The scuttle panel is thinner post 85ish and such rusts.
Looking good. I've not driven a mini in 8yrs...
Must sort that out
Just been out to the garage to check on my wheels. They are LP918 10x4.5J. I think that makes them "reverse rims" made to fit bigger tyres over drums, therefore not "S" since S had disks and took a wheel with different offset. Original "S" would be LP882 (3.5) and LP883 (4.5), those are the rarer expensive ones. Mine are certainly period, but not worth much. I bought mine around 1991 while gathering parts to soup up my R reg Mini 1000. I also had a LCB exhaust, original minifins, big SU carb and the heated MG Metro turbo inlet manifold all ready to fit when the mini got pranged while parked, which brought a couple of structural issues to light as well as the damage and I had to get rid, to be replaced by an MG Metro.
I like the grille on yours, goes with the mild restomod look with bucket seats and Tickford style handles. I hope you've upgraded all your bulbs too, my bike lights in the 90s were brighter than my mini!
Looks a great mini. I do follow prices of them in the hopes I'll see a reasonably priced one to buy. Sold my 81 mini in 2009, Looking at current prices I would have been better off leaving it in the garage to rust and selling it 12 years later...
Those rims would still be worth £100+ for the older cars, early period-correct mods are the current trend with a lot of people.
Prices have definitely jumped the last few years, even more since the pandemic hit! I was lucky to find this one badly listed and poorly presented. I regretted selling my old Mini shortly after it went back then, looking back now with hindsight I really should have kept it somewhere safe waiting for the right time.
with hindsight I really should have kept it
Perfect science is hindsight! My Dad was offered an XK150 in the early 70s when fuel prices shot up. It was something like £250, about 2 or 3 months pay and he’d just started the mortgage. He turned it down as it wasn’t practical with a family of 4!
Plenty of stories of cars going cheap to most people that are now worth a ridiculous amount now!
Came back from my sister's place via the scenic route, stopped of at Hay Bluff as the ice cream van was still there. I've really missed the views in the countryside!!
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Saw plenty of other cars out too, everything from a McLaren to an Austin 7.
Love this. Thank you so much for sharing. My dad had a mini when i was a kid, so my first car was a G reg 1989 mini 30. Great cars, they genuinely make me smile when I see them.
What a fabulous write up. I've only just found this, sat & read the lot with avid interest. I've a similar project hiding in the garage under some sheets for years now.
Had to move her out recently to have a garage door fitted & found some enthusiasm - your tales have increased that, so thank you.
Your mini helped your head & your write up just helped mine.... top job.
Good to hear people are enjoying me enjoying it! If it helps people get back into their projects or even to find a new one then even better. Feel free to post up pictures, this thread can be about everyone's projects, not just mine.
Found out what the slight knock on the left front is: the wheel bearing has a tiny amount of play in it at one point of rotation. Move it left or right and it goes away though so presumably it has one spot that is looser than the rest. Changing it isn't hard but does require some properly beefy tools due to the torque for the driveshaft bearing, 250+Nm! That's out of my league for tooling and safety so will find a local garage to do that job. It's not in desperate need of doing but best to get it done now ready for the summer and before it gets any worse.
I'd double check that, I've never known a bearing have play at 1 point
If plays with hands at 3 and 9 its track rod and 12 n 6 ball joints.
Grease the front joints up n see if it goes away
What a great piece of info, so simply explained.
+1 for double checking, a bearing can't wear in 1 place. It can fail in one place, but you know about that!
Looks fantastic, well done. A huge difference from when you started.
Lovely.
The position of the play moves when I rotate the wheel, roughly at half the wheel speed. The ball joints are fine as is the track rod, I suspected a ball joint at first. If the movement is at 12-6 with the tyre valve at 12 and I then move the valve round to 6 then the play moves to 9-3. Move the valve to 3 and the play is halfway between 1-7 and 2-8. It's consistently like that and with the wheel off you can see the disc moving about 1mm while the hub and everything else is solid. It occasionally goes away for a few rotations too, almost like one of the balls in one of the bearings has a chip in it and it only allows play when everything lines up in a certain way. I'll get the garage to diagnose it too and see if they tally up but I'm assuming the excessive lowering the car had when I bought it has stressed the bearing out. There's no grumbling noise from it though, even under cornering, so a second opinion will be handy.
It's all part of the fun anyway, if I wanted constant reliability I'd have leased something!
