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Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 1:00 pm
by Mudhen
Awesome work here - thanks for posting all your progress!

Was wondering what I was going to do about seat mounts...will be copying the daylights out of those, they look great!!

Pat

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 5:02 pm
by Richspec
I'll be doing some swapping around of cars and it'll be coming home shortly and work will start again. :D

parts of the brackets (the section that houses the captive nut) are readily available on ebay etc. the tube was sourced locally as that was much cheaper!
I'm happy it provides a strong safe mounting point and as a bonus its additional bracing into the shell.

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:18 am
by Mudhen
Were you going to reinforce the tunnel and crossmember at all?

(did I just make it obvious I've been reading HTMYM again? :lol: )

Pat

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:12 am
by Richspec
nope, I figure for my use that new panels, a rollcage and the seat brackets will make the shell stiff enough.
Its not like I'm intending to do proper stage rallying :)

Rich

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 11:33 pm
by Richspec
progress has been slow due to lack of time but we now have elec trickery and no lucas smoke :lol:

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:28 pm
by Richspec
started to look at engine i'd bought, i had some issues with the crank and now moved onto the block, all it needs is a helicoil in one thread and a hone...........so i thought
IMAG1630.jpg

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:34 pm
by mk1
Its only a little crack :cry:

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:43 pm
by rich@minispares.com
Richspec wrote:started to look at engine i'd bought, i had some issues with the crank and now moved onto the block, all it needs is a helicoil in one thread and a hone...........so i thought
IMAG1630.jpg
that's easily fixed with a sa1100 crank and a big slice off the top of the block.... :lol:

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:11 pm
by Richspec
i've just stuck it on the 'blocks to be sorted' shelf for now.
Stripped a 1275 gt? engine thats I'll use as my exchange unit with MED.

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:59 pm
by migliacars
were do you buy that stick on black sound insulation from!!!

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:41 pm
by Vegard
I've had a couple of blocks like that. Couldn't get the crack away, even if I removed 10mm from the top.
:|

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:50 pm
by Mudhen
Richspec wrote:i've just stuck it on the 'blocks to be sorted' shelf for now.
Stripped a 1275 gt? engine thats I'll use as my exchange unit with MED.
I've been meaning to order one of those shelves...

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:12 pm
by Richspec
Its a great shelf/workbench, its a special upgrade from the 'pile on the floor that keeps getting in the way'.

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:26 am
by Richspec
small amount of progress, various odds and sods ordered today, much shopping around required!

over Christmas got the heater re assembled. I'd stripped it, blasted some of it and painted it up with varying degrees of success. :roll: in the end it was a case of 'chuck it together, its just a friggin heater..'

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built up
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fitted
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also got the elephants trunk in and the heater all wired up via the dash switch, and glad to say it works. unlike my indicators that seem to have stopped for some unknown reason :!:

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:11 am
by Richspec
got bored and after machine polishing the bonnet stuck some stickers on, not perfect as they're really for a mk2 onwards but near enough. Roundel is on the wrong side as its hiding some paint imperfections.
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the carb doesn't sit quite that high, its just balanced on some boxes to give an impression of what it'll be like.

and put these ones on as well. Most of the others are on the roof getting flattened under some books for now. :lol:
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finally got the steering wheel on tight and slapped the wheel centre in.
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I have noticed that the indicator cancelling pin is in slightly too far up so I'll extend the head a bit.

started to add some rollcage padding
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Image

Today I rebuilt the IDA with carb service kit (came direct from webcon but ordered from aldon automotive as webcon was dearer...) and a selection of new jets, emulsion tubes etc etc. I adapted the left side throttle lever I bought so it actually fits, and after giving up assuming as lost, and ordering a new one with spindle adaptor, I found the Throttle position sensor I'd planned on using. :roll: after a bit of bracket jiggery pokery it works.
Also got the rear window rubber chrome strip in and the finishing strip, this time without slashing my finger open, which was a definite improvement on the front one. :cry:
tomorrow I'm looking at possibly repositioning the exhaust tunnel harness mounts as the buckles foul on the seat mounts and I'm not happy with it, or maybe using longer eye bolts with spacer might be better, we'll see.

Rich

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 9:13 am
by Richspec
quick update:

got the lsd diff and crownwheel (not) fitting issue sorted at Blackpool Race and Rally who also checked the balance of the bottom end which was described as 'mint' :) however the pulley I was going to use, which is the one that came with the MS 8 port injection kit is not useable as is, its not machined / assembled correctly and needs work to get it to run true.

I can now start final engine assembly, when I get the chance between shows, work and other minis..

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 11:46 am
by rich@minispares.com
that steering wheel looks fairly exotic 8-)

whats not to love about a bit of hand tooled bling!

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 1:05 pm
by Mini-geek
Nice build..will the roll cage clear the dash boxes?

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 1:23 pm
by Richspec
rich@minispares.com wrote:that steering wheel looks fairly exotic 8-)

whats not to love about a bit of hand tooled bling!
mota lita 'gunsmith' design, bling alright :lol:

Re: 1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 1:27 pm
by Richspec
Mini-geek wrote:Nice build..will the roll cage clear the dash boxes?

nope, not on the drivers side as the dash sticks out a good ways, I've had to cut a chunk out of it and resite one of the captive nuts that holds it together, I've got a pic somewhere...

here it is. :)
IMAG1723.jpg