Project "Marginal gains..."
Turbo Mini Forums

Top work!

Is the winter past already?

1978 Clubman (soon to be S)
2011 Countryman Cooper

Cheers Willy,

It's permanently winter here compared to SA! But I suspect it will run into being a 'Summer' rebuild as well

Last time I was in SA I was at Kyalami and burnt the skin off my nose in about 5 minutes!

Cheers

Loving this build thread, your attention to detail is astronomical and I can't wait to see the finished product. Good luck with the build.

Life is always a matter of opinion and quite frankly, no ones opinion really matters.

Cheers mate

Will be quiet for about a week or so with other stuff but hope to have the rear subframe mounts and the front lateral tube done by then

Cheers

It's been a while...

The subframe is becoming a little frustrating but returning the subframe to the jig each time a change is made is the correct way to go but is adding to the time considerably

Nothing revolutionary as far as normal weight saving attempts but just doing what I can...

So I am just trying to get some stuff done which shouldn't be effected by any changes to the subframe

It's dawning on me how much of a weight penalty the front suspension is not only over standard Mini stuff but the complete lack of options to try and save any weight, as far as I am aware all of the off the shelf aluminium caliper options require 14" wheels which easily undoes any weight which might have been saved.

So what was a token weight saving exercise in removing any unused bosses from the front suspension knuckles has turned into a bit of a fettling marathon, but they look priddy




Theres a combination of ABS sensor, stone guard and machine location bosses which have been liberated





Unusually I have also fettled the other knuckle, as I normally get bored after doing one and having to repeat the same on another part



As well as using these OEM knuckles etc I have been trying to track down OEM CV's so I can start with new known quantity parts, so I was chuffed to track down some GKN Hardy Spicer CV's:


I had hoped to get Brembo discs as good OEM replacement parts but all the places advertising stock didn't actually have any, so I was happy to take TRW discs which whilst representing 3 times the cost over normal replacement discs it's money well spent I think:



And the hand brake lever was lying around so it got some fettling, again a token gesture but with an XE and all the other added weight every bit helps:



New recon calipers hopefully complete a full house for the front knuckle assemblies:



And the accelerator pedal:



Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 7th Jul, 2017.

cmon...

you can do better than that!

Looks great!

1978 Clubman (soon to be S)
2011 Countryman Cooper

Looking good as always, love the detail on the handbrake lever.

Life is always a matter of opinion and quite frankly, no ones opinion really matters.

Thanks again for the comments

JoeC,

I might try a few static tests to check it first

TBH honest in restrospect I would leave the throttle pedal standard for the reduction in weight as I don't want the car to look as though anything has been made lightweight or modified, just "a normal Mini with a K&N, RC40 and wider rims" - that's the plan anyway

Cheers

The steering rack is hopefully positioned on the subframe now so I need to sort out pedal box / seat and steering column position - hence needing to get the steering adapter sorted despite the car being nowhere near finished yet...

My 15" "Driving Miss Daisy" steering wheel with an adapter and QR:



Not sure carbon and Motolita are a good match but it's lightish and cheap especially compared to the billet ally offerings...



I might change the outer bolts to silver

All secured with some M5 K Nuts:



And the other wheel if it's too big



I am using the same QR on the Mini and my Midget so I can switch / change between whichever is more suitable

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 17th Oct, 2017.

the pics no workie.

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

The new (now enforced) Photobucket 'facelift' seems to be a nightmare, tried several times to upload pictures, hopefully picture links should now work

Lovely subframe. The AMT frames have four mounts and are rock solid.
http://mini-performance.co.uk/Images/Red%2...rameBuildup.JPG

Rich

Here for the craic..

Supercharged Arden powered

Old school meets New school, I likey!

excellent work

Thanks for the comments

Rich,

Thanks, Looks like a nice car, Is that your subframe, is it still out of the car... just out of interest any idea how much it weighs bare

I think I will change the thread title as it isn't very meaninful anymore

Cheers

Do mini calipers not fit onto the hubs?

Lewis blackburn on his metro mk1 got 7.5 calipers on it so he could run 10's

but brillant build looking good alot of engineering gone into that

Hi Chalkie,

No the Mini calipers are a different mounting hole centre width compared to Rover 100 / Metro calipers.

Hopefully, barring any cockups the subframe is essentially done, I will mock up the steering rack height (to check bump steer) with some brackets I have, so this will still need to be added and also once I am absolutely certain everything is in the right place I want to try and add gussets from the front lower wishbone forward point back to the rear lateral tube...

A general view of the frame:



It now has a front lower lateral tube to help tie the two engine mounts together and provide rad supports etc








As usual the front lateral tube is removable, I have used shoulder bolts to mount the tube as these provide dowel location instead of just relying bolt tension and the friction between the two surfaces



They are more commonly used for jigs and fixtures on surface tables



It also means a larger diameter is in shear, I originally intended to use male / female cones to give positive location for the tube but this seemed simpler.



The threaded bucket bushes for these have been rose welded as well and extend into the tube about 30mm.

I have added an additional centre subframe mount from the rear lateral tube back to the toeboard as this was helping the toe stiffness of the frame by reducing the deflection of this tube



It also means the weight held by the rear centre engine mount doesn't just bounce on this lateral tube



I tried to get it as close to the point where the tunnel joins the toeboard as being the stiffest part of the toe board



The inside of the toeboard has been plated as well to help spread the load



This shows the metalasic front engine mounts, they may be too stiff but hopefully combining these with a conventional rear engine rubber mount it will be OK...



Lower wishbone mounts are now finish welded:



And this is the half of the rear engine mount which bolts to the gearbox



It will get a few swaged holes put in it once I have decided if the gear selector mechanism will mount off it or not. These are again made in 3mm S514 steel



Drive flanges have been spared a few more grammes on the lathe, the area near where the wheel bearing gets its lateral support has been removed, the angled area which has the turned finish, but careful not to undercut the existing corner radii.



These now need to be sent off for milling to try and get a little more weight of them



The steering arms are quite a bit longer (and heavier) than Mini so have also had a few token grammes removed, 'lightened' shown compared to standard



Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 3rd Dec, 2014.

Looking out of the window, I'd say winter rebuild is still appropriate.

That frame looks cracking.

You don't do things my half measures!!

Excellent work!!

very nice..

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Excellent work, looks fantastic

That frame is gorgeous. Good work!

Thanks very much for the comments

Just trying it in the car again to look at steering rack position and clearances and then hopefully cut some old suspension arms up to mock up the new wishbones

And yes still very much a 'Winter' rebuild when you have to clear the snow drift in order to get the garage door open...

Cheers

Yep, its my subframe, its the amt race frame, 1 of 4 that i've know of or have seen. The cars fully built up and no sorry, no idea on weight, i never thought of weighing it at the time.!

On 22nd Mar, 2013 Aubrey_Boy said:
Thanks for the comments

Rich,

Thanks, Looks like a nice car, Is that your subframe, is it still out of the car... just out of interest any idea how much it weighs bare

I think I will change the thread title as it isn't very meaninful anymore

Cheers

Here for the craic..

Supercharged Arden powered