mk1-forum.net

This is my 1965 Riley Elf "Rita" purchased in early 2014 via ebay
The pictures on ebay defiantly shown her good side and once home there was a lot more body repairs than original we thought.

As the rebuild of the body work started, the mind-set became fit new it will last longer !!

New floor has gone in along with complete front end including inner wings, and a new rear valance

Colour is Fiat 500 Tec House Grey, with Pepper White Roof from the new Mini

1275 MG Metro engine is being rebuilt with stage 3 head and a MED road cam

Looking Ace....

Thanks it's been a long time coming

Few more pics

Love the dash and the seats !!!

Did you refinish the dash yourself ??

Craig

No
The dash was refinished by Chapman & Cliff

That is going to be smart when built up,nice choice of colour

Very smart indeed!

Anyone buying these cars in the future will think BMC were a well run, high standard organisation!

Thanks for all the great comments much appreciated

The rebuild is not going quiet to plan....

Couple of teething problems with the engine rebuild which hopefully are now sorted
The radiator would not line up on the thermostat bracket. A 1275 GT top rad bracket has solved that one
We had to take the flywheel off again and re-lap to pull everything up and worked out that the clutch would now work.

We have an issue at the moment with the sidelight grills will not line up with body/pull in flush with the body, initially we thought that a slight touch on the grill (We tried an old one first) with the grinder would pull in it has not.

We are taking Easter off to enjoy the chocolate

My thinking now is that the cut outs in the front panel (M Machine) are slightly out of line

Update on Elf Progress

The engine is now in, and I have covered the top dash rail.

Both jobs were quiet painless, I am really pleased that the dash rail went well

Still have a couple of issues

The wiring harness does not seem long enough to reach the starter, it is a new Mk3 mini harness

Neither the 1275 GT rad bracket or the shinny S bracket seem to line the radiator up square

is it my eyes, or have you put the fan on back to front????

p.s the clingfilm over the wings is a great budget idea to prevent oily scratches when working on the engine!

I like the contrast between new and old styling nice job.

Thanks Rich yes the fan is on the wrong way

Does anyone have a pic of the route of the wiring harness from fuse box to starter, at the moment it does appear a little short to us.

Really appreciate all the help and advice from all the forum members

Cheers

What starter are you using.? I can't quite tell from your pic.
If it's a pre engaged type the solenoid is on top of the starter as opposed to a seperate solenoid that could be fixed to the inner wing.

Pre engaged starter. we have fitted new Mk3 Mini wiring harness

Cheers

I'd have thought the solenoid wires on a Mk3 loom will be much shorter than required for a pre-engaged starter.

As per previous post, the solenoid on a Mk3 Mini is usually placed on the inner wing, low down.

Thanks looks like I will have to add some length to the wiring harness

I will have to dig my soldering iron out first job tomorrow is a visit to the electrical store

if you are using a loom for an inertia but using a pre engaged starter it easy to sort

leave the old solenoid on the wing, but just connect the starter wire to the same terminal as the main battery lead, use the old thick cable to go down to the starter, then just extend the single white/red solenoid wire down to the pre-engaed starter.

job done, no messing with the thicker wires and it all looks nice and neat

and it saves having to put ring terminals on all the brown wires and the struggle of getting them all onto the single terminal on the pre-engaged starter

Thanks Rich

looks like another Minispares order

Sounds a lot better idea

Cheers

Nice project