Project Zippy (Midas Mk1 Coupe) Engine In!

[MrBounce]

These last few days have seen a lot of me wondering "Where on earth have I left my head?" with a smattering of "When is it actually going to go right?" As I am nearing the time to put the hubs, flanges and driveshafts on, I thought it wise to buy some more hub nuts and conical washers. Once I'd purchased these, I dug out the new CV joints in their (sealed) boxes. In each box was a brand new hub nut and also a conical washer, put there by me. I had then sealed each box so I wouldn't lose them. Nuts - literally. Still, I popped over to Tink's on Thursday and with his assistance & the help of Clyde the club hammer and a block of wood both cv joints were successfully mated with the driveshafts. I will use the new conical washers as one of the originals has some pretty deep marks on it thanks to the previous owner (or the one before him) "undoing" the hub nut using an angle grinder.

Moving onto the flanges, all looked good other than they were filthy. Or so I thought. It appears that I only have 4 of the correct bolts to mate the flange to the disc. So another eBay order has been made. Still, whilst I  had them there, I gave them a good dunking in the parts washer.  I am undecided as to whether I should paint them or not.

Finally, as I had the parts washer on the bench, in went the wiper wheelboxes. It was halfway through the cleaning that I noticed that there's virtually no thread on them and they're nastily corroded. Time for new ones...

Nice new CV Joints.



This is a picture of a dirty flange (snigger)



Knackered wiper wheelbox (1 of 2)

[lemski]

Can the threads not be repaired on that??

[MrBounce]

Can the threads not be repaired on that??

Too much material missing... 

[MrBounce]

Had a hour or so this afternoon so popped into the Manroom with a view to having a big tidy up and to also start assembling the front end drivetrain. This meant popping the driveshafts on to the car - which was a good plan seeing as I was running out of places to put them - they're not the easiest things to store... I would have then put the flanges and discs on but I decided that the flanges (even once they'd been cleaned) needed some paint. So out came the engine paint and on went some blue. Hopefully the next time I go in there'll be much activity and the front wheels will appear on the car...

Right hub complete with trackrod end and driveshaft...



...and the left one too.



Flanges left off because I deemed it necessary to give 'em a coat of blue. Nice!

[MrBounce]

I went into the Manroom this morning armed with the knowledge that I should have no issues putting the flanges and discs on the car and also torqueing up the hub nuts. Amazingly, it all went according to plan. Almost...

First job was to pop the flanges on to the new discs - these were brand new in box, still in their waxed paper, although there had been a minor ingress of dampness. This won't be a worry as it is only a very small amount of surface rust in localised areas.  These were bolted to the flanges, then it was time to pop them on to the car. On went the driver's side, and before anything else, I torqued up the flange bolts as it's easier to do them on the car. Then out came the special washer to correctly seat the wheel bearing and cv - once torqued up correctly, it was undone again and the conical washer popped in correctly, re-torqued and in went the split pin after making sure it was all lined up.

All went exactly according to plan on the nearside as well, until I realised that I had a loose wheel stud. So off came the flange and disc, then I removed the offending stud. It didn't look very healthy and had stripped its splines as well as having rubbish threads. Luckily I had a new one so gave it some gentle taps into place and it's now solid as a stud should be. Once everything was back together it was all torqued up and now needs calipers and wheels. Whoop!

Flanges and new discs in lovely waxed paper.



Discs attached to flanges



Hub nut and big washer for seating cv & bearing.



Driver's side all done and torqued up.



Pesky loose stud. It was removed, inspected and unceremoniously binned.



Nearside all fitted and finally sorted (Take 2!)

[lemski]

I loke the blue and would like to see a pic against the orange to see how it looks.
Good work as always mate

[MrBounce]

I have come to a fairly big point in this project - and it's one that will free up a nice bit of space in the garage. No, I haven't decided to sell it on - instead it's time to get the engine out from under the bench and chuck it in engine bay. So, using my amazing muscles (and wheezing like an asthmatic 2 stoke), I "walked" it from one end of the garage to the other, managing to avoid coming even close to touching the bodywork. When you consider there's only just enough room to get my chunky frame past, you'll appreciate that this was some feat. Typically though, I have discovered that I have put a 2-inch scratch on the rear 3/4 which WILL need attention. So the spray gun will come out AGAIN when it gets warmer...

