1989 Austin Mini 'Designer' special edition project + bonus Mini Cooper content

[Blake's Den]

I frogt to post this update last weekend. Mor eprogress has been made with the engine removal. The tob engine steady should have been a easy job but it wasn't. It looks like the clutch resivoir has leaked onto the steady which had fused the bolt to the inner insert in the bush. In the end I had to drill the head off the bolt. Luckily the corrosion meant that the bolt was really soft.

 

For some reason this video has been super popular when compared to my others. I msut be doing somethign right!

[Blake's Den]

More progress. I'm finding it quite useful breaking down the engine removal into small tasks. This time it was removal of the clutch slave cylinder which was much easier than on my Rover Mini MPI where the access was horrific.

Unsuprisingly the slave cylinder was completely frozen. Off camera I ended up hitting the piston (lightly!) whith a punch which freed it off. I then used the air line to blast the piston out, It will need a rebuild kit but I think that the bore is OK. I've got another one that needs rebuilding that I could always used instead.

[Blake's Den]

Another step towards getting the engine out. I did the boring but essential task of disconnecting all of the wiring in the engine bay and moving the loom out of the way. I decided to label each connector that I removed to hopefully make it easier when it comes to reassembly many years in the future.

 

[Blake's Den]

I've been making so much progress with getting the engine out that I keep forgetting to post the videos!

In this video I do the last bit before lifting the engine out. The gear linkage, gear box mount and gear box steady all needed to be removed. Luckily they came apart quite easily.

I must remember to refit the gear box steady before I put the engine back in. It was quite fidly to undo the bolt which attached it to the subframe. 

Onwards and outwards!

[Blake's Den]

The engine is out!

It was quite easy in the end. I was faffing about trying to get a nut on the engine mounts when I realised that they were actually captive. So once the four bolts were whipped out it was free. Luckily I just had enough room to manoeuvre the engine out of the way.

All in all a successful session.

[Blake's Den]

in a break from working on the Designer I decided to do some work on my other Mini - my 1997 Mini cooper MPI.

After a spirited drive down a country road I realised the the drivers seat base had pretty much collapsed. When I removed the seat I could easily see what the problem was, the diaphragm was all torn. With the chances of finding a replacement in a scrapyard being close to zero I set out and made a repair with cable ties, duct tape and an old inner tube from a tractor. It works!

It is only after doing the fix I was made aware that the diaphragm is still available to buy for about £50.......I had assumed that they would be NLA.

[Blake's Den]

An update.....

I've not done anything on the mini's for a few months too, I've been too busy playing with my other projects. One thing I really wanted to do was to clean up the engine out of the Designer. It was quite messy with years of grease and grim on it. I hit it with some Gunk enginer degreaser and my pressure washer and I was shocked at the difference. You can actually see the factory yellow now!

I will be repainting the engine but it is amazing what difference the cleaning process has made.

[Blake's Den]

In other news.......I have reached 2000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. This was my goal for 2025 and I am pleased that I have reached this with a few weeks to spare.

 

[Blake's Den]

I've had a bit of a reorganistation in the garage. My MPI is now living with the Designer as I've put the 306 where the MPI normally lives. Luckily I could slide the designer over using some wheel skates. I quite like the look of this new arrnagement! The photo also shows how much stuff that I have in the garage, you can never have enough projects

[Remspoor]

I watched the video about the Pug rust. I thought those went around the 3/4 panel.

This one has light corrosion.

 

[Blake's Den]

33 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I watched the video about the Pug rust. I thought those went around the 3/4 panel.

This one has light corrosion.

 

Yep, the do rust badly there. I'll be filling it full of wax and hoping for the best 🙂

[Blake's Den]

I posted this in the V888 thread but I'll also post it here.

I did a V888 request to the DVLA for the hsitroy of my Mini Cooper. This was last year and I forgot all about it! To my surprise a nice letter from the DVLA arrived last week. Despite the obvious GDPR retractions there is still quite a lot of useful information in there.

It was well worth the £5.00.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Blake's Den said:

the hsitroy

Classic! Well done, a new AS term?

[Blake's Den]

6 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Classic! Well done, a new AS term?

Whoops. 

[Blake's Den]

I got my Rover Mini Cooper out of winter storage for its MoT test. Sadly it failed on corrosion. I've been ingoring it for sometime now as I don't do massive miles in the car. But Mini's like to rust.
The rear subframe is past its best. The garage was happy for me to plate it up but I will be changing the subframe later in the year. Ironically I have a fully assembled good condition subframe on the designer but I didn't want to to steal that! Technically the Designer subframe isn't quite right for the cooper as 1990's Mini's have an extra exhaust hanger on the subframe. The MPI also has the fuel filter on the subframe too.

Click bait video title and thumbnail seems to be doing well:

 

[Blake's Den]

If you have not seen the Rustival thread, I was there! I did over 200 miles in my Mini Cooper, it was great to get it out and stretch it's legs:

The drive there and back was find. The only issue that I had was that it was running slightly hot every now and again. Nowehere near the red on the temperature gauge but slightly above the black line in the middle. It is probably time for a colland flush and new anti-freeze anyway.