Most liked posts in thread: So, Today This Happened.....

So today I pulled the radiator and set up my new HF engine support bar so I could pull the motor mount off and get the cover out. It's a bit of a challenge as there's not enough room to remove the long bolts that go thru the cover, so putting it back means juggling all those while getting it over the dowel pins and engaging the speedo drive in the end of the input shaft.....









Pic shows the cover after I removed the old gasket - could not see any reason for it to leak, but I had a new thicker version so I put the cheese whiz on both sides and put it all back together again.



I poured the oil back in and I'll let it sit overnight, if I don't see any oil drips I'll put the radiator back in and run it on the rack for a half hour or so.....then let it sit again overnight. If no drips after that I'll drive it some more - tho that may have to wait till Friday as it's supposed to rain for the next three days - might even get some sleet or snow on Wed!



Sure hope this is the end of this problem.

 

OK, so I'm back on the road again.....

Turns out these late model cars have a starter relay hidden up on the firewall, just your basic 4 pin relay. I took it out and cleaned the contacts and bang! she works fine again!

Took it for a short drive around town to verify everything was still working correctly and tomorrow morning I have an appointment with the alignment shop.

Then since it will be pretty warm tomorrow (way upper 70's) we'll take both Minis for a run of a hundred miles or so. If that all goes well we should be ready to leave next Tues. It's about 900 miles one way so we both want to have a lot of confidence in our cars before we hit the road.

 

Today was a good driving day for me and Don in his Pup. The Pup ran flawlessly, no overheating, no drinking water, just cruised.....

We timed it perfectly - there was a massive storm rolling thru KC and another one from St. Louis on....both storms were moving north east and we were going south east, so we were in between storms and had mostly clear skies the whole way. Tomorrow morning promises to be a different story as the rain is supposed to start around 7 and last thru the morning....however, as we're heading east then due south I think we will eventually run out from under it......we'll see.

My car also ran fine, no issues at all.

 

We've had generally good luck on our drive so far, Don managed to get us timed right between the heavy rainstorms that were moving thru the areas we drove thru....the worst we got a light sprinkle this morning as we left Louisville.

No problems, nothing broken....so far so good.

The organizers say 45 cars have checked in so far....so, a good sized group given the Covid/vax issues.

I noticed the runs are the same as the ones we did last time, so good roads, We're just hopeful for good weather, but there's a chance of snow on Sat!

 

My Green Mini spent all the fall and most of this spring at my buddy's shop, his schedule finally opened up enough that he could get started on it. Previously we painted the front end, this time it was the rest of the car's turn. There were a few rust bubbles at the bottoms of the doors to contend with, but mostly it was just a matter of stripping all the parts off of it, sanding it down and giving it a new coat of shiny BRG metallic. It came out great and I was pleased to be able to go get it this past March.

Since then I've been driving it as much as possible, to car shows, car club breakfast meet ups, a local 500 mile round trip club event to Buc EE's in Springfield and as much daily driving as I can. I was glad to get it back - I missed it!

 

Got home yesterday from the trip to Spearfish, SD for the Mini East Meets West get together, 130 classic Minis and 200 peeps showed up and we had a terrific time, tho I had hoped for cooler weather - but what do you expect in early July?

For long runs like this I flat tow the Mini, this time with my Audi Allroad which made the trip a whole lot easier and more comfortable - to be in a quiet car with A/C and cruise control! I did about 500 miles in SD in the Racing Green, with side trips to Mt. Rushmore and out to Devil's Tower in Wyoming too, along with the events of the gathering.



No issues with either car, although on the third day I was having a lot of missing and bucking - turned out to be bad gas, easily cured with a bottle of HEET at the next fill up. The last day it ran perfectly again, although it got too hot in the afternoon for me to drive (me , not the engine) and I cooled it back at the hotel.

About the only issues I heard of from others were on the return home trip, one guy lost a tire on his trailer, another had the exhaust manifold break on his classic, but another manifold was found and sent to him to get him on his way a day later. One guy did 875 miles in his classic in one day....hardcore!

 

All back together now, tho comparing the before and after pics I noticed I need to adjust the hi lo another turn to get it back where it was.



I did have to remove the bonnet, it just made it worlds easier to get the wiper motor out of the way so I could use the cone compressor.

