Mr Bumble's Rebuild
- Thread starter Phaeton
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Well not seen Bumble since the last image above when he was put into the shelter last August, I've been fighting the Saxo track car for the past few weeks, we went to Cadwell back end of last year & the cambelt snapped taking out all 16 valves, the cam pulleys & a few other bits of damage. I've fitted another later model engine, but can't get it to run right, so as a distraction I decided to see
A) If he was still there
B) Would he start it's a K series after all
C) What do I need to do before Stoneleigh (I had a recollection I had taken the radiator off)
So I went from joy of
He was still there which was a good thing, to not so joyous has he appears to have a small leak
I clearly figured on using him again the last time I put him away as the battery was still on & muchious stupidiuos the hand brake was left on!!!!
So went & fetched a spare battery out of the workshop & put it on, switched him on & went for a start, lo & behold after about 5 seconds of cranking he fired into life & purred like a good 'un. Tried to push him but he wasn't having any (Damn for leaving handbrake on!!) so climbed in & pressed the clutch & engaged 1st & he moved forward, so hopefully he just needs a bit of use.
Must be old age but I could of sworn I had removed the radiator to lift it up, must have dreamt that bit, all in all quite happy, MOT is not till after Stoneleigh so that's not an issue, just need to sort out that little leak, it might be the heater matrix, another thing I keep considering moving. The only other thing was a cat smell clearly one has been kipping in there, but once he's out in the open that 'should' go.
A) If he was still there
B) Would he start it's a K series after all
C) What do I need to do before Stoneleigh (I had a recollection I had taken the radiator off)
So I went from joy of
He was still there which was a good thing, to not so joyous has he appears to have a small leak
I clearly figured on using him again the last time I put him away as the battery was still on & muchious stupidiuos the hand brake was left on!!!!
So went & fetched a spare battery out of the workshop & put it on, switched him on & went for a start, lo & behold after about 5 seconds of cranking he fired into life & purred like a good 'un. Tried to push him but he wasn't having any (Damn for leaving handbrake on!!) so climbed in & pressed the clutch & engaged 1st & he moved forward, so hopefully he just needs a bit of use.
Must be old age but I could of sworn I had removed the radiator to lift it up, must have dreamt that bit, all in all quite happy, MOT is not till after Stoneleigh so that's not an issue, just need to sort out that little leak, it might be the heater matrix, another thing I keep considering moving. The only other thing was a cat smell clearly one has been kipping in there, but once he's out in the open that 'should' go.
So after Justin (Lilspeed) offered his insight into the handling of the buggy I thought I'd update my setup, I've always run standard bottom arms which results in about 4-5 degrees negative camber, not had much problems but it does sometimes tramline & get understeer followed by oversteer, which can be fun 
New bottom arms fitted
Then it came to fit the steering rack, as usual nothing goes easy, I couldn't split the rack off the column so had to take the full column out, which of course meant the dash had to come out as well
Then
But in the end I ended up with
However on just taking it just up the road it is almost undriveable so clearly my settings by eye are well out, so it will have to wait for a night in the week where I can have another look.
Whilst I was in there I looked at my MC to see whether I could mount 2 MC's side by side, which I do think is possibly, but I did notice something, the copper pipe goes to the back & the braided goes to the front, is this the right way around?
New bottom arms fitted
Then it came to fit the steering rack, as usual nothing goes easy, I couldn't split the rack off the column so had to take the full column out, which of course meant the dash had to come out as well
Then
But in the end I ended up with
However on just taking it just up the road it is almost undriveable so clearly my settings by eye are well out, so it will have to wait for a night in the week where I can have another look.
Whilst I was in there I looked at my MC to see whether I could mount 2 MC's side by side, which I do think is possibly, but I did notice something, the copper pipe goes to the back & the braided goes to the front, is this the right way around?
After putting the new bottom arms on I've not done anything else, although when I tried to drive it up the road it was almost undrivable it was all over place. But got a chance last night to have a look, one of my problems is I don't have access to a flat level surface on which to try to set the camber, so one of those magnetic camber gauges wouldn't work. So I came up with this low cost method, it's not going to be 100% accurate but it will be somewhere close, close enough to drive to the MOT/Tracking garage. Figured if I matched the slope then it would counteract any slope
All I did was measure the top of the rim at the centre point to the stick & then measure the bottom of the rim, then adjusted the arms to get them with 0 degrees camber I did work out 381 x tan (1) = 6.65mm (381 is 15" in mm) but figured I would just set them neutral & then let the tracking guy do it properly.