I turned my attention to the radiator and how I was going to mount it. The bottom slotted into holes in the valance and a couple of tie-bar bushes fit nicely on the feet and sit in the holes perfectly so I'll be using those. The top however, was a different story. There were 2 "L" shaped brackets on it with captive nuts which weren't fixed to anything so not ideal. Plus I could only find one now, and the large hole to locate the top radiator pin wasn't quite big enough for the new rad. So I thought a bit laterally - rather that bolt through the bodywork, which I REALLY didn't like the idea of, I could use a similarly sized bracket and build up the fibreglass where it would need to sit before drilling it and popping in a rivnut. It won't be under a huge amount of pressure so should be plenty strong enough. And that way it can be easily removed whilst also negating the need to drill through the existing bodywork. This made me happy.

So I set about the old bracket with the cone cutter, Clyde the Club Hammer and the angry grinder, then made a rough copy using an old "Ultimate Engine Steady" I had kicking about. They're a bit ragged to start with, but they won't be seen and I intend on cleaning them up a bit before painting and fitting properly. I chucked a couple of grommets in and they fit beautifully. Now all I had to do was to build up the bodywork with fibreglass by about 5mm. So I contorted myself into the engine bay and spent the next half an hour cutting, mixing and dabbing until I had a mound of fibreglass that looked like an oversized teenage zit. I will drill it and fit the rivnut once it's dried out. I've only done one side so far but I should be able to get in from the top once the engine's in. I hope...

The Engine. It's a bit dusty, but I can clean it. Oil Cooler removed for now so it will be easier to fit in.



Original (but re-purposed) bracket to mount the top of the radiator to the side of the engine bay.



And the one I made from the old Ultimate Engine Steady. Tidying up still to do...



Built up fibreglass looking like a zit! 

[MrBounce]

Today, Shaun was over early, so we got cracking after some bacon sarnies. Armed with a good sized engine crane, some rope and some ingenuity, it was time to fill the big hole in the engine bay. Firstly, we needed to move the axle stands from under the floor to subframe so we could get the front of the car to a low enough height. This proved extremely easy. We wrapped a big ratchet strap around the front subframe and lifted the body up using the engine crane. Moving the axle stands was a piece of cake and no need for the jack. Once the stands were in place, I cracked the top ball joints to make the pot joints easily manoeuvrable whilst Shaun wrapped the rope around the engine and clipped it to the hook on the hoist. 10 seconds later the engine was in the air. It was at this point I chucked on the speedo cable.

I have read numerous different reports on how the engine is put into a Midas, but as I did not have the ability to raise it up with the subframe, it would have to be in through the top. I had no idea whether it would fit or not, so simply went for it on a "suck it and see" basis. First thing is first - the design of the bonnet is a pain in the ****. The "wok" end plate with its casting for the starter motor will NOT fit. So off this came. It then became quickly apparent that the clutch pressure plate would also be in the way. More spannering. Finally an extra bit of necessary clearance was found by taking of the nearside engine mount too. So, I was putting in an engine with no engine mounts and half a clutch. Good start...

However, this wasn't too much of a problem. Once we had swung the engine to a strange angle (i.e tipped back by 30 degrees and almost diagonally across the engine bay), we were able to drop the main extremes below the bonnet line. Now all I needed to do was put the clutch pressure plate back on, along with the wok and the nearside engine mount. Once we'd done this, in went the pot joints (surprisingly easy) and then it was time to sort the bolts for the engine mounts. I had made my own captive nut mounts by getting a pair of captive nut mounts from a Mini show, cutting off the really rubbish "nuts" and replacing them with some properly welded UNF nuts. Offside took 35 seconds to get in. Typically the nearside then took about 35 minutes as they just refused to line up. Eventually all was in and there was an engine in my car!

Need to move axle stands? No problem - just lift the car!



Engine up in the air...



Speedo Cable. Glad I didn't forget this...



We have clearance, Clarence (not by much!)



Almost there - time to start bolting bits back on...



Looks right at home doesn't it?

[Rhyso]

Love reading your updates 

[Bandit127]

Love reading your updates 

Me too.

The engine looks awesome sitting in there.