Chuck's Work Schedule

[Cheleker]

As discussed at last night's meeting, I've invited those that might be interested to come by when I'm working on Minis. Drop in and observe, or get your hands dirty, depending upon what's happening at the time. I'll post upcoming jobs, but realize schedules change from day-to-day.

Mini work usually takes place during the week from about 1:00 until 5:00. On the week ends it's usually from 10 am until 5:00 with a lunch break early rather than late.

Upcoming:

Thu 5/20: Reinstall an estate fuel tank (horrible job when the replacement tanks don't fit very well!). Get the car running (quick job) and try to figure out why it runs "OK", but not as well as it should.

Fri 5/21: Finish up anything left over from 5/20. Then do an oil and filter change on a Rover Tartan, automatic, with air conditioning. (The process on the automatic is quite different than on cars with a standard gearbox.) Lube the chassis. Check the brakes. and a couple other odds and ends. Then make note of all the water hoses to figure out what to order so that they can be changed.

Sat/Sun 5/22 and 23: Finish anything left over from 5/21. Then replace badly worn front and rear rubber cones with coil springs and adjustable trumpets (aka "hi/los"). Replace shocks. Check alignment. This on a Cabriolet SPi.

Upcoming: Pull an engine out of a Mk II Cooper S. Rebuild the differential and convert the incorrect yoke-type differential back to Hardy Spicer. Replace the engine. Rebuild dual HS2s and install on the engine in place of the HIF type on the car.

[Cheleker]

Ok. Possible schedule changes already.
Today, 5/20. Same schedule. Fuel tank install (it passed an overnight leak test), and running issues.

5/21: postpone the Tartan work. Dale has agreed to put his off so George's, daily-driver cabriolet can move up the schedule. So, provided the estate gets done 5/20, the Cabriolet suspension work will start Friday afternoon, a day early.

[Cheleker]

5/22, 23. Replace front cones on an SPi with springs. (Rear is done.) New shocks. Possible rear wheel bearing replacement.

[Cheleker]

Today, Sunday 5/23: Finish up the spring replacement. Everything is in and assembled. Once the car is on the ground, the front camber and toe out needs to be checked and set good enough for the car to be driven to Group 2 so they can do a four wheel alignment. (The car has fully adjustable suspension.)

Start work on the Tartan automatic (with air con.) Change oil and filter (different process on automatics) and lube the suspension. (The same as other Minis.) Inspect hoses and belts prior to ordering new parts to install. There are a couple more small items to check out.

5/24. Finish up anything left over from Sunday.
Assemble a set of dual HS2s for a Mk II Cooper S.

5/25. Likely day to pull a Mk II Cooper S power unit. Differential to be rebuilt and converted back to the original Hardy Spicer type.

Bill came by to get his hands dirty on Friday and Saturday and took part in the suspension work. I enjoyed the company and he got a good introduction to Mini suspension work.

Two cars have had recent suspension work and will be heading to Group 2 for alignment. I'll let you know schedules when they are set so you can drop in and watch how it is done.

[Cheleker]

5/24: Finished up the work on George's car yesterday, and he came by to pick it up. It will be interesting to see how he likes the Minitastic spring set up. The car still needs to go to Group 2 for the final suspension alignment.

Started on Dale's Tartan after George's car was finished. Changing the oil filter is messy on an automatic, but, as I found out, it is also more complex on one with air conditioning. One of the belts makes getting the filter housing out and back together difficult...and messier.

Started on the rear brakes and found the drum retaining screws and the drums themselves well and truly rusted in place. Penetrating oil, heat, an impact screw driver, a BFH and a few Anglo Saxon words and everything is apart.

Today, finish cleaning up the rear brakes, inspecting parts and reassembling properly.

Depending upon how much time is left, I may start assembling the dual HS2 set up.

5/25 (Tues). Pull the engine from Marc's Mk II Cooper S to get a start on the differential conversion/rebuild to original, Hardy Spicer specification.