I was lucky that the remains of the cup came out ok, sometimes those things are really stuck in the control arm. There was a small bit of plastic that had been beaten down thru the little hole in the control arm but I was able to get it out with a set of bent nose pliers. I also greased all the zerks before I put the wheels back on so the front end should be good to go for a long time.

Everything went back together smoothly, so all I need to do now is give it a good bath. Our MINI club is meeting for ice cream Saturday evening so I want it looking good for that.

 

Back to the green Mini......

I took it on a 2300 mile roundtrip to Tenn with the Classic Minis United group and it ran flawlessly all week. I towed it behind my blue Clubby, which also ran flawlessly all trip, and got about 27 mpg while dragging the Racing Green Mini behind it - not bad! The trip down was uneventful, I drove from KC to Lexington and found a cheap motel for the night, the next day was only about 220 miles so I just cruised....when I got to the motel I found a couple of friends already there, and one fellow in the parking lot changing his alternator....typical Mini weekend, always some repairs to be made on someone's car.

That wouldn't be the end of it either, one late model classic drove up the to campground/headquarters for the event and refused to start again - till the next day when they went to load it on the trailer and it started right up! He drove it for two days and on the third day it died about 60 miles from the hotel.....AAA to the rescue and back on the trailer for home it went. Another car was a little too low and drug it's exhaust off, that one required finding a welder who could weld a flange back on. Another car refused to start one morning - never did find the problem there. Another one came into the lunch stop with a clunk that could be heard all across the parking lot, we decided it must be a rear wheel bearing so about 5 of us swung into action grabbing tools, jacks and some spare wheel bearings, only to find loose lug nuts. A quick tighten and he and his 9 year old daughter were back in business. Another lost the front wheel bearings and another broke an axle......another car lost it's brakes in the middle of the last day's runs and ran the rest of the drive using only the gears and the handbrake!

There were about 60 classic Minis at the event so there was plenty to see and lots of interesting and fun folks to meet and make new friends. Lots of interesting cars, everything from stock to ohh so not stock - including a Mini running a turbocharged K20 mounted in the back, and another running supercharged Acura V-6 in the back (detuned from 450hp to 350 for this event), along with several running Honda D series Vtec motors in the front driving the front wheels, and one running a Miata motor driving the rear wheels! I'm working on a couple of short videos, once I get them done I'll upload the YouTube Links. One of the roads we drove was known as the Snake - it had just been repaved and was smooth as glass - a great road if you find yourself in the area....highway 421.

The evening activites were just as much fun, with a costume party, hot wheels racing, silent auction, film festival, s'mores around the campfire, a dj spinning tunes and so on!

We had one crash this year, first one in the 10 year history of the event. One of the fellows came around a tight corner and slid on some loose sand and salt and went headfirst into a rock wall. He wasn't hurt but the impact literally tore the left door off the right hand drive car.

My grandson came up from college in Charlotte NC and joined me for three days - he's a tight fit in the Mini as he's about 6'4" but we still had a great time hanging out....he's in the Motorsports Management program at college so he hoped to write and sell an article on the event. (He recently imported a Honda Beat from Japan and sold it on BaT - interesting kid!)

I wish the tow home were as uneventful as the ride down, but it was not to be. I decided to drive to St. Louis and spend the night with my brother and his family so I took a different route than on the trip to Tenn. Going north and west out of Nashville on 24 I had only just cleared town when I hit a long traffic stoppage. I wasn't able to get to the right lane and there was no exit in sight anyway, so I had to just sit like everyone else. When I got to the crash site it was a mess......there had been some heavy T-Storms roll thru and I think what happened was one semi slowed down due to visibility, a tanker semi was following and a third semi hit it, driving it into the first one. The entire front end was gone off the back semi, engine and everything, the tanker had split so there was diesel all over the road that they'd spread kitty litter on, the tanker semi had smashed the trailer on the lead semi and stuff was everywhere. They said they life-flighted one of the drivers out.....