OP Did you use waterless coolant in the rebuilt engine? IT would help the replacement bits live a good bit longer.
I've seen the bearings spin in the hub.
I'd check drive flanges too see if its spun.
Have you pulled the split pin out n give it a try with a bar see if you get anymore on it?
Bearings wise it might be on ballls instead of taper as well.
No to the waterless coolant, prefer to just change it annually and keep the concentration level correct. I know of three people who did use it and two of them had issues with there being no warning that the engine was overheating due to no expansion of the coolant triggering relief valves. Seeing as I have no expansion tank and it's all essentially 50's cooling technology I'll stick to regular coolant. My old Mini was taken off the road due to constant overheating and the tell-tale was always steam from the vent before the warning light came on so I'm very careful on that front. At least this one has a temperature gauge that I glance at every minute or so!
Have checked the nut as good as I can (breaker bar with extension and me fully on the end of it) and it didn't move at all, split pin was fine too so I doubt it's loosened off. I'm thinking the same on the bearing, a cheap one has been used or poor installation. If it is definitely the bearing then I'll get them to fit either the Timken one or the Mini Spares one that is well liked in the clubs and forums.
Well Georgie's back from the garage and the bearing was indeed faulty.
One of the rollers was cracked in half and not rotating, probably not for very long though as the surface of the race was still smooth but it needed doing. The grease was also pretty manky so the person who installed it either didn't do a very good job or used a cheap one, most likely both. The top ball joint also was replaced as it didn't take very kindly to being removed from the suspension arm, deciding to destroy the threads on the nut as it came off! All done for the gigantic sum of £113 so not a big deal at all. I would have got the lower ball joint replaced at the same time but neither I or the garage could source one in time so it'll have to wait until I do another order, I can fit that myself anyway. Took her for a quick spin and the nasty rattle has completely gone so the bearing was the culprit.
So seeing as she's back and the weather was good yesterday, plus I'd had a really tough few days for a few reasons, I took her out up to the Elan Valley for her first proper day out. Spent a good few hours driving through Mid Wales, enjoying the twisty bits and generally having a good dose of much-needed fun. I wasn't the only one out either, plenty of motorbikes with a few older cars in the mix too. Thankfully it wasn't busy so lots of space to just enjoy the views and have a proper reset of the old grey matter.
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That's one of the few times I managed to take a photo of her without someone checking her out, the other people with their classics were all having the same problem! Hopefully that will get less as more cars come out over the summer, it's getting to be a bit of a pain at fuel stops and cafe's. Not complaining, more than happy for people to have a nose around. The main comment is about how small it is compared to modern stuff but then there was a Mk4 Cortina beside a new Discovery at one car park and even that looked small.
Did have another, different knocking sound appear on the drive back home though, need to investigate that before the next adventure. Had a quick look at a cafe but it's nothing obvious and all the bits replaced are still tight, if it's not one thing it's another with projects!
Already hoping to have another adventure before the end of the month, got two I want to do this summer so will see if the weather and restrictions play ball so I can tick them off the list.
Enjoying the updates 🙂
Nice. I've never done one & have not got the space or tools to do it, but I'd love to buy an old car (not necessarily a Mini) & refurb it.
Are they Yokohama tyres on it? A mate at uni had an Astra with a few mods & he always insisted on Yokohama tyres. They look familiar.
Great story to read. I've always loved Mini's, ever since my parents (i was five or six) hired one for a holiday to the north of Scotland. Two adults and two kids in a mini, with everything for a two week holiday, driving from the Midlands 😂 we still talk about it fondly.
I would love an old mini but don't have the time or knowledge. They have so much character.
Yep, they're Yokohama's. The A539 is pretty much the only tyre you can get in 12" for them these days, they're a good tyre but definitely aimed at handling with a very stiff sidewall. They were the tuner's tyre of choice back in the late 90's, had them on my Nova. You can occasionally get a Nankang that's much more comfort-orientated and is actually very good (and would be my preference) but stock is sporadic so pretty much every Mini on 12 or 13's is running Yokohama's.
doom_mountain - 4-up from the Midlands to Scotland, bet that was intimate!
Yeah, this was the late 90s. I remember him being pretty miffed because Yokohama used to do a more aggressive tyre that was his preferred option. This was the replacement when they discontinued it.
Have you looked on camskill.co.uk for the Nangkangs? Dunno what profile your 12s are, but they have a few 12" tyres on there and generally have a decent selection of tyres in general.
