My Very Cheap Mini One D Dooer Upper...
Discussion
Seeing as it's a nice sunny Sunday I thought I better get back out there and try and get a couple of hours on the Mini.
I managed to (eventually) get the front panel off after a few threaded nuts and bolts put up a fight. It would appear that whoever replaced the engine (it was done by a garage!!!) wasn't too good at doing things up straight! Anyway, I got there eventually and could then get a better look at the wiring etc.
I got in a bit closer and found a couple more bits of chewed wiring and a little bunch of straw which may of housed a mouse at some point!
I've come in to watch the F1 and have some lunch and then I have some other bits to do this afternoon but I will try and do a bit more before the end of the day
I managed to (eventually) get the front panel off after a few threaded nuts and bolts put up a fight. It would appear that whoever replaced the engine (it was done by a garage!!!) wasn't too good at doing things up straight! Anyway, I got there eventually and could then get a better look at the wiring etc.
I got in a bit closer and found a couple more bits of chewed wiring and a little bunch of straw which may of housed a mouse at some point!
I've come in to watch the F1 and have some lunch and then I have some other bits to do this afternoon but I will try and do a bit more before the end of the day
Spantney said:
I love the fixer upper threads. Doesn't matter whether its a mini or a Ferrari, so many people are so quick just to bin a car nowadays when it needs a bit of work. Always nice to see some effort going in to save one from the scrapper.
Absolutely this.I have zero interest in this particular car in question, it's not a car I would ever buy. But, I do find threads like this fascinating, seeing what's involved in fixing cars and the way people go about problem solving.
Top work OP, looking forward to see how you get on with it.
I managed to get a couple more hours on the Mini after the F1 had finished
So I managed to disconnect all the fuel lines and electrical connections to the engine plus the gear linkage cables. Next thing I needed to do was get the driveshafts out. My god, what a pain in the arse it was (and I didn't even get as far as taking them out!)
Once again, every single but and bolt I came across felt like it had been done up by Geoff Capes and a 20 metre breaker bar! I had to burn all the ball joints to a crisp too as they wouldn't pop out for love nor money! At around half 6 I finally gave up for the day after I couldn't figure out how to actually get the driveshafts out of the gearbox. I will do some research and attack it again later this week. Here are a couple of pictures of how far I got before I packed everything up for the day.
So I managed to disconnect all the fuel lines and electrical connections to the engine plus the gear linkage cables. Next thing I needed to do was get the driveshafts out. My god, what a pain in the arse it was (and I didn't even get as far as taking them out!)
Once again, every single but and bolt I came across felt like it had been done up by Geoff Capes and a 20 metre breaker bar! I had to burn all the ball joints to a crisp too as they wouldn't pop out for love nor money! At around half 6 I finally gave up for the day after I couldn't figure out how to actually get the driveshafts out of the gearbox. I will do some research and attack it again later this week. Here are a couple of pictures of how far I got before I packed everything up for the day.
Bungleaio said:
You are certainly putting in a lot of effort! I hope you enjoy driving it when you've finished it all.
It amuses me that BMW included cooper S skirts on these to make the diesel a bit more desirable than the petrol One.
I didn't realise they were Cooper S skirts so thanks for pointing that out as the drivers side one needs replacing and I would of just bought a regular one haha!It amuses me that BMW included cooper S skirts on these to make the diesel a bit more desirable than the petrol One.
Well I was hoping to have the engine on the floor this weekend but I've gotten a bit stuck trying to get the driveshafts out! I've tried pulling them and they won't come out. I've tried levering them and they won't come out. I can't think of any other ways at the moment hehe. Google doesn't seem to be offering any advice so I'm asking around on Mini forums to see if anyone can help.
Oh and I've managed to pick up replacement engine mount brackets from a breaker so one less thing to save up for to buy from Mini!
Oh and I've managed to pick up replacement engine mount brackets from a breaker so one less thing to save up for to buy from Mini!
Ok I managed to make some more progress this afternoon.
I wandered back outside about 3ish and was faced with this.
I spoke to the breakers that I picked up the engine mounts from and they told me how to get the drive shafts out. It took at least 30 seconds to get them to release! Easy when you know how!
With the driveshafts out I could undo the last few bits ready to wheel the engine straight out the front. I also needed to put the suspension back together and get it back on its wheels. When I parked the car up I got it quite close to the edge of the driveway and didn't leave myself any space for the engine to come out.
It took me about 45 mins to get everything undone and out of the way and then I had to make a decision on how I was actually getting the engine out. I've got an engine crane but this engine doesn't really have anywhere to pick it up by. I had a rummage through the shed and found an old car dolly hiding down the back, so that got dragged out along with my big trolley jack and both got positioned under the engine and gearbox. I jacked it all up slightly to take the strain off the mounts and undid them all, lowered the jack down so the sump was sat on the dolly and then slowly wheeled it all out in one. Easy!
I decided to quit while I was ahead so packed everything away at this point! Before I went in I had a good look around the engine bay and it's definitely going to need degreasing and cleaning up before the engine goes back in. This thing has been leaking oil for a long time! I can safely say nothing underneath is going to be rusty haha! This is what I'm left with after today.
I won't get any more time on it this weekend but I am going to do a bit of research on the best (strongest) degreaser as its on there pretty thick!
I wandered back outside about 3ish and was faced with this.
I spoke to the breakers that I picked up the engine mounts from and they told me how to get the drive shafts out. It took at least 30 seconds to get them to release! Easy when you know how!
With the driveshafts out I could undo the last few bits ready to wheel the engine straight out the front. I also needed to put the suspension back together and get it back on its wheels. When I parked the car up I got it quite close to the edge of the driveway and didn't leave myself any space for the engine to come out.
It took me about 45 mins to get everything undone and out of the way and then I had to make a decision on how I was actually getting the engine out. I've got an engine crane but this engine doesn't really have anywhere to pick it up by. I had a rummage through the shed and found an old car dolly hiding down the back, so that got dragged out along with my big trolley jack and both got positioned under the engine and gearbox. I jacked it all up slightly to take the strain off the mounts and undid them all, lowered the jack down so the sump was sat on the dolly and then slowly wheeled it all out in one. Easy!
I decided to quit while I was ahead so packed everything away at this point! Before I went in I had a good look around the engine bay and it's definitely going to need degreasing and cleaning up before the engine goes back in. This thing has been leaking oil for a long time! I can safely say nothing underneath is going to be rusty haha! This is what I'm left with after today.
I won't get any more time on it this weekend but I am going to do a bit of research on the best (strongest) degreaser as its on there pretty thick!
Sammo123 said:
MJK 24 said:
Toyota 1.4 diesel? Do they have any known issues?
Apart from being rather underpowered I've never really heard of anything going wrong with them. The advantage of the diesel is they all got the 6 speed Getrag gearbox from the Cooper S - The pre-facelift One and Cooper have a 5 speed Rover 'box which is made of some sort of fermented dairy product with all the longevity of an X Factor winner's music career.
If you want to fit some nice bits there are tons of crashed ones in breakers yards and instructions on the Mini2 forum to retro-fit pretty much anything - heated leather, multi function steering wheel and so on.
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