zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Jan 29, 2011 21:15:24 GMT
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Update time.
MOT approaching and a few things to sort. After letting a little suspension fluid out she's continued to drop to the point where she's nearly riding on the bump stops on the front now. I'm going to get her pumped up to the standard height and hope that things stay that way after driving her to work and back for a while.
To make matters worse, the silencer has started blowing, but luckily in the middle. I bought a repair plate and clamped it over the hole, JOB DONE! Loads quieter but on the way back from work that night I couldn't get above 50mph. An ignition & compression check check later, it's all passing ok. OK so fuelling it must be so popped to my local mini expert and after a quick carb adjustment (It was running VERY lean) I took her home, but still had the gutless max 50 problem. I thought, I've done everything obvious, but it's only started since repairing the exhaust. I removed the clamp and took her for a spin...power had returned and she was pulling much better than before the tune, although noisier too.
A new silencer is now on order as the current one is over 20 years old and probably a rusted mess inside. I am getting barely any gas flow out of the exhaust now so she's sounding almost meaty! ;D
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Feb 11, 2011 21:29:27 GMT
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Suspension is now pumped back up to cloud height for the princely sum of £25 but had to go to the garage twice as the first visit ended with no joy as the Hydroelastic pump they had hadn't been dragged out for years and it's filter was clogged up!
New Centre box fitted and no blow from there, but after removing the rear box and blowing through it, ending up with horror clown mouth there was no gas getting through that. Tipping the back box up let a load of water out. Luckily the centre section was sourced for £19 inc £10 P&P, and the back box is even cheaper at £5 but the same tenner for postage but can't complain as it took Helfrauds a week to tell me that they no longer manufature the centre sections. Cheers.
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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Feb 11, 2011 22:30:26 GMT
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It was blowing all the exhaust gas out of that little hole! lol
Where did you get the exhaust parts?
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Yeah, eBay, as suppliers locally couldn't help. Although I didn't really want to spend the money as it's all coming off to be replaced with a performance exhaust after the engine swap anyway  Currently decided against the turbo route so selling my stuff on eBay to pay for some nice Minilites! But now have got a 1310 block sitting in my garage now and also invested in a Hydralastic fluid pump so can fine tune the lowering once I've got the wheels I want on there. |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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;D Ta Daa! Finally got some alloys on her and what a difference. Managed to get a set of 12x5 Superlites with brand new Falkens, Chrome nuts and a set of locking wheel nuts for £120. Frickin' BARGAIN! Although when picking them up from the seller they did seem a little sick to let them go, Thanks mate BYE! They've completely changed the look of the car.  The quality of the tyres is so much better. And handling is LOADS better, not just because the tyres are wider and firmer walls, but I actually weighed the wheels to see the difference. The Narrower steel wheels with thinner tyres were 11kg, where the alloys were only 9.5kg a wheel which means less rotating mass for the engine and suspension to deal with. Also a 6kg saving on the car overall, sweet.  Of course, with Hydrolastic suspension it'd be rude to not let a bit out (Now I have got a pump bought) to get a preview of what it'd look like slammed.  It did run ok like this with just myself in with a tiny bit of scrubbing, but I liftshare to work and when two of my workmates hopped in, we were scraping along the carpark so another car was taken that day!  Now pumped to the standard height according to the Haynes manual and looks like a 4x4! When pumping up the Hyrdrolastic calculations need to be made to take account for a full tank of fuel and ambient temperature!  A small addition in in 'Henley Blue' |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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morns
Part of things
Posts: 222
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Why don't you eat less pies......that save some KG!!!!!
Looking sweet bro......i expect it would walk all over a landy off road!!!
