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PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:51 pm 
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Location: Sandy Bay, Tasmania
If you look at your pictures of the shafts before assembly, the welded sleeves are approximately the same distance along the shaft from the CV joint end. And in the picture of the assembled shafts, the boot stops just before the welded sleeves on both shafts. This makes me think that the drive shafts are not pressed into the CV joint to the same distance.

I'm only judging by a couple of pictures, but it looks to me that either one isn't pressed in enough, or they were assembled without the circlip and one has been pressed too far in.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:53 pm 
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
I had a closer look/measured the assembled driveshafts and the shafts have definitely been pressed into the Mini outer CVs properly. It looks like the workshop just over stretched one of the Mini CV boots

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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 :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


Last edited by Mearcat on Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 4:12 pm 
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Location: SE Melbourne
You said it yourself previously- the driveshafts are different lengths- so ofcourse the boots are going to look different from one side to the other when they butt upto the sleeve. :D


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:51 pm 
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
Harley wrote:
You said it yourself previously- the driveshafts are different lengths- so ofcourse the boots are going to look different from one side to the other when they butt upto the sleeve. :D

The sleeve position is not the problem. Here's a closer view where you can see the (top) boot has been stretched a lot before the clamp was put on.
Image

I had the workshop correct the boot position on the shaft. Turns out they clamped the boot in the wrong "dip" on the shaft.
Image

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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 :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:38 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:17 pm
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
I've completed a few small random tasks that have been lingering for a while...

The recent tweak to the radiator position meant that my duct to the airbox won't fit any more. I had to trim a small section off the duct and re-form the side. The original duct was quite thin so I also beefed up the thickness
Before :
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After:
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While on the fibreglassing front, I made a simple tray for the battery box. I don't know what size battery I'll be using yet so I made the tray only slightly smaller than the box
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The rubber fuel lines that run from the firewall to the inlet manifold had the potential to rub on the brake booster bracket and eventually wear into the line(s). I bought a small hose separator and mounted it on the front of the booster bracket so the hoses no longer foul against anything.
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Image

The remote oil filter mount was fabricated some time ago but never got around to making the lines for it. The hoses were cut to length and routed around the alternator cover. I've used heavy duty fabric braided abrasion-resistant hose to provide protection from potential road debris. This hose is VERY stiff and after soaking the hose in some boiling water and lubricating the fittings, it's still a fair effort to get the hose pushed on over the barbs.
Image

The last piece of the battery wiring I needed was the cables in the boot. I made some short cables to connect the through-panel connectors in the boot floor to some new battery terminal clamps, and included some boots to cover the terminals.
Image

Image

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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 :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:06 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:11 pm
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Location: Sutherland Shire, Sydney
Progress looks great and thanks for sharing! All steps in the right direction :-)

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(1/4 mile: 13.8s @108mph @168Hp)


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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2019 11:21 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:17 pm
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
I have reached a milestone which makes it feel like I'm driving a real car... the steering column :) My approval from the Dept of Transport in Western Australia requires me to install a collapsible steering column so I've been forced to fit the Toyota Starlet column which is fine as I can ensure that the column is centred with the drivers seat and in an ergonomic position.

So this was a significant challenge to retrofit the Starlet column. First thing was that the lower uni joint on the Starlet did not fit the Mini Steering rack pinion and I eventually found a old G102 Daihatsu Charade had the same spline as the Mini
Image

Dismantling the Starlet column was easy and involved the removal of a single circlip at the top of the column and gently knocking out the inner shaft. I didn't realise that the collapsible mechanism was so rudimentary. There are a two plastic shear pins (hard to see, but they are next to the paint dots in the photo below) that are inserted through the two parts of the inner column. Under a predetermined force, these pins will shear and allow the column to compress/collapse.
Image

After offering up the column to the Mini dash, I found that the tilt adjust mechanism was complex and unwieldy so I decided to cut the mechanism off and set the column at a fixed angle
Image

Using a combination of chains, clamps etc, it took a long time to finalise the position, height and angle of the steering wheel/column to find a comfortable driving position. I found that changing the angle of the column by just two degrees made a marked difference to the feel of the driving position. Once the position was found I welded together this structure from some scrap steel to hold the top and bottom of the column, leaving the middle area open to work around, then removed the temporary chains and clamps.
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The main issue with the column mount design was that about half of the column projected out past the dash rail and would need a reasonable amount of support if the steering wheel is leaned on (eg whilst getting in & out of the car). After trialing a few ideas I decided on a braced triangular bracket that mounted to the lower dash rail - where the factory steering column was bolted to.
Image

Image

This support bracket shown above is made from 2.5mm steel and is bolted through the lower dash rail with three M8 bolts with the same style as the Mini plate (rusty one in the photo below). The support bracket sits under the dash rail and this plate sits above the dash rail.
Image

The "arms" of the Mini brake/clutch bracket (pedal box) are clamped to the lower dash rail by the factory steering column bracket, so this new bracket had to support the Starlet steering column AND the Mini brake/clutch bracket. This is the reason for the asymmetrical shape of the new column bracket - the left hand side of the bracket has to be slightly wider to go around the brake/clutch bracket.
Image

_________________
-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


Last edited by Mearcat on Mon May 06, 2019 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2019 2:41 pm 
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:17 pm
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
To bolt the column on, I made a semi-circle mount (that was then welded to the underside of the main support bracket) and a matching saddle bracket.
Image

