FOM The Clubman Estate

[Tupers]

Now that the engine's back in with the charger and throttle body mounted I've turned my attention to the engine steadies.

I started with a pair of old suspension tie rods, cut them down and gave them a clean of the bench grinder.




Both steadies use a 5/16 UNF turnbuckle and a rose joint on the engine side. The old tie bar will be threaded and bolt through the body with a rubber bush on each side.

The R/H steading will be bolted to the standard position on the block and the body side will bolt through the engine bay crossmember.


The L/H steady is mounted to a bracket on the water pump that I made a while ago and will go through the crossmember the same way as the R/H steady.

 

[Robotstar5]

Did the standard engine have a top steady?, I'm sure I remember having one fail an MOT due to rusted mount on bulkhead

 

[Angusdog]

There's one standard engine steady on the RHS next to the brake & clutch master cylinders which can rust, but adding additional engine steadies is a common upgrade to prevent the engine rocking back and forth under acceleration - this build looks like it might have more than the standard bhp...

 

[Tupers]

Normally they have one top steady on R/H of the engine like this.

The problem is that almost anything over standard power means the engine tries to pivot off this steady hence the extra once of the L/H side. Having two right near the top of the engine works well with very low engine mounts of a Mini and the combination of rose joints and stiff bushings means the engine should be held nice and still.

Now I've switched from a mildly tuned 1098 to a more heavily modified 1275 I'll probably be pushing a very torque filled 130BHP instead of high 80s with the previous engine.

 

[Tupers]

I dropped the ends of the steady bars over to my friendly neighbourhood engineering shop with a rough drawing of what I wanted and got the ends turned down and threaded during lunch.


It all went together properly.


They fit very nicely and should look cool with the turnbuckles chromed.

 

[Tupers]

I didn't realise it'd been quite so long since I last updated this thread. Unfortunately I haven't actually done anything to the poor thing since my last post but I have been collecting a few parts.



After making to move the a 1275 block I started playing with the idea of using a long stroke crank. I wasn't really taking it seriously until a few inquires lead to the very reasonably priced 84MM stroke crank from MED. As well as being stroked from 81.28MM to 84.3MM it has been wedged, x-drilled and ni-tempered. It should be a very solid heart for my engine.





Seen as my new crank uses Cooper S big ends in the offset I was now in need of a set of rods. A few weeks of surveying ebay turned up these very nice lightened balanced and shot peened Cooper S rods.





And the last piece in my collection of parts I wan't expecting to buy for a good few months are these rare (so I'm told) 1970's Paddy Hopkirk Marathon recliners. These were a bit of a random find but I'm really glad to have them. They are a little narrower than a standard Mini seat unlike many similar recliners so shouldn't impede my centre console plans.





Another plus of these seats is that they're very nicely bolstered so they should save me from sliding about during spirited driving.









So that's all for now, hopefully it wont the 4 months until the next update.

 

[Robotstar5]

Another plus of these seats is that they're very nicely bolstered so they should save me from sliding about during spirited driving.

I had Cobra SF5? hi back recliners in mine and fitted 3 point harnesses to hold me in place
On a night rally my navigator decided he didn't like wearing a belt so after an unexpected dip and crest in the road ended up in a heap in the footwell! found out later the landing had blown the seals on both front shocks

 

[p0689109]

The photo with the engine with the lifting bracket on. Is that a generally obtainable item or something you have made yourself? The bracket, not the engine! Only I am after one for my mini rebuild.
Great job by the way. Great skills.
Regards, Michael T

 

[Tupers]

That sounds painful Robotstar, I try to avoid jumping anything with such short suspension travel.

Michael my lifting bracket's on old VL Chruchill one but you can get new copies on ebay. Clicky

 

[p0689109]

Many thanks Tupers. One ordered.

 

[Dogruffracing]

Great project

You know that plenum wont be any good for forced induction? it needs a restrictor ring also i would ditch the solid engine mounts they are horrible on anything roadworthy.

I had a 84.3 mm crank in my turbo mini it was a really torque engine compared to the standard stroke.

