Most liked posts in thread: What did you do with your MINI today?

Yes, very much so. As I know its history, this car was imported by BMC of San Francisco owner Kjell Qvale, was his son Jeff's car for years and is one of the last Austin Cooper S Mk IIs to be built (January 23, 1970).

This car has a very lengthy history out here and is very well known by the folks in the Classic Mini world. I am the sixth owner of this car and it has spent its entire life here in California. Mr. Qvale and Joe Huffaker struck an early relationship in the racing world, campaigning MGs and Jensen Healeys back in the day. Joe Huffaker Jr and Bruce Qvale (the other of the two Mr Q's sons) have been long time friends since they were quite young. When this car's power plant needed refreshing, Bruce called upon Joe Jr to do the work. I had the opportunity to speak with Joe Jr at Mid Ohio this past June and have a tentative date set to meet with him at his Sonoma Raceway shop after the Runoffs. I hope to be able to learn more specifics about the car and it's history at that time...

I guess the plate is the least I can do to pay tribute to a legendary gentleman...

 

Track Graphics, Left to Right...

Sears Point, Mid Ohio, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Laguna Seca

It's great to have spent time at each location. It'd be even greater to return to Mid Ohio one day for some more Midwestern hospitality.

 

Opened my transmission back up, replaced a solenoid on my newly rebuilt valve body, put it all back together, tested. Fixed that specific problem, but my tranny is still shot. Pretty sure I've both worn out the clutches and spun the K2 clutch sleeve in the housing. Will have to pull the engine and tear it down to fix all that. Oy vey. At least it's not my daily driver anymore.

 

Har har! We got a comedian here. LOL, thanks for your support.

 

What do you mean by flipped?

 

Although I prefer to detail my stealthy ride at home, today I took my MINI to the local full service wash (chose the new car fragrance, naturally) on my way to my annual wellness exam. Rogue is gorgeous, I however, have a bruise on my arm.

 

^^^ :yesnod: :wink:

 

My faithful Mini took me to the eye doc this morning on a surprise trip to find out Ihave a corneal ulcer. This is wonderful because I can't wear contacts and my glasses are so far out of perscription that I might as well not wear them. Looks like I get to enjoy a week long headache and a lot of squinting to read. Yay fun.

 

I just pulled my MINI out of the garage and washed it today after work.

 

Mine is already packed away for the winter.

 

Cool! What is a FJ Cruser?

 

Toyota SUV

 

I've been drooling over this:


Toyota celebrates 30th anniversary of Land Cruiser 70 with Japan rerelease [w/videos] - Autoblog
Wish they would relaunch this worldwide....Perfect company for my old reliable rigid axle LC80.

 

Another sticker!

 

Just for fun?:biggrin5:

 

Today I took my car out for a nice ride in the morning and ran a few errands.

 

Had a little run with a Fiat 500 Abarth on my way home from lifting tonight. They are an odd looking car, in my opinion, but the stock exhaust has a nice throaty sound to it.
Unfortunately traffic came up right when the road was about to get twisty; it was easy to keep up in a straight line thanks to my pulley.

 

Lost an arch on the right rear. Odd...

 

From a spirited run? Or a local hooligan, who needs an 'attitude adjustment'!?

 

Put the Mini on jack stands and pulled the wheels. Cleaned the calipers and painted them with G2 red epoxy caliper paint. Put three coats on, but had enough paint for a couple more. Managed to get paint on everything in sight except for the car body and the dog. It's bad enough that it's a tedious, boring job, but all the crawling around and laying on my back and getting up countless times took all the fun out of working on the mini. I keep telling myself I'm gettin' too old for this stuff. The directions specifically stated "do NOT get paint on the rotors or pads", so obviously I got lots of paint on both. Didn't really care because I'm taking it to my mechanic to get my new Stoptech Sport Brake System installed later this week. Thought about doing it myself, but my guy is gonna charge me $100 to install rotors, pads, stainless lines, flush and fill the system, and change my transmission oil. He's the same Chevy tech that has worked on my Vette since it was new. Since GM forced the local dealer out of business he opened his own shop and still does all the work on my Vette and Suburban. Sorry to be so long winded, but us old retired farts have to fill the time while watching/waiting for paint to dry. Pictures after finishing the brake job.