Weekend repairs - In no particular order, Rover Coupe, 75, Mini

[matt27]

Another few little jobs completed this morning. I've been meaning to sort my air con in the 75 out for ages, we're going away in the car to Germany for a few weeks and I think my wife was hinting it would be nice if we weren't stuck in a hot car for hours....

 

Having previously replaced the fan resistor, I thought I best replace the condenser to cure the groaning noises from behind the dash.

 

Condensor and seals ordered from ebay and delivered very quickly from a guy on the 75/ZT forum.

 

I rang around this morning and found a service place that would degas the car for me, its going back on Wednesday for a regas and oil. Stripping down the car looks much the same as my earlier photos, all went well and I soon had the condenser in hand....

 

 

I was expecting this to be far worse, I must be the proud owner of the tidiest 13 year old condenser out there (on a 75 at least)!

 

Never mind, new one on:

 

 

and car reassembled. Also checked the plenum whilst I was under the bonnet, bone dry, a plastic guard (again from Jules on the 75/ZT forum) to stop leaves getting there from the drivers side works a treat.

 

I checked the low speed on the fan was working, which it was, so just hoping that after some fresh gas the system works on, otherwise I'm stumped (or need a compressor )

 

Finally, I swapped my O/S wheels around front to back and cleaned the mating surface with the hubs. I had new tyres all round before the MOT and now I have a vibration above 65. I suspect the wheel wasn't balanced (the weights aren't new and don't look to have moved in recent months) so hoping this confirms that when I go out for a drive!

[matt27]

Ha! I bought a R8 fan speed controller (£7) and cut it down to fit my Carina II.... Stock part coming up at £35/50 on the web.

 

 

 

Works perfectly ftw

 

 

TS

 

I think I'm going to do this to try and add second speed of fan to the Mini, at the moment is nothing or "Frantic" it could do with something in the middle just for a bit of air movement but allowing conversation. Obviously for conversation to take place, you can't be on a motorway at the time...

[matt27]

Another quick update, still so much to do until I'm happy with this car (will that ever happen?!).

 

I knew the engine was leaking oil (more than usual) before London to Brighton, but it passed an MOT and was ok as long I kept an eye on things. I must have lost well over a litre as the level dropped to under the minimum line by the time we got home - one of the next jobs will be engine out, just seems a shame whilst the weather is nice!

 

Before London to Brighton, my main aim was to get my Megajolt kit in, I've had the EDIS module sat around for about 10 years! The actual Megajolt unit and trigger wheel came from Trigger Wheels - I had to modify the sensor bracket slightly to push the sensor nearer the radiator, but all seems to have worked well.

 

Megajolt is sat here (wiring behind the dash is another big job!)

 

 

I've mounted the coil pack up on the bulkhead on some stainless standoff hex bolts which look quite neat

 

 

I ended up cutting the insulation out from behind it as I was worried it could overheat.

 

Sensor mounts nicely on the bottom of the timing cover, I'll try and get a proper spacer, or an additional nut at some point rather than the plethora of washers!

 

 

All looks relatively neat though...

 

 

Once I had the car running, I needed to fit some of the bits of trim I bought from Optimise Automotive. I'm not going to take this up as a day job, I think I'll pay for fitting next time! The seats need to come out at some point and tidying up as the covers are loose - but I ran out of patience and time as I need everything fitted back in ready for the MOT.

 

Rusty (! ran out of time) frame with foam wrapped and glued around

 

 

Looked quite neat at this point!

 

 

Seat cover being pulled over and clipped

 

 

Will look great with some tidying up!

 

 

 

Until next time

 

[matt27]

75 regassed and working nicely. I wouldn't describe it as Ice cold, but it definitely works and no more groaning!

 

The tyre fitters also came out and balanced the wheels (as they hadn't bothered before) so we can now drive on motorways without shaking any teeth out.

[matt27]

A quick update from me, trying to keep this up to date in some form!

 

I've mostly been busy tidying up the garage, that's freed up lots of shelf space for various bits of Mini engine that were laying around.

 

I had a pretty bad oil leak and things just needed some attention, so out with the engine. I want to get this back in quite quickly so I can get a bit of use before the tax expires in November and I hibernate the car for a couple of months.

 

I had a couple of days off work, so managed to lift the block off the gearbox and start tidying things up a little bit. Its as stripped down as it needs to be, and I degreased the block and head and got some paint on them to tidy things up - looking much nicer now.

 

 

I got a new half moon seal (well my dad got it for me whilst I was at work!) they have supplied the rigid one, is this a problem or is either fine? Block and gearbox are separated so I can fit either type - I had the flexible one fitted before...I did think the rigid type was a quick fix for if you didn't want to separate the block/gearbox.