View Full Version : My Vtec Cooper
Ok, not necessarily a "build" as the engine was fitted by Geoff but thats not to say I just got in it a drove away.
I bought a Watsons frame about 2 years ago but never got to actually doing the conversion, mainly a recalcitrant hillclimber that yearned for every bit of my spare time so I decided that the only way it'd get done in the near future was to send the car to Geoff to get the engine fitted. Also meant no messing around looking for bracket "a" and cable "b" etc, as we dont have the luxury of scrappies etc in Jersey that we can raid.
The car was fairly well stripped out when I sent it away, basically a rolling shell with bits and pieces still bolted on. I supplied the wheels and my frame kit.
Car was trailered by a local firm to Wakefield only for Geoff to inform me that they'd tied a ratchet strap thro grill and around subframe to tie it down, bending the front panel :evil:
After about a month the car was due to be picked up but Geoff had a problem with gearbox being noisy. It was stripped and rebuilt but was still noisy so in the end Geoff had to swap it for another box (I was awkward as I wanted an LSD box)
The car arrived back with an old seat Geoff chucked in and added to bill was "Front number plate - £10" - in my stripping frenzy :shock: I'd removed the plate not thinking he'd need it for the road test etc.
Spent a week bolting interior back in and all the brightwork and found :-
- Aftermarket bumpers are rubbish, I ended up reshaping them by crushing them in a workmate to get them to even line up.
- I HATE ELECTRIC WINDOWS, ended up removing the W&P kit the car had and went back to the manual winders
- 2nd gear was where the front right hand corner of the passenger seat wanted to be, mounted seat right back in last adjuster and on full extension back so lever now rests against passenger seat
Took car for quick test and ended up going sideways when brakes locked up. Both rear cylinders had burst - fitted new cylinders
Car was trying to steer from rear, found rear LH wheel had excessive toe-in, readjusted brackets
Rear LH wheel rubbed on compression of suspension, spent about 3 days on this checking wheel arches, even top damper mount against fuel tank, eventually found tyre was able to touch lip in wheel arch were boot floor, arch and valance back plate meet - few whacks with rubber faced mallet cured that. Strange there is not same problem on RH side :? Perhaps a clue to some misalignment somewhere ??
Got suspension set up and tracking done - was surprised to find none of this was done by Watsons, at least I thought the tracking would be set :(
Only problem now seems that there is oil perhaps coming from between head and block under vtec solenoid. Took car to local Honda dealer today to have them look at it (was slightly peeved that guy didn't seem to notice the engine was in a Mini :evil: ) He checked the solenoid as apparantly the o-ring behind valave hardens and cracks then leaks but it doesn't seem like it, he reckons its the head gasket :cry: He says he's never had a Honda come in that needed a head gasket doing :cry:
Bad luck ? excuse me whilst I go walk under a ladder whilst smashing a mirror :evil:
On plus side car goes well, but map need looking at as it stalls occasionally and struggles to start and it doesn't feel like its giving its all on full acceleration but add that to the "to do" list to !! :lol:
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/KIF_0576.JPG
Before the major heart surgery, breathing through a Swiftune 1380
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_at_Harbour_small.JPG
Picking car up from Harbour
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_1.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_2.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_3.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_4.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_5.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Mini_Vtec_Small_7.jpg
Picks taken today during first proper test drive
Allan McD
15-11-2006, 05:24 PM
Mine had a small oil leak it was the head gasket.
Allan
Mine had a small oil leak it was the head gasket.
Allan
Ah, so mine isn't just a freak :lol: looks like, its the head off then, not what I really wanted after just geting it back and on the road :(
I had another issue that might interest some people
One thing I specified on the build of the car was the Hi-Spec big brake kit. When I got the car back and pulled off the front wheels there was a 2mm spacer between the disc and the wheel pushing the wheels further out beyond the arches. Found this photo in Tony Wells gallery shows what I mean
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/disc.jpg
But on looking at the front of the caliper I noticed that the whole caliper was biased outwards, the outer pad had a fair gap between the back of the pad and the caliper body meaning the pistons on that side were pushed out quite a way, whilst the inner pad was tight up against the caliper, ie the pistons hadn't pushed out at all.
I took the calipers and carriers off and put 2mm washers between the carrier and the hub and refitted the caliper. The pads sat much better in the caliper (and strangely the pedal feels better but I cant see any reason why that should be).
