Finally got the dash wired up.....so I powered up the car to see what worked and what didn't...…..too much to hope for that everything would just work I guess. Ignition and starter work, lights all work correctly so that's good. Horns blow. Ammeter is wired backwards - I had a 50/50 chance on that one..…. However the heater blower doesn't, wiper motor doesn't, windshield washer motor doesn't even tho I tested it on the bench and it worked fine there, even pumped water. Rear defroster doesn't work either. I'll do some testing after dinner tonight. Edit: Wiper fuse blown, now I need to find out why. Could be wired wrong, could be a bad motor
Yeah...………..and burn up my new impossibly lucky to find anywhere in the world wiring harness? I don't think so Tim......
I wonder if every electrical thing worked when the car was new. The only thing I like less than electrical work is body work, but you have that one handled. Good luck Dave.
Yes, I wish I had tested everything before hand, when we got the car......but so much of the wiring was screwed up I wouldn't know if the thing was bad or the wires to it were.....I did test all the components to make sure they worked before I put them in the car....everything except the wiper motor - I took it apart and it looks fine, but I didn't bench run it.
Tried to bleed the clutch yesterday and fluid just pissed out of the connection with the flex hose to the slave cylinder. After fussing with it for most of the day I took it out and made a whole new line. That one sealed up nicely and I got the clutch bled out. My plan is to at least get it running and drivable (no brakes, just the handbrake at this point ) with the goal that I can take it off the rack and put the other MINI/Mini on in turns to do the prep work for my trip on Tuesday. After that line failed so miserably I'm fearful that I'll be chasing leaks on all the other lines I made - which fortunately is just the two across the bulkhead and the one from the booster to the union. All the rest were factory made lines. I did find a fuel filter that will fit the tighter and tighter confines of the engine compartment, and bought a couple of gallons of gas. I'm going to run some thru the line to the carbs before I hook it all up. I still have a couple of electrical things that aren't working, but nothing critical at this point, the wiper motor and rear defrost are MIA, everything else works......
Yesterday I spent the day getting two of my cars ready for the trip to Wytheville, Virginia for the Classic Minis United Mini 60 event, I'm leaving early Tuesday so I can avoid traffic both here in KC and in St. Louis. To do that I needed to clear the lift - I carefully rolled the Inno off the lift and down the driveway, this left just enough room to get a car into the shop and on the lift in front of it. I started with the green classic - I pulled all the wheels so I could rotate them, and while I had them off I pulled the rear drums to check the shoes - all good there so I buttoned them up, readjusted the rear brakes and then flushed the fluid. I changed the oil and filter, and noticed that I had lost the valve cover cap and who knows how long I've been driving without it? There wasn't as much oil under the hood as I expected......I topped off all the other fluids, set the tire pressures and gave the interior a good vacuum. While in there I also set the light bar in the back window, cleaned the windshield and replaced the wiper arms and blades. She should be good to go...… Next up was the '09 blue Clubman S, it also got all 4 tires off so I could check the brakes and rotate the tires. I also changed the brake fluid in it, topped off all the fluids and set the tire pressures. This car has been so reliable, it's been a really good car for me. We debated replacing it a couple times as it's closing in on a 100K, but we've decided to just keep it and the Audi both. Then I had to get the Inno back into the shop and on the lift again...….my neighbor came and helped me push it up the drive to the edge of the garage but that was as far as we could push it. No matter, I have a 120V boat winch attacked to the crossbar of the my metal workbench, I just hook the cable up and it drags a car right up and onto the lift - I had to stop a couple times to straighten the tires, but it's a pretty painless way to do it. Today I'll do laundry, mow the grass and a hundred "honey do's", then late in the afternoon I'll hook up the green car to the blue one and load tools and spares and be ready to head out about 7 am. Back in a week or so!
Pic from my BiL's house near Bagnel dam at the Lake of the Ozarks.....we went down for our 25th anniversary.
