Danny's K Series Conversion Project

Danny

Administrator
Hi all,

Well after a weekend in wales bombing around the lanes and thrashing the hell out of a Mini Engine I have made the decision to ditch it in a bid for a bit of comfort more performance and also some reliability.

12 years I have been trying to get more out of a mini engine and to be honest I am broken... the last rolling road cost me £300 and to be frank I gained very little... so on that note I am after a spare chassis I can chop up and and mg TF that I can also chop up...

MGF is the way most of the conversions have gone but the rear spheres are impossible to get new so I will have to go with a spring setup... Hopefully this does not cause too much of a problem.

FIngers crossed its a quick and easy process and selling my mini spares should raise enough cash to pay for the conversion...

The first thing i am going to do is get some welding tuition.... then from there I will get the grinder out :)

Danny
 

Danny

Administrator
OK So the first thing for me to do is find a subframe...

I think I am going to go for a MG TF conversion as Alan reckons that the rear Spheres are already getting harder to find... But with the TF I will need to find springs that are softer as the back of the buggy will be a lot lighter than a standard TF.

I have found this on ebay and think its going to be a good start http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-TF-Rear-su ... 25928c4121

I will see if I can pick it up at the weekend :)
 

Danny

Administrator
When I have a bee in my bonnet and a challenge that was set... thanks simon (esdebe) I don't back down :)

I have just won this on ebay paying £750 for it and it comes with 6 months tax and 12 months MOT... So will be chopping that in straight away!!!

45K on the clock with lots of extras....











12 months mot & 6 months tax

Only 45160 miles although in use so may go up slightly

The car is fitted with rare air con

The head gasket was done 2000 miles ago with the upgraded head gasket the car has recently had a service last week included all oils filters & top quality coolant. I also changed the brake pipes from front to back on the car for the mot the tyres are like new

So lets hope this is the start of something great....
 

Danny

Administrator
I picked her up yesterday and Jane drove her home... I also dropped my bike at a junction... lost my footing with jane on the back and over it went :-( No damage though...

She drives great sounds great and got a nice amount of punch... the owner seems to think its the 160bhp engine but I don't think it is... either way it should be lively enough for the buggy.



I am clearing out one of my garages at the moment as I have it full of plasterboard so when that is clear I will move my Triumph and buggy down there and then I can get the MG in bigger garage up the road and start ripping it to bits and adding stuff on ebay... fingers crossed I can quickly start making money back on it :)

I have found a local guy that Tig welds every day and he is keen to show me the ropes which is pretty damn awesome :) All I need now is a an AC/DC Tig welder and I am good to go :)

I need to have a think about the wiring and if I am going to keep all the same key and lights etc the same.... then just use the other bits of wiring for the K series....
 

Danny

Administrator
I have been pestering phaeton for answers and he has been kindly answering them so thanks alan

One of the the things that has been worrying me from the start was the subframe of the mgf and the fact that it uses hydrospastic suspension and the mgtf has upgraded suspension and uses springs.....

With a search for the hydrgas spheres turning out to be be pretty desperate I have almost pretty much lost hope in ever being able to replace the rear spheres. so that left me with the question of when the time comes to replace tbe spheres can I just change the subframe for an mgtf subframe....

Well after lots of searching and loooking at a 10000 images it looks to me like the subframes are identical except for the mgf has to have a a shock absorber mount somewhere in the chassis and the mgtf has them all integrated into the the rear subframe...

So I think I am going to stick with the mgf subframe until it lets me down the I will change it with the tf one.... I dont think I will have to do any mods to the chassis except cut off the shocker mount so I think that is ok....

I have been trawling over wiring diagrams to see what is what and in true muddybuggies fashion alan has come up with the answers I need for the wiring, the plan is to keep my existing wiring loom and then just run the wires I need to make the ecu work.... should be nice and simple...

I aim to keep the same key and what job that I have always used and also I plan on keeping all of the wiring from the mgf as I am sure ine day I will need to make some changes.... the joys..

I have been working away this last week or so have not had a chance to actually do anything practical but seach ebay for bits that I am going to sell off the mg and basicallly build a cash flow forecast. Lol

Next week I plan on getting one of my garages emptied so I can move the buggy there and the get the mg stripped and all the parts listed on ebay.... this needs to be a fast process and if it's profitable I may just break up a few more of them ;-)

I am also planning on building a quick engine once I have sussed out that this works ;-) but that is amlong way off yet
 

Danny

Administrator
Well its been a manic week but progress has been made.

