Mark 1

[paul1275s]

I get all my stainless fasteners from Seascrew in Churchdale Road. They hold a good stock of imperial as well as metric and it is proper marine grade stainless and also hi-tensile. They will sell you as much or as little as you want.
Quality work as always Dave, looking forward to seeing the old girl back on the road...

[monkeyjim]

Cheers Paul.

Just going to have a look on the Seascrew
website .

[Miniböttcher]

For the rear hilo's


cut 1/2" off the end of the bar/ shaft that does in the hole of the Hilo and then cut a oil relief spring in half and put in the hole

It help to stop the Hilo coming away from the cone when you jack it up and it goes slack.

So when it does back down in its wheel, the hilo is not out of place or it's not slipped out of the Cone. Another one of rich's little tricks.

Hope you get this. There was a photo on the mk1 forum I see if I can find it.

Some how I found it.

Scroll down half the page for the photo.

mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2556&p=18527&hilit=Hilo#p18527

[MiniGT5]

I can vouch for Seascrew they have helped me out loads over the years. Just down a side road next to the wreck in seaside. Actually next door to where the golden gloves / archery pub used to be

N.

[monkeyjim]

cheers guys .
Thanks Dean . Been speaking to Rich a fair bit on this and other mk1 performance stuff .
He is very helpfull and when you get him started he goes on and on .

[monkeyjim]

Just come back from Josies mums in the Limousin area of France .
The countryside looks like Devon . Dead quiet roads that are a Mini drivers dream . Loads off sweeping bends down gorges , fast open bends and curves and dead smooth tarmac straights with not a sole around .
I have opportunity to leave Mk1 there in future .
I am very tempted as it would make a few days away in this fantastic place even better with a hot Mini to play with on those roads while I am there . The climate is warmer too and no salt air .
Reckon I will use it next season untill Castle Combe and have a serious think .

[MiniGT5]

would you have to register it as french? what about MOT & insurance?

N.

[monkeyjim]

Its a idea at the moment , it all needs looking into .
I know cars over 30 years old in France only need a MOT every 5 years , the rest of the red tape Josies Mum will encounter shortly registering there Berlingo over there so getting the info will not be a problem .

[monkeyjim]

Repainted frame and my original uprated tie rods, neg camber arms and top suspension arms also repainted but obviously not in the blue again.
New uprated Minispares suspension rubber donuts with clear coat laquer on the shiny bits .
New original Ripspeed patent/Minispares hi los , new ball joints and cups.
Modified original bump stops . As suggested by Rich at Minispares North , a mk1 Cooper S racer .
Uprated revised geometry lower arm bushes from Minipsares.
Repainted lower arm pivot pin.
Top arm pin and bearings cleaned , checked and greased, new dust seals fitted.
New hard and soft Minispares tie bar bushes.
New stainless steel grease nipples.
Locally made stainless steel top subframe mounting studs, nuts and washers, commisioned by Dean and me for our MK1's .
All other nuts, bolts and washers are also stainless steel .

Before painting the frame I welded 2 handy jacking points onto it . With the car on the road previously I found that with no dedicated jacking points a jack had scratched the bottom of the painted frame ruining the paint finish and by the time the car was taken off the road last year rust marks were evident . Hopefully with the jacking points on the frame they will only need minor touching up which I guess can be any colour really , i would just mask off the area of the frame around the jack point and repaint it .

[monkeyjim]

Have taken ages to get the correct tapered front hub bearings for mk1 .
I thought I would get them locally at about the same cost as Minispares less the postage . Wish I had just gone straight to Minispares .

They had to be ordered in : Tapered front hub bearing kits for a disc braked car , yep no prob .

They eventually turn up and I do not even get round to looking at them for ages ,trusted my supplier , which was stupid . When I did open them they were ball bearings not tapered . I questioned this and was told they were the only listed . So I fitted a set , my knowledge got the better of me and I questioned the application for disc brakes. Was told they were the only ones . Bollocks I thought , these are drum bearings.
So again I ordered tapered bearings from another source, took days to turn up and then I only got one set with the other to follow by post ! I opened the single box and my tapered bearing set was in fact a drum brake ball bearing set.

Was not happy and was agin told they were the only type listed . Why are bearings manufacturered for a car that stopped using them 28years ago ? I needed car on its wheels to get it to work to spray the underneath floor sections. Time was running out .
I called Rich at Minispares North - Harrogate . Dont call London Minispares call the North branch and speak to Rich , he is always really helpful . I asked what the crack was with the ball bearings . He said they are for drums and can be fitted to disc hubs but unless its a low powered carefully driven car they will not last long .
Well...... mine is driven with enthusiasm which rules out the ball bearings 100% .

I then called Unipart in Newhaven who had given me a bearing set that looked like it would be for a Ford Focus and not a Mini a few weeks before this story started . I spoke to a differant chap and the correct bearings turned up the next day ;D ;D .
No Bearings were spot on high quality Timken items but the hubs were by now worn out chocolate items and my new bearing races were not tight enough in my old hubs for me to be happy with them . I had no option but to fit them (easily removed ) because I needed to get the car up to work for paint.
I now need to buy a pair of hubs, get them painted or coated again before transfering the new ball joints , steering arm and bearings into them.
oh well .

Do not use ball bearing sets for disc braked cars.

For the correct quality Timken taper bearing set you need
UNIPART Part No: GHK1923 .

There is a Branch in Eastbourne.

D .

[monkeyjim]

My underside floor is now painted again .
Pics to follow.

[monkeyjim]

Internal floors now painted .
Rear ( fia historic short version ) kad anti roll bar painted up and is now fitted .