Das Maus - Phase 1 complete

 

Other than making zoom-zoom noises
I'm a pretty useless motor

When we last left off, I was young, full of unwarranted optimism, eager to begin my journey into the mysteries of British motoring. My hands were clean, without cuts looking for errant sprays of carb cleaner. My fingernails were suitable for polite company. So lets visit where we are and how we got here.

My original plan was to do a quick brake refresh. New pads, probably rotors and flush the system.  Stainless steel brake lines to replace the 15+ year old rubber ones. Do just enough to get the car safe to drive and the restoration could proceed at a moderate and lazy pace over the next months or years.

You know what they say about plans, right? The military types say "Plans never survive first contact with the enemy." I prefer "When mortals make plans, the Gods laugh".

Top of the brake line coming from the caliper

Hear that snickering? That's the Gods laughing. First order of business was replacing the rubber brake lines with the stainless steel ones. 15 minute job on each side right? I've done it with the '70 2002, the 944 race car, easy-peasy. The brake line unscrewed from the caliper with no issue. Here's where it gets weird.

Notice the little hole up on the left?

The other end of the line goes through the subframe. It has nuts on both sides of the frame. Up top, another steel brake line screws into the top of the caliper line and goes around the subframe to the other brake junction and then to the master cylinder. To remove it, put a wrench on the bottom nut and then, through the little access hole and put a wrench on the top nut. I had to buy a new wrench as the top nut is a weird 15/16ths size.

I had to get the top nut at an angle as the cut out in the frame wasn't flush with the frame rail. Did I mention that everything on the Maus is crammed together so you can't really see what you're doing? Everything is done by braille.

I'm wrenching away, waiting for that "crack" when you get a clean break on a fastener. Instead I got that sickening feeling when things kept turning with resistance but not the "right" resistance. Every mechanic knows that existential dread when you just know a bolt is going to snap off and put you in a world of hurt.

And snap it did! (Gods are fully belly laughing now). The top steel brake line just snapped and broke. And with that my "plan" was now officially gone to shit. 

I'm a (retired) engineer. My mantra has always been "Analyze; Improvise & Adapt; Execute" and repeat if needed. Welp, I know what I doing next. Subframe with the motor is coming out. Yeah that was months down the road, but here we are.

Chassis support 4x4 - $10 at Lowes, $175 at Mini Specialty shops

As I'm finding out, Mini's are different. There are two subframes, back and front, that are the structural parts of the car. When I pull the subframe I need to support the car, otherwise it will fold in half. A 4x4 from the local hardware store does the trick. I had to cut out a section for the exhaust as I left that on the car.

 I chose to drop the subframe with the motor attached and then pull the motor (not 'Yank' it as my Brit friends corrected me) later. I had my reasons which aren't really important here.

This happened over a period of a week. Lots of that was disconnecting a lot of wires, bolts, nuts and running to Harbor Freight for another SAE wrench - I had only metric tools before the Maus. 

The "Rhythm of Repair" for me: Apply a liberal amount of a Rust Penetrating fluid to the object, and then go away for a few hours. Apply wrench, still stuck, apply more penetrating fluid, repeat. Occasionally smacking it with a hammer and sometimes some heat. Eventually I win and it comes loose.

Subframe and motor are leaving the building

Lowering the assembly fought me tooth and nail. There was always something hanging up or catching. The final piece was a power cable that was threaded though the subframe. It was black and covered in the grease and smudge that covered the bottom of the car and cleverly hidden. There were two brackets screwing it to the underneath of the subframe. The screws were totally rusted and impossible to get to. I spent a long 15 minutes on my back, with my hands deep in the guts - that whole braille thing - working on the brackets. I had to wiggle the brackets back and forth until they eventually broke and I could free the cable. I could have done without that bit.

Subframe and power lump 

Finally it was done and the next phase could begin. Cleaning the years of smudge, grease, oil, horsehair, lunar rocks and Waldo from various bits.

And it starts. Scrappers and chisels are on the job.

Various bits are refreshed as they come off

As I said, the next phase is cleaning and refurbing the subframe. That means the motor needs to be removed. I borrowed a engine hoist from a neighbor and pulled it.

And up into the air it goes

Motor parked for later ...

Lots of rust remediation here.
Luckily it all seems to be surface rust.

And now here we are. The subframe is on my temp work bench. Smudge removal, ball joints to be replaced, new bushings, hubs, brake rotors and more. In a month's time this will look quite different.

The bottom of the subframe. Lots of work ahead!

So I'm not so young and innocent anymore. My deep black hair has turned orange because of the frustrations encountered. My hands cringe when they see a can of carb cleaner. But I'm committed, or should be. The Maus isn't going anywhere soon. While it may not look like it, this is fun for me. I blame being dropped on my head when young. but I'm going with it. Stayed tuned!