Anyone have a tool I could borrow or hire in Melbourne?
I won't need it for a few weeks, but thought I'd put the feelers out early.

I'm also considering doing this, but as I am not sure what cones are in there I'm not sure which type of bolt to buy. Anyone got a comprehensive list of thread types in the various cones?
viewtopic.php?t=14894&highlight=cone+compressor+spanner

Thanks,

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Karcraft sell the tool for around a $100 with metric and imperial threads
that link needs to be put in the how to section

Shazam!

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Can you get away without the compressor if you have hi-los wound all the way down?

Yes with hilos wound all the way in you can put it all together.

_________________
The best part of fixing your mini is the test drive

Minis..

1976 van daily drive
1975 van
1968 deluxe in the shed
1967 deluxe high strung 1310
1959 austin healey sprite

Woohoo! It's all coming together. Beers and wrenching in Bentleigh, all weekend long if anyone else is as excited as me.

Thanks to MiniBob for the compression tool. I reckon I'll remove the top arms, but it'll be nice to have the tool just in case I run into some weird issues. Now I just need to track down a ball joint separator, scissor type. Anyone got one I could borrow this weekend?

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Two hammers on the arms around the ball joint bolt does the job just leave the nut on by a few threads when doing it if you cant get a tool

As to ya ball joint separator tool theres that many different ones out there and most work well

http://m.instructables.com/id/Splitting ... int-taper/ two hammer way
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000F5LJ3 ... 15&simLd=1 tool that works for me
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002INTDS ... 15&simLd=1 another thats worked

One hammer or two hammers if there is room, I have been doing it that way for 35 years.

Well I ended up just buying a Supatool splitter like this one for $40 from Bursons, I figure it's good to have in the arsenal anyway. I like the hammer idea, but I always end up whacking somthing that doesn't want to be whacked.

I was pretty motivated last night to get cracking on the tear down, but realized I don't have a 34mm socket for the front subframe bolts. This morning I have been calling around, and it seems this is a pretty rare tool - all of the shops jump from 32 to 36, with nary a 34 to be found. The one I did find in stock was a impact deep socket with a 3/4" drive on it and it was dear...so back to the drawing board.

Where can I find one of these? And as usual - who's got one they could do without for a weekend?

Cheers,

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

I bought a 34 from supercheap. Was wanting 1 5/16 for front hub but all they had was 34 in half inch drive too. Worked fine for me. Are you sure you need 34 and not 1 5/16?

_________________
The best part of fixing your mini is the test drive

Minis..

1976 van daily drive
1975 van
1968 deluxe in the shed
1967 deluxe high strung 1310
1959 austin healey sprite

That AF size you're quoting is pretty damned close to 1 5/16ths which is a common socket size (33.4mm) and matches the imperial bolted mini as a reasonable size.

Have you given the imperial socket a try?

_________________
SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I have a 1 5/16" AF socket you can borrow. It has a 3/4" drive and I have the 1/2" adapter so you can use your choice of bars to suit. I'm in Carnegie so not far away. PM me if you need it.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Yep - I was actually after the 1 5/16" socket but finding AF tools seemed to be even more challenging than the metric. Once the bolts get above 20mm or so, the chances of rounding one off or causing problems is pretty slim, so I figured the 34mm was my path of least resistance.

Anyway, I'll send off a PM and hopefully get down to borrow winabbey's. Thanks for the help everyone!

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Total Tools are a franchise outlet around the traps. They are excellent for those larger socket sizes. Usually about 35 dollars I think for a bigger socket like that, in 1/2 or 3/4 drive as you choose.

There's about 18 outlets in the Melbourne area alone.

_________________
SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

You may need a long pipe over the socket ratchet handle to undo the ball joints.

I used a 3 inch round gal pipe about a metre long over my 1 1/2 ring spanner with it in a vice and they were still a struggle to undo.

Gasweld have a good set of bigger sockets in metric and imperial. They were $99 earlier this year when i got mine.
http://www.gasweld.com.au/532093-toolex

and they also do just a imperial only set http://www.gasweld.com.au/533738-toolex

Not sure if they're in victoria.