Love my little Mini.

The other day I noticed a very small leak coming from my clutch slave - no big deal. Suuuuuure

As I start to dig in my perfectionist nature kicks in, and next thing you know my daily driver is getting a full overhaul.

Anyway, as you guys all know working under the bonnet of the mini is a bit tight at the best of times. Add some air conditioning and various plumbing, and it's really a problem. I've decided that since I didn't exactly buy a Mini for the modern creature comforts, I'm going to tear the whole system out and clean up the engine bay. But, before I dig in I just thought I'd jump in and see if anyone has undertaken this job before? Any gotchas or words of wisdom? Anything I should look out for or be weary of?

Secondly - anyone in the market for a working air conditioning unit and all the fixins?

Cheers, thanks guys!

-Brian

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Yeah im after a full ac setup

_________________
The best part of fixing your mini is the test drive

Minis..

1976 van daily drive
1975 van
1968 deluxe in the shed
1967 deluxe high strung 1310
1959 austin healey sprite

It's not hard to remove at all, I've got it down to a fine art in my car.
A rough guide to remove the AC parts:

1. de-gas the system.
2. remove the two flex hoses to the compressor.
3. remove the receiver/drier and the pipe running along the firewall.
4.remove condenser - easier than it looks, just undo the top bracket and it'll lift up.
5. (optional) remove the fan and block the hole.
6. remove cd player and dashboard - this will give access to remove the under dash unit.
7. the hard one: remove the compressor. this may involve removing the radiator and alternator to gain access first. Once it's off you'll need a new fanbelt.

Let me know how much you want for the parts: I could use some spares.

Harley,
You're a legend mate. I'll make you a good offer on the parts - come drink my beer this weekend and bust a knuckle or two, and you can take as much as you can carry.

Realistically though, this all sounds pretty straightforward and I'm happy for every stage of this right up until you started talking about the dashboard. Every time I touch an interior, clips start breaking, bits start flying and now I have to live with rattling noises for the rest of my days. Seriously, free beer at my place for anyone who can teach me how not be a retard on interiors...

Thanks guys.

-Brian

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Remember that slight leak in the slave cylinder? Jeez I'm an idiot.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzfw-s ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzfw-s ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzfw-s ... sp=sharing


So anyway, I've run into a brick wall. The whole car is in pieces, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to detach the pipes that go through the firewall and into the cabin. I see the bracket on the firewall, but even if I remove it, wont the pipes just travel through it, or is it actually a connection point that dis-assembles?

Of course those two nuts are frozen on, and the stud is turning right along with the nut. I can't imagine a way to get to the other side of that bracket (the interior portion), and even if I did - does it have a phillips head or allen key? I can't eyeball it, but it feels like a smooth stud that was meant to be welded?

Ugh. Any help would really be appreciated - I'm sooo close!!

-Brian

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

AHA! It's under the goo.

For anyone doing this in the future - there's a connection in the hose about 100mm up from the firewall bracket. You wouldn't know it because it's pancaked inside roofing tar of some sort.

Success. Time to put the rest of it back together.

_________________
1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

The good old denso tape - yep its there to minimise the chance of the fittings corroding together.
It works well, its just a pity they didn't put it on all the fittings.

will the a/c system fit a 60s mini? lol

Yep.