I put the wheel back on to find it was just touching the edge of the caliper when it was rotated. I filed the bear minimun off the caliper edge (just needed rounding rather than the sharp edge) and it cleared the wheel.
Dropped car back down (at same time had lowered suspension on the adjusters) and with the negative camber added from the lowering the wheels sit just on the arch, maybe a little proud but you cant really see the tread when viewed from above. Saves having to look at fitting the wide fibreglass arches.
New photos added to Gallery
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_003.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_005.jpg
Compare this one to the side on shot in post above. Matt rebuilt frontend as I wasn't happy with the way Geoff had done it. Much much happier :D 8)
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_010.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_012.jpg
Always promised I'd sort the interior and finally got to getting new seats, carpets and door cards
I also dumped the bonnet stripes. The whole car needed a respray and Geoff had used longer stripes to suit the longer bonnet and I didn't have any to put back on but I actually prefer it without so I'm gonna keep it like that 8)
BassAddict
22-05-2007, 07:34 PM
Looks really tidy mate 8) Very nice indeed :)
jiminwatford
23-05-2007, 12:03 AM
what's the difference in the front? has matt absorbed the length more in the middle part of the wing?
look lovely btw
minja
23-05-2007, 02:35 AM
That is one beautiful Mini.
Congratulations. Now, enjoy the pride of ownership.
XEValver
23-05-2007, 06:42 AM
this may help with the front end comparison....
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/Vermiglius/Mini_Vtec_Small_3.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_005.jpg
awesome looking car, nice'n'sleeper 8)
this may help with the front end comparison....
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/Vermiglius/Mini_Vtec_Small_3.jpg
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_005.jpg
awesome looking car, nice'n'sleeper 8)
:D Cheers .... why didn'I think of that :oops:
Yeah the wings were welded on at an angle so front pointed upward despite car having 1.5 inch forward rake - couldn't actually adjust headlights low enough to be legal :x Matt offered to have a look at it and as far as I'm concerned has made a 1st class job of it - I know he had some problems as the engine and rad sit quite high in the Wastsons frame so had to mod the underside of the bonnet for clearance. Can happily recommend 16vMiniShop for all your 16v Mini needs :D (no I'm not on commission ;) )
Thanks for the nice comments guys 8)
Next job is to lower the rear a little - and possibly rear ARB - oh and finally fit the inner door window rubber strips :oops: keep forgetting to pick up some new clips
Ended up making my own gear lever too as I didn't like reaching down so far (plus I'm fitting harnesses for track day and I had to lean out of seat to get to 1,3 & 5th as lever was close to dash). Didn't take any photos :oops: but I basically cut the standard honda lever just abouve the pivot ball and sleeved/welded it to the first 5 inches of a B&M quickshift. Lever is now at right height and comfortably to hand and despite the increase in lever length the throw is still about 15-20% shorter :D
Just curious but did you speak to Watsons about the front end ? I'd be well pissed if I had paid for a wonky front !
Just curious but did you speak to Watsons about the front end ? I'd be well graped if I had paid for a wonky front !
Yeah I did - I wasn't too impressed either, especially as his solution was just to panel beat the wings under the headlamp rims to get the headlights legal and fill the wings to make them smooth !! In the end Geoff agreed to pay Matt to replace the front end. It was cheaper for him to do that than have to come from Wakefield to Portsmouth to pick up car (days round trip) and then the same again to drop it back (or pay a transporter to do it).
TBH I'm glad it went to Matt, his workmanship is 1st rate.
Glad to hear it got resolved without you being out of pocket :D
Also good to hear that Watsons were prepared to bite the bullet and accept it was not up to standard.
Yeah, once I made it clear I wanted a new front end Geoff was happy to find a way to sort it out, which was cool as he could have made a fuss as I was so far away that at the end of the day it would have been hard to fight it out successfully without costing me the same again to deal with :D
boots
12-11-2008, 10:26 AM
Oz, just how much is your front extended by?
erm, not really sure. Its got a Watsons F/G bonnet which I'm assuming is a +90mm one I guess Matt built the front around the bonnet so built it as long as it needed to be to match up.
adamwalk
14-11-2008, 12:35 PM
how did you go about lengthening your arches , im using 90mm extended front and dont know what to do about arches ,i was going to go for sportspack or group 5 but thought they would look odd if they didnt meet up with the bumper. Your cars looking good ,mines in racing green too and seeing yours looking that tidy makes me wish mine was finished.