About 120 miles from my turn onto 64 into St. Louis we stopped again.....this time it turns out there were two accidents. Further up the road a semi had pulled onto the shoulder due to mechanical problems and another semi hit it, rolling down the embankment. They closed the highway for that one so the helicopter could land and haul off the driver in the second semi.....in the traffic backup a Honda apparently didn't realize traffic had stopped and ran under the back of a flatbed car hauler - he died immediately. They finally got enough of the wreckage cleared so we could get moving and I made it the rest of the way to my brother's without incident. The next morning I was only about 3 miles from my brother's house when I found my self at the back of a 5 lane wide 5 mile long stoppage - this time I was able to get to an exit, but then I found myself slogging thru St. Louis morning street traffic for over an hour till I could hit an on ramp past the incident - it might have been quicker just to wait!

After that it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home, where I unhooked the Mini and put it in the garage and called it a day!

 

Got the left seat mounted today, then drove up to get a pizza. Seats feel great!

 

I've been slowly but steadily clearing the projects out of the shop.....

I finished the second Sprite racecar transmission overhaul and delivered it. That was a long process - waited over 3 months for straightcut gears from England - they claimed to have had them in stock....... but they lied.

I have a Mini engine/gearbox being shipped to me for an overhaul from Boston, he claims he's not in a hurry but he's well funded so I probably will just go ahead and build it out and get it back to him.

One of the guys I built a race transmission for want me to build him a shortblock for a Sprite street car - but he wants a fairly hot motor for it.

My uncle died a while back and I helped my cousin clear out his garage of a lot of old car stuff and shop equipment. most of it is now sold but I still have a few pieces left, I rented a storage place to keep it in and I need to be out by the end of the month, so I've been working on marketing that stuff.

Last but not least, I have the Inno back in my shop, it's really close to being done so I need to button it up.

Oh, and I'm working on adding an annex to my shop so I'll have a little more room to work!

 

This one has a STRONG 1275 Sprite motor, hence the Sprite gearbox I built for it.....it's really quick, as befitting a car that weighs 900 lbs empty!

And boy howdy does it do corners!

You can hear the gear noise as he goes up the hill.

Still has some tuning to do on the weber carb.

 

Just got notice from DHL that my first parts order will deliver Thursday, unfortunately that order is for the 998 automatic, the clutch may not get here till well into next week. Going to make it tight for a Sat departure to Texas.....I need to drive it around some before going to make sure everything is set and working correctly.

 

DHL says my clutch will be here Monday, - that leaves Tues to drop it in the car, Wed to get it all back together and running, so Thursday and Friday to drive it before I hook up and leave on Sat - cutting it close!

Still, either it will work fine or it won't.

If it doesn't, maybe I'll rebuild the one that was in it and then swap them back again......we'll see.

 

My buddy Don came over and we broke out the acetylene torch and once we got them cherry red the pipes came apart easily - for those who might try this at home, I really doubt you can get them hot enough with either propane or map gas - but an oxy/acetylene WILL do the trick! I'll clean everything up with a wire brush in the angle grinder and use some sealer when I put them back together. I broke two of the three bolts in the band clamps, so I'll have to replace those - they use a carriage head bolt but I'll just tack weld in some regular ones.



I also needed to get the nut loose on the oil pipe that goes to the filter housing, I find this a lot where it wants to twist the pipe instead of rotating on the pipe as you try to take it loose. Once again, getting it good and red will do the trick, then I can slide the nut up the pipe and wire brush under it so it spins freely. I always add a little oil in there but over time I guess it rusts again.

I think I've had my torch setup since about 1968, I remember using it on my first Mini too!



The other job I have to do is try to rinse out the heater core, like all Minis the water that came out of this thing was just nasty brown goop. The SPi engine seems pretty clean, it had nice green anti freeze in it. The radiator rinse out easily so the only thing left is the heater core. I'll probably just run water in it on the Texas trip since cold nights won't be a factor, then flush it good when I get home again.....if I have time I'll flush it here before I leave too.

The radiator core is absolutely black with oily residue, so I'll need to clean it thoroughly too....

 

You mean at the head? Could be, but you usually hear those, especially when the engine is cold and I never heard anything. I have another header - new - but it's a single pipe exit instead of a dual, I would have to cut and weld up a short pipe to the one under the car.....I'll check the pipes carefully before I bolt it back on.....I'll take a flat file to the flange also and make sure it's not warped.

 

I decided to just use the new header.

