Started this month by making some changes in the engine bay, firstly the
heater control valve was replaced by a simple tap, as fitted to the early
Mini's. As this will spend it's life on, it seemed pointless to have the
large control valve, that wasn't connected to any control cable, taking up
space.
Also on the cooling system the thermostat sandwich plate that's fitted to
allow a heater take off on the A+ engines was removed, this was just being
used as a spacer as the heater was fed from the valve just replaced. I will
need to source the correct thread of bolts or find nuts/studs to replace
the housing as the ones currently fitted are now too long.
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The Weber DCOE 45 that I won on Ebay was
trial fitted to check there is enough clearance. It seems that only a small
cut will be needed on the edge ridge of the engine cover, and a little thinning
will be need just above the fuel connector/jet cover.
Still need to find an air filter and get the Weber re-jetted to suit the engine.
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Managed to shorten the existing bolt, thanks to Lawson Garden from work,
who loaned me a 5/16" UNC Die nut, I extended the thread and then
shortened the bolts by 1".
Now that these changes have taken place, it's a case of re-plumbing the cooling system, to the following plan. But I'm still thinking whether to fit the heater back in or not.
Finally got around to sorting out those brake calipers that I noticed where
up side down. That should make bleeding the brakes a little easier
Also made a start on the wiring, pulled out a few wires that seemed to be surplus
and fitted the electrical cut-out switch. I removed the unused solenoid from
the rear and connected the battery feed directly to the starter, this gave
enough length to allow it to be cut, just in front of the handbrake,
and connected it to the cut-off. I decided against the ceramic 3.3
11W
resistor supplied,
but instead I fitted 3x10 15W aluminium housed resistors in parallel.
Finally got around to wiring up the rest
of the cut-off switch, it seems that either the GTM came with a hole cut
or one of the previous owners had fitted a switch in the past. But the hole
was too far forward for my liking so I mounted the switch nearer to the gear
stick.
