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Why do we hold on to things for so long and never use them, is the mystery of lots of us humans. Thanks for the reminder not to let the new house garage get cluttered. After 3 years and besides an over abundance of rims I'm doing good.
I've enjoyed your build thread.
Thanks! Having have fun sharing the successes, [as well as the not so successful].
My problem is, [besides interests that vary a little too much] is I hate seeing anything that I perceive has having value getting tossed out, [by me, or anyone else for that matter].
"Sure, I'll take it". Famous first words. Ha! Paying the price now. I just keep walking back and forth from the shop to the dumpster, over and over.
The ongoing issue is attempting to organize and find where to put the stuff I do want to keep.
There's a loft that pretty full as well. Lot's of stuff that does have real value that needs to go on eBay but that's another project.
I bet I have another month. Calling to get the dumpster picked up tomorrow, but brought back of course...
I've said it before since you've started this process and I'll say ut again, I'm really trying to move past that before I get too far in life. I'm of the same feather, and hate to see useful items go to waste, even if I have no idea when I will use them. I'm starting to do better at asking myself what I'll do with something and if I'll use it in the near future before accepting it.
I have that much stuff in a 25x30 ft basement.
Well, not really.
But you give me incentive to clean my shop out. Plus, I need the room for my next project (a set of stereo speakers) which comes after building a car lift so I can fix the exhaust on our R50.
Nope, I didn’t need to live through the depression to have the feeling to want to save things. I think it more has to do with the idea that I can fix things or make use of them at some latter time. I have the bottom half of a circular saw that has the tilt parts. I know that will be good for something, some day.
After reading this, I'm thankful that the Army kept me moving every few years (15 times since I left home at 18, although 2 of those were since I retired). Regular moves keeps the collection from growing too much.
Close. It's a 1959 R-69. Pretty much exactly the same as the R69S but with one point lower compression. Actually one of the rarer BMW models. I also have a Stieb sidecar for it that I debate about installing. but that's another project...
They picked up then returned the dumpster for another round.
1.85 tons of "stuff". Not counting all the wood stuff I burned and all the metal piled up for salvage, and the 22 contractor trash bags I took to my dumpster at work. Yikes! Way TMS!
rob
The barn clean-up continues but despite moving probably 2.5 tons of "stuff" from the barn and the tractor shed, not done yet.
But I needed a little break to do something fun like work on the Mini. I had been running without the intercooler cover as the OEM looked like it blocked a lot of airflow. But without it you're sucking in heat off the engine unless traveling "at speed". My original plan was adding foam to have it take up the gap but I saw the DDMWorks Intercooler Diverter which has the maximum amount of opening and a really good seal to under the scoop. Plus being stainless it looks nice. I bought it from Way Motor Works and at $165, not cheap but it's quite the quality product. It came about 2 weeks ago and I was dying to install so it went on.
I also bought 2 Cabrio tower supports from another NAM member, 2amAn, [aka Simon] and they were nice pieces and he shipped them really fast. Still can't believe BMW/Mini went from $20-25 each to $110 each. I guess they figured out they were selling more of them than the total number of convertibles produced.
So they got bead blasted and painted, [red]. Why red you ask? Well, the springs and swaybar are red, [unseen of course] but the roll bar, whenever that arrives, and after the mods to mount the spare will be red as well. I thought a dash of color would be nice. I polished and clear coated the OEM torx screws and I probably would have skipped that and used some SS Allen head bolts I have but I had left them at the boat shed. The holes in the brackets were a little large and I didn't have any washers that I liked so I had to drill out the holes in some smaller SS fender washers I had to fit the torx bolts.
The brace went on sort-of smoothly. The drivers side took about 2 hours and the passenger side took about 20 minutes. On the drivers side there's a bracket for an electrical connection which moves from the cars frame to a tab on the new bracket. There's not a lot of room to work on that side and the bottom bolt I had to hold with long pliers to get started, otherwise the inner fender panel would need to come off and I wanted to avoid that.