He may be on about the old A520, was directional and very sticky for the time.
Camskill do indeed have stock of the Nankangs, pity that I don't need tyres though! The ones I have are 7 years old but still have plenty of tread and have scrubbed back in nicely with a bit of use. Will remember though as if she passes her MOT for next year I may put new rubber on as I don't like using tyres over 7-8 years old.
I had dunlop Sp on my cooper...
Touch hard really
Aoo8s on the 10inch rims
Had a bit of time available so decided to look into a few jobs that are pending on my ‘Snags List’.
The first one was to raise the suspension up a bit, partly to stop the front right wheel rubbing the arch on compression but also to add a bit of compliance to the ride! Easy enough to do so that was quickly fixed, she now is just half an inch lower on the front from standard and a quarter lower on the rear. The ride is still firm at this point so it’s on to step 2: softening the adjustable shocks.
Except the adjusters don’t move on three of them. They have obviously never been turned after being installed judging by the crap on them, this is the cleanest one!
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/L4v2Pq0D/20210424-123736-1.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/L4v2Pq0D/20210424-123736-1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
A quick phone call to Mini Spares and I find out how the adjusters work and that a liberal soaking in some penetrating oil with gentle wiggling should free them up. A few solid soaks over the next few hours frees them up nicely enough to find out they were all set on the hardest setting. I’ve wound them all to 2 clicks off the softest and the suspension now actually moves! The ride is much, much better now so that’s another job sorted.
Next job is to reset the ignition timing as the distributor is at an odd angle to what it should be. The rotor arm should be pointing at roughly 10 past 2 when at TDC but it’s more like 20 past. Not a major issue but it does mean I can’t advance the timing past 10 degrees without the vacuum hose hitting the oil feed pipe to the filter. I whip it off and find this:
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For those of you who don’t know this is how it’s pictured in the Haynes manual, with the slots pointing towards the hole on the right (it’s the bolt hole for the distributor clamp). If you read the manual properly though it should be in this orientation before you insert it and as the drive gear mates with the crank it turns a quarter turn anti-clockwise to end up pointing towards the bottom of the core plug. It doesn’t affect the running of the engine but does make timing hard to do! Easy to solve as all you do is thread a bolt into the centre of it, pull it out then insert it correctly. Retimed the engine so it now has 12 degrees of advance at idle and it now pulls better above 4k than it did before plus it’s running smoother on full-throttle.
Ran out of time for any more spannering so had to pack her away at this point.
Then an opportunity arose to do a trip I’ve wanted to do with her: The Isle Of Wight. A window of 3 days of good weather presented itself this weekend and I found some relatively cheap self-contained accommodation available. I ummed and ahhed about it for a few hours but my mum told me to just go as the whole of the last few months have been horrid on the whole and there was no telling when I would next get a chance to have a break.
So 24 hours later and Georgie is on a ferry heading into Cowes!
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The next 2 ½ days were spent driving all around the island, somewhere I’ve visited a few times now in various ways so know it well. I’ve even done a day’s riding where I parked up in Portsmouth, caught the ferry to Fishbourne, rode round the whole island and then back to the car in one! As every tourist attraction is closed still I spent the time going to lots of the coves and walks I’ve not done, stuff that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Didn’t take many pictures of her apart from these two:
Georgie taking in the view near Freshwater Bay
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And her on Ryde pier trying out one of the Large Vehicle bays for size
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Had loads of fun blasting along the island’s smooth, twisty roads. The locals obviously noticed me though as while I was filling up with fuel at Asda a guy came over and asked if I was local. When I said I was on holiday he looked relieved! He then went on to explain that there were only a few known Mini’s on the island, he owned one, and they had been messaging each other trying to find out who’s this one was. He did offer that if I had any mechanicals to just let them know in the kiosk and they’d help if they could, which was nice! I’ve always had a great welcome on the island and it’s somewhere I’d love to live if I could afford to and still get onto the mainland regularly.
On the subject of issues, I only had one the whole trip: the steering wheel cowling, which is famous for being brittle, decided to fall off on the last day! I was turning around in a junction when there was a clunk and the left portion of it flew into the passenger seat. Upon checking it over it looks like one of the screws in the steering wheel boss decided to work loose (the other 3 are still tight) and basically lever it off once it had got bored of making a few grooves in it.