They are standard sportspack arches mounted further forward than usual and lifted slightly (so they are level with the bumper rather than below as per standard) but I am running 14 inch wheels so need all the clearance I can get :lol:
After a comment on TurboMinis built (and not wanting to hijack it) I thought I'd just knock up a pic showing how I made my gear lever.
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Hybrid_lever.JPG
I cut a B&M short shifter and the standard honda lever on the red lines, sleeved and welded it together and Robert's your mothers brother the lever is still a shorter shift than the Honda lever (as B&M shifter was about 45% reduction in throw) but right to hand where the Mini lever used to sit
see interior shot below :-
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/mini_pics_small_012.jpg
[edit] wish I'd taken that plastic bag out of the pocket before I took pic :oops:
cooper_mark
03-02-2009, 05:22 PM
oz wrote
wish I'd taken that plastic bag out of the pocket before I took pic
is this for the passengers......a sick bag after the terrifing ordeal of them G forces..:lol: :lol:
johnburnt
03-02-2009, 06:41 PM
love the buid mate and those wheels lovely combination
bet your pleased
ludsonline
04-02-2009, 04:25 AM
After a comment on TurboMinis built (and not wanting to hijack it) I thought I'd just knock up a pic showing how I made my gear lever.
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Hybrid_lever.JPG
I cut a B&M short shifter and the standard honda lever on the red lines, sleeved and welded it together and Robert's your mothers brother the lever is still a shorter shift than the Honda lever (as B&M shifter was about 45% reduction in throw) but right to hand where the Mini lever used to sit
see interior shot below :-
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c337/ludsonline/door.jpg
[edit] wish I'd taken that plastic bag out of the pocket before I took pic :oops:
What bag :?: . :wink:
Excellent build there m8. looks stunning...
What bag :?: . :wink:
:lol: cheers !!!
I thought I'd post up my latest hairbrained scheme for the car :oops:
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/Rear_Disc_Conversion1.jpg
As usual I dont believe in doing things the easy way :oops: I've been having issues of the rear brakes locking under heavy braking - turns out I need smaller rear cylinders but since the bearings in my trailing arms are worn I thought I'd replace the arms with a set of SAE converted arms I bought from a member of the site several years ago (sorry cant remember who :oops: ) as I have always looked at doing some type of competing in the car and the MSA rules do not allow spacers the size of the Watson ones. Problem with SAE arms is that they use mini rear drums meaning my rear wheels would not have had the right PCD. Now the easy way would have been to use Metro hubs and rear drums with longer studs and a small spacer but No, thats too easy :lol:
I stumbled across an auction on eBay where a guy was selling rear disc conversion kits for K-series Metros (this was the plates, spacers and nuts/bolts - did not include discs/calipers etc). I paid about £40 for it not knowing whether it would fit or not. MarkD kindly supplied a set of K-Series Metro rear hubs (cheers Mark :D ) and I sourced a set of recon Rover 200/400 rear calipers and a set of EBC grooved MGF rear discs and Rover 200 pads. with a small amout of fettling the result is the photo above - this is just a "dry build" to see if it will fit but initial results look good :D
The only issue with the kit was that to get the handbrake actuator in the right place to attach to the Metro (and I hope Mini) handbrake cable the calipers have to be mounted on the opposite wheel (ie upside down!!) so to bleed them you have to unbolt caliper and bleed then the right way up then re-attach !! :lol: I might relook at that and see if I can swap the bleed nipple into the hose connection and connect the hose to the bleed nipple connection :? It was getting late last night so I called it quits after building the one arm up :lol:
I've no idea whether this will cure my locking rear brakes (might make it worse !! :shock: ) but we'll see .... no pain no gain eh ? I'm starting to understand the title to DarrenW build diary !! :lol:
Simples
17-06-2009, 09:07 PM
The only issue with the kit was that to get the handbrake actuator in the right place to attach to the Metro (and I hope Mini) handbrake cable the calipers have to be mounted on the opposite wheel (ie upside down!!) so to bleed them you have to unbolt caliper and bleed then the right way up then re-attach !! :lol: I might relook at that and see if I can swap the bleed nipple into the hose connection and connect the hose to the bleed nipple connection :? It was getting late last night so I called it quits after building the one arm up :lol:
Can you not swap the calipers left to right?
TonyWells
17-06-2009, 09:21 PM
Would using a pressure bleeding kit mean that you wouldnt have to turn them upside down (the correct way) for bleeding?
Can you not swap the calipers left to right?
