Project BOing Boing.... Moogs Motahs

[The Moog]

22 hours ago, Keymaster said:

Great to see you getting stuck in to the camper repairs! Nothing to it really is there. 

Nope.  You are totally correct there.  I think once I got over the fact I thought they were mega complicated I am hoping it will be a decent fix 

[The Moog]

Today's job was to get some paint on the metal. 

Cleaned down and then masked up.   I love this masking paper with inbuilt tape, it makes life very simple.  First coat 

 

Also did inside to protect it 

Few more coats

Remove paper and doesn't look too bad 

 

[The Moog]

Quick lunchtime job - remove cycle rack and fill holes.  Luckily 3d printer means some plastic covers were printed and painted. 

The metal has been broken through by the cycle carrier, probably because the wood had rotted through .  

 

[DSdriver]

6 minutes ago, The Moog said:

Quick lunchtime job - remove cycle rack and fill holes.  Luckily 3d printer means some plastic covers were printed and painted. 

The metal has been broken through by the cycle carrier, probably because the wood had rotted through .  

 

It might be worth checking the fixings on that ladder as well before you trust it with your weight.

[The Moog]

12 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

It might be worth checking the fixings on that ladder as well before you trust it with your weight.

Fair point.   It has never been used, but probably held on with hopes and dreams! 

[camryv6]

1 hour ago, DSdriver said:

It might be worth checking the fixings on that ladder as well before you trust it with your weight.

Are you calling him fat !! 🤣

[The Moog]

On 23/10/2025 at 14:58, camryv6 said:

Are you calling him fat !! 🤣

Comfortably upholstery if you don't mind! 

[The Moog]

Started putting the wood back in and also started to foam fill the previous vents. 

 

The next few steps are to do the other battens once those have dried.  Fill all gaps with foam, then face with 1mm ply across the back and paint. 

 

Question for the shite mind - some of the battens I couldn't do dowels on but are glued together, is there a benefit of also some form of mechanical fixing (stainless builders band) or is this overkill? 

 

[The Moog]

Commuting home tonight, got a bit of knocking on front end.  Pulled in off motorway near Glasgow  but couldn't see anything obvious.  Wheel bolts all there. Tried them and they all felt tight. 

Carried on home as noise had gone, till I got across the Edinburgh bridge.  Luckily I got off and headed for the park and ride, as the front end banged away. 

As I turned up into the carpark, I lost all drive.  Quick look round and everything seemed normal.  Closer look revealed the front passenger wheel had no wheel bolts! 

Blocking the traffic in and unable to move, I found some tools in the back including a widow maker jack.  I also had spare wheel nuts in a bag! 

I didn't take too many pics as people were (rightfully) annoyed I had blocked the entrance. 

I double checked all the other wheel bolts and they are fine.  Limped the car home avoiding motorways. 

The bolts were checked a week ago, so quite surprised they have make a break for freedom. 

I am running mini steels wheels which have a centre bore of 56mm, where as the swift is 54mm.  Would that make a difference? 

 

[GeorgeB]

1 hour ago, The Moog said:

 

I am running mini steels wheels which have a centre bore of 56mm, where as the swift is 54mm.  Would that make a difference? 

 

Yes.

[rusty_vw_man]

14 hours ago, GeorgeB said:

Yes.

WHS - swift wheels are hubcentric so larger centre bore is not ideal. 

[Brigsy]

Correct taper on the bolts for the new wheels?

[Andyrew]

19 minutes ago, Brigsy said:

Correct taper on the bolts for the new wheels?

This ^  or thread size/length. I seem to recall some minis were M14 or M12 depending on year. Perhaps the wheels bolt holes are oversized? Or bolts are bottoming out on the taper before fulling seating on the wheel tight? 

Centre bore oversize IMO would be reason for cause on vibration or wheel wobble, which if the incorrect bolts are used could lead to the wheel parting ways, maybe. With Correct bolts or another issue such as damaged threads etc etc, the centre bore alone shouldn't be reason for a wheel to part ways. 

Plenty of vehicles and trailers have wheels that that are not hubcentric. 

 

[The Moog]

Useful information.  Will need to have a look. 

It was the the swift bolts with the mini wheels. 

Going to stick the old wheels on for now to remain mobile whilst investigate. 

[The Moog]

This was the location I managed to get to 

 

[gm]

i’ve used bini steelies on mx5s for years, sometimes with a spigot ring, but mostly without, and not* had any issues - the mx5 is 54.1, bini 56.1 so only a very thin ring is needed

i bought a set for the exo on bini cooper alloys back in june and still have not fitted them  

i’ve read that for steelies, wheel nuts should have a round taper, not the conical taper found on nuts designed for alloys. makes sense but i didn’t bother  

*i did manage to melt my front spigot rings on a particularly enthusiastic track day  

[gm]

both currently wearing bini wheels

 

[The Moog]

This is the steels mounted.

