Well, I said I'd know in the first 50 miles whether it would make the whole trip or not......it actually went 65 before I said "Uncle" and turned around and drove back home - where I loaded up Buzz's big brother Max and caught up to the rest of the group at our overnight stop in Jacksonville, Ill. Of course, that meant I drove an extra 130 miles that day too....but since I could run so much faster, and take the regular interstates, I only lost an hour to the group. We drove the rest of the trip today and it was a long, tiring day - we took back roads all the way, most of which were great - some of which were rough as hell.... while most of the scenery was fabulous, you con only drive past so many cornfields before you start longing for the open interstate roads and to just get there. We went to fireworks tonight - tomorrow is the first event day and it starts at 7am with car washes and breakfast, then we hit the road at 8:30 for a 60 mile drive thru the Kettle Moraine forest..... But here's a teaser photo for those of you who think they know their Minis - identify this and tell us why it's so special. Those who know the owner or maker sit on your hands and let someone else play....
Sorry I haven't updated lately.... I bought a mechanical temp gauge and will install it tomorrow so I can learn whether I have a temp problem or a gauge problem. As to the Mini above, that's a Mini sprint - the top is chopped and the body is sectioned as well. Here's a pic compared to an original back in the day when they were new.....
I like the original large mini Mini. Can't imagine squishing myself into a chopped & sectioned one. Maybe you can pick up one of the old Smiths mechanical temp gauges. Oh sorry see you already bought a gauge. That should remove your doubt about what real temp is.
To paraphrase Sherlock "I would call your attention to the positioning of the steering wheel in the car."
As in Silver Blaze, the actions of the dog in the night: Although noted for being aggressive and barking, it did nothing, and that was notable in that it was the correct reaction to the perpetrator -- it's own master. The above positioned wheel is on the right, and while that is not the position of choice for N. America, it is the correct position in respect to this model. I own a very old set of Conan Doyle's and am fond of reading the original stories before they were serialized for movies, then, more recently, turned into a "crouching tiger" super hero in big budget money flix. And, this wonderful photo of the original MINI is similar. The original form is best, more rare and to be preserved.
Thanks for the clarification there, Holmes.... I got started on the new mechanical temp gauge installation and got sidetracked looking for the source of the terrible dash rattle I still have and the reason the speedo wasn't working - found both! When I pulled the wood off to drill the hole for the gauge I also pulled out the cluster, where I found a clip missing that holds the speedo cable into the instrument, I'm going to have to engineer something for that as I can't find any reference to a clip in any of my parts sources. Why this doesn't simply use the threaded nut like every other speedo cable in the world I have no idea.... I also found that the plastic instrument cover wasn't even attached to the cluster anymore, and taking that apart I found that one of the plastic bezels was loose in the binnacle too. Fixing that required some squeeze clamps and some epoxy, but at least THAT won't buzz anymore. It will also allow the wood cover to fit correctly, although I did have to ease the edges of the wood trim a bit so it would fit the binnacle better. I also had to remove the clips and reinstall them in the cluster so I could reconnect the two pieces - that required removing some security screws - fortunately I have a complete set of those bits - I replaced them with good old Phillips heads! I got a good tight fit on the gauge in the wood dash, but I may swap locations between this temp gauge and the tach - it would make the tach a whole lot more readable and also make running the capillary tube out to the cylinder head easier too. But - that will require redoing the wiring connector I made the last time I had the dash out - it's always sumthin, isn't it? And I may have found the last big dash rattle/buzz at last - after removing all of the instruments and wood covers, I was pounding my fist lightly on top of the dash looking for the last big noise -- turns out it's the ash tray! It's loose, but somehow still held in the dash - I'll bet once I get it out I find more broken plastic tabs so I'll have to engineer a solution for that too, but it will be so great to get rid of all these terrible noises! So, once I get everything back together again, it will be time for a good run down the highway to see what the real temp numbers are, once I have that I'll know what to do next. Of course, we're supposed to get a cold front thru in the next couple of days, so my drive might have to wait for the weekend and hot weather to come back. Today I located a good deal on a cruise control from one of the folks I met at the Mini meet in Milwaukee last week - hope we can make a deal as I'd love to have that for Buzz. They stopped making aftermarket universal cruise control kits in the 90's when cruise became almost standard equipment and car mfrs started using OBDII, as the new kits all access the throttle thru the OBD port. You can still buy them of course, but they don't work on old cars like Buzz. I did find some built for the hot rod guys, but they are massively spendy! I've installed these kits on everything from Minis to Porsche 914's, they work a treat and make long trips so much easier on my poor old knees.....hope I get this one!