If I swap them over (ie the right way round) the handbrake actuator is on the top of the caliper and the cable at the bottom of the trailing arm hence why you need to invert the calipers. Am going to other end of spectrum at weekend, changing front cylinders on a set of drum brakes on my clubby estate :lol: so whilst I'm up at garage I'm gonna look over this again to see what if anything can be done :D
Would using a pressure bleeding kit mean that you wouldnt have to turn them upside down (the correct way) for bleeding?
Not sure :? answers on a post card ?? :lol: I suppose at end of day its only done once in a while so its not gonna be a great bind to whip them off arm to bleed them - I hope the swapping bleed nipple and hose positions works as it has to be the easiest option 8)
evolotion
17-06-2009, 10:36 PM
Would using a pressure bleeding kit mean that you wouldnt have to turn them upside down (the correct way) for bleeding?
Not sure :? answers on a post card ?? :lol: I suppose at end of day its only done once in a while so its not gonna be a great bind to whip them off arm to bleed them - I hope the swapping bleed nipple and hose positions works as it has to be the easiest option 8)
no matter how you bleed it they need to be the correct way up. :wink:
Have a look yesterday whilst swearing loudly and kicking the drum brakes I was working on (why are the cylinder link pipes so f-ing hard to screw into the cylinders - took 10 mins to swap cylinders over and about an hour and a half to fit each pipe !! I got the blisters to prove it :evil: .... and relax !!!)
Its possible to swap over the bleed nipple and brake pipe BUT the existing bleed nipple is too short, it bottoms out before reaching the bottom of the thread :? Anyone know if bleed nipples can be bought in different lengths (not too sure what the thread in the caliper is tho :oops: )
I took a few very rough measurements as well to get an idea of the track I'd get with the disc set up as I was assuming I'd need a spacer and some longer studs but the measurements seem to suggest that no spacer will be needed - seems the SAE spacer is bigger than the Watsons spacer so corrects the track (although I'm sure it was designed to us the S/GT rear drum so I'm not convinced I've got that right :oops: I guess the only way I'll know is when I bolt it to car !!! )
Some progress on the Rear Disc conversion
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/DiscBrakeConv1.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/DiscBrakeConv2.jpg
Regarding the bleed nipple issue I have been able to source a longer bleed nipple so I can swap the positions of the hose and nipple over so nipple is in top hole now :D
I have to have a custom handbrake cable made up, gonna try speedy cables as their site says they do one-offs to customers specs
Been messing around with brake hoses but decided to make up my own rather than try and adapt one from another car (as suggested by the converter kit instructions)
Have decided to build a new rear subframe up too so this will add to the work to do. Am also adding Polyflex bushes and a Minispares rear fixed road anti roll bar. I have no idea if all this will fit together but there only one way to find out, eh ?!?!?
I have an entry in a local sprint and hillclimb weekend on August bank holiday so have to have this finished and back on car within the month :eek: I'm a slow worker so I can see I'll be working on car the night before !!
Have also fitted MGF ball joints to front so will be interested how these affect things. I want to fit an MGTF steering rack too but I'm stuggling to see that this is possible without removing engine from frame and possibly frame from car to do it as gear box is almost touching the drivers side U-bolt nuts so I dont thing I can get a spanner on it and will have to lower rear of frame at very least to get spindle free of car and I dont know how successful that will be with engine/box still in situ :confused: hmmmmmmmm
DarrenW
23-07-2009, 07:35 AM
IIRC Duck managed to swap his rack without taking the engine out, the bad news was that he did have to cut the hole in the floor bigger to clear the spline IIRC.
Maybe worth PMing Duck to ask him:D
CHeers Darren, will do :D
Set about trial fitting the Rear Anti Roll bar today - went quite well I think :cool:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/RearSubframeDryBuild3.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/RearSubframedrybuild2.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/Rearsubframedrybuild1.jpg
Just need to get the custom handbrake cable knocked up and make the rear brake hoses then it can all be stripped down for cleaning, derusting and painting :rolleyes: then built and fitted to car
Hope it all works after all this :shock:
BTW I dont envy anyone who tries to fit one of these whilst the rear subframe is still attached to car unless they have a decent 2 poster to work on !!!
garyshoose
29-07-2009, 12:00 PM
I have an entry in a local sprint and hillclimb weekend on August bank holiday so have to have this finished and back on car within the month :eek: I'm a slow worker so I can see I'll be working on car the night before !!