 

[Tupers]

Great project

You know that plenum wont be any good for forced induction? it needs a restrictor ring also i would ditch the solid engine mounts they are horrible on anything roadworthy.

I had a 84.3 mm crank in my turbo mini it was a really torque engine compared to the standard stroke.

The plenum wont be getting used as I'm on a throttle body now instead of the carb although from what I've read I wont need a restrictor ring anyway. The engine mounts will be standard, it's only the steadies that are half solid but this is essential as I'm using an internal gear linkage and too much engine movement can knock it out of gear.



We scrapped an old Rover Metro at work before christmas so I nabbed the seat sliders from it and narrowed them to fit my new seats.


After doing a trial fit with the sliders on I decided the seat was to high on the crossmember so I did away with it and I'll be making separate sided ones from tube.




With the crossmember out I got the seats sat in. They suit the space very well and should allow plenty of room for a centre console.




Rear leg room is looking good as well.



Mirrors have been on my mind for a while and over the last few months I've been looking out for something interesting to use. I think I've narrowed it down to the two types bellow.

I quite like these wing mounted ones but they are quite large and I need to get the car on the ground to check visibility.




These ones are quite smart as well, not quite as '70s looking at the others but should be easier to see out of.




I also found an old grill that I might use the slats from for this.

 

[Tupers]

I didn't have much time to work on this evening but I thought I'd give mounting the seat sliders a go. I found some M8 threaded inserts on ebay to weld into the lower frame on the seats.


I had to drill out the original holes in the seats to 12MM and tacked the inserts on.


They all bolted up nicely with four M8 cap head bolts and slid nicely.


They look nice and tidy with the seat the right way up. Now I just need to do the other side.

 

[Tupers]

I got the threaded inserts welded into the other seat this afternoon, no pictures though as it's just the same as the previous one.


I need to get the pedal box mounted in the car before I can do the final fit of the seats so I started measuring it up and making patterns.




I cut them out of 4MM steel plate but that's all for today.

 

[whereufromnosecity]

Just spent the the last 1 1/2 hours reading through you epic build, hats off to you mate amazing work

 

[Tupers]

Just spent the the last 1 1/2 hours reading through you epic build, hats off to you mate amazing work

Thanks man I try my best.


Today's job was to get the engine bay crossmember completed starting with cutting out holes for the engine steady perches to sit in.


Then I knocked up a pair of cups to hold the bushes.




I sat the crossmember back in so I could tack the cup in place.


After that it was time to weld the whole lot together.




I also added a pair of gussets around on the back of each cup to save anything from moving.

 

[Tupers]

I smoothed the welds on the crossmember of this evening and rounded the steady bar perches in. It still needs some hand finishing but it's looking good.

 

[Tupers]

Well I'm back and I've finally solved my belt issues with a Peugeot 106 idler pulley and tensioning pulley. This should be easier to adjust than the other system I had and it looks much tidier.





I'm going to need a pretty long belt but I've got plenty of contact on all of the pulleys so it should work nicely.

 

[Spot the welders dog]

Those seats look _sooo_nice Puts me in mind of a mini long since gone...FYI - BMW e30 rear seats fit with a little fettling if memory is to be trusted.

Very well though out solution: Just typing out loud - but If you cannot source a readily available belt, perhaps the idler gear could be extended to sit lower down in the configuration which would also expose the timing marks better - Or - Is the idler necessary at all?

(That grill: Is it Morris Ital/ Advenger???)

Just remembered: Please promise that next time a magazine does a write up on your project; DON'T let them take a picture of you swatting on some tyres with the heading "On the job"

 

[Tupers]

There's definitely scope to move the idler or maybe fit a larger or smaller one to to take up or loose length from the belt. There it's a ton of engagement on the the crank pulley without it so I'm hoping I can keep it more of less where it is.
There tyres should be on it next time it's in a magazine so no squatting shall be done.

I forgot to go and buy a belt at lunch so I decided to spend this evening making the tabs to mount my seats from. They're pretty simple 3MM steel with 30MM slotted holes to help get the seats centred in the car.





They'll be welded onto sections of 30MM box running from the inner sill to exhaust tunnel. (I finally found a use for lime flavoured Starburst)