Cars

Mini Rebuild

Step 45 - Almost ready to fire up the engine

Much progress has been made in the past week:

The exhaust system is back from the ceramic coaters. Satin black wasn't my first choice but it was what was available. It turned out nice I think.

Several plumbing items couldn't be completed until the headers were in place, so that's the first thing I did.

The remote oil filter take-off plate just barely clears the headers. As it turned out, there was no position I could rotate it to and still get the hose fittings on. Time for plan B.

I dug the Derale remote oil filter adapter back out of the spares box and tried it out. My earlier conclusion was wrong - it fit perfectly.

This is the oil cooler mount I fabricated. Not pretty but effective.

Oil cooler mounted.

The cramped engine bay is started to get even more cramped.

Here is the final xfer box cooler hose installed.

Coolant overflow tank mounted, oil cooler mounted, headers installed, remote oil filter system completed, and final coolant lines in the works...

The xfer box breather reservoirs needed a good spot. The best solution seemed to be fabricating a mounting plate that I stiffened with the new .75" hole flare tool I purchased.

Welding the mounting plate to the shifter solenoid bracket.

Test fitting what I hope is the final set of fluid reservoirs on the car.

More plumbing.

How to connect two -4 coolant lines with one -6 line? I chose this small abomination of adapters and fittings, then mounted it to the shifter bracket.

Now time to mount the fuel tank 1-way valve on the vent line.

This seemed the simplest way to mount it. The hose and clips are leftover from the R1.

And with all the plumbing done, it was time to remove the engine again! The clutch cover on the 1998-2003 R1 can be a bit tricky to install. When I replaced the clutch back in 2008 I had a feeling I had done it wrong. It wasn't until this past month that I was able to hook up the hydraulic system and test it with an actual clutch pedal. Pressing the pedal yielded no movement. I wasn't sure how high the effort would be so I pushed harder. And a bit harder still. That's when I heard a horrible 'SNAP!' coming from the engine. That was a good lesson for me though - hydraulics is a very powerful method of multiplying my stupidity.

The engine took less than 2 hours to remove, which was quicker than I expected.

Engine out and now time to fix the clutch once and for all.

As soon as I removed the clutch cover I spotted the problem. The toothed actuator arm had a tooth chipped off of it. The corresponding toothed rod inside the clutch basket was also missing a tooth.

Ouch. A quick perusal of Craigslist showed someone nearby selling exactly what I needed for a reasonable price. When I stopped by and told him what I was working on, he threw in a free 2003 R1 ECU. Was he supporting the cause or expressing sympathy? The parts were easy enough to install and after studying some tips on how to install the clutch cover I was able to figure it out. I was also able to test the clutch with just a pry bar. It works!

I plumbed the brake and clutch fluid reservoirs.

I'm not happy with the routing in the car though. I'll re-think this soon.

The 9-gallon fuel tank sits in the LH corner of the boot and is held in by a metal strap. Probably because I had to fabricate my own mount, the strap slips off the tank when it is tightened down. Not good.

To keep the strap in the right spot, I welded on some short sections of steel 'L' strap.

It looks like it will work. I'll test it out tomorrow.

I liked my oil cooler mounting solution so much that I decided to convert my radiator mount over to the same style. I also needed to raise the radiator slightly to ensure it is the highest point in the cooling system, so this will kill two birds with one stone.

The finished mount. What it lacks in strength it makes up for in ugly.

The radiator is now about as high as I can get it and still clear the bonnet. It also sits square with the outlet behind it.

Here's a quick preview of some new goodies that arrived last month. More on this later.

So as of today the cooling system is done. The remote oil filter system is done. The transfer box cooling system is done. The exhaust system is done. Two things remain before I can fire the engine - the electrical system and filling all systems with fluids. Two days to go...

Continue to Rebuild Step 46

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