Cooper Sport

[taffy1967]

A 500 isn't actually a limited edition anyway. No it's just one of the last 500 built which is special in itself, but not an LE as such.

[ljonez]

i think I've managed to sort the fan problem i cleaned up the contacts on the thermistor ( temp sensor) and it seem to be ok now

on Sunday i removed the exhaust split it into sections cleaned up all the joints and refitted it as it was blowing at both ends of the cat and at the back box joint

got to say tho the exhaust was very easy to do, its the first time I've had a mini with the later style hanging mounts and they make it so much easier to get it on and off.

in fact id recomend people if they got the old style and they want to buy a new exhaust to buy the later type and buy some conversion brackets for the sub-frame

www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=34793
www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=38074
along with www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=33091

it makes fitting so much easier and theres less vibration transmitted into the car ;D

also got 2 yokos fitted to the front wheels and what a difference they have made! the car handles much better. they wernt cheap tho

[byron101]

we prefer yokos aswell, they much better than falcons

[ljonez]

i have a dilemma, do i remove the cooper stripes?

they were put on by the previous owner and im not sure if i lke them or not, as know they shudnt be there and they are a bright white where as the roof and mirrors are more of a cream ( posibly old english white? )

not a huge thing i Know but i cant decide either way

[ljonez]

the cooper has a few rust bubbles so i though I'd treat them ad spray them myself, but before i did that i thought id buy some of halfrauds finest "colour match" paint and spray something as a test to see how close the colour was.

so after rubbing down, primmering, spraying and lacquering i have a Tahiti blue rocker cover ;D



the colour is close but not close enough for my liking so i will be treating the rust then its off to the body shop.

engine bay looks better now

before


after


the paint will probably just bubble and come off but its served its test purpose and it looks good for now

[coedy]

see what you meant when you told me about the rocker cover now!
looks a fair bit darker in that pic. looks good though! all you have to do now is spray some autoglym machine cleaner in the engine bay, rinse it off then spray a load of rubber dressing in there and it will look good enough to show off! (should you be that way inclined )

[ljonez]

Oct 15, 2008 13:06:46 GMT 1 @coedy said:

all you have to do now is spray some autoglym machine cleaner in the engine bay, rinse it off then spray a load of rubber dressing in there and it will look good enough to show off! (should you be that way inclined )

not really my cup of tea but i did find my self with the paint in one hand with the bonnet open looking at what else i could colour match but soon snapped out of it

any one know how far you can tune a MPI before the ECU cant cope and you have to go for a mapable system?

lets just say i have a few plans and im hoping to sell the Flame Red and spend a fair amount of the money on a engine rebuild ;D, and posibly a respray

[mini2infiniti]

Oct 18, 2008 23:27:44 GMT 1 Phil J said:

Mpi's are totally alien to me, but I'm sure I saw a thread somewhere about tuning them, I'll have a look now and see if I can find it

Your not the only one, I was looking at the pics and wonder where the hell the hose was going from the thermostat housing!

[ljonez]

your not the only ones, i havent got a clue when it comes to this engine,
it was only today when i had a idle problem ( which has been fixed) that i thought "if i break down im screwed"
altho i must admit it is great to drive its like a moden car (civilised) but with mini handleing ;D

[mini2infiniti]

bah, owning a carb mini is like having a manual handheld can opener, then you have MPI's which are the electric type ones for lazy people

[byron101]

i personally prefer carbs after the hassle we had, but a classic mini is still a classic mini + we won't mention what we think of the BINI'S ;D

[irishstick]

gimme points and carb anyday, i can fix them! but engine managment systems, no clue, ,,,,

[ljonez]

got to agree i prefer carbs and points ( well actuly megajolt) any day of the week and if i had a Spi i'd be converting back straight away.
sadly i cant and a engine transplant ( to a non MPI) is out of the question as it wont pass the emmissions test

[ljonez]

finally got around to fixing the oil leak coming from both output shaft seals, there was allot of play in both bushes so i bought two new diff end cover plates, they Cost £75 each if you can get them i managed to pic up two from malvern still in their rover boxes for £30 ;D

new plate



then set about the ancient art of gasket making which is past down from farther to son ;D





then new seals fitted, old ones plates removed and new ones fitted with some gasket sealant to make sure ( these plates and the bottom of the timing chain cover are the only places i use the stuff)



total time 3 hours so not to bad going probably could have done it in 2 if I'd had some help

[dai9fxey]

Good work LJ.
Have you got a set of those hole punches judging by the neatness of those holes.??

[ljonez]

Nov 21, 2008 23:42:52 GMT 1 dai9fxey said:

Good work LJ.
Have you got a set of those hole punches judging by the neatness of those holes.??

nope ;D

good old ball pin hammer ( a very light and small one)

[ljonez]

slight update

over the last few weeks I've had a few starting issues which ( touch wood) have now been sorted

also i had a weird problem where if the fan kicked in the indicators would come one and when i turned the side lights off the wiper would wipe plus many other weird things like the spot lamps only working if the heater was on which all pointed to a earth problem

turns out that the mpi have one earthing point under the expansion tank where every thing other than the ECU is earthed.

Rover being rover didn't have clean metal for the earth block to bolt to, instead they mounted it onto paint and the whole earth relies on the thread of the bolt
so the metal was bared and earth block refitted which cured some of the gremlins.
next step was to clean the terminals inside the earth block which turned out to be impossible due to the design so a few min later the block got chopped off and i put all 6 earths in to a few of these www.screwfix.com/prods/94311/Electrical-Supplies/Cable-Accessories/Crimps/10sqmm-Copper-Tube-Lug-8mm-Stud-Hole;jsessionid=LLOQGXD0ULLDICSTHZOSFEY?ts=84446

bolted the eyelets to the original earth point and every thing now works perfectly. and if in the future the earth does corrode again they can be taken off and cleaned up unlike like the piece of rubbish rover fitted.

I'd love to meet the person behind the MPI wiring and connectors. i got a feeling they let the YTS boy do it because he was bored

anyway rant over

oh and it will be up for sale in a while

[taffy1967]

I'd love to meet the person behind the MPI wiring and connectors. i got a feeling they let the YTS boy do it because he was bored

I believe it was someone from Munich and they worked for BMW.

[dai9fxey]

I'd be fairly chuffed with myself if i was in your boots LJ.
What a nightmare of a job by the sound of it.
Great work and let's pray that's the end of your leccy gremlins.

[thereddwarf]

i agree on the electrics, i did much the same with mine as they were in silly places and no real earth as the body was painted.....rover...grrrrrrrr