Massively Mini

Pedro Makes Nice Racks.

2011-05-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Last year Lori and my folks attended our first ever Concours d'Elegance in Forest Grove. If you've never gone I highly recommend it. I was absolutely staggered at the quantity, variety, and quality of automobiles on display. It instantly became a "must attend" event for our family.

This, however, is not what I wanted to talk about... well maybe just a bit more.

What caught my eye was a classic blue Saab that I'd seen before at the All British Field Meet at PIR. While I really liked the car he had a roof rack installed that really stood out. When asking about it the owner told me that Pedro of Pedro's Accessories – known for his high quality racks sold to the aircooled VW crowd – made it for him.

Nice Rack!

It wasn't until March of this year that I finally acted on the information and contacted Pedro. Pedro was pretty excited to take the project on although he did let me know that it would be his first time making a rack for this application. With him down in San Diego, CA and me up here in Oregon I was a little nervous about the process. Still, having looked at the available options for Mini racks I really, really wanted this style.

It should be noted that Pedro is an extremely patient man. He guided me through the process I'd need to take in order to provide the measurements. His guidance and encouragement here was helpful, but I was still worried. After all, the success of this endeavor hinged on my ability to make measurements and in that capacity I had little confidence. So with Lori's help we measured about 20 times for each position before averaging those together and sending them down to Pedro. These are the results.

Reference at Your Own Risk.

From there Pedro went to work and would email me progress pictures along the way. All of this led up to last week on Wednesday when a large package, addressed to me, arrived at the Greyhound Station in Salem (yeah, I didn't know they did shipments either).

What arrived was honestly everything I hoped for. A great, classic looking rack that is very sturdy and really well made. So enough words, lets see some finished pictures.

Closing Out the Year

2010-12-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

As we close out this most eventful year I must reflect on the progress made on the Mini with a touch of disappointment. I really didn't attack anything else of much substance although I did learn how to adjust the valves and also replaced the fuel filter, again.

Again because the new fuel filter that I installed earlier this year, a K&N model, ended up nearly melting. This as you can imagine was rather alarming. I really have never had a problem with their products before so this was unexpected. I did contact K&N about the issue and they offered to send out a replacement, but I simply opted to use a filter made by Wix which hasn't exhibited the same issues.

Other than that there has been two new additions to my Family, but neither of them will fit in the Mini yet.

L to R: Alex and Will

I bring you Alexander and Will. My boys.

They're still working on how to activate the Wonder Twin powers.

2010 Woodburn Dragstrip (definitely NOT racing)

One last shot of the Mini taken this year while visiting some friends at Woodburn Dragstrip late in the summer. The fellow at the ticket booth actually suggested that I should take the Mini on a few runs which was good for a laugh and probably would have ticked off more than a few serious competitors who could have put in at least two runs in the time it took for my little Mini to fling itself down the quarter mile.

Next year the plan is to start restoring the various subsystems in the car. Fuel capacity and delivery and subframe and suspension being two I'm thinking of. With the instant family in full effect I expect I'll have to manage my expectations, but I do expect a few things will get done at very least.

Counting the Revolutions

2010-03-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

In February I finally received my new, reproduction Smiths Tachometer. It's styled after the classic gauges with new electronic internals. The Gauge Guys (APT Instruments) supplied the unit straight from the fine folks over at Caerbont in the UK. I had a chance to correspond with with one of the employees over there when we were having some communication issues and I was really impressed, thanks Neil! Thanks also to Chuck over at Gauge Guys for getting this arranged from this side of the globe.

I think mine is a fairly standard 8,000 RPM unit, although I requested the rounded chrome bezel to match my existing gauges.

In the picture above you can see the boxed Tach and my gauge pod that I ordered up. The pod itself fits any 80mm instrument and comes in a semi-gloss black finish. However, you can see from the picture above that I opted to repaint it in a wrinkle-finish black. I really dig the wrinkle finish. I'll be painting more with this later.

The pod was slightly modified beyond the finish and of course I didn't photograph it. So I'll try to describe what was done: I had one of the guys at work open the slot that allows the angle adjustment so that it could sit parallel to the mounting surface. From the factory they're set up to do about 15°, which wasn't going to work for what I had in mind. Of course what I had in mind didn't work out anyway so it probably would have been fine the way it was set up.