The buggy the ktm and the tiger are now all in one garage and the mgf is now in my bigger garage and is being stripped slowly but surely.


ta7yme3y.jpg


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I also got up at 7am today to go and pick up an engine crane for £50 and while I was there I bought a engine stand for £15 which was quite handy.

I have started listing mgf bits on ebay and hopefully they start to sell soon enough.

I am off to another welding supplies company tomorrow to look at welders and hopefully picking up a decent ac dc tig welder ready for fabrication of the chassis and for some other mods I have planned.

I have already started selling my mini bits on ebay and they are providing me with a bit of revenue for the project.

I am still after a spare chassis to chop up and modify to take the new engine and subframe and especially as I have plenty of space now it will work quite well.

Alan (phaeton) sent me down my bends to make my engine mounts which is going to be one of the first things I do with the new welder...

Anyway not much of an update but still

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 

Danny

Administrator
Not got a massive update but I have been stripping and selling bits off the MGF and so far I have done quite well :) I only need to sell another £157 worth of bits to break even on the MGF purchase :)

Still got lots to sell so fingers crossed it should be a cheap conversion :)

I aim to have most of the MG stripped in the next couple of weeks :) and then get the chassis scrapped :) Should get about £100 for the chassis to the scrap man :)

Also cashed the tax disc in as well so should get a little back for that :)
 

Danny

Administrator
I have been stripping more today....

I sold the roof on ebay so that needed to come off and while I was there I thought i would get the ECU out and generally start getting familier with teh car :)





And here is a quick look at that engine :)



Got a few days of people coming and picking up bits... Hoping that most of it goes in the next 2 weeks.... I can then start getting teh engine and subframe out :)

The the chassis can be chopped up and weighed in :)
 

Danny

Administrator
I have now recovered my money fromthe mgf and I still have the tax refund and quite a few bits to sell still....



Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 

Danny

Administrator
With the ECU stripped out and ready to take to the guy in Brighton I decided to give him a quick phone call and it turns out that because my MGF has an aftermarket immobiliser and has not got an alarm I don't need to do the ECU mod... well that is what it looks like :)

I had a bit of an ebay selling frenzy the last few days and I had a proper add up of what I needed to sell to get my £730 back and all I need to sell now is £122.06 of the MGF and I would have broken even :)

I still have quite a few bits on ebay selling and I have a chap coming over on saturday to get some crash panels and a local kid wants the rear quarter panels to practice car body repairs on so I will be cutting them out as well...

Progress is being made...

I am putting off buying the AC/DC tig welder as long as I can because I am also renovating my house and need to keep a hold of some cash flow :) You can read about my house renovation here... (if you interested) http://www.plasterersnews.com/renovation-project/

I aim to have this car stripped in the next couple of weeks so I can get the chassis back in and the subframe mounted :)
 

Danny

Administrator
Well not much of an update really but a note to say I have finally bought a Tig welder :)

xti201-600x600.jpg


This constant current squarewave AC/DC power source
Designed for TIG and MMA welding.
Fan on demand cooling. squarewave balance control
Digital display meters. Pulser control
Pregas and post gas timers. Hot start up/down slope controls
Rated 10-185 amps output @ 60% duty cycle.
Weight 25kg. h=320 w=320 d=493mm
1 year warranty parts - 1 year labour
Package includes : Earth return cable and gas hose.
Torch - WP26 Pro Grip

Should be enough to do what I need :)

I have a few of the bulky parts of the MGF going today so can start stripping a lot more :)
 

Danny

Administrator
I have been busy today as I decided to have a couple of days rest from the renovation project.... I am not a slacker....lol

So the mgf is slowly being stripped... I am about £300 up now and still have lots left to sell if I can be bothered. ..

Anyway I have been stripping the electrics out and to be honest I dont really know what I am taking out but the aim is to get the loom free from the car by the end of the week...

While stripping I saw this on the MGF...lol

dajuhama.jpg


Looks like its been stolen in the past... as there is no sign of accident damage...

I have been googling how to drop the engine and subframe and I really want to do this asap as I need to get the garage cleared and the buggy back in...

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 

Danny

Administrator
I bought that welder... well after a week of hearing nothing I thought I had been had...

I had to go a bit detective and only armed with an email and town ie ipswich I was able to track him down.. I spoke to his wife and she gavce me his mobile number and then tonight it arrives....

It is in mint condition... never ever been lit... magic :)

Came witha footpedal... whatever that means :)
 

Danny

Administrator
I spent friday underneath the MGF trying to remove all of the connections from the engine/subframe from the chassis and I must have spent an hour trying to get the exhaust off and decided that I would cut it off :).... It didn't end there.. every nut bolt or screw pretty much had to be grinded or cut off.. it was an ball ache but thank god for a dremel :)

After the first day of stripping I was covered in oil antifreeze and general shite.. but the engine/subframe was now only held on by 8 bolts.... wahooo!!!

