Incoming! Smoll green A series thing....

[groovylee]

Current situation update... 

Engine has been procured, looks to be very good, but only a 998. It'll do. Came with all ancillaries, bar the alternator (ordered).

The interior has been removed, seats stripped down and cleaned, and replacement foam and fabric ordered ready for minigroovy#1 to do some sewing work soon.

Engine bay will be getting a good coat of whatever colour hammerite I have available, just as a tidying exercise. 

I've ordered new engine mounts which will be here soon, then I can fit the lump in. Then it's a case of running through all of the wiring and other connections, sorting out a radiator, and getting it running.

I've got my eye on some 12" minilight style wheels to replace the 15" Alfa wheels it's is currently on (they don't really fit very well), and then once it is on the correct wheels, I can make a start on making the aftermarket rear arches fit. 

After that I need to go through all of the hydraulics, give the brakes a good clean up and going over, and lube up the handbrake mechanism. Then strip and rebuild the coilovers to check them all out.

That's the main stuff. Then there's lots of small jobs like figuring out some sort of door locks, locking bonnet pins, hinges, gauges, Speedo drive cable, lights, sump guard, fire extinguisher position, hydraulic handbrake location, sound deadening etc... It's going to be a long haul.

The most exciting update though, is that I've ordered new number plates for it, in black and silver, cos 1979 innit 😬 I know it's not technically correct, but I'm doing it anyway because it's legal 🤣 not fitting the front one yet though, as I have a plan to fill the front bumper with lead...

More updates when I've had some deliveries.

Lee

 

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, groovylee said:

I have a plan to fill the front bumper with lead...

With a 998cc engine, wouldn't you be better filling the rear end of the vehicle with a series of evenly spaced holes?

[groovylee]

it wont be that bad lol, this thing is light enough at the front that i can pick it up on my own - i dont fancy that at speed round a corner

 

[barefoot]

23 hours ago, groovylee said:

i dont fancy that at speed round a corner

Surely it'll be exactly* the same as a 911, with initial understeer, tightening up when additional power is applied and the relatively heavy back end digs in & begins to bite. Have you no balls, man?

[Zelandeth]

Given how little there is to that thing I'd think the 998 would give it plenty of go.  My Metro never felt slow, and that had a whole car to pull around...

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

My Metro never felt slow, and that had a whole car to pull around...

....compared to a blue 3-wheeler

[groovylee]

working today, so not too much going on

last night i did manage to fit the new seat runners that arrived. this means that i can just about shoehorn myself in with the seat back, and the other groovy's can reach the pedals with the seat fully forward. i was worried it wouldn't work and this would all be a bit futile, but so far so good.

definitiely needs a removeable steering wheel boss though (ordered) as watching me trying to get in and out is very funny 😅

might get around to splashing some paint in the engine bay tomorrow, ready for when the minispares order arrives and i can get the engine in it!

[groovylee]

New gas struts today, so both doors are now operational. I did try to have them opening up to vertical, but then realised that I wouldn't be able to close them from the seat... Oops. As it happened, they're quite strong struts, and the place they're now mounted is some box section, so I'm happy they won't rip out of the mountings.

Also fitted the removable steering boss. So much easier to get in and out now! Time will tell how long the chinesium lasts before getting a bit wobbly, but it was a cheap experiment. It's proven to work now, so can buy a better one next time 👍

That's it for tonight. Waiting on deliveries again now. 

[groovylee]

Also, Mrs groovy approves 😎

[groovylee]

been busy over the weekend - first up, recover the seats. Before:

during:

and after:

 

job well done i think.  not going to refit them until i can make the doors vaguely watertight.... that's later on the agenda.

 

[groovylee]

next up was some cleaning and repainting of the radiator brackets (after pics to follow)

[groovylee]

and then we decided to open up the 'bonnet' panel. this was held down with #8 self tappers which had gone a bit rusty. it was also sealed with silicone, which we wanted to remove and replace with neoprene strip to aid future removal. this highlighted the fact that there needs to be more fixings to stop the ripple effect of the screws pulling the rubber down. cue an order for twice the number of stainless #8 self tappers with flange heads to hopefully prevent this. time will tell....

under the hood:

note the rusty chassis tubes - we rubbed these back and repainted with dark green hammerite - you wont see this anyway.

interesting throttle pedal setup:

and brake/clutch pedal box:

we also found that the windscreen wiper wheel box was well corroded, and we couldnt tighten up the locknut holding it to the panel. a new one has been duly ordered. the wiper arms themselves are also a bit of a lash up, so i will be spending some time refining it keep the parabolic action

I picked up some actual mini wheels, so the old ones will be for sale if anyone would be interested. details to follow once ive given them a clean to find numbers etc.

not the best pic, but im sure you'll recognise the style. they look so small next to the 15" ones 🤣

 

[vaughant]

Love the concentration on the daughter but she'll be ok as gran is supervising!!! 

Great skills to learn that stay with you a lifetime. 

Lovely to see. 

[groovylee]

2 minutes ago, vaughant said:

Love the concentration on the daughter but she'll be ok as gran is supervising!!! 

Great skills to learn that stay with you a lifetime. 

Lovely to see. 

totally agree. now i just need to get them involved in the engine build up and install - i could do with some extra hands!

thankfully all fingers remained apart and not stitched together 🤣

[groovylee]

It's back on its wheels! Ish 🤣 but not for long.

