2004

August 2004

I am still working out the steering and exhaust. They both need to be done at the same time so clearances can be worked out. With my mock up of the steering shafts I proceeded to make the headers. I was advised that a drop off metal saw would help a lot so I ordered a cheapie last week but it hadn't arrived by the weekend. I thought about doing something else but I tried the hack saw and it was not too difficult, just a bit more work and concentration in keeping it straight.

The first pipe didn't need any joins, just a slight angled cut at the flange. The ports on a 2V Clevo are still quite large and the pipe needed a bit of flattening and massaging to follow the contour. I used the vise the "squash" in the sides and a ball pein hammer to mould the shape at the top and bottom. Once it was right I tacked it into place. The second pipe required a join, and as I mentioned before ( last month ) I used the Henrob to make a neat clean weld. I then used a flap disk to smooth out. The second pic is the same as the first except I relocated the clamp to the underside of the collector. There is a small piece of wood, about 3/16" between the rail and collector. I know its not much of a gap but I know the engine will rock in an arc and as the collector is basically in the same plane as the engine mount, the gap should be sufficient. If not, a crow bar should make some room.

The pipe at No.1 cylinder looked fairly difficult, but it really only needed 2 joins at 90 degrees. The last pipe was fairly complicated. It had to be directly above No.1s pipe, so I had to make a kick up straight from the flange. The pic shows the completed header, All welded and smoothed, ready for some sort of coating. The beauty of this header is that it can drop straight in from the top without encountering any obstacles. What can't be seen is the flange plate on the bottom of the collector and how I stuffed up. I didn't make provision for the flange and it ended up being about 1/16" from the rail.....oops.....I slight dress up with the angle grinder will make some room.

With the flange plate and gasket in place, I positioned the collector in the approximate position on the passenger side. This time I spaced it out a bit more than the driver's side cause I haven't to worry about clearing the steering. The second pic is the re-shaping I made to the pipe to follow the contour of the port.

With a bit of grinding on the side of the bench grinder wheel, ( That's not a practice that I normally do, but in this case there is not a lot of force on the wheel, just a little pressure to dress the pipe flat.) I got it neatly fitting. Once in place I tacked it with the mig. The next pic is the second pipe ( cylinder No. 7 ) with a join also tacked in place

The pipe is welded with the Henrob and cleaned up with a flap disk. The pipe is tacked to the flange plate. The same process for the remaining pipes.

All done and tacked in place. The last pic is the scrap pipe that I flattened and welded in the middle of the quad pipes. I think that is a potential trap for young players, ( and old too I bet! ) that this is forgotten until its too late. It would be hard to fill that gap when the collectors welded in. I then fitted the collector and tacked it on four corners. I then used a panel beaters hammer with the small tapered end as a drift to get the contour in towards the pipe more.

All welded and painted with POR15 exhaust paint. This stuff is supposed to withstand 700 odd degrees Celcius Centegrade?. This is the first coat so it looks a bit blotchy. I contemplated some sort of alloy coating that seems to be the vogue, but I just couldn't justify the price. This is not going to be a show car after all. I would have been content with the stock manifolds but I couldn't get them to clear the steering. Even if this comes off later, I might get them done in alloy then, but at this stage, all I want to do is get it on the road then see how it works out. Now for a confession. I mentioned that I used a flap disk to dress the welds. Well, I have been told that its not a good idea to dress the welds on the joins as you will take too much metal away from the pipe and will leave it weak .That is now a potential "blow through" area. I think I'll use a pointed pick hammer and do a bit of tapping around the weld areas to see if I have. I might have a bit of patching to do. See what happens when you clean up! So the moral is...keep it messy and there's no worries.

The Borgeson steering components finally arrived. This turned out a very expensive option. Not only did I pay for the dollars conversion on the parts and shipping above the US price , customs also slugged me for another $130...Not impressed I let you know. The components are extremely well made and very much overkill IMHO. You could turn the rudder on the Queen Mary with this stuff! The trade off is the universals can only operate at a maximum of 35 degrees. That is a lot less than production universals. I should have used the protractor before I ordered the vibration reducer/universal. I guessed the angle was well within specifications, but the eye can deceive.

