pulled the motor apart a little today, I say a little, we didn’t need to get far as I found a smashed up spark plug and know what’s happened, it’s dropped a valve. no bother as I’ve found another engine now for £400
Just put a 1000 miles on mine. Never skipped a beat, despite massive tailbacks from Barnstable to beyond Bristol, and then a repeat clusterfuck in Birmingham. Ice cold A/C was useful; fuel economy -despite pushing on- bloody marvelous. Edit: I looked up the fuel consumption over the entire trip -54.3mpg.
I invariably use the M6 toll, the slow crawl from J5-11 is enough for me to cough up the £5:40-8:60 to avoid the extra travel time.
Or if you’re Stoke way carry on up the M42 off at Coleshill or Tamworth and pick up the A38 from the A5 then onto the A50. It may be longer in distance but a little quicker?
A bit of progress on the mini, started taking the engine apart ready to come out. I wanted to make sure the supercharger was still usable etc. In doing so we definitely identified the issue with how it’s been running and why the spark plug was smashed up! So yeah…. Quite a lot of stuff left through the front door, enough to puncture the alternator! I’ve also been buying up parts to put it back together, the latest of which I struggled to hide from the missus! this replaces the one that’s on there which is super rusty in exactly the spots they all go in. The thing with the car is that actually with a tailgate and a bit of work to the body around the rear light, it’s actually not that bad…. I’m going to take my time though with the rebuild, I want to re-bush it and probably do new replacement shocks etc. I’m also going to drop the subframes and paint them etc. so I’ll update you all if you wish as I go along
man maths has gone out the window though, I keep seeing them selling with MOT and running for £1500 and I’m probably up at £1100 already and haven’t got the engine in it yet! Hoping to pick up a replacement engine though on Saturday for £400
These little cars really have hardly any monetary value, but they're great fun to have. Plus all the money you put in gives an immediate benefit, which lets be honest we've all -or is it only me?- dumped loads into bike mods and seen little effect. I wish I'd bought my Mini years ago!
Big progress this weekend!!! Gave the inside a really good clear out and replaced the manky and wobbly seats for some new (to me) park lane seats and door cards, which has just bought the whole inside to life. Oh…. And I picked up an engine on Sunday, so while it will be a while before it goes in the car, I’ve nearly got all the parts I need!
Fit a new clutch and crank shaft seal while the engine is out of the car, I’ve just done my sons, a long winded job
Yeah that’s why the engine is last, it’s going to have all new seals (sump, oil filter housing, crank seals) and a timing chain kit, along with a supercharger service, and new clutch, hence tackling it as a final item. next priority is to get the car onto the project ramp, and get the current engine out of the car. once I have done that, I can go around doing the chassis tidy up jobs, like new fuel tank strap, new rear springs, brake lines etc. I’m really tempted to put a set of r56 brakes on it also but if my brakes are passable I could always do that later
I don’t, no, as the original car didn’t have them, so I’ll have to fit them. I’ve seen some looms being sold to do it but need to do a bit of research. I’ll leave it until last I think! haven't made any progress this weekend as I’ve been getting the Ducati fixed, but I’m hoping to get back on it next weekend