To add insult to injury when I got that side bolted up I figured out the main wiring harness needed to be on the other side of the new bracket so it had to come back off again. Oh well, at least I wasn't carrying junk from the barn.
Next up really needs to be the airbag warning light fix. I concluded it was probably the clock spring so I did get a new one. I've read various things regarding it's installation including "re-programing". Really? For a clock spring? If anyone has any hints on this I'm all ears.
rob
A nice product, looks good and fits well. Louvers are supposed to be designed for optimum air flow.
Painted up. I let them sit for 3 days so the paint was good and hard.
The fiddly side. The original bracket is in the way of the new brace and is discarded, The clip for the wire goes on the tab on the new brace.
Main harness needs to go on the other side of the new bracket. Take it back off and try again. Don't forget to reattach the ground strap!
Correct orientation and harness clipped to tab.
The PIA side.
The "easy" 20 minute side.
All done. Will it make a difference? Logically it should. Will it be noticeable? Probably not but we'll see.
The clock spring also includes the steering angle sensor for the DSC system. Some of them need to be initialized and calibrated with programming. Some of them you just put it in, turn the car on, and turn the steering wheel from lock to lock to initialize and calibrate. Never done one of these, so I'm not sure which way it works.
Rob - Side question....
Were the springs on your MINI originally red? I see where you posted, early on, that you painted them (and explained why you dislike powder coating so much). But I couldn’t figure out from that post if they were originally red. The reason I ask is, if they were originally red, then you likely have a MINI with the optional JCW Sport suspension. This was something like a $1500 option and another $2000 to have the dealer install it.
The clock spring also includes the steering angle sensor for the DSC system. Some of them need to be initialized and calibrated with programming. Some of them you just put it in, turn the car on, and turn the steering wheel from lock to lock to initialize and calibrate. Never done one of these, so I'm not sure which way it works.
Thanks Yj,, I didn't realize that. Wonder if there's any way to determine by year/ date of manuf. which is which?
Rob - Side question....
Were the springs on your MINI originally red? I see where you posted, early on, that you painted them (and explained why you dislike powder coating so much). But I couldn’t figure out from that post if they were originally red. The reason I ask is, if they were originally red, then you likely have a MINI with the optional JCW Sport suspension. This was something like a $1500 option and another $2000 to have the dealer install it.
Eddie,
Alas, no. they were plain old black, I just thought I would brighten things up a little. Quite a bit of subframe work that no one sees right?
I like a little splash of color as long as it's not overwhelming. The other thing is when you see that, [with no overspray of course] you know right away that everything has been completely apart, at least implying lots was done...
robj
Sorry, you started me thinking about it. Ended up looking so nice but even I've never seen it again! Had to go back and take another look!
Red does look good on those parts. I was hopin’ for ya...
And you do mighty fine work. It is looking brand new under there and most everywhere else on the car.
When I ordered my current R56S, I wanted that optional JCW sports suspension but was talked out of it because of the cost. I got the optional sports suspension for $500. This was the base suspension for the JCW and I considered that it was a bargain as it turn out to be a major step up from the base S suspension.
Last edited by Eddie07S; May 3, 2020 at 02:46 PM.
Reason: Typo
Red does look good on those parts. I was hopin’ for ya...
And you do mighty fine work. It is looking brand new under there and most everywhere else on the car.
When I ordered my current R56S, I wanted that optional JCW sports suspension but was talked out of it because of the cost. I got the optional sports suspension for $500. This was the base suspension for the JCW and I considered that it was a bargain as it turn out to be a major step up from the base S suspension.
Do you remember what all came with sport suspension option? I'm guessing, swaybars, shocks and springs.
Do you remember what all came with sport suspension option? I'm guessing, swaybars, shocks and springs.