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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After discovering I had a slight misfire at the local mini club (Bombercountyminis) and the original ignition components from factory 22 years ago, coupled with the fact I am fast approaching 32,000miles I thought it's probably a good Idea for a thorough service. The misfire wasn't bad enough for me to notice and I thought it was just bad fuelling!  So off to Helfrauds with trade card in hand I bought the following. Bosch HT Leads NKG Spark Plugs Gunk Engine Oil Flush 20W/50 Classic Oil Oil Filter Antifreeze Front Windscreen wipers First chucked the Gunk in to sort the now 'Halfords trip warmed oil' and did oil & filter change. Then Coolant drain, flush (With Cooland flush I already had in the garage) and fill with added antifreeze. Whilst the coolant was dranied I fitted the new leads and plugs. Also cleaned up the Dizzy and rotor arm terminals as they were actually pitted from 32k of use. Will need to replace them soon, but heres a (not very good) pic of the knackered dizzy.  |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Coughed up on a new Dizzy, Rotor Arm and points. Had time to fit the rotor arm and dizzy and checked out timing and was well out so adjusted to 5 degrees. Haynes says this is to be done at 1500rpm so did it with a little choke and guesswork with no rev counter. On my way to night shift and she's getting hot when at speed, but slower she's fine. Thought reasonably new thermostat had given up so next day fitted a new one.  Rotors at 0 miles and 32,000 (I'll let you figure out which is which) On a trip along the rarest of things in Lincolnshire, a dual carriageway, she began to get a bit hot at speed. Then very hot, I'm running late and just as temp touches scary red I come off the dual carriageway near destination town and have a chance to check out the engine bay. Luckily the expansion tank cap up the only thing relieving my coolant system of fluid  I must continue, and temp drops to a more acceptable level. Appointment made, I set off nervously home along a non carriageway route and temp is hotter than norm, but away from 'scary red' levels. I get home and suspect I may have timed the ignition incorrectly leading to the overheating. I promise myself I won't be lazy tomorrow and get the points changed. I get the dizzy out, change and gap points, plop back in (After fiddling with dislodged dizzy drive shaft). Get static timed and I find out the dizzy is at 90 degrees out. Now set to fire cylinder 1 at TDC! Timed back to 5 degrees at tickover for best baseline and no advance interferance. Drove to work yesterday and better, but still getting warm. Hmm To Be Continued... |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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morns
Part of things
Posts: 222
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All you have to do is remove your wheel arches....... Rake or no rake, that is the question!!!!  |
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Love it mate. Had my eye on one from the same guy I got my polo from aha.
Always had a soft spot from them, coming from mini's my dad used to have
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 Thats my old daily mate ;-) great little cars. cant wait to do the ''mods'' to get mine lower  |
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RB
Part of things
Posts: 11
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Looks absolutely cracking on the minilites.
I'd be awful tempted to just throw a VVC K-Series into it! ;D
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Last Edit: Oct 6, 2011 16:26:47 GMT by RB
MGF VVC
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Let the lowering begin!...  Got an early finish from night shifts so decided to finally lower the Metty the proper way, not just let fluid out of the suspension units! First, jacked the car up, removed the wheels and de-pressurised the suspension snd removed the units to end up with this big hole.  These are the bits that come out!  Right, after some calculations from www.metropower.org.uk/portal/default.asp?id=12&mnu=12 I decided on chopping 18mm. Approacheth the moment of truth...  Check and recheck my calculations before warming the angle ginder up. Here goes.  After chopping both units the same amount I found the pins which go into the suspension arm would not fit all the way into the units so a tittle trimming down of these was required. I also halved the springs which sit on top of them.  Right, all back in and pumped up (VERY slowly with grease gun pump) and the driver's side is riding the bump stop and the passenger's side is only slightly lowered, curse word.  At this point I had to get to work so off I went and had a little scrubbing on lock but overall it actually was quite drivable. I still need to even out the sides though. When I was removing the suspension pins I spotted there were 2 spacing washers on the drivers side pin and none on the other side. I put this down to rubbish Rover manufacture error, but as the driver's side was so low they must have needed to be in place. Wheel back off, washers fitted, pumped for ages (Again) and slightly better. Dammit. Looking at the pics I put on here earlier it looks like one unit is a different height to the other one and I reckon I may have put the things on the wrong sides. May sort this over the weekend. To Be Continued.... |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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Ive had a metro and a mini turboLOL
cool whips
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power is nothing without control
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When I seen this pic. I thought you were going to fit a monster Ice install. As that looks like a speaker cabinet behind the car. |
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Oct 16, 2011 10:43:05 GMT