I've been gone a lot for the last few weeks so the poor Inno has been languishing in the shop, now I'm home for a bit so I can get back on it - but first I needed to spend some time cleaning and organizing the shop - I already have two engines booked in to be built, one arrived last weekend and the other is due in a few days so I had to make room even tho I'm not starting on them right away. A third engine and a Sprite transmission are also waiting for me to tell them when to come over. Gonna be a busy winter! Part of my organizing is also directed at cleaning out the basement, it would be easy to use the basement for engine building, but I have no idea how I would get them up and down the stairs, so for now it will just be for storage.
Did a "dealer trade" on the Inno - it went down to my partner's shop in Tulsa while I do some final work on a '66 Cooper S full restoration that he's been doing. I'm doing a bunch of wiring and final odds and ends while Dan will do some interior work on the Inno - installing the door cards and carpets and doing some final cut and polish on the body. The green block on the bench is a Sprite engine I'm building for a guy, it will be a mildly warmed up 1310 cc with an Evo 266 cam and a few other goodies. Should be a nice upgrade to the 948 currently in his Bugeye Sprite.
Yeah, I really can't wait to get it on the road.....Dan and I both wish we lived closer so we could trade more work like this, I like doing the mechanicals and he prefers the paint and interior work - it's a good matchup but the 4 hour drive makes it tough. I built an engine for his daily and it made 80hp at the wheels, or about 100 at the crank - that's a LOT for a normally aspirated A series motor. I think the Inno will do just a bit more as it's not only bored but stroked and makes 1410cc vs Dan's 1293. We'll see in the spring when it goes on the dyno - need to get some miles on it first. We're looking at changing his over from carbs to fuel injection, might pick up a couple more HP then.
Dan has been working on the Inno as his real job allows, the carpet and door panels are on....I'll be done with the 66 Cooper S this week and depending on the weather and his schedule we'll be trading back again.
The Inno is home again from Tulsa, can't wait to finish it up and get it on the road, I promise videos when I do. Dan did a great job getting some of the details buttoned up, including all the carpets installed, door card and seats in, bumpers and grill on and touching up a couple of tiny bits on the paintwork. The car is really looking good now!
Well, between health issues and other drama the poor Inno has been severely neglected....today I managed to get a few things sorted, the front T/S lenses installed and all the lights working correctly. I had only put a couple of gallons of fuel in the left tank so today I hooked a spare battery to the fuel pump and pumped out the remains as it was over a year old gas and put a couple of fresh gallons in it. Tonight I'm charging the battery up again and tomorrow I'll see if the engine will make some good noises. I need to reinstall the rest of the dash and get it screwed in place, then we'll see where I'm at. Dan is coming up Friday to deliver a couple of engines and the 67 S to its new owner, and he'll take the Innocenti back to Tulsa and do some carb tuning. Friday morning I'll need to pull the 1098 out of the engine stand as it's going with the 67 S to its new home in Bethany, Mo. While it's gone I'll get the suspension parts ordered for the white Japanese spec car and get Willie B's motor put back together....assuming I'm able to anyway. It's been a rough summer and fall.....I'm afraid my July 1st adventure really took it out of me. Then starting Jan 5th I'll be out of commission for 6 weeks or so after getting my knee replaced, and hopefully things will be back to normal come springtime.
Well, it took me long enough! Red letter day! It's alive!!!!!! Of course it's run in the engine stand in the past, but this is the first time I started it in the car. It was a bit of a challenge, the fuel was old so I pumped it out and put fresh gas in it. Then I hooked the fuel pump up wrong and it didn't pump (imagine that!) Once I got that sorted I decided to clean out the float bowls rather than start on that old gas. Once that was done it just didn't want to start. After scratching my head a while I realized someone had reversed the #1 and #3 plug leads??? Once THAT was sorted....well, this is the result. I still have some issues to sort, the throttle linkage sticks like crazy, don't know what's up with that, but man does this thing rev! This is the first time I've run it with the twin HS4's so I wasn't sure just how well it would run but it feels like it's gonna be a beast! Still have a mountain of things to finish on it but at least now it runs at last!