Mini with K series engine. (Phoenix)

Nice one looks like apart from the leak you had a great time!!

Great vid - really kicks when changing gear dont it!!!

All that hard work paid off really well

very nice i bet it surprises a few people with that pick up .... its a credit to you /.....

Got a mention in Mini World!



It was the Dales run so checked over Phoenix to make sure he was ok for the hills and dales, when I saw this.



So took off the cable to find this.



The new hole has cut the rubber off the edge of the cable. So I decided the best option was to fit a new location ring for the outside of the cable.



This is all painted up and cable refitted.

The Dales run was an absolute breeze in this car. I could hear all the Mini's in front up and down the gears on the hills but this just was so easy!











Anyway I'm glad to say we had no drama at all. I even let Mark Feather have a go and he came back all smiles. I have let at least 15 people drive Phoenix now. Not one has come away without a big smile on their face. I'm just waiting for a lady to drive. No takers?

Had to replace a rear radius arm bushes and shaft. It passed MOT and was greased but has let me down. I took it off and Dougie at Moorview fitted the new bushes and reamed them for the new shaft. Cost £40. He said "see you in 6 months if you keep those spacers on!" so only time will tell. Refitted them and fitted Hi-Lo suspension at same time.

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Had some time on Monday so decided to try to set the suspension up. I don't like lowered cars as there are too many speed bumps to attend to. So I set the ride height at 12" from center of wheel to wheel arch at the front and 12 1/4" at the rear.

How it was setup before, it was higher at the front, but this was due to it catching the front arches on full lock. I had gone a bit too far with this as it was set at 13"! It's all set now so I need to trim away the metal at the front of each arch to make it clear. It is behind the fiberglass arches so it won't be seen anyway.

It certainly looks better, But after taking it for a drive it seems to spin the wheels even more! I gave it some beans yesterday at 70mph and it started to spin! I think this may of been the greasy roads though.....

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Trimmed the arches today. Just the front of both front arches needed some work. I blended it back into the valence and top of arch. A coat of underseal and job done. :cool:

Before



After





In Mini World again!

I've had the first lady to drive Phoenix now. She took it out and I told her to not drive like a girl, but she did.....

Anyway I took her for a real spin in it and she loved it.

She did say that it was good fun to drive and wasn't all just power mad. You can drive it slowly if you like.

AGoaty wrote:

I've had the first lady to drive Phoenix now. She took it out and I told her to not drive like a girl, but she did.....

Anyway I took her for a real spin in it and she loved it.

She did say that it was good fun to drive and wasn't all just power mad. You can drive it slowly if you like.

Drive it slowly ....... only if the signs at the side of the road tell you to told so

19/11/2012

After driving it for fortnight it has dropped slightly, so I've adjusted it up again. This time set it to 12.5" from arch to centre of wheel.

It bottomed too easily with holes in the road and speed bumps.

04/01/13

Been a bit quiet with my Mini over Christmas. In fact it never moved for 3 weeks. When I came to use it, the alternator had seized again. After freeing it off with pipe grips and some WD40 it is working again. Took it for a drive to check everything else is ok and it seems to be. :p

Over last few months I've looked at doing a track day this year. I went to Cadwell Park last year as a spectator and thought it looked a great track for Mini's. After "googling" it I soon realised that the top speed of Phoenix is 115mph and a lot of people were doing that on track, so was back looking at gearing/ratios. I have got used to the close ratio box in Phoenix now and for road use it's high revving but ok.

I have some spare wheels so looked at just putting bigger tyres on to the front, just for this track day. I have bought a pair of 185x60x13 tyres which would be standard fitting of a Metro. Fitting these to the car will give another 10mph top speed and 10mm extra tyre on the road.

Tried the Mini with them on and it will need a little more trimming from the wings as it rubs under harsh cornering but is good otherwise.

Hoping for a dry day then.

06/01/13

I've thought about going with the 175x50x13 tyres I have on now for the first time out. I've never done a track day before so want to get the feel for it first. I just didn't want to feel that my car was suffering due to it's low top speed, so got these just in case I get carried away!

Regarding the gearbox, I think if I was building one, it would be better using the C6 PG1 box but, I don't feel it's worth all the work required to change it. :rolleyes:

09/01/13

I have tried the new tyres and not convinced this is a good option. The car sits much higher at the front as I don't have a set, just 2. Also it scrapes on the arches so would I need to raise the suspension more in order to fit them. I only wanted them for the top speed advantage but now worried if I raise the car too much it will make it unstable.

I've been asked a few times about how the alternator is modified to fit into my car. Well here is a photo of the bracket I fabricated to hold it. It's an inch closer to the block than the standard mount.



And then the adjusting bracket has been cut shorter and a new hole drilled at the block end. Again an inch closer to the block. When I came to fix this there is a small lug on the engine block which fouled on the alternator so as it wasn't holding anything I ground it off.

A shorter 5 vee belt was then purchased. I can't find the exact size but it's about 600mm in length.



When fitted there is about in inch of clearance if the belt needs tightening before the alternator would touch the front panel.

18/01/13

I have been asked how the clutch cable has been fitted.

As the cable is held on a 45 degree angle (bulkhead shape).



The hook end of the pedal needs to be angled to suit it (like the Rover's.



The dimension from pivot point to hook is critical. You need to get enough travel to pull the cable with out making it too hard to press.

Hope this is easier to understand....

21/01/13





Don't think it's going anywhere for a while....

23/01/13

I know some people do these conversions to make their car more reliable. So hows this....



It would of started first time but I leave in gear and forgot!

Still not got my dash done either. :neutral:

29/01/13

Track day booked. Cadwell Park, 22nd April.