I bent a piece of welding wire at the same angle as the shafts were operating at. After 3 or 4 double checks with the protractor, it was confirmed the angle is 40 degrees. Only options are to decrease the angle by relocating the shafts, which is going to very difficult, or ordering a double universal that can operate up to 70 degrees....I have a bit of pondering to do....Well after a lot of pondering, I decided to drop the steering column down another 1/2". This now has the projected angle pointing directly under the engine mount. This means I can do away with the first universal and replace it with a coupler. The vibration reducer/uni will have to be sacrificed and replaced with a double uni ( capable of operating at 70 degrees ) Of course this equates to more expense and a 10 day wait. Hopefully I can avoid the huge customs duty I got slugged with the last lot. Needless to say, I will have some Borgeson stuff to sell soon. So, until that arrives, I 've still got a lot to do. I picked the wipers off the long list of things to do. I thought a look at the famous BMC item that rodders like. This is the latter version that is two speed from a mini clubman. The poms are the masters of simplicity, just look at the SU carburettor for instance. They don't get much simpler than that. The principle of this wiper is linked to the steam engine I bet, where a back and forth movement is transferred into a rotational movement, except this is in reverse. The large cog is driven from an electric motor via a worm drive. The offset pin then relays that via, (for lack of correct name) a con rod, that pushes and pulls, a flexible cable. The cable is wrapped in a spring type covering that acts as gear teeth.

The wiper shafts are directly connected to a cog where the cable moves through. The sweep area is regulated by the size of this cog and the location of the drive pin. The earlier minis had the larger cog thus a reduced sweep area. I need to reduce this area on the 37. I have early mini wiper shafts, but the threads are stripped. It is extremely hard to locate second hand units that aren't stripped as well. New ones, if you could get them, I bet are well over priced, so my option is to relocate the drive pin. I'm not too sharp on maths to work out where the pin needs to be, so I intend to use the practical method. That is fit the unit and a wiper arm, then position the drive pin at either end of its movement ( wiper fully left of fully right ). I will then lift the con rod off the drive pin and position it so the wiper is where I want it to be. I will then scribe a mark on the cog through the hole. I'm not concerned about auto park so anywhere in the same circumference will be fine. I will then drill a new mounting hole and fit the drive pin. I have heard from other rodders that's the way to go, so I'm not blazing a new trail here. You will note in the first pic the R/H wiper shaft is upside down. Well that is on purpose to have the wipers sweeping in opposite directions. I think that looks better than in unison. That is another advantage of the BMC wipers, you have many options. Not clear in the pic is a 3" join I made in the centre to widen the wipers further apart. I just cut the tube and soldered some fuel line in as a sleeve. There is enough cable to accommodate this. If you want to go further, or even mount the wiper unit somewhere else, like in the kick panel or even behind the seat in a coupe, you can join multiple cable together. The method of joining is varied, from silver soldering to screw couplings. The last pic is the pattern for the glass I need to get cut. I just glued 2 sheets of masonite together then cut to shape. That is close to the same thickness as the glass. I will use this now for the wiper modification test area. Later, I will use it for modifying ( as in cutting ) the rubber window seal, then joining ,with of all things, super glue.

While I had the camera going, I thought a shot under the dash to show how cramped its getting under there. That black thing in the centre is the cowl vent lever. Originally, it is located towards the passenger side. With the heater and radio and demister vents, there was no room for it so I relocated it on the driver's side and cut 2" from it. It is still quite accessible but not visible from the front. Apart from the wiper mechanism, there is still the heater pipes and water cock to go under, and out of sight.

It has been a busy month. A lot was achieved. Next month will be a bit less progress, as the Valla rod run will take some time up. Not only the run itself, but I need to spend some time on the 34 and the camper trailer plus the usual getting stuff done before the trip. I will, however, show a bit more of the wiper set up and the end result. I also will show a comparrison of the early wipers and the newer units. Also, hopefully, I will finish off the steering.

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