Image

If I bolted this together as above, the assembly would be rigid and the collapsible part of the outer steering column tube would not work so I cut some slots on one side of the saddle bracket. These slots in combination with some custom plastic bushes should allow the column and saddle bracket to slide away from the main bracket and still allow the collapsible mechanism to work.
Image

The lower part of the column is mounted via a small bracket and bolted to the side of the factory brake/clutch bracket
Image

Image

The next step was to join the two lower uni joints. Luckily there was no need to shorten the entire column so this was a simple task of cutting off the splined shaft on the Daihatsu uni joint (right hand joint in photo below), slightly shortening the splined shaft at the bottom of the Starlet column and machining an adapter/coupling to join the two, then welding together.
Image

With everything bolted in, the lower dash rail was not as rigid as I had hoped and it twisted slightly when the steering wheel/column was leaned on so I welded two braces from the lower dash rail to the firewall - this stiffened the main column mounting bracket significantly
Image

I also found that the brake pedal fouled against the uni-joint so I had to modify the bottom part of it so that the bend was further up the pedal than the factory. The pad position was retained in the same spot as factory.
Image

As a final task, I fitted the upper column surround/trim and ignition barrel and found that the connector (and therefore the wiring harness) at the bottom half of the ignition barrel was very exposed - too exposed for my liking. At this point, I'm unsure if I'll make a fibreglass cover for the whole thing, or relocate the ignition barrel somewhere in the dash.
Image

The end result was an ergonomic driving position, however this task took far longer than first expected. Taking into account trialing and re-doing some bracket designs, the whole job took somewhere around 40 hours!

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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 :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2019 12:31 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:15 pm
Posts: 678
Location: Melbourne
Nice work Mearcat.

Do you have to get the steering column x-rayed or anything? Here in Victoria I had to get the column professionally pinned and welded, and then it would have needed to be x-rayed as well. In the end I put it all back to standard as it was a much simpler proposition.

Keep up the great work.
Madmorrie.


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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2019 4:53 pm 
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
madmorrie wrote:
Do you have to get the steering column x-rayed or anything?

Thankfully, I haven't been been advised of a requirements for an X-ray.

_________________
-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:20 pm 
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
Because the upper & lower Mini dash pieces I had were in pretty bad condition with the usual vinyl cracking and warping, I knew that I'd end up doing some kind of custom dashboard. I removed the badly damaged foam from the upper dash panel, cleaned up the steel core and made a mold and a fibreglass copy of this piece.
Image
Image

At the same time, I made a copy of the Toyota Starlet dash clock area. This would eventually be molded into the main dash piece
Image

I made a copy of the mounting brackets that were on the original Mini dash and these were fibreglassed onto the underside of the fibreglass dash piece to allow the whole thing to be bolted on just like the factory Mini one.
Image

The fibreglass dash piece was then modified to fit two vent sections and the Starlet clock
Image
Image

_________________
-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:11 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:17 pm
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
The lower dash piece was initially framed using MDF
Image

The piece was covered in fleece, resin applied to the fleece then sanded down once it had cured
Image

To mount the lower dash piece, four thread rods were screwed through the piece and matching holes made in the steel reinforcement bar that sits behind the dash. I also made some plastic spacers that press against the back of the curved steel Mini dash so that the nuts can tighten properly
Image
Image

The right hand side of dash piece then had to be modified to clear the steering column bracket.
Image

When I made the custom steering column bracket, I found that the ignition barrel and associated wiring would be very exposed with the new steering column position and I had chosen to relocate the ignition barrel on the dash somwhere. The first step was to make this complex mount so the ignition barrel could be bolted behind the dash.
Image

Image

The ignition barrel is bolted to the underside of this bracket and is tucked up behind the dash with only the key barrel exposed.
Image

The fibreglass dash had to be modified slightly to slip over the barrel
Image

The last task was to fit the instrument cluster. If the cluster was it's it's normal position in front of the driver, the mechanical speedo cable at the back of the cluster would have to go right through the brake master cylinder so I chose to mount the cluster in the centre of dash like the early model Minis. A couple of slots were made (just enough so the cluster didn't move around) in the lower dash piece and a custom bracket upper dash area for the top mount bolt. Oh and the centre section below the instrument cluster still has to be modified to fit the heater levers and a couple of switches.
Image
Image

_________________
-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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 Post subject: Re:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:33 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:04 pm
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Location: Melbourne, VIC
Mearcat wrote:
If the cluster was it's it's normal position in front of the driver, the mechanical speedo cable at the back of the cluster would have to go right through the brake master cylinder so I chose to mount the cluster in the centre of dash like the early model Minis.

Did you consider a right angle drive adapter for the speedo cable that would avoid the master cylinders?

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Smiths Gear Box 1.jpg


Attachment:
Smiths Gear Box 3.jpg


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:52 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:17 pm
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Location: NOR, Perth, W.A.
winabbey wrote:
Did you consider a right angle drive adapter for the speedo cable that would avoid the master cylinders?


I did think of that option but unfortunately the Toyota Starlet dash has a clip on the instrument cluster-end of the speedo cable, not the threaded connectors you see everywhere else. All I could find was the screw on 90degree adapters.

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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 :D
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:02 pm 
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Location: Wollongong, NSW
Nice work with the fibreglass there!

I feel a bit itchy from here just looking at it

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