Yes to all of the above. I looked extensively into what was available from MINI as this was going to be a car that was going to the track. Conventional wisdom (big fat RSB is all you need to fix the understeer on a MINI) failed me on my first R56. So I decided that the $$$$$ MINI/BMW spends on suspension design would get me something much better than the $0 conventional wisdom got me. And it did. I don’t have all of the numbers but in going from the Base MINI to the S and then to the JCW got you a 1mm increase in both the front and rear sway bars with each step up. Along with the sway bars you got progressively stiffer springs and shocks. With the optional JCW Sports suspension you got a 0.5mm increase in both sway bars, stiffer springs and shocks, and 10mm lowering over the base JCW suspension. Interestingly, while the sway bar change doesn’t sound like much, it is actually huge at moving the roll stiffness to the rear of the car, reducing understeer, while flattening out the lean on the front, which provides added front end grip. The move I then made to the even bigger sway bars I currently have in the car was just an extension of the MINI design. I will say, that the MINI shocks are crap and good for only 10 to 20k miles. Other than that, I like what MINI did with their suspensions.
Rob - Side question....
Were the springs on your MINI originally red? I see where you posted, early on, that you painted them (and explained why you dislike powder coating so much). But I couldn’t figure out from that post if they were originally red. The reason I ask is, if they were originally red, then you likely have a MINI with the optional JCW Sport suspension. This was something like a $1500 option and another $2000 to have the dealer install it.
Originally Posted by cblock406
The engine bay turned out great, super clean! And very nice shop!
Thanks CB. My first shop was an alley behind my house where in H.S. I put 2 different engines in my '57 Chevy. [wish I had that one back!]. second "shop" at my first house was a driveway with no garage. Second house had a Model T sized garage where once my tools were in, no room for anything but my Triumph M.C. I switched from cars to mostly working on and restoring motorcycles for about 20 -25 years.
Current house has a 1.5 car attached garage but there was a 30 x 80 horse barn. Once we were done with horses, [thank god] I dug out the barn to level it, added a block retaining wall, all new sides and a cement floor. But being a pole barn there's a post every 10' which is a little inconvenient.
And somehow over the years I've collected too many projects and TMS. Hence the current major clean-up. I'm slowly moving toward a shed type addition, 20'x40' using 2 40' sea containers, one on top the other with a shed roof to the existing barn roof so I can move the Chris-Craft I'm working from the boat shed to the shop at the house. plus adding more than enough storage.
Also I'm going to need to live to be 100, to get my projects done, but it's good motivation right?
[QUOTE=Eddie07S;4533380]And it did. I don’t have all of the numbers but in going from the Base MINI to the S and then to the JCW got you a 1mm increase in both the front and rear sway bars with each step up. Along with the sway bars you got progressively stiffer springs and shocks. With the optional JCW Sports suspension you got a 0.5mm increase in both sway bars, stiffer springs and shocks, and 10mm lowering over the base JCW suspension.
And it did. I don’t have all of the numbers but in going from the Base MINI to the S and then to the JCW got you a 1mm increase in both the front and rear sway bars with each step up. Along with the sway bars you got progressively stiffer springs and shocks. With the optional JCW Sports suspension you got a 0.5mm increase in both sway bars, stiffer springs and shocks, and 10mm lowering over the base JCW suspension.
Eddie,
Do you recall what size bars you have now?
rob
The MINI optional sports suspension (base suspension for the JCW) that I got for my R56S came with a 23.5mm front swaybar and an 18mm rear swaybar. I upgraded that to a 27mm front swaybar and a 25mm hollow rear swaybar (22mm solid bar equivalent). This gave me the same front to rear roll stiffness ratio that I had with the MINI suspension with the rear bar in the softest setting. I really like MINI suspension for the street and track. The larger bars really upped the game on that; really nice improvement. I kept the stock sports suspension springs because, at the time, this was still my DD and I wanted the ride height. I also want to only change just one thing at a time so I would know what the effect was from the change. I have since looked into the effect of lowering a car has on the suspension compression travel and roll centers and don’t like what I see. I have come to the conclusion that MINI’s 10mm lowering with the JCW Sports suspension (red springs) is probably all that the car can take and still be in a good place.
Still haven't tackled the clock spring. Maybe tomorrow after mowing. Sharpening the mower blades as we speak.