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I removed the rest of it, checked the steering wheel wasn’t about to fall off (always carry a toolkit!) and put all the bits in a bag to be fixed at a later time. The rest of the journey back home went without incident thankfully, although there are plenty of new rattles and noises to investigate now!
So that’s the first big multi-day adventure with her under my ownership done. 480 miles, two ferry crossings and a lot of memories. I wish I could have had a few more days away as it was really helping to clear my head and recharge the old energy levels but I couldn’t afford any longer and the weather was forecast to turn the next day. I thought I’d got away with missing rain completely but I got caught out by a small rain shower near Winchester on the drive home. Not an issue, except there hasn’t been any rain for weeks so the salt from March hasn’t washed away. The rain just pulled it up and her backside is now a bit crusty from the spray. It’s not bad, nothing a good wash won’t sort when I go down Thursday, but still slightly annoying.
As an aside, I had to park my daily driver in my parent’s garage where Georgie normally lives due to lack of parking. It only just fitted but I had to get out of the boot! Normally I can park the Mini in there, get out of it and easily put the cover on her all the way round!
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Felt really odd driving it home after a few days in the Mini. All the controls felt over-assisted, the steering was much less direct, the ride was wallowy and I was the same size as the rest of the traffic! Very weird...
Sounds like a great little trip & good to hear that you had no real issues while over there - it must help to build confidence in the cars overall reliability.
Although from the sound of it, you can sort out most issues yourself anyway, or when on the Isle of Wight have a task-force of like minded people ready to give you a hand!
I've only been to the Isle of Wight once but would like to go back at some point.
I can do most jobs in a workshop with the correct tools but I only take a basic socket set, some screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and spare fuses. Enough to fix a leaky hose, a loose bolt or something similar but any more than that will end in me calling the breakdown truck! I don't even have a spare tyre as the spare wheel I have for her is a different size with different wheel nuts required and a perished tyre, plus if I do get a flat that can't be repaired no-one will have a new tyre in stock anyway. All I've done is get her all caught up on regular maintenance and fixed lots of niggles so far, more will show themselves every time I take her out. At some point something will strand me somewhere, but then that's all part of the fun!
The IOW is great for a getaway from mainland life, you can feel the change of pace the second you get off the ferry. Everyone says hello to each other, chats to strangers and generally just want to help each other out. If you can get a few days there, no point rushing round on a short day trip.
After the IOW trip I had a small list of things to do and as the weather has been so crap for a while I've had time to do them!
First on the list was to finally fit the heater matrix, not for heating the cabin but so that I have a working demister for the windscreen! Pulled the old one out and it looked decidedly worse for wear.
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Leaks in a few places and definitely dead. The new one looks so good in comparison it almost seems a shame to hide it inside the heater/blower casing!
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Plumb it back in and top up the coolant and it all works again without any leaks.
Second on the lost is to investigate a slight rumbling from the left rear wheel, presumably the bearing. I removed the drum to find a nice surprise: new brake shoes, backing plate and wheel cylinder! I also found the cause of the rumbling, whoever had put it back together hadn't fitted the bearing seal correctly. It had worked loose and let all the grease weep out and the brake dust in. Cue one cleaning session hoping to find the bearing surfaces in good condition.
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Looks like I got away with it! Reassembling it correctly and repacking it with grease has made it much smoother to spin so will find out over the course of the next journey or two.
Then it was on to the seemingly never-ending chase of rattles from the front suspension. I've chased down most of it now but there's still the odd new one making their appearance known still. So it was the now regular routine of taking the wheels off and checking everything over.
I did spot one thing immediately though. The lashing eye that blots the subframe to the front panel has been touching, causing a small amount of paint to chip off.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/jdnhQp3Q/20210516-150800-1.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/jdnhQp3Q/20210516-150800-1.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://ralphrobertspersonaltrainer.com/4-things-you-should-know-about-the-detox-tea-trend ]everyday detox tea what does it do[/url]
A quick turn of it to gain clearance and that's one potential noise source removed.
The tie bar bushings at the front are the next thing as I'd noticed the car weaved slightly under braking, a classic sign they're worn out. I've gone for the uprated ones with a harder outer bush, that's the one that takes the braking loads. It's a very noticeable shade of purple!
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The final stage now was to check all the nuts for tightness, where I found that the shock mount on the front left wasn't holding torque and able to move in the hole it went through the hub. Took it off and found the thread had given up.