Tonight was the night for checking the front top and bottom ball joints. Loosened all the nuts, managed to free of the tapers ok, and oh! They're not supposed to be that floppy 😱

I hate adjusting mini ball joints. The shims are almost always the wrong combination, meaning that you have to order some more, then you think you've got it, nip it that last bit, and it's solid 🤬

Well tonight was a different story. All went well, I had two spare rubber boots, and the first side is all back together. I've ordered another 6 boots, so will do the others once they arrive.

Buoyed by my early success, I decided to tackle the first driveshaft. The CV boots are ropey as hell, so I'm replacing them now before they fail.

Again, all went well, the boots have been replaced, so I've got the other side to do tomorrow night, and they'll be ready for when I fit the engine at the weekend!

 

[groovylee]

Nearly forgot. The snazzy new ali radiator turned up, so I got the freshened up cowl fitted back on 👍 and the shocks are looking good after a clean and lick of paint 😃

[stuboy]

im liking this beast

[Matty]

Yer gonna run out of things to do at this rate 😄

[groovylee]

10 hours ago, Matty said:

Yer gonna run out of things to do at this rate 😄

not likely! the list is very very long, and I've only got till the beginning of November...

highlights include:

rebuilding the brakes, including new master cylinders

replacing the clutch master cylinder

getting the fuel system to work

getting the cooling system to work

installing the engine, setting the timing, hoping the carb is still set up right and making it run

design, fabricate, and install an exhaust

fitting the rear cycle wings.

all on top of a full time job, on a project that is just about to go full steam ahead.

 

fun lol

[Faker]

Love it! 

[groovylee]

Another job ticked off tonight.  Nearside driveshaft removed ready for cleaning and new CV boots. Oh, and the engine is in.

😁

[Rusty_Rocket]

Love it! 

Plug leads are the wrong way round? 

[groovylee]

12 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Love it! 

Plug leads are the wrong way round? 

They're just chucked on at the moment, just to keep them out of the way. 

[Matty]

12 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Love it! 

Plug leads are the wrong way round? 

Don't. I put new leads and a new cap on mine this week. Uncle whose the actual car mechanic said no that's wrong. This is the firing order and rotation I said so your wrong. Fired it up and got two cylinders. An embarrassing climbdown that was 😄

[High Jetter]

1342? 

[Matty]

Yup. Had rotation wrong though

[groovylee]

well the weekend came and went! brakes and boot stuff sorted on the ranger, so attention turned to the mosquito. a few of the ball joints were too tight for me to undo, so ordered the correct 1.5 socket. while we waited for that, we decided to set the static timing on the engine. cue much searching for the dissy cap and rotor arm... once we found that, we whipped the plugs out and turned the engine over to find no1 TDC. except the engine wouldn't turn over. uh oh. eventually traced to a slightly too long engine mount bolt on the bell housing. once we'd undone that a bit, the engine turned over ok, and we set the static timing. once we'd done that we checked and adjusted the valve clearances which went ok.
next up, we decided to go through the wiring to connect everything up. there were a few head scratching moments where the colours didn't match to one drawing, so we muddled through and got there in the end.
just for fun, I connected up the battery and tentatively turned on the ignition switch. position one. nothing. position two - we have dash lighting! the headlight switch turned that on and off ok. the heater came on, so that was duly switched off. the fuel pump started, so we disconnected that. the horn worked, the main beam indicator light worked, the fuel gauge goes to full deflection when shorted out, and the temp gauge does the same. so far, so good!

finally, I thought I'd spin it over to see the oil pressure light go out. except it didn't. ah.
took out the pressure switch, gave it a brief spin, no oil. removed the pressure relief valve, and it was jammed in, so managed to get that out, gave it a brief spin over. no oil.

I've ordered a replacement, and when that arrives I'll try priming the pump. if that doesn't work, it'll be engine out and oil pump replacement. fingers crossed!

[Eavb]

They normally prime pretty easily. Spark plugs out, put in gear, remove banjo bolt from external oil pipe to engine block and squirt some oil in block while pushing the car backwards. I've not had one fail to prime yet (unless someone's forgotten to put the O ring between the block and gearbox or cocked up the oil pump gasket)

[groovylee]

On 20/09/2022 at 13:23, Eavb said:

They normally prime pretty easily. Spark plugs out, put in gear, remove banjo bolt from external oil pipe to engine block and squirt some oil in block while pushing the car backwards. I've not had one fail to prime yet (unless someone's forgotten to put the O ring between the block and gearbox or cocked up the oil pump gasket)

Did this tonight (well, no wheels on the back, so turned it over with the crank pulley). Turned it over on the key, and voila! Oil light out, oil at the rockers. So very happy right now 😃

[groovylee]

So, tonight's efforts involved fitting the new oil pressure relief valve, swapping the wrong sided driveshaft to the other side (who knew they were different lengths? 🤦) Refitting the rear hubs, reconnecting up the handbrake, fitting the rear bump stops, putting the rear coilovers back on, putting the radiator on, fitting the fanbelt, and then putting the plugs and leads back on. 

The new rear lights and front indicators have arrived, as have the front brake hoses, so there's plenty more to be done next.