Bouley Bay ? Was at the last one earlier this month, Absolutely fantastic hillclimb !!! Shut a local road for the day and let the cars, bikes, go-karts loose. The way it should be done ;) Couple of nice wee minis and the chips at the top of the hill.... well, what can i say.
Have you asked Geoff Watson who does his HB cables. I know he supplied a couple to me for my VW conversion but dont know where he got them.
Lookin good, G.
Not Bouley Bay this time - Its a great technical hill (I hold the upto1400 Production Car class record up it but not in a Mini) damn scary cos there is no run off, just earth banks, granite outcrops and drops into quarries !! Its a car wrecker if you get it wrong !
http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/albums/userpics/ozlesplatonssmall.jpg
I've been having some trouble with bottoming (easy ....!) and after messing around with a few options I quite by accident stumbled across an absolutely extraordinary coincidence regarding the Watsons rear coil spring conversion and the Hydrolastic competition bumpstops.....
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009019.jpg
and when assembled
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009018.jpg
So to locate it a little more securely I cut up the bracket
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009020.jpg
and screwed it to the rear spring locators
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009021.jpg
so I ended up with
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009022.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/03082009023.jpg
I have no idea how this will perform but I am hopeful that the bumpstops will prevent the wheels crashing up into the arches over the bumpy Island roads
:confused:
Well there has actually been some progress .... the car is back on the road after 18 months :shock:
I've fitted a refurbished rear subframe with polyflex bushes and recon trailing arms. The rear disc brake conversion came to nothing - the SAE spacers are huge and the wheels poked out of the sportpack arches - they'd have wrecked the arches every bump unless I ran stupid ride height at the rear.
So back to the Watsons spacers and I have the Minispares fixed ARB fitted. I've also revised the rear bumpstop arrangement - managed to fit some standard front top arm bumpstops inside the rear spring. Also fitted Watson helper springs to front to see if that helps and means I dont have to run the dampers on full hard to counter the roll - please someone make a decent front ARB for the Watsons frame !!
I spent the day doing several little jobs then giving it a clean so by time car was ready it was dark so its first proper drive is being adjourned until tomorrow morning ... I pray nothing falls off or breaks !!!
The MGF lower ball joints have given great negative camber on the NS front but less on the OS :confused:
I have also made some new bonnet stripes (God bless fablon !!). After posting this pic in the "Show us yer Mini" thread
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/mini002.jpg
I realised that I actually like it better with them. Problem is as bonnet is 90mm longer standard Rover stripes are too short hence the need for fablon !! :loser:
Also found this pic from same shoot
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm115/Ozinjersey/mini003.jpg
Its currently parked next to my Clubby estate on 10s and the vtec is quite a bit lower despite being on 14s !! I never realised how low it sat !
Problem is I'm starting to dislike the extended front - I'm starting to think the next mod will either be a clubby front or an standard front with an Allspeed frame :confused: food for thought - geez will this car ever be "finished" :mad:
I've got a MGF/TF front ARB waiting here to go on mine if its needs it... Only trouble is i dont know if it would be too thin or thick. But im 95% sure it would be a straight fit, MGF/TF lower wishbones, drop links and clamps. Drill the subframe, couple of captive nuts on each subframe leg for the clamps.
Thing is would fitting a arb give more traction issues? Because the wheels are then connected...
First road test today and with the rear arb and the helper springs it really does corner flat without the need to run the dampers so stiff so I'm pretty happy at the moment so front arb may not be necessary. You might want to try some JoBu.
Had to space out the revised bumpstop arrangement as I was still getting some rubbing at first but I can now throw it at corners and hit all but the biggest bumps and no rubbing so that seems to have worked.
Has some trouble with my tracking gauges so still gotta get front alignment sorted properly.
Still, managed to put a few road miles on it. Still got some clonks and creaks when using the clutch so am thinking some stiffer engine mounts might cure that hopefully.
Shalma
29-11-2010, 05:42 AM
Nice car update
CooperWorks
17-12-2010, 09:13 PM
Really nice sleeper!
Got a new digicam from Christmas so thought I'd dig the Mini out for a few up to date pics
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs026.snc6/165632_465243762293_538832293_5478808_7189105_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1398.snc4/165028_465243937293_538832293_5478815_6334824_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs031.snc6/166105_465243992293_538832293_5478818_2110010_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs736.ash1/162978_465244222293_538832293_5478825_6286889_n.jp g
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