I would have got the engine out friday night but I had my first welding lesson with an engineer friend of mine :)

It was great :) I started to get the hang of tig welding I would get a couple of inches of good weld be so surprised then blow a hole in it...lol Aluminium was great to work with and the chap is getting me a tonne of off cuts from work for me to weld up so should get plenty of practice in :)

I also got sunburn from the welder...... FFS... he said he was going to tell me prior but then he thought I would never learn that way... damn does it hurt!!!

IMG_4050_zpsbc610862.jpg


Anyway...

Its saturday and I was meant to spend the day the flat helping a builder friend remove a velux window that we installed that was way way way too big. Well I really could not be bothered and so as soon as he finished myself and jane went shopping to get me a new suit for a big meeting next week... yup me in a suit!!

At 17:30 I get home and decide that now would be a good time to try and remove the engine/subframe from the MGF... Not the greatest of ideas but still an idea :)

It all went plan... the 4 10mm bolts towards the front of the subframe all broke off and the 13mm bolts to the rear of the subframe were already lose... go figure!!

IMG_4020_zpsc1656ce8.jpg


IMG_4019_zpsd1f1d62d.jpg






I propped the front of the subframe up on axle stands and to the engine hoist round the back of the car and attached the shell to the hoist and took the weight of the car...



At this point I called Jane out to help jack the hoist up will I jigged oil filler necks and what not and soon enough the chassis was above the engine and all I had to do was drop the hydro spastic suspension and we are good to go :)

Alan, (Phaeton) told me to get a drinks bottle and poke a screw driver in the end and use it to drain the suspension it worked a treat :)





I didn't spill much at all which is handy!!

So the engine and subframe are now free from the car... how the hell do I get my engine in the back of the garage and the shell in the front... Lots of messing about and juggling jacks about and generally a tonne of bad language!! In the end the engine was in the back of the garage and the shell was in the front...







The trouble was that there was not a great deal of room for that to happen so I had to remove the front rads and then bend numerous bits of the car to be able to shut the garage doors :)



Oh the joys!!!

So, Next week I need to go over the MG and see what else I need off it then get a the local scrapper man to take it away and then I can have my garage back to start the strip down of my buggy and then rebuild :)

Lots and lots to do!!

Also I dont get why you SLACKERS!!! struggle!! I am renovating a 4 bed property doing all the work myself running 3/4 companies and I still have time :) Time to get a grip!!! BUild Build Build!!! :D
 

Danny

Administrator
I got all of the wiring out of the MGF and generally took out everything I think I need for the conversion.

A quick call to Phaeton and he mentioned a few other things and also discussed the use of the MGF pedal box to do the conversion... I think they may work but will have to get them stripped out and looked at.

I have a new frame coming to repair my bent frame after the numerous accidents I have had over the years :-\ so this should really help make this engine conversion/rebuild go smoothly :)

I am off tomorrow to get some box section to make a trolley firstly for the MGf to sit on and so I can wheel it out to the truck when they take it away and the after that so I can build the car and keep it on the move... it will also be a great test for my new found welding skills :)
 

Danny

Administrator
Its been a while since I updated but that is because i am damn busy :)

I have been struggling to get the fuel tank out of the mg and and had to resort to brute force and ignorance and eventually it came out... thankfully!! It had quite a bit of fuel in so the Triumph got a free drink out of it :)

I have been stripping down the bits on teh mg and amd still selling lots of bits on ebay and so I am way way up in profit :) Which is handy as I have been spending the national debt of nigeria on the renovation project...

However I did have a large sum in my paypoo and so I decided to to buy this ready for when I make the move...

$(KGrHqJHJCYFCsWSvZKBBQrjPf1n+!~~60_57.JPG


Should make things look nice :) I am hoping that the exhaust that is on the buggy at the moment will also be reused so I can have my straight through stainless system :)

Tomorrow i have a funeral of a young fellow biker so taking the whole day off and I will be building (welding) a frame up to take the MGF till it can be scrapped and then after that it will be modified (rewelded) to take the conversion so it can be moved about the garage :)

Hopefully all goes well :)
 

Danny

Administrator
After the funeral I decided that I was going to tinker in the garage and get the frame made :)

Well here is the result... I just need to get some plates for the corners so that I can mount my castors :)



Here are some of the welds... not too bad... still room for improvement but good welds :) I love the tig welder :)







I will be practicing a lot more as I now have a friendly supplier of scrap steel so can weld to my hearts content :)
 
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