I can't say I was that impressed with the pod itself. It looks like the tooling they use to press these out is either very tired or rather crude. However, once dressed in the snappy wrinkle finish all gripes are forgotten.

Mounting
Figuring out how I wanted to mount this worked out a lot better in my head than it did in practice. For instance, I learned very quickly that there is no real estate on the steering column large enough to accommodate the pod. Since that was the whole reason for modifying the tilt angle in the first place, I was a bit disappointed. I rallied when I decided to mount it on the lip of the dash shelf (one day I'll learn the technical term for this structure).

Getting this here ended up being a lot more challenging than I would have thought. Once again, my solution went un-photographed so I will list what I had to do to achieve this final positioning.

Removed the metal trim.
Pulled the dash pad away from the support structure.
Drilled a 1/4" hole in the top of the support.
Applied primer to the hole to prevent rust.
Installed mounting hardware (see illustration below).

My illustration is definitely not to scale, but the dash structure curves away from the point where I drilled the hole which would have made it impossible for the washer to remain perpendicular to the bolt. So I modified the nylon spacer and added the chamfered edge on one side so that the metal washer would sit flat when everything was tightened down. The results were good and the mounting is rather sturdy now.

It was necessary that I clip out a portion of the chrome trim so that the fender washer on top could clear without interference and the nylon washer below could do the same. I wasn't really thrilled with doing this, but once everything was installed it doesn't show. Which is good, because it wasn't pretty.

Lesson #2: During the course of a restoration it will become increasingly important to learn how to work metal so that not every effort is a hack job. So make a point of learning some solid methods and buy the appropriate tools.

Wiring
The wiring for this was relatively easy, but for the cramped quarters inside the cabin. Although there are six wires in the harness only four would be used for my application.

Green: 12v switched power - I added an inline fuse holder from NAPA to my green lead and connected this to White wire off starter switch.
Black: ground - connected to Black wire from auxiliary lighting harness.
Red/White: dash lamp power - connected to auxiliary lighting lighted switch power.
Red/Blue: negative side of the ignition coil.

I have a Pertronix Ignitor and Flamethower II coil. The Ignitor unit did not have a tachometer output so the negative side of the coil was the best bet. Once again I had to pass a wire through the dash and the pile of plumbers putty used to seal that off. As far as a sealing method, it works fairly well, but it can be a royal pain trying pass a wire through.

The tach has the classic perimeter lighting that is consistent with my stock cluster. It's a really warm, analog look that I think is missed in modern cars today with their digital clusters.

Wrapping Up
One thing I had not considered by placing the tach where I did was how I would get the dash pocket support back in. This turned out to be a major pain as it was necessary to disconnect the Windscreen heater vent so that I could shimmy the platform in behind the gauge. I also struggled a bit trying to get the wires routed where I wanted them to go. These are all challenges that I will revisit when the interior is revised in the future. I hope I can find some better ways of dealing with them at that time.

I really like the placement; it's in a great position as far as visibility goes.

If I had one complaint it would be that the needle action is a little too digital. Where my speedometer bounces like an analog gauge will, the tachometer tends toward a very precise movement. Of course this just means that it's a lot easier to read. So I guess that's a win for modern mechanicals.

Here's a quick video I took with the phone to show it in action. As you watch one thing I'll point out is that at start up it appears to do a quick self test. So it briefly puts the needle below zero and then starts displaying the RPM. I should say that's my hope at least, as opposed to this being some signal that something has gone completely pear shaped as far as my wiring goes.

Next up will likely be the fuel system. I want to replace the 5.5 gallon tank that I currently have with a 9 gallon unit. Even though the Mini gets decent gas mileage, five gallons doesn't really deliver on the range. I also want to look at replacing any worn components along the way.

Retina Burn In? Check.

2010-02-15T21:55:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that the Wipac Quadoptics that I had so carefully installed, wired, and relayed were unceremoniously dumped (and still for sale) in favor of some shiny new Cibié H4 7" headlamps. This was actually pretty easy to accomplish since all I had to do was rewire the pilot lamp. The only serious modification was to the headlamp bucket. The Cibié lamp has the pilot light located near the lower edge of the lamp versus the Wipac which had it relatively close to the main bulb. Thus it was necessary that I cut a small section out of the bucket in order to accommodate for this. I took no photos of this work to make sure any explanation here was utterly worthless. Mission accomplished I'd say.