Good question! I'm thinking I'll probably still call him Buzz, cause he'll be buzzing around....:biggrin5:
This is what the speedo cable end is supposed to look like, that little tab is broken off on mine...... I'm thinking a screw clamp with a little tab welded or epoxied on would work, might be a PITA to get on or off tho. I guess I could just buy a new damn cable, they're only $20..... but getting the other end on the transmichigan is a real job.
I got the gauge installed and everything wired up, now I'm on a quest to find an adaptor that will let the sending unit screw into the head, none of the ones that came with the gauge will work. I can get one from Summit racing or a number of other online sources - none local - but I'm going to try a few places around town here first. The Autozone I bought the gauge from said they can't get it.....eeejits. I got the speedo cable to stay on, I just used a regular screw clamp, seems to hold it just fine. I also bought a cruise control, courtesy of a certain Ohio MINI/Mini driver! Weather today in KC - gorgeous! 68* and nice and dry- in the middle of July! I have a shop day with the KC Mini club this Saturday, so today I'm going to take advantage of the cool weather and clean and organize the shop - it needs a good cleaning after 3 months of working on Buzz. It's also a good day to get the Jag a bath and some excersize....
An eventful day of sorts......first off, the weather is absolutely gorgeous! 70* and low humidity, unheard of in July in Kansas - thank you polar vortex, or Canadian low or whatever you want to call it! Anyway, I finished the mechanical temp gauge installation except for the connection to the engine, the adaptors supplied with the gauge did not fit the engine so I called Autozone - the instructions listed a part number for the adaptor I did need - they said they couldn't get it. I found it at Summit Racing, but their website said it wouldn't ship till August sometime. on a whim I drove up to Victoria British and took a look in the Midget catalog, thinking I might just buy a new sending unit and try that while I looked for the adaptor - guess what - they had the exact part I needed in stock! VB for the win, once again! Once installed I fired it up and let it idle in the drive - I'm having a MINI shop day at my shop on Sat so I thought I'd take advantage of the cool weather and clean out the shop - something that hasn't been done in months. The Jag surprised me with a dead battery again, so I hooked up the charger - it sparked and shut off - I found a couple of bare wires right at the metal housing so I tore it down to fix the wires, rolled the Jag off the lift and hooked it up to charge while I clean the shop. All this time Buzz is idling so I walk over to check the temp after about 10 min - right on the money. I have a 160 thermostat and it was running 160. Of course, it's like 70* today, so not much of a test. I'll take it down the road a little later and see if my speedo works and whether the temp will climb again like it's been doing. Fingers crossed!
No joy in Buzzville tonight..... I took him up on the highway around town and in only 6 or 7 miles it was up to 190.....I didn't go any further tonight, I have other things to do first. Tomorrow I'm going up to school and reset the ride height and alignment - it's already settled some on one side and it pulls slightly. I'm also leaking some grease out of one of the outer boots, so I'll need to re-clamp that. Once that's done and it's driving straight then I maybe I can address the hot running and the still insistent horrible dash rattle that I somehow still have not found! I'm really glad I didn't try to drive it to Milwaukee, it's just not sorted out enough yet - but I'll get there.
have you checked the water pump for any blockage? i just replaced my rad in my classic to an aluminum rad and cycled all the fluid out and it holds steady around 160 unless im sitting in traffic at idle
YBR, the pump was new, the rad was cleaned out and flowed just fine before I put everything back together. I tried to buy an aluminum rad from one of the usual suppliers but they said I already had the "supercool" radiator and an aluminum one wouldn't cool any better. What I don't know is if I have the later style pump with the deeper impeller. I'm still running it, trying to get more miles on it - and I put a mechanical gauge on it so I could really keep and eye on the temps, so far I haven't let it get over 200* on the hottest day, but I'd rather it ran about 185-190, and that it would do it consistently. Today I fixed the outer CV boot clamp. The new boot kits came with nylon tie straps, but the end hits the bearing housing, so I tried two different metal clamps but could not get it to tighten correctly and in driving it worked it's way off, throwing grease everywhere. They were originally held on with wire, so I went back old skool on it and used SS safety wire. That sucker's not coming off now!
Scott, only by watching my new mechanical temp gauge :biggrin5: It quickly gets up to 160* (where the thermostat opens) and stays there for a while, unless I'm on the highway, then it just slowly keeps going up till I chicken out and go back to city streets and turn the electric fan on, then it cools back down (depending on ambient) to as low as 160. On hot days it will hold around 180-190 in town with the fan on. As I keep saying, my problem is only on the highway.