[Cheleker]

5/24 Recap: Managed to get the Tartan's rear brakes apart and cleaned up. Lots of rust. Checked under the wheel cylinder rubber boots. No fluid, BUT, turns out why there were no leaks was because the pistons were rusted solid into the w/c bodies.
Installed new wheel cylinders and bled some ugly brake fluid out of the system.
Oh, and for those following along in their song books and know this song well, yes, the front bleed nipples were also badly rusted. I managed to get both of them out without breaking them off in the calipers, but they were rusted too badly to reuse. New bleed nipples were installed.
Car's back on the ground waiting for an air filter to come in. Meanwhile, it goes back outside to make room for the Mk II S.

Tomorrow, Tues., 5/25, 1:00 p.m., the engine gets pulled from the S. So far, I have one club member dropping by.

[Cheleker]

Tomorrow, Weds, 5/26: Differential unit gets pulled from the power unit to get the ring gear out and to clean up parts. The ring gear, a differntial cage and the two H/S side covers then go to the machine shop to have new bushings pressed in and sized.
The next step will be to reassemble the differential with new parts and the H/S outputs, and reinstall the assembly back into the gearbox. Also, the H/S shaft ends will be installed on the axles. Timing will depend on when the parts get back from the machine shop.
Friday or Saturday (or Sunday!), the engine goes back in with the H/S set up and dual HS2s.

[Cheleker]

For Thursday, 5/27: The differential parts are at the machine shop so focus will change to getting the dual SUs rebuilt and ready to go. Not sure when they will be back, but I hope to be putting the engine back in this week end.
Also, there is a little matter of trying to figure out how to stop an automatic Mini filter housing from leaking!

[Dixminion]

I always thought that differential parts were off the shelf. What is the machine shop doing for you, differential wise?

Don

[Cheleker]

Both differential side covers have bushings that wear out causing the seals to act as support. They don't last long that way and they leak. Also, there are bushings in the crown wheel and in the differential cage. The output shafts go through them. The output shafts wear the bushings. The machine shop replaces the bushings and hones them to fit the relevant parts.

[Dixminion]

So you hand them the side covers, crown wheel, differential cage, and the output shafts. New bushings are provided by you or the machine shop? Does the shop need a lot of direction or is this routine for them?
Don

[Cheleker]

I also give Cal the bits that go through the side covers; yoke, or, in this case, the H/S pieces.
I acquire the bushings.
Cal has done a number of these for me.
Autosport would be able to do them, too, but Cal's just down the street and Autosport is a long drive for a small job.

When the differential goes back together, besides the new bushings, it will have a new diff. pin, new spider gears, new bronze thrust washers and new fibre thrust washers.

[Cheleker]

Not much progress today. Shifted focus back to trying to stop a leaking oil filter on the Tartan. The bad news is that so far everything I've tried doesn't work and I'm going through lots of oil absorbing paper towels and rags. The good news is that BP called to thank me for taking some of the pressure off of them.

Friday, 5/28. Most likely working on the Tartan's filter, again. Paul brought me over one of Priscilla's extra oil filters and seals to try. It's one that he used to solve the same problem on her car.

Sat, 5/29: If the parts from the machine shop are ready on Friday, Saturday will be rebuild a differential day and get it installed. Then the engine goes back in on Saturday/Sunday.

[Cheleker]

Today, 5/28. Not much car work, but did pick up the differential parts from Cal. The differential parts are all cleaned up and ready to go back together.

Sat/Sun, 5/29, 30. One last try at the Exxon Tartan and then on to rebuilding the differential, bolting it back in, and reinstalling the power unit.

[Cheleker]

Today, 5/29. The Tartan is finally environmentally friendly, again. And the differential assembly for the Mk II S has been rebuilt and converted back to the correct Hardy Spicer set up. The diff. is installed, a few other chores where taken care of and the power unit is ready to drop back in. So...
5/30 and 31. Put the power unit back in and hook everything up. Rebuild the dual HS2 set up and install it in place of the HIF6 that was on the car. Work starts at 10:30 Sunday. Probably 1:00 Monday.