My Vtec Cooper

[boots]

Oz, just how much is your front extended by?

[Oz]

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]

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.

[Oz]

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

[Oz]

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.



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 :-


[edit] wish I'd taken that plastic bag out of the pocket before I took pic

[cooper_mark]

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..

[johnburnt]

love the buid mate and those wheels lovely combination
bet your pleased

[ludsonline]

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.



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 :-



[edit] wish I'd taken that plastic bag out of the pocket before I took pic

What bag .

Excellent build there m8. looks stunning...

[Oz]

What bag .

cheers !!!

[Oz]

I thought I'd post up my latest hairbrained scheme for the car



As usual I dont believe in doing things the easy way 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 ) 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

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 ) 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

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 !! 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

I've no idea whether this will cure my locking rear brakes (might make it worse !! ) but we'll see .... no pain no gain eh ? I'm starting to understand the title to DarrenW build diary !!

[Simples]

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 !! 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

Can you not swap the calipers left to right?

[TonyWells]

Would using a pressure bleeding kit mean that you wouldnt have to turn them upside down (the correct way) for bleeding?

[Oz]

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 so whilst I'm up at garage I'm gonna look over this again to see what if anything can be done

[Oz]

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 ?? 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

[evolotion]

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 ?? 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

no matter how you bleed it they need to be the correct way up.