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Reassembly Begins
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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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With the painting completed, it was time to put the car together, fast.
At this stage we were only seven or eight weeks from the start of the rally. The goal was to have the car on the road a month before the rally so we could do plenty of shakedown testing before we left.
However, two things were conspiring against us. Primarily the problems missing and misplaced parts. We didn't dismantle the can and many of the parts we were using did not originally come from that car anyway. Either they were donated or they came from our spares stocks.
Secondly, I had a large project on at work wich took up a lot of time in the evenings.
Regardless, we soon made progress as the brakes were fitted and bled and the suspension reassembled. Thanks to Cooper S Imports for providing all the brake and suspension parts we needed.
We ensured there was plenty of clearance in the rear thanks to jacking rings between the cones and subframe. This is a common mod on Mokes that go offroad, and of course the rear suspension on the van is almost identical. Good second-hand cones were used rather than new. The current batch of new ones seem to settle alarmingly quickly. The height will come down a bit when we load it up with fuel, spares and camping gear though.
The Victorian Mini Club Inc. (Australia) awarded us with this certificate for our efforts with the van:
I'll admit I had to look up what Scatalogical meant. (It's the study of poo!)
The engine came from under my workbench where it had languished for about seven years. It was removed from a Mini Clubman as a good running unit. We replaced the diff seals, the primary gear seal and a few others that could causer problems. The engine was given a quick wash'n'brush with kero and then slung in the car. Here is a mate, Peter Van Alkemade, helping.
And it's in! Time to hook it all up.
Meanwhile we started on the interior. Seats from a Toyota Levin 20v were modified to fit the original Mini mounting points. They just fitted with a centimetre or two to spare.
Finally the engine was hooked up and started. It ran roughly but at least it was running. The oil pressure was good and it wasn't smoking. So it seemed all that was needed was good tune. We were very happy.
At this stage we were only seven or eight weeks from the start of the rally. The goal was to have the car on the road a month before the rally so we could do plenty of shakedown testing before we left.
However, two things were conspiring against us. Primarily the problems missing and misplaced parts. We didn't dismantle the can and many of the parts we were using did not originally come from that car anyway. Either they were donated or they came from our spares stocks.
Secondly, I had a large project on at work wich took up a lot of time in the evenings.
Regardless, we soon made progress as the brakes were fitted and bled and the suspension reassembled. Thanks to Cooper S Imports for providing all the brake and suspension parts we needed.
We ensured there was plenty of clearance in the rear thanks to jacking rings between the cones and subframe. This is a common mod on Mokes that go offroad, and of course the rear suspension on the van is almost identical. Good second-hand cones were used rather than new. The current batch of new ones seem to settle alarmingly quickly. The height will come down a bit when we load it up with fuel, spares and camping gear though.
The Victorian Mini Club Inc. (Australia) awarded us with this certificate for our efforts with the van:
I'll admit I had to look up what Scatalogical meant. (It's the study of poo!)
The engine came from under my workbench where it had languished for about seven years. It was removed from a Mini Clubman as a good running unit. We replaced the diff seals, the primary gear seal and a few others that could causer problems. The engine was given a quick wash'n'brush with kero and then slung in the car. Here is a mate, Peter Van Alkemade, helping.
And it's in! Time to hook it all up.
Meanwhile we started on the interior. Seats from a Toyota Levin 20v were modified to fit the original Mini mounting points. They just fitted with a centimetre or two to spare.
Finally the engine was hooked up and started. It ran roughly but at least it was running. The oil pressure was good and it wasn't smoking. So it seemed all that was needed was good tune. We were very happy.
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