I have just a few minor updates as I'm not getting a lot of work done thanks to winter.
The last few engine bay parts have been fitted : coil/ignitor assembly and windscreen washer bottle. The coil/ignitor assembly was bolted to the bulkhead (it has to be electrically grounded). I got a new HT Coil ignition lead custom made to suit the length required
I removed the engine at this point so I could sort out some other items including the washer bottle. It was a generic one from eBay that (just) fitted above the drivers side subframe tower. After measuring and ordering an appropriate size bottle, I put on on some wood pieces and fitted the bonnet to make sure clearances were ok
I made a small bracket from some flat bar onto which the bottle slides onto
While I was removing the engine, I noticed that the vertical part of the driveshaft layshaft bracket was not quite square to the block. When I had the pieces for the layshaft bracket laser cut I incorrectly specified 10mm holes in the CAD design when I needed 8mm holes. The holes ended actually up being roughly 10.6mm from the laser cutting and I've never really been happy with this and it meant that the whole bracket could potentially be bolted up at be unacceptable angle to the layshaft.
The photo below is not the angle of the bracket when I first noticed the misalignment, but in the worst case scenario the bracket against the block could be rotated anti-clockwise (due to the larger holes) causing a significant gap at the top of the bracket between it and the layshaft assembly.
I cut the pieces of the layshaft bracket apart and to correct the hole sizes, drilled out the holes to 12mm, machined some pieces of tube (just over 12mm OD, 8mm ID) and press fitted them into the holes.
The layshaft was then inserted into the gearbox and ensuring that it was square to the engine (both vertically & horizontally), I tacked and welded everything two bracket pieces together.
A clearance issue that has been on my to-do list for some time was between the radiator thermofan (bolted to the back of the radiator) and the radiator hose at the thermostat housing. Despite me using a radiator hose piece with a tight bend at the thermostat housing outlet and trimming back a small part of the thermofan cover, the hose was still fouling against the plastic thermofan cover behind the radiator. The hose was not squashed at all, it was just touching it but with engine movement over time this would probably rub a hole through the hose.
I really wanted there to be a reasonable physical gap between the hose & thermofan cover and to achieve this I had to lean the top of the radiator forward further. I cut away some more of the front panel (I had done this already but not enough) and welded on a new steel strip to retain the original 90degree angle in the panel and giving it back some rigidity
After making a new upper radiator mount, I achieved an extra ~13mm which should be enough for the hose clearance but I won't know for sure until the engine is back in. Of course I couldn't go too far forward otherwise the bonnet latch would not fit
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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.