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Well, decided to attack the suspension on a Sunday afternoon and swap the spheres (as I thought the different heights were the cause of the uneven suspension units due to two spacers on the Driver's side), which in hindsight was not a good idea. I only had so much Hyrolastic fluid left, so decided to not completely de-pressurise the suspension spheres, just in case I didn't have enough to pump the suspension back up. BAD IDEA. Jacked her up and removed the wheels as normal (Getting quite used to this at the moment) and let out a certain amount of pressure from the passenger side unit. Unbolted the clamp and started removing the not completely de-pressurised unit (Knowing it may pop out somewhat with a little pressure left in it).  BANG! It popped out and began spraying fluid out of it's now prolapsed burst rubber seal. curse word  I now have knackered my suspension unit. It was Sunday afternoon, everywhere was closed and after a few phone calls to source a new unit from mates with minis, I had no joy. Ah well, blag a lift from someone to get to work the next day and stop off at the scrappy. I did see if it'd run on the bump stop and consider placing something to jack it higher on the bump stop, but then decided how dodgy this was |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Oct 16, 2011 10:55:12 GMT
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New unit bought from scrappy for £18, job's a good 'un  Suspension unit fitted, and hyrolastic pump I had bought from eBay like this (See pic) was used for 15 minutes and no fluid had gone into the unit on either side. A lot of pumping, but no fluid movement. It was leaking and getting fluid over my hands and engine bay (Bear in mind this stuff is toxic  ). I decided to remove the gauge as it was knackered anyway as the needle had moved position anyway. It was just making the puming less efficient ,7RKSzmBMldheY4mg~~_12.JPG) No improvement, but at least the car was drivable. |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Oct 16, 2011 11:32:29 GMT
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After the 50 mile commute along the Lincolnshire A roads with a little scrubbing along the way, I made it home ;D It was actually not too bad most of the time, but I needed to get more fluid into the units so a replacement for the crappy grease gun that came with the 'kit' above needed replacement with a less cheap-ass item. I needed to get one that evening so needed somewhere open after normal weekday hours. Options were Screwfix, or Halfords. I just needed a grease gun I could fit the hose to with the correct thread. A quick internet seach found this www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_181447_langId_-1_categoryId_255216So popped into Halfords first (I've got a trade card) and as the place was deserted I got good service! Went to the parts counter and explained what I needed and said I needed to check the thread. Borrowed a spanner to take the pipe off and promptly got fluid all over the floor  Sorry! The Halfords grease gun is actually MASSIVE compared to the old one I was using but the thread was right so happy days. Got home with my new giant grease gun, fitted pipe properly, filled it with fluid and about ten pumps later the car had risen to the correct height ;D Both sides now at slightly below my calculated height at 270mm from hub centre to arch lip. My calculations should give the height at 295mm, but I'll run it at this to see if I get any scrubbing... |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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Oct 16, 2011 18:14:57 GMT
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Blue Metro on Minilites? I'll leave mine parked here...  Good luck with it chap! |
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1950 Ferguson TE A20
1971 VW Beetle 1300
1972 VW Beetle 1302S
1977 Leyland Mini 850
1983 Austin Metro 1.0 HLE
1984 Honda Acty TN 550
1989 Rover Mini 30
1990 Rover Mini City E
1990 Mazda MX5
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zomerzet
Part of things
Have Metro. Will Rust.
Posts: 98
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Oct 23, 2011 19:27:01 GMT
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Nice to see some other Metty's on here ;D My bargain eBay full Janspeed exhaust system should be winging it's way to me this week. I hope it's not too noisy, but had a look at a few youtube minis with the Janspeed and it sounds quite a raspy sound. That'll do nicely. A little more fluid in the front and she's settled at a useable, but good looking height now. This is what I meant about the difference in the cheap one and a new Halfords one...  Next project I've begun to undertake is the new dashboard. I've bought an MG Metro dash as it has a rev counter. I don't want a silly pod 'ruining' the standard interior and letting on that I might have something special under the hood (Although I don't right now!). This is my standard dash.  This is the 'racey' MG Metro dash with rev counter, complete with 80's sport 'styling'.. ;D The wire you can see is the coil feed to the rev counter.  I had thought that the wiring was completely different for the dashes due to when I plugged in the new dash, half the functions weren't operating. After a few popped fuses trying to get the thing working, I realised half the bulbs were either knackered or not even in place! The reason the lights are so bright in the pic is that the colour filter was taken out during the invest! I've ordered a pack of these www.msa-direct.co.uk/instrument-capless-bulb/12-volt-1_2-watt.html?utm_source=gmc bulbs to get everything sorted. The only issue I now have is the milage and speedo calibration. I could just wait until I hit 41,412 miles or dare I dissasemble the odometer, which is specifically designed to not be...Hmmm  |
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1989 Rover 'Retro Metro' Clubman (1310 to be built..slowly)
1982 VW T25 'Project Aircooled' Devon Moonraker Campervan
2009 Toyota 'Sensible Car' Yaris T2
If you're not accelerating or braking, you're WASTING YOUR TIME.
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I must continue, and temp drops to a more acceptable level. Appointment made, I set off nervously home along a non carriageway route and temp is hotter than norm, but away from 'scary red' levels.
I now have knackered my suspension unit. It was Sunday afternoon, everywhere was closed and after a few phone calls to source a new unit from mates with minis, I had no joy. Ah well, blag a lift from someone to get to work the next day and stop off at the scrappy.
). I decided to remove the gauge as it was knackered anyway as the needle had moved position anyway. It was just making the puming less efficient
Sorry! The Halfords grease gun is actually MASSIVE compared to the old one I was using but the thread was right so happy days.