Once done this was how far it was out on the passenger side
I then did a bit of sighting down the side to guesstimate the tracking, took it up the road & now it's a lot better, it's good enough to get to the garage, although I think I have the adjusted one side more than the other the steering wheel is well off & there is more adjustment available on one track rod than the other
All I did was measure the top of the rim at the centre point to the stick & then measure the bottom of the rim, then adjusted the arms to get them with 0 degrees camber I did work out 381 x tan (1) = 6.65mm (381 is 15" in mm) but figured I would just set them neutral & then let the tracking guy do it properly.
Once done this was how far it was out on the passenger side
I then did a bit of sighting down the side to guesstimate the tracking, took it up the road & now it's a lot better, it's good enough to get to the garage, although I think I have the adjusted one side more than the other the steering wheel is well off & there is more adjustment available on one track rod than the other
Went out today with good intentions of getting started on a few things, it all went to hell in a handcart, just couldn't get enthused was going to look at the pannier fixings as I've never been happy with them. Took the drivers side off to be faced with
Which really took the wind out of my sails, so put him away & gave up
The floor really needs to come off & redone, which as we're trying to sell the house I can't do outside because of all the mess.
Which really took the wind out of my sails, so put him away & gave up
The floor really needs to come off & redone, which as we're trying to sell the house I can't do outside because of all the mess.
July last year since last update, to be honest I've done NOTHING I feel like Max, so I opened the garage door today to be greeted with
So I went to the back of the car & then Mr Bumble was transformed into Coco the Clowns's latest car
Had to get the jump leads out as the battery was flat, but to be fair to the K series, attached the jump leads, turned the starter & away it went.
So I went to the back of the car & then Mr Bumble was transformed into Coco the Clowns's latest car
Had to get the jump leads out as the battery was flat, but to be fair to the K series, attached the jump leads, turned the starter & away it went.
Got an email the other day to say my MOT was due next month on the buggy, it got an advisory on the lower NSF ball joint so I figured I best get it done before taking it back this year. I HATE Mini ball joints why hasn't anybody come up with an alternative to them, anyway it is now done.
Then decided on a new way to mount my panniers.
Then decided on a new way to mount my panniers.
So looking back through my built the first MGF engine went in October 2011 then the existing engine went in June 2012 I can't remember changing the oil or filter since so figured 5 years was enough.
I enlisted the aid of a fully trained grandchild
So new oil & filter for this year, took him for a test run again with the fully trained navigator grandchild, came to a corner & pressed the loud pedal only to have the front wash out, lifted brought it back nicely, when I got home I checked the tyre pressures only to find I had over 40lbs in all tyres LOL, so they were adjusted well down ready for next weekend.
I enlisted the aid of a fully trained grandchild
So new oil & filter for this year, took him for a test run again with the fully trained navigator grandchild, came to a corner & pressed the loud pedal only to have the front wash out, lifted brought it back nicely, when I got home I checked the tyre pressures only to find I had over 40lbs in all tyres LOL, so they were adjusted well down ready for next weekend.
Went for MOT all was good until the emissions they just wouldn't come down enough tester was being very helpful & trying his best but it just wasn't having it. Then I remembered that on the input into the Fireblade silencer there's a small hole (no idea why) so got a rag, folded it several times & covered the hole, immediately the emissions came down & straight within the limits. So as the young Mr Chamberlain said "In my hand I have a piece of paper" question is now do I tax it for June, I did less than 1K last year which is not good.
But it does mean that I do need to get a new exhaust which I have been saying since the 1.8 conversion.
But it does mean that I do need to get a new exhaust which I have been saying since the 1.8 conversion.
Wales is only a month away so as it was Fathers day & I got a free pass to do what I wanted, I thought I'd go into the shed & have a play
Have you worked out what it is yet?
You should be there now.
Where it fits.
After putting it on the roof LOL roof, okay on top of the car I noticed a flaw in my cunning plan, IF I had to get on the brakes a bit quick, you know like if Danny wasn't aware I was overtaking & decided to make me put two of my wheels on the grass again, there was a chance the wheel would want to shoot forward. So it was modified
Just need to get it painted now, new exhaust clamps ordered for the fixing as I ordered 38mm & not 42mm ones before Doh! Also ordered some ratchet straps to fasten it down.
