled backing for the parcel shelf so will be able to fit it onto new backing when the screen has been done .
Moved onto the drivers door as it needed adjustment , took out with difficulty the interior trim and rehung the door , but the drain tubes are cracked and leaking in the door so need to renew them before I refit the trim panel , will probably stick a couple of sound deadening panels in there as well before it goes back to try and make the doors less tinny.
3 jobs started on nothing finished , more parts to order !

[roymck]

Glad I took the old tank out as it was pretty rusted inside , the 7.5 gallon tank going back in was grubby in the bottom so put some white wine vinegar in and left it to stand for a couple of days . Drained it out and filled with soapy water and a handful of large nuts gave it a good shake around and flushed out . Then used the power washer to give a final clean followed by boiling water . Finally as the wife was out put her hairdryer in the tank filler and left it running to dry the tank out . I was sure there was no petrol fumes left as I was wary of blowing myself up. I had previously repainted the tank straps and fitted some new closed cell foam strips . Refitted the tank with new neck seal and filled with fuel , no leaks , job done .
Back to the doors , had already adjusted the drivers door and realised the drain tubes needed replacing so after they arrived managed to fit the new tubes . Also fitted sound deadening panels to the door skin as recommended by Newton commercial . What a difference instead of a tinny door that rung like a bell when tapped they now thud . Recommend anybody that has door apart fit them . Passenger door more of a problem , seem to be missing the alloy tapered washer at the top inner hinge screw so before I adjust that door need to find a replacement , anybody got one ? Also seemed a good idea to paint the bottom of the door pocket as one drain tube was leaking water into the door . Might need to fit new upholstered door panel from Newton as the passenger side looks beyond saving . More money !

[AndyPen]

I feel your pain!! No point in rushing these things so keep on plodding on

[roymck]

Thinking I could just change the C post trims caused a bit of grief. The headlining has been changed in the past and although it’s in good condition I couldn’t find any material to match. Also the sun visors are grey crackle finish and they didn’t match the headlining and nobody seems to make grey crackle replacement headlining . So ordered from Newton commercial a Cream crackle headlining kit . Thinking as I was ordering they would sell me a couple of bare door panel backing so I could transfer my Vinyl panels but no they won’t sell any materials they use .
To do the job properly I took the rear window out to fit the new material under the glass and tucked under the rubber . Then refitted the rear window and sealed it so hopefully no more leaks . Now although the C trims are mirror images the car is not . They took some fitting , in places I had to peel off the covering and cut the millboard backing to size , much time and trial fitting and eventually got them to fit properly . They are slightly too big as supplied and not quite the correct shape but I guess all Mini,s are slightly different .
Struggled to find a supplier for Millboard but eventually found a car trimmer who sold me a part sheet , this enabled me to make and fit the existing parcel shelf cover vinyl cover back on and and refit to the car . With no leaking rear window hopping this stays crinkle free.
Job for the next week , replace headlining material and refit frame to the car and fit the existing door panels vinyl onto new homemade millboard backs. Once the headlining is done can get the cage fitted .