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Post by clambod on May 12, 2011 12:30:06 GMT
I'll bet you had a grin as wide as Ayres rock
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Post by niceboy1275 on Jul 9, 2011 2:52:36 GMT
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Post by clambod on Jul 11, 2011 7:13:34 GMT
Looks really good now. The engine bay looks really excellent
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Post by shoutforjoy on Jul 12, 2011 5:57:21 GMT
That's a really good job, you must be pleased. It's good to see automatics fully restored with their original transmission rather than converted to manual as happens to so many these days.
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ob1
Full Member
Posts: 40
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Post by ob1 on Aug 21, 2011 10:08:07 GMT
I'm impressed and inspired!!
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 30, 2011 0:01:20 GMT
Hi All, yesterday went armed with a mountain of paperwork to Vicroads (licensing authority) to get lil egg put on the club plate registration scheme. Due to the different states having different rules here in australia had a few hassels (victoria records both engine/body numbers, south australia only had the engine number on record and the old registration number go figure) so I was able to pay my fees and walk out with my rego plates. YAY!!! I can't put lil egg on full rego apparently as the car body doens't exist in the computer system, but was able to get it put on the club plate registration. I think 90 days a year will be sufficient. Very happy camper! Tomorrow going out cruising for the first time with the RAC on speed dial just in case
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ob1
Full Member
Posts: 40
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Post by ob1 on Aug 30, 2011 9:53:12 GMT
congrats Niceboy - looks ike you have a relo of mine there - tho in far better condition!! - I like the engine bay paint job there, was that much hassle, and where do ya get the paint from?
what was the problem regarding rego again??
am hoping to get mine on the (NSW) roads again soon, and there are a few 60's mini's driving round Wollongong that I see regularly so am hoping mine is ok for full rego
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 31, 2011 6:42:28 GMT
congrats Niceboy - looks ike you have a relo of mine there - tho in far better condition!! - I like the engine bay paint job there, was that much hassle, and where do ya get the paint from? what was the problem regarding rego again?? am hoping to get mine on the (NSW) roads again soon, and there are a few 60's mini's driving round Wollongong that I see regularly so am hoping mine is ok for full rego Thanks Ob1, Yes mk1 matics are a rare breed here. Thanks for the compliments, I just took off one of the plates from the back of the engine with the original paint on it to my local paint shop and said "match this in 2pak please" and thats what they did. The rest of the ancillaries are just done in GMH black. All 2 pak. Only hard part was putting the engine back in without scratching anything. My issue re registration is vicroads say that the car doesn't exist on their records, but SA registration body do have it. So i can register it in SA or get a new body number stamped by Vic police after an inspection to get full rego. Hope the RTA are kinder to you than Vicroads were to me
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Post by niceboy1275 on Jul 18, 2015 11:52:34 GMT
Hello All, Well after 4 pretty good years, Lil egg was starting to loose reverse and 4th gear. In the end, the gearbox was slipping in 4th on inclines or when there was a fair amount of weight in the car. Realising I don't have the knowledge or talent to rebuild the gearbox myself, I opted to replace the unit as a whole. After locating a mid to late 80s A+ 998cc auto, I set about gathering everything I needed to do the transplant, with advice from people on this forum. A new distributor for an A+ was sourced from the UK, alternator was sourced once I realised I can't put my generator on the A+, and I've made up a new cable end for the gear selector, as of course, they had to be different from the A series. After borrowing an engine crane, the strip down started and the engine and gearbox came out incredibly easy (well once I realised I was lifting the whole car as I had forgotten to undo the engine steady bar - lesson learnt, check all the wires, hoses and then look for the big obvious things right in front of you. New engine as I got it, minus cylinder head. Will be putting my 12g295 head from the A series on it until I can afford to get a new one. Old greasy engine on its way out Empty engine bay! And now I can finally paint my subframe towers like I forgot to do when I built the car almost 5 years ago The old engine had the tin type pulley and bolts for the engine mount bracket Of course, the new engine has a proper pulley, which of course the engine mount bracket won't clear so I will be attacking the bracket tomorrow with the angle grinder and hoping I can make it clear The old oily selector set up on the A series, that is completely differnt to the A+, so will need to finish making up a new end for the selector cable. New and old engine side by side so I can continue swapping the ancillary's over. I did replace all the easy to get to gaskets on the new engine and painted it in the same paint I had made up for the original engine 5 years ago. I have gone for a pre-engaged starter off an 87 metro (an old engine I had), question for the brains trust, do I still need to keep my original starter solenoid now? Or is the round box on the new starter basically the same thing? Aiming to swap over my driveshafts tomorrow from hardy spicers to pot joints, finish off the engine mounting bracket "adjustments" and drop the engine back in the car. Fingers crossed!
