Most liked posts in thread: A Real Mini Adventure!

A few pics from on the road, sorry there are no captions to explain where he was when he took these.....







Hood open at stops to prevent vapor lock.....





I think this is my favorite so far!

 

It's been an eventful couple of days - 5000 miles into his 6000 mile trip the car died and would not restart. Fortunately he was at a rest stop just south of Omaha instead of on the side of the road with trucks roaring past.

So, I got to try out my new towbar!

I grabbed everything and headed north in the Audi, but before I could go I had to change the hitch ball to a 2" - talk about nature's locktite! Even my impact wrench couldn't budge it, so I got the torch out and got the nut cherry red, then put the impact on it. It moved but very slowly, so I just kept hammering on it till eventually it came off.

Once on the road just north of KC I got hit by about the worst thunderstorm I've ever driven thru - 50 miles of the hardest rain I've ever seen, the best I could make was about 40 mph, people were pulled over in droves, and those who were still moving (thinking like I that we could drive out of it) were just crawling along with the flashers going!

Finally I cleared the storm and when I got to where he was parked it had stopped raining. He'd also gotten hit earlier in the day by a big T-Storm, but he found an empty fireworks tent and holed up till it passed.....



Once I got to the rest stop we set to hooking up the towbar, which fit perfectly although I did have to drill out the holes in the front mounts a little to get the 1/2" bolts thru.....I think he was happy to see me!



While he was waiting for me he took a taxi to the closest NAPA and bought a coil, but that wasn't the problem.

We got it all hooked up and headed to my house





Last night he posted....

Yesterday started out wet, first rain on the trip so guess that's good. First gas stop for the day after cleaning the windshield so I can apply Rainx I see a large empty tent just across the parking lot. The car fit with room to spare.

All was going well till the car would not restart after a rest area visit. Tracked it down to no spark. Then I discovered I had taken my multimeter out of my toolbag and not replaced it. Decided the coil must be bad. Got a taxi service to come pick me up, take me to NAPA then back to rest area. It was not the coil. Without a meter could not really check anything. So, called Dave. He drove close to 400 miles round trip to come get me. He brought his newly built but un-tried flat tow setup. Towed us back to his place in the rain. This was his first time flat towing a car.

Will check it out this morning to find out what's going on. Still wet out there so will wait till mid-morning.

This AM's post.....

The car started for about 10 seconds this morning. Long enought to pull it to the garage door then it died and would not restart. Went to a local british car place but they did not have any distributors that would fit, so ordered a new 59D with electronics from Seven with overnight delivery. My car has a MG Metro A+ engine. Car is in Daves garage at the moment with the soaked carpet out trying to dry out some. As luck would have it tonight is the local british car guys meeting so Dave and I will be headed that way later.

Right now the car is in my garage drying out.....







The new dizzy is being overnighted in from 7 Enterprises in California, I'm hopeful it will be here about 10 am and he can get back on the road home to Atlanta by noonish. Still a very long ways to go, but it doesn't seem like much after all he's done so far.

His next trip? He's planning to do MINIs Take The States - 11,000 miles roundtrip! :shock:

 

Unfortunately, not a happy ending......

We spent the morning while waiting for FedX to deliver putting the car back together, tidying up in general and getting ready to hit the road again. The part got here well after noon and we installed it but could not get it to run.

Finally Brad called "Time" and said he HAD to be in Atlanta by tomorrow night so we headed off to Uhaul and rented a small truck and trailer and loaded it up.

I don't know what's bugging it, we had fuel, we adjusted the valves and for the heck of it checked compression - all were good. We just ran out of time and his confidence level in the car making it to Atlanta was going lower all the time......once he gets home I'm sure he'll get it figured out. The new distributor was making plenty of spark, but we could not seem to get it in time.

He's on his way home now.....

 

I might have made the connection but I didn't know he had just filled up.....the good news is that it's up and running again, just in time for the Sleeping Dragon and all the other fall tours.

 

Willie B left Atlanta this morning for Little Rock.....



In his own words.....

"No problems today. My seat cooler was great for half the day. 98 degrees in the car and did not even break a sweat. Then it started blowing it's fuse this afternoon. Of course by then it is 102 in the car and I am driving into the sun. Ran into a couple of guys that had flown from southern California to Asheville to buy a BMW M3. No ac for them either. They are headed to Tulsa to pick up a Porsche 930 they also just bought. Then drive both back to Cali"

 

Yeah, me either....no way I could do this trip without A/C - I don't do heat well. But it sounds like his cooler was doing the trick!

Today's report so far....he was supposed to meet up with a friend in Tulsa who has some extra wheels and tires for him, but Dan is a pilot and his flight got diverted, so he won't make it to Tulsa till late tonight.....

"Roadside repair in the Harbor Freight parking lot in Muskogee Ok. Swap out the seat cooler pump. Got two just in case. Then up the road to Tulsa. Was going to meet Dan this afternoon but ended up having to work late. Guess I be a tourist."

A little more from Willie B this evening.

"I should have stopped but I could not bring myself to do it. What am I talking about. When I saw a sign today for Toad Suck Park.

