FOM The Clubman Estate

[Tupers]

Very nice mate well done, what do you cut that thick steel with? have you got a plasma?

I have got a plasma but I broke it about 12 month ago and still haven't done anything about it.

All of this was done with a 1MM cutting disc and 40 grit flap disc on an angle grinder. It was a huge pain in the ass and I have now ordered parts for my plasma cutter.

 

[Flapdisk]

Wow! well done doing that with a disk mate

 

[Tupers]

Wow! well done doing that with a disk mate

It was a pain in the ass but needs must.



So it doesn't look like much but I got the alternator mounted today.

I bolted up my billet timing case and notched the backing plate around the standard alternator mounting lug.



At long last it's bolted up independently.


I'm really happy with how far it's tucked in.


Alternator removed, I just need to trim the bracket down now.

 

[octo0072000]

so daft question is ware are you putting the oil filter in the same place or not

 

[Tupers]

so daft question is ware are you putting the oil filter in the same place or not

I'm going to run a remote filter on the subframe using Mocal filter head.

 

[Tupers]

I popped the alternator mount off this evening and welded it up.


Once I'd cut it down I made a template up to mount onto the timing case.


Cut out of 8MM steel.


I notched each side of the joint out and welded it up them smoothed it down.


Alternator back on, next stop belt tensioner and supercharger mounts.

 

[Tupers]

I dropped the engine back in this today, turns out my measurement where right and I've got plenty of clearance to the radiator.



In standard form the charger sits quite high and blocks 3 of the spark plugs, not and ideal position to be in.


The offending item was one of the bottom mounting lugs.


So I decided to turn a £300 supercharger into a £30 block of potential scrap alloy. Please don't hate me.


Taa Daa.


And now it sits much lower and the plugs are easier to get to.

 

[Tupers]

I had a nice surprise message from the fella that runs build-threads.com asking if I was interested in having the estate featured. I said yes of course. Clicky


I spent a good hour taking measurements for the nose mount on the supercharger. If my engineering teacher could see this she'd probably cry.


It took even longer to transfer it into card, RockStar and cookie to keep me going.


All cut out and punched.


I also traced a previous mount onto some 4MM steel and bolted it onto the head.


The template bolted up to the charger nicely and should work well on the car. The charger will drop down another 15MM once I've modified the tensioner bellow it.

 

[Tupers]

I got the nose mount cut out and all the holes lined up.





Even better it fits on the engine.


I started on a template for the mount of the other end as well.

 

[Tupers]

I mocked up the pump side of the supercharger mount this evening. It'll use the two bolt holes for the engine steady and possibly another leg down the old dissy mount on the block.


Everything's marked out and ready to cut tomorrow, I'm definitely considering remaking the mounts in alloy once I've got it all working.

 

[Cris B]

Boom!

http://www.build-threads.com/build-threads/mini-clubman-estate/

Congratulations on making it onto the site!

 

[Tupers]

Boom!

http://www.build-threads.com/build-threads/mini-clubman-estate/

Congratulations on making it onto the site!

Thanks Cris, it was cool getting the email asking if it OK for them to feature it.


I cut everything out and fitted the locating dowels from the old water pump drive into the new mounting plate.


The first section of bracket from the block was bent and then twisted to line up with the plate on the SC.



I got everything else lined up and tacked together, this wont be flexing.


And now it's back on the block again and the SC is free standing.

 

[Tupers]

I pulled the engine out this evening to get a grasp on how to tension the drive belt for everything. I originally intended on using the tensioner from an MPI mini but the bracketry was too bulky so I stole it's pulley and decided to make my own mount.


Plotting all the pickup points for this was a pain but using the plumb line as my starting point made measuring to the bolts marked in silver much easier.


After a few attempts I came up with this.


The adjuster will sit on the outside and been nice and easy to get to and the mounting bolts will run in sleeves that will be gusseted to the mount.

 

[Tupers]

So I stumbled across a Specialist Components EFI kit that someone was selling on after running for a year and decided to snap it up.


It needs pulling apart and cleaning but that's OK as I'm considering anodising it all in gold anyway.


I had to bolt it up just to get a look at the complete set-up. I guess I'll have to start designing a new plenum to suit the throttle body now.

 

[Robotstar5]

Stands off a fair way, what about the bulkhead/dash?

 

[Tupers]

I made a new bulkhead a few weeks ago but I haven't welded it in yet so I've got plenty of scope for moving things about. That said this set-up will fit a Mini with a standard bulkhead so I should be fine.

 

[Tupers]

My brother came down over the week end and we got talking about the engine which led to me deciding to switch from a 1098 to a 1275. It seemed silly to be spending all this time and money on an engine that would have fairly limited potential for future upgrades and long term strength.

Irritatingly the 1098 and 1275 blocks are just different enough that and I had to spend most of this evening reworking every bracket I'd already done to make it all fit. On the plus side I will now be able to build a much stronger engine to make the most of all this work.
So this is what it looks like now, barely any different but it'll be worth it down the line.

 

[bod]

Your ability to adapt and persevere is a great lesson to me, I normally just think ****** it I can't be bothered to do it all over again, it'll be alright.
I wish you'd hurry up though, I can't wait to see it finished!

 

[Tupers]

Your ability to adapt and persevere is a great lesson to me, I normally just think ****** it I can't be bothered to do it all over again, it'll be alright.
I wish you'd hurry up though, I can't wait to see it finished!

I wish I'd hurry up aswell.



I finished off the new SC mount above the clutch cover today. The basic design is the same but moved about a bit to suit the 1275 block.*

*
I also made a couple of ears to steady pulley end of the SC.*

*
This is my 4th attempt at a tensioner for the belt system. This is the closest I've got to doing the job so far.*

*
*

 

[Tupers]

I went to the Castle Combe Mini action day over the weekend and picked up a x-pin diff and a heavy duty steel clutch arm. I like shinny parts.


Taking the air filter backing off the throttle was a huge nightmare as I had to disassemble half of it to get at any bolts but it's off now ready to go into the car for mock up.


The engine is leant back a little more that standard to clear the radiator so I'm going to have a little bump in the bulkhead for the plenum, more on that latter.