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So that's been replaced with an uprated version too that has the spacer built-in and can be torqued on each side separately. This should help as the torque figures for the hub side and the shock side are different, it's also stainless so shouldn't rust like the old one did!
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All of that work has lead to a lot of parts on the front suspension being replaced chasing noises! The front left is the most with new upper ball joint, bearing tie bar bushings and bolts, shock hardware and track rod end. Annoyingly the shiny bolts make it all look rather grubby!
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So that was all done last week but due to the crap weather I couldn't take her out for a run until Wednesday. The noise from the left rear is gone so looks like it was just a dry bearing. There's definitely far fewer rattles and she brakes straight now but the brake pedal is a bit soft so that's the next thing on the list. It's seemingly never-ending but I am making her better every time so it's all good.
Now all we need is a run of decent weather so I can get out on a day trip or two.
Adjust the rears up 1st...
Back handbrake off make sure quads and links move
Wind adjusters on till it binds then back a flat.
That's the plan. I already readjusted the rears after doing the bearing but I'm going to do it all again just to make sure it's correct. Before that though I'll do an inspection for leaks and a quick bleed too, make sure there's nothing obvious.
Well I had a chance to take a look at what the brake issue was over the last few days. Thankfully I didn't have too long to spend on diagnosis as there was a pretty good clue staring at me when I pulled the cover back:
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Definitely brake fluid and looking directly above the puddles I saw this:
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Trace that back and the wet trail leads to the distribution block for the front calipers:
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A quick press on the brake pedal shows a small leak from around the lower copper crush washer. At least it's an easy fix! I take it apart and spot something odd about the lower washer: it's only crushed on one side. A quick check on the Mini Spares website's schematics shows that the lower one should be smaller in inner and outer diameter than the top one, mine are both the same size. A quick trip into the local motor factors doesn't get me anywhere as they're imperial size but they point me towards a garage on the same industrial estate that specialise in old Land Rovers and I manage to get a pair the correct size there. You can see the difference in size and where the bottom right one has been too big to seal properly if you look closely:
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Getting it back together though was a nightmare. The clutch slave cylinder mechanism and clutch cover are directly above the nut so it's really hard to get a decent amount of torque onto it without risking slippage. Took a solid hour to get it done correctly! Re-bleeding the brakes and even nipping back out for more brake fluid took less time!
It all seems leak-free now but I haven't driven anywhere to fully test it, all I've done is start the engine and stood on the pedal a few times to pressurise it. No sign of any leaks so I've left it with a drip tray underneath and with the fluid reservoir topped up to the max mark for a few days. Hopefully it's all fine now as it looks like the weather is going to be great for a week or so, should get some local trips in before I resume my work search.
I am making her better every time so it’s all good.
A rare picture of ReluctantJumper...
So it finally happened, something broke. Serves me right for going for a quick run while the weather was good I suppose!
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The engine died and I coasted to a halt after only going a mile! It would fire up again but die after a few seconds, thought I'd run out of fuel but no. Looks like a fuel leak as every time I crank the engine over some drips out from the driver's side. Strangely all the fuel system is on the passenger side of the car so there must be a random path it's taking. Not taking any risks with fuel though so a call to the breakdown people was in order. Annoyingly while waiting loads of other people drove past in their classics, modified cars or motorbikes so it felt like everyone was rubbing salt in the wound 😅
I got lucky with the RAC guy though, he knew older cars and quickly figured out what was wrong: the carb was pissing all the fuel out of the float chamber through the overflow. I'd completely forgot that it routed over that side of the car! Luckily I fitted a new one when the engine was out as there wasn't one fitted previously so it would have dumped fuel all over the exhaust 😲
A quick inspection of the float chamber found it full of crap from the tank, which is surprising as I flushed the tank out when replacing the body gasket.
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The mechanic gave it a good clean out for me and it fired up after a few seconds cranking. Runs fine again now but I'm not taking the risk so will do a flush and filter before taking her out again. Probably my fault for running the tank pretty low last time out and then not using her for 3 weeks, won't do that again!
Still, not bad having only one breakdown in 1300 miles on a 31 year old classic after having the engine out.
Good that it was an easy fix.
Is there no inline fuel filter between the tank/carb on the old Minis then?
No no filters normally.
You can put one on. Make sure all the hoses are good. It's the location to the exhaust that always worries me
No, but it's easy enough to retrofit one. Means replacing a bit of hard line with rubber and extending the run from the fuel pump. I thought just cleaning the tank out would be enough but I was obviously wrong!