This is the wheel that lost the bolts

 

This is the Suzuki steel fitted and then close up of the wheel bolts holes

 

[gm]

hard to tell from the pics but it could be the taper bottoming out on the hub before it fully clamps the wheel ? try fitting a bolt to the hub with no wheel and see if there is a gap ?

[gm]

or do they have a ‘collar’ like these weird things ? 

[The Moog]

7 hours ago, gm said:

or do they have a ‘collar’ like these weird things ? 

They are bolts rather than nuts (which is why I think they are less toleran than Mx5)  They were the standard suzuki ones. 

I fired up my new friend to find the answer 

 

So I asked it to create an STL file to 3d print some hub rings to try. 

I shall print them and see if they help 

 

[The Moog]

Fitted the 3d printed spigots today. It made the wheels fit so tightly! Torqued up to 100nm with digital gauge. 

I will keep an eye on the bolts, and recheck after few hundred miles

[Dave_Q]

Nice work.

It might also be worth cleaning up the part of the wheel where the bolt contacts, it looks kinda rusty and this can affect your clamp load (uneven surfaces lead to embedding loss)

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 31/10/2025 at 18:25, The Moog said:

Commuting home tonight, got a bit of knocking on front end.  Pulled in off motorway near Glasgow  but couldn't see anything obvious.  Wheel bolts all there. Tried them and they all felt tight. 

Carried on home as noise had gone, till I got across the Edinburgh bridge.  Luckily I got off and headed for the park and ride, as the front end banged away. 

As I turned up into the carpark, I lost all drive.  Quick look round and everything seemed normal.  Closer look revealed the front passenger wheel had no wheel bolts! 

Blocking the traffic in and unable to move, I found some tools in the back including a widow maker jack.  I also had spare wheel nuts in a bag! 

I didn't take too many pics as people were (rightfully) annoyed I had blocked the entrance. 

I double checked all the other wheel bolts and they are fine.  Limped the car home avoiding motorways. 

The bolts were checked a week ago, so quite surprised they have make a break for freedom. 

I am running mini steels wheels which have a centre bore of 56mm, where as the swift is 54mm.  Would that make a difference? 

 

yes

[The Moog]

The Rover 45 got me back from a trip to the big smoke with no hassle. 

 

It rewarded me on a minus 5 day with the fan deciding to pack up.  The resistor had been ordered as it was only blowing on 3 & 4 

Today the snow has melted and it is (almost) in double figures with temp, it was time to get get sorted before autotesting on Sunday. 

First up was fuse and relay check 

The 30 amp slow blow fuse had popped under the bonnet.

Whipped out the fan and it was very stiff (oooer) 

Checking the voltage and 12 v was present. 

A quick hunt online and there are loads of fans for sale in Spain, or Rimmers wanted a golden unicorn for one. 

Advice from @domeand @320touring led to a partial disassembly and loads of penetrating oil.  This freed it all up and it span like a good un. 

The car also had sopping wet footwell, and looking at it it seems to be coming from the sunroof.  So duct tape has been applied for fully waterproof it, with the dehumidifier whacked on full 

 

[The Moog]

I couldn't find a 45 fan for sale, so decided to that I have a 3d printer so I am sure I could make something fit. 

This looked similar ISH and had the one screw mounting to the back. 

Removed the old back mounting from the 45 fan and swapped it on to the new one. 

Had to swap over the 30a slow blow fuse 

Plugged it and all is good

 

It looks fixed! 

The gaffer tape I had used for seal the sun roof didn't last. 

 

Gorilla tape this time so fingers crossed it works 

[The Moog]

The swift is currently undergoing a bit of surgery 

First up was the rear drum brakes.  They have been noisy and quite shit. 

Quite a pain as the drums have the wheel bearings fitted into them. 

The left rear cylinder pisses out fluid, so that needs to be changed. 

The handbrake adjusters are broken. And I now have to track down abs sensor rings as they are fitted to the old drums.  

All have been ordered. 

[The Moog]

The other issue with the swift is that the suspension is tired.  After discussing with learned friends went with stock shocks with new springs rather than coilovers. 

So with the car stranded for now I thought I would do that job. 

Only had a chance to do the rears, but got to love shiny new bits.

If weather holds up the car needs a good wiring brushing and under sealing to ensure it doesn't dissolve. 

[Tickman]

That should make quite the difference when complete!