So are these better than the Wipacs? Well, that's not necessarily a slam dunk unless the sex appeal of the Cibiés does something for you in which case you probably wouldn't even think twice. Truthfully though as far as the dipped beam goes I have to say the performance is about equal. They both have a nice, sharp beam cutoff, very little scatter, and do a really great job of lighting up the road especially in foggy conditions. Both of these perform so much better than my "modern" Subaru headlights that it's almost depressing.

However, when the high beams are activated that's when the Cibiés (unfunny in 3... 2... 1...) really shine. Honestly, the performance here is a lot more on par with driving lights than what you might expect from a high beam. It really makes me wonder why they ever stopped making cars with round headlights.

An unexpected bonus of this change was to bring back the bug-eyed look that the old Sylvania sealed-beams had. The glass on the Cibiés is more convex than the Wipacs which are actually quite flat by comparison.

Of course in my current mode of thinking a Mini just doesn't look complete without some additional, auxiliary lighting so the Cibié Tango 40 driving lamps were selected to further augment the very capable headlamps.

I originally had my sights firmly set on the venerable Cibié Oscar, the giant motorsport proven lamps seen on road circuits and rally courses the world over. Yet somehow calling them "giant" doesn't really do them justice where a Mini is concerned because they're absolutely enormous. I was torn because I really dug the 7" diameter lamps, but with a depth of nearly 5" it meant they would have stood far out in front of the bumper and I wasn't really looking for the hardcore Rally look so I opted for the Tango as it's a far slimmer lamp. However, now that I have two, I think I'm definitely going to need another set so I can have the full compliment. That, however, won't be happening too soon at least.

With just two lamps up front I used some brackets that Mini Mania sells. Of course in their product pictures they have them all shined up pretty, but they're actually delivered completely raw. Not only that, but the two brackets are somewhat different from each other (in terms of bends and angles). I should have photographed the difference, but I forgot and now they're installed. Functionally I'm not sure how big of a deal the differences were, but as I work in manufacturing I felt a little slighted by the lack of quality control.

I ended up painting mine instead of polishing mostly because I don't have a bench grinder at home. The finish was originally chrome (as "chrome" as a rattle can gets at any rate). I quickly ruined this bright silver finish by applying a clear coat of an incompatible nature. The end result is more of a gray metallic which actually isn't too bad.

Lesson #1: Always read the label on the paint can. Then make sure it's compatible with the paint you're going to apply it over.

That's probably pretty obvious to most folks, but I keep learning this lesson the hard way. Live and don't learn, that's me.

The brackets require two holes be drilled in the lip below the grill. I wasn't too thrilled with this, but thankfully I'm not doing this on the restored body. You can also see the little rubber pad I made out of a bicycle inner-tube. I also selected the button headed allen bolts because that looked a lot cleaner to me than the hex headed bolts I frequently see used in this application. When these are all fastened to the car it makes for a very sturdy hard point.

The wiring was fairly uneventful since I purchased a Hella Auxiliary Lighting Wiring Harness. I thought this would make the job a little quicker which it did, but now I have a relay that's not like the others. The first two relays for my high and low beams have an 85 and 85a poles, while the Hella relay has 85 and 86. This is significant because these two types of relay aren't interchangeable (and I added an extra label to remind myself of that).

I can support one more relay on my little custom made bracket there, but what's becoming very apparent is that the wiring is starting to get out of control. So I really need to rethink this and when I do the full tear-down I'm going to put a lot of thought and effort into rewiring the headlamps permanently with relay based switching. This would definitely deviate from stock by taking this approach, but I don't like how cluttered this is. I've also found a couple products (here) and (here) that may help tidy things up a bit. Although the latter product is going to require some sort of weather-proof enclosure to work.

One cool thing about the Hella harnesses was how they make splices. I need to find the tool that can make this sort of solderless joint. Sadly this bit had to be removed because the harness was way too big for the Mini.