Yes, the fuel lines right above the exhaust are a little worrying!
You didn't get far if that's the Red Indigo as you leave town 🙂
Tapping the float chamber with a wooden hammer handle was usually a good enough bodge to get you home again. From memory, with a fair bit of throttle.
In this case, I would suggest stripping and cleaning the carb and checking it’s built as it should be. I’ve seen 1.1/4 and 1.1/2” bits mixed up before. It looks not quite right but can be hard to spot.
I’m enjoying this! Please keep updating!
Tbf Andy I'd expect that on a waxstat carb and I'm pretty sure no hs2 was ever waxstat equipped.
Tbf a carb rebuild is a nice afternoon job. Just need a reamer to do the carb body if its baggy. Though most of the time a new spindle gets them near enough.
My carb cars are all on twins I do have a 28/36 down draught in a box somewhere too.
Got a lovely set of brass levered H4s as well.
The tapping technique didn't work sadly and yes a full carb rebuild is on the list for the winter. Would have done it earlier but I ran out of time with all the other jobs and as it was working it fell down to the bottom of the list.
You didn’t get far if that’s the Red Indigo as you leave town 🙂
Yep, although I still call it The Swan. Grand total of 1.2 miles. The potholed tarmac just past the primary school must have jiggled the crap around blocking the carb up!
I will keep the updates coming as things happen, didn't want to spam it with every little trip I take. The next worry is the MOT which I plan to do at the end of September, that will dictate whether it's just more fettling over the winter or time for the proper Man Tools 😁
Yep, although I still call it
The Swan.
Correcting myself here, The White Hart! Used to be the go-to place to watch the rugby as you got free sausages and chips at half time. The Swan was the pub with a pool table.
Well yesterday I fitted a new fuel line and filter. Took a while as I had to remove the carb so as to get access to the fuel line from the pump (everything is in the way of itself down there) but it's now done.
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It's temporarily cable tied to the bulkhead wiring prong, I'll make a proper bracket using a P clip when I get the chance. That position should mean that any further issues with crap being sucked from the tank should be easily resolved by swapping in a new filter that's now in the 'Running repairs' stache in the rear bin! I also had a look in the float chamber of the carb for any more crap in there but it was still clean from where the RAC guy had cleaned it out, hopefully I was just unlucky to suck through a bit of crap and everything should be fine now with the filter on there. I did have a look in the tank but there's no visible crap in it.
I thought it would be a bit of a mission getting a smal enough clear filter but as soon as I explained what I was doing and said it was for an old Mini the guy behind the counter knew exactly what I needed and had it for me in under a minute, so good to deal with people in the trade who know how older cars work.
While under the bonnet I also secured the hazard relay that has been rattling around under there since the engine went back in and I lost the clip for it!
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So to celebrate I took her out for a run to get a 99 (or two...) in the Beacons and she ran perfectly.
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If anything there's now a bit more poke at full throttle and she revs a bit better above 4k too so there must have been a small restriction in the old metal file pipe that's now replaced with the filter and new hose. Or it could be that I treated her to some Shell V Power unleaded. Either way it should all be good for the end of the summer.
Speaking of which, I've got to start looking at getting her through the MOT. It's due at the end of November but I'll do it at the end of September. The result of that will decide whether this coming winter is either a few small jobs ready for next year or that it's time to start planning for the next stage in the project. If it's the latter then I need to start keeping an eye on the Aldi Aisle of Dreams for power tools!
Well as mentioned above it's time to think about the impending MOT which is booked for the beginning of October. First thing to note is of you need an MOT anytime soon is to get it booked up early! I've had to commit a carnal sin and book her into a Kwik Fit 20 miles away as every garage within that radius is fully booked for the next 2 months! Blame that MOT extension during lockdown, it's heavily loaded the MOT demand to between September and March. My daily driver is due at the end of December so will have to look at getting that booked from around early November.
So time to draw up a list of niggles to sort. These are the bits I know need looking at as possible fails:
Wipers don't self-park due to a failed proximity switch. The part has been unavailable for over a year, don't know if it will be an issue.
Check the rear subframe for rust. It was welded for the last MOT so will have a quick look as I haven't done anything to it.
New battery. The current one has a cracked terminal that still clamps up fine but I can see how it could be flagged as not secure. As it's the negative terminal that I disconnect every time I put her in the garage I've been keeping an eye on it and it hasn't got any worse but as the battery is old I'll probably just chuck a new one on.