You know you are in the country when you see someone driving their riding mower to the Dollar Tree store, like I did today.

Averaged 33mpg today at 70mph."

 

The latest check-in from Willie B.......



Wifi at the hotel is terrible.

Made it to Abbotsford a day early. Got an early start on the final day at 5:30. Several of the places on my route were looking for a high of 110, so if I can get by those places before then I am good with leaving early. I still had to slow to 55 on several of the uphill climbs to ensure the engine did not gain too much heat. The extra heater core under the hood (did) it's job to keep that under control. Sure can tell the roads that the truckers have to use theirs chains on, the surface is chewed up and noisy. Also the main lane used by the trucks has a center ridge that is just wider than the mini track. The first time I got into one I thought something on the car was way bad the way I was weaving all over the lane. If the highway patrol was looking I just knew I was going to pulled over.

Today I need to find a car wash and then check the valves just to feel good about them. Car did good. Most of my time I was cruising at 72-74 mph. Car seems to like that speed, engine and ride. Average of 33 mpg for the trip so far. I use a bag of ice every 2 hours or so as the seat cooler is running all the time I am driving. I can feel the heat and know that it's hot but I am not sweating at all.

No pics unless the hotel wifi gets better.

 

After a week of no contact Willie B checked in again today, on his way home. He's still having trouble finding good wifi, but he did scratch out a short message....

Here I am. Yesterday was a long day (570 miles, 13 hours). Drug into the hotel, shower, dinner then bed. WIFI in Canada and here is not good so no photos yet. Part of yesterdays route was a state highway across the mountains, great ride but that added several hours but worth it. After that part is was just hot, dry and brown. Car is running great, I did stop and adjust the valves about 30 minutes after I hit the road while it was still coolish out. Got that down to just under 20 minutes stop to going again.

Todays drive was not quite as hot, although it was 100 when I was passing thru Hardin Montana. I found that if I close the window on the side of the car that the side wind is blowing in the car stays much cooler, of course the side I need to close keeps changing. Another sign I saw but could not stop for a photo was advertising for a "Testicle Festival" in Montana. Another one I not sure I wanna know about. Speed limits so far have been 75, with no traffic most folks seem to be staying close to that. My cruising speed has been a few under 75 even in the heat the car seems to do ok. The longer inclines drop me to just under 70. Guess I feel good enough about the engine to push it a bit more. Will post photos when I can find some good wifi.

 

I heard from Willie B again, he should be in KC tomorrow afternoon. Right now the plan is for me and several of my classic buddys to meet up with him for dinner and conversation tomorrow evening, then get anything taken care of that's needed on the car, before he heads home to Atlanta.

I'll post some pics tomorrow....but here's one of the car at the meet in Abbotsford, the day he arrived.....



And a drone shot of the car show - looks like they had a great turnout of classics!

 

He went thru the Badlands today.....I expect to see him tomorrow.

 

Tonight's report from the road:


"Made it to Rock Springs WY. Was looking iffy for a bit. Car has been sounding off and getting hard to start. When I stuck my head under the bonnet the rockers sounded noisy. Of course I did NOT pack a feeler gauge. Nurse the car to Laramie, find a parts store to buy one and check the valves. One exhaust was way too tight, no idea how. Got them all checked and adjusted and Bob yer uncle.

GPS was fun. A few miles after I got the freeway it showed I had 402 miles till my next turn.

The cool weather was nice. Till I crossed the continental divide. There is desert scrub land on the other side, that means more heat.

No pics tonight as I have no data service here. Did not take many as I was concerned that the car might not start if I turned it off"

 

Not sure where he landed tonight, but has taken some pics along the way......



Today I got an early start at 6am to beat some of the heat. It was 67 when I left, 100 in Boise when I passed thru. Looks like I will do the same tomorrow as well. No car issues today but as the day got hotter my grade climbing speed slowed. When it is less than 80 I can cruise up most at 75 but when it got HOT my best speed was 65 to not get too hot. I usually gain 30 degrees in most climbs. If I run the heater also it takes a wee bit longer to gain it but it still gets there. A few photos of todays roadside near the start.





To back up what Firebro said.....he's on I-82 heading towards Seattle now, looks like he's got one more long day to get there.

 

Well, Willie B finally got the Mini fixed, you won't believe what the problem was.....

Would you believe a tank full of water instead of gas!

He drained the tank and cleaned out the float bowl and it fired right up and ran sweet.

she's purrin like a puddy tat now.

 

There were terrible hard rainstorms all week in that area, I'm guessing that the last place he filled up somehow got a lot of water in their tanks, he only made it a few miles after his last fill up before it died. Because it was raining so hard, we both thought it was electrical - when it got to my house and we had it in the shop there was none to very weak spark, so my thinking was the 123 dist got really wet too - combination of things. We got the new dist in and it made all kinds of spark but it still wouldn't run, and he ran out of time to work on it and had to trailer it home.

Once he got home and got the dizzy dried out he had all kinds of spark but it still wouldn't run - that's what led him to the gas. He drained the tank, cleaned the float bowl and put fresh gas in it and it ran perfectly and normally, on the 123 dizzy.