More good news, DHL says they're delivering my clutch today rather than Tues as I feared. We'll see if it happens.....but that would be great if it does!

 

Well, I decided to go ahead and use the new header I have on hand anyway....I'll weld up the old one and use it on the engine stand.

Got some good news today - DHL delivered my clutch! I've never had them deliver on a Sat before, so that gives me a jump start on getting the engine back in the car and maybe a couple more days of drive time to sort out anything that comes up.



I've already got the clutch and flywheel installed, and the new clutch arm and all installed too, so the back end is pretty much buttoned up. I also got the water pump on,, so the front end is done too. I'm going to go thru the valve adjustment again as it's much easier to do on the bench than on the lift, then install the new pot joints and she'll be ready to drop in once I clean up the axles.





I also need to get the collector off the pipe under the car, I hope I don't have to fire up the torch again to get it off but if I do it's already upstairs at least.

I still have a lot of parts to clean up before I can put them back on the engine - me and Edd China don't see eye to eye on putting dirty parts back on an engine.

 

Alrighty then, while on the bench I replaced the shift shaft seal, the two axle seals and the pot joints. I also decided to reuse the mechanical fuel pump as it was working fine - but that meant I had to make a couple of gaskets as I didn't have any for it.

With that all done it was time to lift it into the car.....I had to set it at an extreme angle to get it to clear the brake booster and it was a bit of a challenge getting it down into place, but it finally went in and I got the motor mounts bolted up.







Still lots to do of course, but I hope to have it running and driving on Tuesday so I can put some miles on it before heading to Texas next weekend.

I decided to go ahead and use the new single pipe header I already have rather than attempt to weld up the old one - even tho I'm sure I can do it - I don't have any weld gas, and they really don't like you to carry it home in your car - it makes a hell of a mess when one blows up in a car!

To that end I did have to get the torch fired up again so I could get the twin pipe collector off the main pipe - it took a LOT of heating before I got it loose, but it came off in the end. Never could have gotten it off without the torch.

I'm done for tonight, and I have PT tomorrow so I won't get back to it till afternoon again. Still a lot of parts to clean up before they go back on, and darn it if I didn't forget to put the speedo cable on while it was easily accessible! Oh well, as long as the radiator is out of the way it's do-able.

Sure is bright in there!

 

Got a lot more done in the short time I had to work today - we bought a new fridge and it was delivered today. It's amazing to me just how much disruption happens to the house for a simple appliance installation and removal, but not only does the old fridge need to be emptied, furniture has to be moved to allow things to pass.

At any rate - it's here - it's installed - it's making water, ice and just plain cold air - so far so good. Happy wife, happy life.

I got a few things done, the exhaust is in and tight, the shifter is in and working, a number of little things installed like the starter, distributor, oil pressure switch and line, alternator and a bunch of small parts. Tonight after dinner I may get a few more things done, then after PT tomorrow I'll try and finish it up so I can start putting some miles on it and make sure everything works correctly.



Still have to clean the radiator and some other small parts, then start hooking up the wiring.

I also need to make a decision about the intake and carb. The one I was using worked perfectly fine, it's just dirty and will take a lot of clean up. The one I use in my engine stand works fine and is new looking so should bolt right on and run fine. Should....

 

Obligatory everything's in photo.



What you can't see is that I haven't got the axles in yet.

Had a strange thing happen, I changed out the thermostat housing and put the SPi one back in - and it leaked like a sieve! I took it back off and found a series of six nibs sticking out of the bottom part where the gasket goes....I had used one of the modern thick cardboard gaskets and clearly it was stiff enough that those nibs couldn't push thru. I also remember that it had a cork gasket when I took it off. Not taking any chances, I filed off the nibs and used a cork gasket anyway!

That sealed it up and it's good and dry now.

Oh, and I can't find the bracket that connects the top of the radiator to the thermostat housing, SPi's use a specific bracket, different from the others and I had one, just can't find it now.

I cranked it up and it fired up but died - and now I can't get the fuel pump to prime, so tomorrow I'll syringe some fuel into the float chamber so it can start and I can set the timing while it's running, then hopefully the extra RPM will get the pump working again.

In the meantime I need to install the axles and front suspension, then she's pretty much finished, ready to drive. This won't leave me much time for testing before I head out early Saturday morning.