Passenger's seatbelt doesn't retract unless helped. Hopefully just down to complete lack of use and a bit of lube and working it in and out should sort it.
Fog light bracket has a habit of working loose. It never comes more than just wobbly so new bolts and a bit of locking compound should sort that easily.
Washer jets need aiming to hit the screen when stationary. They're currently aimed to just hit the bottom as otherwise when used at speed they just go over the roof, got to love 1950's aerodynamics!
Replace the locking wheel nuts with standard ones. I had one fail to hold torque a few weeks ago so put a spare standard one on in it's place so will just change them all for peace of mind.
Apart from that it's down to whether there is any structural issues. The only thing that has me worried is that there is still a knocking noise from the front left suspension that I've never fully found on big bumps. Nothing is loose and the mechanic who did the wheel bearing for me couldn't find it either so it's either a worn lower ball joint (which is only really diagnosed by replacing it thanks to the loading spring inside it) or a faulty shock. Neither have play or visible leaks so should pass fine. I'm not going to do any more than general prep for the MOT as if it fails on anything major then I have the whole winter to fix it and it may also trigger the next stage of the project: a full body rebuild, respray etc. Another year of adventures before that happens would be nice but is not a problem if it doesn't materialise.
Roll on judgement day!
Well I took her for the MOT yesterday, didn't fail! Or Pass.
I got through the list of jobs above easily enough: wipers park correctly now after a new switch on the motor, rear subframe still looks solid, borrowed a battery to fit temporarily (will replace mine in the spring, seems silly to fit a new battery only for it to sit all winter), seatbelt adjusted, fog light bracket fixed, washer jets adjusted and new wheel nuts fitted. Gave the inside a good hoovering and it was off into the rain to the MOT station.
The drive to Monmouth was fine but the horn stopped working about halfway there, most likely due to water getting inside but that's an easy fix so not worried. Got there and the guy on reception seemed rather happy to have an old Mini to test, turns out he used to have one. He asked if it was carb or injection then said it would be about an hour so I went off into town to get some food at the Punch House. Had a lovely fish and chips but just as I was finishing it I got a phone call. They had been in the middle of testing the lights when the engine died and they couldn't get it started again. They checked the obvious stuff but managed to trace it down to a loose earth cable. As it couldn't be started they abandoned the test and asked it if it was ok to push it out into the car park.
Finished my food then made my way back to the garage to see what was wrong.
First thing I did was try the key and it started first time. The guy was adamant it wouldn't start for them on the ramp so I popped the bonnet to have a look. Found this:
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You can see a small bit of bolt sticking out of the block, that is a snapped engine mount bolt. There is normally a bracket that also braces the mount (the silver rod with a rubber bushing) but that was dangling from the snapped end of the bolt and it's second bolt was missing. It seems like the first bolt has rattled out allowing all the stress to go through the main bolt which has given up while the car was being put on the ramp. The earth strap was attached to the engine mount bolt so when it snapped the earth was lost.
So with that figured out I had to try and reattach the earth strap so I could at least drive home. They let me use some spanners and with a bit of manipulating of stuff I got the earth strap attached to a bolt on the gearbox housing, not great but enough to get home slowly. I've got breakdown cover but I don't know whether it would get me from a garage to home, if I could get a few miles down the road then that wouldn't be an issue. Before I left I checked how much of the test had been done and if they had found any issues. They said the left rear brake is not working on the pedal or the handbrake and the horn wasn't working, that's as far as they got. So set off for home and actually managed to get all the way by being gentle and with only a few stutters on more than half throttle, which meant going at 50mph on 20 miles of dual carriageway in rain, not fun in a car that small and with old filament lights!
So she's now parked back up in the garage drying out for a few days. I did do a quick check on the rear brakes when home, they work but the left is a bit weak. The issue I've got now is two things: they didn't do a full test so I still don't know if anything major is wrong and that snapped bolt. Getting it out is not the major issue, getting tools to it is. The space between it and the inner wing is too tight for a drill so it looks like to fix it I'll have to take the engine out. If I'm doing that then it seems a lot of effort to go through, put it back together then get it tested again only to fail on something else. It's a conundrum as I really wanted the test to tell me whether it's a winter of fixing little things or getting ready for a full body rebuild.
A bit of thinking time is called for I think.