I was supposed to have Blue Car on a dyno last Thursday but the shop canceled due to some race car work. That's fine, I get it. Rescheduling for this coming week. I wanted to get a baseline for what I've done so far. I would be happy to see 180 at the wheels. They don't call Dynos "heart-breakers" for no reason. Nice thing is the shop is 5 minutes from my house. Mostly Nissan drifters but they seem pretty knowledgeable. But the owner likes Minis so that's something.
So today, while sitting at a traffic light with the tag of a lifted F-350 filling my mirror I was thinking that something to make me a little more conspicuous might not be a bad thing.
I was thinking about replacing the D2S daytime running lights with yellow bulbs. All I'm seeing is really cheap, [like $15 a pair] no name bulbs and I'm a little suspect of their quality.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a quality bulb that actually "looks" yellow to oncoming traffic?
Thanks,
robj
A little Mini news but not much. The good news is after 7 weeks of vicious cleaning an moving at least 3 tons of stuff I haven't touched in years the barn clean is just about done. Compare to the photo above.
In addition I did get the '59 BMW cleaned up up and running for the first time in 5 years. Made a large wheel kit for the Cherokee on the rotisserie so that could be moved to the bottom bay.
Mini-wise, still have yet to do the clock spring for the air bag. I was putting that off as my youngest had borrowed my truck and I didn't want to be stuck in case something "happened".
Also, the AutoPower street Roll Bar came in just about a month after ordering. [I think they make them when ordered]. The rear down tubes needed a bit of work to get them to slide in decently and I figured out the front seats are going to have to come out.
Could be a lengthy process, as;
1. Seats out.
2. Rear seat delete out. [good-as I need to epoxy and paint it anyway. And install the finish rubber mat.]
3. Side panels out.
4. Fit and drill roll bar - bolt in at front. [Here is where I will figure out if the spare tire mount is doable]
5. Remove rear down tubes.
6. Reinstall plastic side panels
7. Mark side panels for a neat hole. Going to put a cardboard tube on the stub of the bar, lower that to the plastic and use that to mark a precise [I hope] hole.
8. Remove side panels and drill.
9. Weld additional tubing for spare tire mount [if it will work]
10. Remove and paint roll bar.
11. Re-install roll bar and side panels.
12. Re-install painted rear seat delete.
13. Drive and enjoy....
I think I may wait on that as I need to get the clock spring in, get rid of the airbag light and get it through Maryland State Inspection. I've been driving on Temp. Tags.
Barn Photos. I really don't know how to act. Floor Real Estate I haven't seen for years!
robj
Two parts Cherokees moved to the tractor shed and graded the lot.
Two empty bays!
BMW running but pre-bath. Fresh gas and the carbs were disassembled and cleaned. 2 kicks and putt, putt, putt...
Off-Road rotisserie!
Well, that's it for now. Still a little barn cleaning to go. Next is the clock spring I've been avoiding for some reason.
Nice work, Rob! Love the old Beemer. But what's with the fox body GT? Surprised the heck out of one of those (convertible body) in one of my e46 wagons. He barely pulled away from me on the straights and I pushed him hard through every corner. Probably boggled his mind that he couldn't get away from a station wagon. Lol!
It's actually a '93 Cobra. The last of the Ford hot rod pushrod engines. Different heads, different cam, different lots of things. Rated at 245HP, but was actually pushing 275.
I was driving a work van at the time but all my time was spent in the office so I bought it new as a daily driver to replace the work van. It drove quite a bit different than your standard 5.0. I put about 85K miles on it and have to say I scared myself pretty good at least 1 or 2 times. Then it was a Sunday driver, then it just sat for quite a few years. I started bringing it back to life, got the engine all detailed, after pulling the engine to repaint the engine compartment. It stalled there as other projects interfered .
It was pretty darn fast and actually handled better than I drove. It's on the get back on the road list...
Everything was pretty crusty after 8 years as a daily driver. Motor looks much better, but the engine compartment is still a "work in progress"...
Wow that is an amazing looking engine! Love the headers. Like those on the original 60’s GT 40.
Whhat is the intake manifold designed for? Carbs? Fuel injection? It almost looks like a manifold for 4 Weber 2 barrels.