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Post by joakwin on Jul 18, 2015 20:39:31 GMT
Looks good
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Post by niceboy1275 on Jul 26, 2015 2:49:08 GMT
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 4, 2015 9:28:09 GMT
It's alive!!!! Got it to start tonight after an hour stuffing around with the timing to realise that I had the 2nd and 3rd plug leads around the wrong way. Can't wait to put the drive shafts in, wheels on, bonnet on and go cruising (hopefully)
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Post by notamini on Aug 4, 2015 13:41:28 GMT
Did you have any troubles swapping out from Hardy-Spicer to Pot joints? I was always told that the dimensions of the final shafts on the diff were not the same and you had to machine something or whatever to make them work. Can you post some info on this please?
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 5, 2015 9:12:16 GMT
I was lucky in that my new mid 80s engine already had the pot joints attached. So I just sourced some pot joint style driveshafts from a mid 70s leyland mini and have kept my old hardy spicer set up with my old original engine incase I can ever get it rebuilt and put back in.
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 8, 2015 1:33:35 GMT
Well lil egg is sorta alive. I got it all together, got the driveshafts in, started it up, checked that all the gears worked with the car on stands and no wheels on, all looked good. Put the wheels on and put it on the ground but I have no drive in 1st gear. Reverse, 2nd and 3rd work beautifully but it just slips in 1st. Looks like its back to the drawing board
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Post by Stu on Aug 8, 2015 10:18:26 GMT
I'd first check that the freewheel housing dowel bolt is not loose or sheared. Tighten or replace.
If this is ok you might find that the problem may lie with the one way clutch in the gear train, which will require it's removal and dismantling for inspection.
Gear train pictured below. The one way clutch on right side behind freewheel. Note hole in freewheel which accepts the freewheel dowel bolt.
Once way clutch and bearings seen inside housing here.
Close up of the components.
Hope this helps a bit.
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 9, 2015 2:56:37 GMT
Thanks so much Stu!! I will have a look at this next weekend. Really appreciate your input and the photos are perfectly clear! Thanks heaps!!
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Post by Stu on Aug 9, 2015 11:22:11 GMT
A bit more detail for you. The service manual detail, and the one way clutch disassembled.
Sorry its upside down, but it shows the parts separated in sequence.
This is the one way clutch bearing. This ones broken as it happens. See the metal strip at the top which is split. I wouldn't use it but it still works.
Hopefully its just the dowel bolt or something else simple, but at least you have a idea of how the one way clutch looks in bits.
Let us know how you get on
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Post by Stu on Aug 16, 2015 8:07:55 GMT
Did you get any further on with this mate?
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 18, 2015 19:33:08 GMT
Hi Stu, No I haven't gotten any further on with this since. Been away with work. Aiming to have a look over the weekend. However thinking about it, won't I have to so way make sure the hole in the one way clutch lines up with the dowel before I tighten it or replace it with the good dowel from old A series box? Cheers
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Post by Stu on Aug 18, 2015 20:34:22 GMT
Sorry I'm not understanding your question. Maybe a typo, can you check it and ask again?