Inside the Cabin there's a switch to operate the lamps and this is something I'm not happy with (below left). Both the style of the switch and the fact that it's always lit doesn't appeal to me. So I'm thinking about finding a stock switch that can handle this and then see if there's not another way to squeeze in more switches on the center dash while maintaining a stock appearance (below right). I am proud to say that during the installation of the switch I managed to take a healthy chunk out of my thumb when attempting to pop out a plastic plug and in so doing continued my fine tradition of blood shedding with every project.

So with everything wired up I just needed to mount the lights and reattach the bumper. This was a little tricky because the bumper wont fit with the lights fully threaded and you can't get the lights on once the bumper is in place so everything has to be carefully brought together and tightened up in stages.

For added security I bought some Barrie Nuts for the lamps. However, these absolutely would not fit with the lamp brackets and the bumper, but if I go to a four lamp bar I should be able to use them. Still, I think having to take the bumper off before you can remove the lamp bolts works fairly well as far as rudimentary theft deterrent goes.

The Cibié light covers are kind of sporty looking, but I think I'm going to find some clear lens covers instead. Besides, I think it's been well established among the folks who know me that I am not sporty so I can hardly be expected to pull this look off.

The final impact is accurate and blinding. The beam pattern out of these lamps is almost perfectly square and they literally fill the road with light. The best part is these use a standard set of 55w bulbs (just say no to blue/hyper white bulbs).

And with that, I shall bring this session to a close.

Next up will be a new Tachometer. I've ordered a reproduction Smiths tachometer that should be arriving in country within the next week. However I'm struggling a bit in my communications with the folks I'm buying this from so I'm a little wary this will actually happen, but I'll hope for the best (and no, it's not the company in the link).

First Post.

2010-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

A towel in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is described as being "massively useful" and since my car is British and the author of Hitchhikers Guide is British, and I like that book, and I like my Mini, and massively mini is such a nice oxymoron, and... well... Hey, I can't say Massively Mini is terribly clever, but it will work.

My goal here is to capture my thoughts and actions around the restoration of my 1971 Austin Mini 1000. Maybe show it some folks, maybe not. I may even follow through with this for more than a few posts, who knows?

I figured I could either track the progress on the various message boards or as a blog, for whatever reason the blog option won. Mostly because I tend to be rather verbose when I write so I figured I would feel a little less guilty writing so much when I can be certain few will read it. Versus trying to reach the viewers in the short attention span theater that is a message board. Oooh, shiny!

So let's get started shall we?

What I have here is a 1971 Austin Mini 1000. I bought it in September of 2009 from a fellow out in Damascus, Oregon. It's in decent shape, but bears a paint job strikingly similar to Mr. Bean's Mini (his is a brighter green). My goal with this car is to completely restore it back to specifications of my preference, but keeping an eye toward maintaining a period look. One thing is for certain, love it or hate it the Green paint is doomed.

The first part of my restoration is to add the various elements to car before the body work starts. I figured at least in that way I won't crap myself if I add any new dents to the existing collection (and it's a fine collection so far).

I've actually already performed a few mini projects (heh). The first was to replace the stock sealed beam headlamps with Wipac Quadoptic H4 units, then I relayed them for better output. The thing I really dig about the new headlights was the integrated pilot (city/parking/marker) lamp. As far as I know this isn't something Mini's had equipped stock, mine definitely didn't at least.

I also replaced the original, large orange front indicators with the smaller glass indicators from earlier Minis. I prefer this style over what my car had from the factory, although I've been told the original indicators might be somewhat rare. So I've kept them in a box in case they prove useful to have around.

In addition to that I did some cleanup in the interior that included taking off the binnacle, replacing the sealant putty around it, and reinstalling it with some new stainless screws. I also made new dash tray supports out of ABS plastic and Dynamat. I don't really know why I added the Dynamat, but they give the panels a nice heft. These are then covered by really ugly piece of plastic and foam which I'm going to replace once I settle on an interior color.

If you've read this far (and I applaud you if you did) you might find yourself wondering what my plans are to which my reply is, "hazy, ask again later." I do have a little vector image that I play around with occasionally that's somewhat representative of where I'm headed, but only time will tell what final form it takes. One thing is for certain, it's going to be a proper Austin Mini when it's done.

I'm currently working on finishing up another project replacing those shiny new Wipac headlamps (which are for sale) with some shiny new Cibie H4 headlamps (more on why later) as well as installing some auxiliary driving lamps, but I'll post later once that's complete. For now, stay tuned.