Roof chopped BMW mini cooper S

[rkde]

Finally I feel like I am actually getting somewhere with the bumper, been making some intensive mods to the bumper but I am really happy with it now. Stock grills are all going too. I think its looking very good

 

[Robotstar5]

Had you thought of doing a flip front bonnet like the mod done to original Minis?

 

[rkde]

I had yes, we actually looked at it and tacked a few panels together on another car, sadly it offered less of a benefit. The new mini engine is mainly a front access affair.

I am suffering with having enough of changes and just want parts that fit. Worst part is most people will not even appreciate the changes I am making. I hope that all the changes are second glance or look OEM so they will not be able to identify what is different

 

[rkde]

This will be the last time in a while you will see the bumpers, they are off to the body shop in the morning and I am very pleased with how they look. So this is the front and rear bumper that will be going on the car. All the grills fit really well, as they should!

 

[Epicyclic]

Been looking at new Minis since you said about the modded bumper looking like it should be stock! Yours looks much better than the std one - well done.

 

[rkde]

Well having the gearbox back from the blasters I have had time to open it up and review the inside and it would appear the masking off wasn't great so I now have a gearbox full of little bits of glass, not great. I have stripped it all down but what is going to be best to clean it all out? I do not have a part wash system but presume I can use a pump spray with a chemical wash?

I have the box in many parts but I need to ensure I get all the bearings cleaned well.

Any tips are appreciated

 

[Shox Dr]

Stick it in the dishwasher

 

[Robotstar5]

Take it to an engine reconditioner and get it through their washer? it's not worth risking a bit left in the bearings!

 

[rkde]

I am currently planning out a part washer and see if I can build one. quite depressed to find all the rubbish in there and to see my quaife lsd covered - £650 worth of diff covered in little bits of sand/glass etc

I need to figure out how the lay shafts come out of the box, it looks like the back bearings are bolted into place and there are no manuals as bmw will not sell spares except shaft seals...

Other news, I had a lot of trouble with the roof skin so today I cut it off again and have laid large slabs of foam which I will be shaping tomorrow and I just have to work to finish this now!

Cheers for the advice, looks like a part washer will be required.

PS what fluid do they normally use to clean?

 

[Shox Dr]

I would seriously look at using a dishwasher, loads in the freeads, or the local tip.

 

[rkde]

I am very sure after the heating a crank pulley in the oven above dinner went I am not sure I will be able to get the gearbox near the dish washer.

I will see what I can do...

 

[hotrodder]

As it's apart already i'd be thinking about replacing the bearings personally. I've welded a lot of MINI boxes (especially the earlier Midlands flavour but a fair few Getrags too) for several transmission shops. They were second in popularity only to the VAG boxes used in (amongst others) MK4 Golfs for 'self destruction'. I can't remember exactly which bearing was the usual culprit (output shaft?) that'd sh** itself but whatever lets go shortly after getting noisy often resulted in bits of the box trying to machine their way out of the case. Not as spectacular as the VAG boxes which used rivets to attach the ring gear- the rivets would break and do a very good impression of a flycutter!

FWIW the trans shops i weld things for all have a pretty similar cleaning process... a regular degreaser tank followed by a hot wash in one of those industrial sized steamcleaner/giant dishwasher deals. Domestic dishwashers work almost as well, only downside is they're smaller and the missus will have a fit unless she's out shopping at the time

 

[rkde]

Cheers, I am aware of how bad the midland boxs are, never seen a 6 speed getrag give up though, seen the houses crack and have welded the slave boss back on so many its clearly not great but I have never seen the bearings fail.

Do you know how the shafts come off the back plate? there is a bearing with a snap ring but I doubt the ring will easily come out, it does look like the bearing has a threaded cap but I am unsure how I go about holding the lay shafts to stop them turning

Also bearings and internals of the box are not sold separately or at least I have not seen any yet for the 6 speed getrag

 

[hotrodder]

No sorry. I've had a Midlands box apart when the missus complained about it but i took it to one of my customers shops at lunchtime and got one of their guys to do the bearings- their bearing splitters/pullers etc are a league apart from what i own and from memory you need a few simple fixtures to hold shafts etc. Typically I only ever see broken/cracked/heavily scored empty cases though.

A decent transmission shop should be able to source various parts that (according to main stealers) 'aren't available'. From my chats with the owner of one of the shops he would use alternative suppliers for quality as much cost/availability a lot of the time, the VAG boxes for example... a new oe casting would make the repair uneconomic and pattern castings weren't very good hence getting the origionals welded. The MINI stuff was usually a time/cost deal

 

[rkde]

I tried so hard to get the insides of my lights done in carbon, got a good finish but when I came to assembly them they would not fit so to ebay I went, purchased new front and rear lights to start again.

I then came across a method of applying patterns called hydro dipping and with a call to www.pitstopdesigns.co.uk I had decided that only way to get the carbon on the inside of my headlights was to have the chrome "dipped"

I pulled the lights apart and sent them off with samples of the carbon so it would be close, I know its not real but close enough.

Well one week later I have them back! I have to say inside the lenses they are going to look very good, the finish is good and is very close to the carbon so will help to carry on my carbon theme, I can now spend a wet evening putting the lights back together.

Here are the fronts

The rears

So here is one assembled unit, will try and get a photo in day light so less flash, I am really pleased with it

 

[Robotstar5]

They've done a nice job

 

[rkde]

so this roof skin... Well after having already done this and paid someone in good faith to do a good job and they did a very bad job I just couldn't save the grp roof which had been made so out with the angle grinder and I removed all the rubbish, I then spent some time with my other half built a wooden table within the car just below the roof skin and then placed some large block of foam on the car. I then set about cutting and roughing out the foam. took me about a half a day but the shape is back now so with some filling and smoothing I will be able to make a new mould and then a new roof and thats it the car will be in for paint.

Smoothing the foam

Also while being at the body shop I had a little sneak peak into the booth and could see some of my stuff which had been internally painted.

 

[rkde]

Well finally at a point where the primer is going on the body

 

[Tupers]

Good to see it's all coming together after all the trouble you've had.


I love all the carbon work you've done.

 

[rkde]

another weekend and another update, lots more primer and guide coats are in order here, have to say the finish on the other side is now nearly liked glass and very pleasing.

The scuttle vents look like they now belong to the car, really smooth or getting there anyway, I always wanted them to look like the metal work had been formed and thats how they look. I think maybe the plan is coming together...