If I'm understanding correctly, yes you'd need to align the holes, but I'd see what the condition of the existing one is first, assuming its still in place.
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Post by niceboy1275 on Aug 19, 2015 7:16:49 GMT
Yes Stu, you did understand correctly. Sorry, I didn't make a great deal of sense once I re-read what I had written I just wasn't sure how I was supposed to rotate the one way clutch so the hole is facing the spot where the bolt/dowel enters the gear box casing to slot into the one way clutch.
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Post by niceboy1275 on Oct 24, 2015 4:01:45 GMT
Hi everyone, well I managed to get the car running again (faulty alternator) and pulled the dowel bolt as Stu suggested and compared it to the one out of my old matic engine that was good. It appears that the newer engine has a much longer bolt and it all seemed in good nick. So I put it back in and put new oil in and still no first gear. Took it out for a test drive and 2nd, 3rd and 4th are great, and have a little bit of slip in reverse as well. It reverses, just not up my steep driveway. So now am trying to source someone who can either rebuild the gearbox in Australia (I haven't found anyone in Melbourne who will touch them) or will try to source another engine/box combo. In the interim, I will just drive it starting in 2nd. Thanks for all the advice everyone. Cheers!
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Post by jockduck on Oct 26, 2015 22:21:08 GMT
Its an interesting question but is there any business in Australia who would take on an autobox rebuild? apart from a few enthusiastic owners. Is the AP box no longer mainstream enough to be a business proposition. Getting to be an expensive plan to ship a box interstate to have it repaired. Jock
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Post by niceboy1275 on Oct 27, 2015 9:46:39 GMT
I agree Jock, I believe Greig Malure in Sydney does but haven't found anyone in Victoria yet. Cheers Josh
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Post by mra-minis on Mar 25, 2016 11:32:46 GMT
Please note until I can purchase the MRA-Minis URL I can be contacted on martin@kmprecisionengineering.com
No drive in 1st is either the dowel bolt failure or the OWC (one way clutch) Sometimes if the OWC is worn it can "flip" and ypou will get no 1st gear but you also get locked up gears in 2nd, 3rd & top
Suspect OWC is slipping
All of this could be done by yourself so long as you take it in stages, Stu has a lot of useful info and great pictures :-) and he is helpful
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Post by niceboy1275 on Mar 28, 2016 3:59:51 GMT
I must say a very big thankyou to Stu, Jock and Martin for their advice on this thread. I am a little too frightened to attack the project myself (taking off the torque converter terrifies me) but I may be onto a company a couple of hours drive away who has worked on the AP automatics before. At least with this new knowledge I have gained I will be able to direct them what to look out for when stripping the box down. Thank you guys!!
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Post by limby2000 on Mar 28, 2016 11:43:45 GMT
Hi Niceboy, looks like a great little car you've got there,tbh after reading through you thread I was a bit surprised you elected to fit a used engine as opposed to reconditioning your current transmission, although I too have had my fingers burnt like that. I've just rebuilt mine (with advice and assistance from Stu and Martin). At least you will know the full strength of the unit. You don't want to be stripping out the motor every 12 month,s. I stripped down 2x 998 boxes prior to rebuilding mine ,they both drove fine, but after inspecting the internal,s ,they were on their last leg,s. I,m sure when you rebuild it you,ll have a better understanding and confidence in your gearbox. Good luck.Terry.
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Post by niceboy1275 on Apr 3, 2016 6:14:09 GMT
Thanks Terry, I appreciate where you are coming from. The only reason I elected for a second hand unit was I was advised that the A+ box was stronger/more reliable than my 48 year old A series. I must admit, even though it doesn't have 1st gear, it certainly changes gear smoother and drops back better than the old A series. I'm just waiting to hear back from the auto transmission repairer if he wants to repair the A series or the A+ first. Cheers
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Post by Stu on Apr 4, 2016 23:05:53 GMT
Good to hear you're getting closer to having it inspected / repaired. Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
Hey Terry, you got your re-built box running yet?
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