Camera mount bought.

Helmet to purchase.....

http://mgs-on-track.com/events/144/c...2013-04-22.htm

Any recommendations from anyone about going? It's my first one.

I'm sharing the driving with my son Luke.

02/02/13

Been trying to get my Mini better to use during the winter. The heater was warm but the blower was not getting to the windows. It seemed to blow more out of the heater box than out of the vents. I removed the top dash rail to see why and found this.



Basically it wasn't allowing air to come through the slots in the metal dash top rail.
After heating it in the oven at 200 degrees for 5 minutes on a flat plate, it came out like this!



Bolted them back on and now works a lot better!

Fitted my new wiper motor and these now work which is a bonus as the last one wouldn't pull the skin off custard.

Whilst I was out had a look why the heated rear window has power but had never worked. The earth wire wasn't even connected to the body! Fixed this so might be able to see out of the rear view mirror now.

Whilst I was at the British Mini show a Peter Bower came to as me if I still had my Mini with Metro wheels on. I said yes. He had a set the same as mine which I have bought. They have 155x65x13 tyres which will be good if we get some more snow. I have fitted them and they do have more bounce to them and gearing is better too as they are 5% longer circumference.

Hopefully now this is a all year round car.

22/02/13

I have finally got my Mini onto the rolling road at Mini Sport. He said he could not tune the engine but will test the power and tell me if it's running right or not.



Or

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=499833893414204&set=a.123083271089270.20251.121867697877494&type=1&theater&notif_t=photo_reply

Again I have no idea whats in this engine. Looks standard to me....





The guy doing the test (Rob) described it as lively. :cool:

He said that the C/O was a little too high so leaned it off using the Power Boost Valve.

It ran 195bhp at the flywheel! I've no idea what is in this thing but very impressive result....

He also said now it was running right the MPG should improve slightly but said due to the horsepower it produces that it was not bad as it was.

26/02/13

The alternator on my Mini has been a pain since I got the car running almost a year ago. If left for any length of time it seizes up and I've have to free it off with pipe grips. Anyway I got another one about a month ago but it's that cold I've been putting off fitting it.

So when I've come to fit it now it's warmer (not much ) I found this.



I also wasn't sure how I was gonna get it out and the replacement one in, due to fitting the panels after fitting the engine. It's very tight but, if the oil filter and the bottom steady bar are removed, it just fits through the gap (with a bar holding engine away).



With the old one out and the replacement one in place, I have had to repair and strengthen the holding bracket. This is how it is now.



I have had to develop contortionist skills to hold the alternator from the bottom whilst fastening from the top! :p

Anyway, hopefully it will start better now as it's always felt like it didn't want to turn over first thing, but once running was fine.

Nice updates mate - glad to see it's mini based past has extended into its current form and keeps the little niggly problems coming and keeps you busy lol

Finally fitted a fan!



Runs using original wiring from the ECU. Works as it should.

Also using the Rover 200 Vi clocks means you get a 150mph speedo. Smaller engined Rover 200's get a 130 mph speedo. So I swapped my speedo face over and mine now reads a bit nearer (5mph at 70). It's still is out, but nowhere near as much!



The odometer will still be wrong.

Kyle, is now learning to drive in Phoenix. I know it's not ideal but I have a my blue A series Mini for him to use when he's passed his test. It also proves that you don't have to boot it everywhere.

Great fun! Phoenix was quick, but not quickest on track. It opened a few eyes though! It was run by the MG's on track, so there were MG's from Midgets, MG TF's, MG RV8 and MG B GT's inc some V8 300 bhp cars. Most of the people who are in these events have been before. Out of 25 cars only 2 (inc me) were novices.

The brakes and rear end suspension need work to keep up on the corners. I have got an LSD box, which needs fitting. I nearly spun out at one point, under instruction at the time. He was trying to get me round quicker but I almost lost it!

After lunch I went out again and my Mini developed a grinding noise. It still drove ok so carried on for a lap, but sounded awful. I pulled off one lap before end of session to look and found the bracket holding the alternator had snapped and the pulley was rubbing on the subframe. Gutted.

Tried to pack it out to get home but it wouldn't stay in place. Only got 10 miles home before it died in middle of nowhere. Had to get recovery to get home.

I also have proof why you shouldn't buy a cheap welder. The bracket is shown in my build not too long ago, but has snapped cleanly off. It's just not penetrated into the metal. Photo added soon.

Taking ages to upload these but here is the last session we dove.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgfutF8nTIA

As you can see from my pictures, welding using a gasless MIG welder is poor. When I look at the total lack of penetration in the welds, it's amazing it worked at all. The bracing I added has gone. Lost on track somewhere.

The broken bracket.





Taking no chances now. Had a mate weld a better designed bracket, using his oxy/acetylene welding gear.





I also have drilled out the alternator to fit a 12mm bolt instead of the 10mm one fitted as standard. I hope all this will make this the last time I do this job. :rolleyes:

It's all fitted to the car and we're back on the road again.

Fitted the vented MG F discs and calipers today. Been too busy to try them but they do fit. Just! About 2mm clearance.

Since I fitted the discs I didn't get chance to use Phoenix as I have been to California. On my return the MOT was due the same day. Still only done 50 miles and the brakes not fully bedded in but it still passed. In fact it passed without anything to do and no advisories either!

Insurance was due and it's gone down! £218 including breakdown cover. All modifications declared.

Tax ran out too so went for that. It's free.

I've got a ticket for the London to Brighton run so it will be a 600 mile trip out next weekend. The brakes will be bedded in after that! :cool:

have a good trip on the L to B ..... is this your second trip on this one