Have you worked out what it is yet?
You should be there now.
Where it fits.
After putting it on the roof LOL roof, okay on top of the car I noticed a flaw in my cunning plan, IF I had to get on the brakes a bit quick, you know like if Danny wasn't aware I was overtaking & decided to make me put two of my wheels on the grass again, there was a chance the wheel would want to shoot forward. So it was modified
Just need to get it painted now, new exhaust clamps ordered for the fixing as I ordered 38mm & not 42mm ones before Doh! Also ordered some ratchet straps to fasten it down.
Just remembered the other thing I was going to mention, there are 2 rules on welding other than all the other crap about wire speed,
gas pressure blah blah blah bar blah, that is do not pick up a piece that you have just welded & do not lean on a piece of metal that you have just welded, I forgot both barstooling rules today.
gas pressure blah blah blah bar blah, that is do not pick up a piece that you have just welded & do not lean on a piece of metal that you have just welded, I forgot both barstooling rules today.
So here was how Mr Bumble looked on the last day of the Wales 2017 trip, fully loaded up with all my camping gear
Unfortunately then a little later on we were on a single track road with a van coming the other way, we'd just past a gateway 50 yards so I decided we should reverse back, unfortunately I got it wrong & dropped a wheel into a ditch, which then picked up the front ali plate. We managed to do a temporary fix with tie wraps to keep going but when I got home I have this to contend with.
Only other problem was when the front was damaged I lost the indicators, the nearside would flash frantically & the offside also flashed the nearside
Unfortunately then a little later on we were on a single track road with a van coming the other way, we'd just past a gateway 50 yards so I decided we should reverse back, unfortunately I got it wrong & dropped a wheel into a ditch, which then picked up the front ali plate. We managed to do a temporary fix with tie wraps to keep going but when I got home I have this to contend with.
Only other problem was when the front was damaged I lost the indicators, the nearside would flash frantically & the offside also flashed the nearside
So Danny has sent me my new coilover shock absorbers, not going to get onto them until January but have a thought, he's sent a template for the mounting which mounts them like
But the question I have should they be that way, would it not be better to mount them so they oppose each other such as
Well not exactly I would put some space between to allow some movement.
But the question I have should they be that way, would it not be better to mount them so they oppose each other such as
Well not exactly I would put some space between to allow some movement.
Very slight update although nothing exciting, went out to Bumble Tuesday morning I think it was, but he wouldn't start, would fire but not keep running, so had to take the Rav to work most to the disgruntlement of the son, I'd said I would leave it him for the day whilst he sorts a car out. So went out today & he fired & ran straightaway, didn't do anything so no idea what it was, did it half dozen times & all was well.
But I got 3 little jobs done whilst I was out there, on the way to Stoneleigh I noticed that the nearside arch appeared to be moving around more than it should when I got there eon inspection the steel had cracked, don't think I've had one yet that hasn't. So out with the welder & zip zap twang.
Another thing I also noticed on the way down was that the oil temperature gauge had stopped working, pulled off the top of the dash to reveal that somebody had stolen the positive feed to it, I honestly don't remember doing it but mist have ;D
The the final job was the fuel gauge LED's they were like landing lights, so bright in the day they almost made your eyes hurt, in the dark they were almost blinding, I found an old variable resistor in the workshop, no idea what it's off so I wired that in, turned up the resistance & now they are nice & dim.
Finally just to see if the oil temp gauge was working I took it for a quick raz round
But I got 3 little jobs done whilst I was out there, on the way to Stoneleigh I noticed that the nearside arch appeared to be moving around more than it should when I got there eon inspection the steel had cracked, don't think I've had one yet that hasn't. So out with the welder & zip zap twang.
Another thing I also noticed on the way down was that the oil temperature gauge had stopped working, pulled off the top of the dash to reveal that somebody had stolen the positive feed to it, I honestly don't remember doing it but mist have ;D
The the final job was the fuel gauge LED's they were like landing lights, so bright in the day they almost made your eyes hurt, in the dark they were almost blinding, I found an old variable resistor in the workshop, no idea what it's off so I wired that in, turned up the resistance & now they are nice & dim.
Finally just to see if the oil temp gauge was working I took it for a quick raz round
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