Back of the garage

Five years since he's been out and now enjoying every second:)
It took a little while to re-familiarise myself with the controls - kept putting the wipers on instead of the indicators etc. The most embarrasing one was when I first went to start it after the engine re-build - choke out and turn the key - cranking away like crazy but wouldn't fire, that was until I noticed I'd pulled the heater control knob out instead of the choke:rolleyes: Started fine once I'd actually operated the choke.
 
Went for a spin yesterday around the lanes of Cheshire. Everything worked and neither the screens or sunroof leaked during the down pours. It does drive nice:)
 
A little bit of maintenance on Bonnie. During the week we had away for the Moffat show I noticed Bonnie didn't seem as sprightly as she once was:( so I checked the usuals. Plugs were fine with correct gap and colour, the king lead from coil to dizzy was covered in oil seeping out of the coil but there still seemed plenty in there so cleaned it up and re-positioned the coil with the sharp end pointing up - will get another anyway. When checking the leads I found this

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That wouldn't help and would account for the miss fire on acceleration that developed. She seemed much happier with a new lead but now she's spat her dummy out by ejecting the pin on the drivers door lock striker plate:rolleyes: Replacement on the way from Martin
 
The legendary firm Mini suspension seemed firmer than usual since he's been back on the road - riding on the front bump-stops wouldn't help:rolleyes: Time for some new rubber springs I think so compression tool bagged off ebay and new springs, knuckle joints and dampers ordered from Minispares.

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Compression tool in place ready to squash the spring
Sorry about the crappy pic:oops:
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Old against new - I think they were ready to be changed

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One side done

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The top arm shaft and bearing were perfect even the original rubber seals were like new so re-used them on both sides.

Ride height before

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Ride height after

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They will settle a bit over time - looks like a bit of a Gasser thing going on just now;)

The ride was great afterwards but the handling had gone AWAL with an almighty squealing of front tyres on left sharp handers and very twitchy on bends so I copied Colin the Foxs' idea with the tracking check device:)

The bungie cord holds one side against the wheel and you measure the toe on the other wheel. Minis should be a total of 1.6 mm toe-out this was 3mm toe-in. The negative camber caused by the knackered springs compensated for the tracking error so it only showed up with the new springs - I did fit a new track rod end and new got round to checking so my fault:oops:

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The result is a lovely handling car with a smooth (for a Mini) ride and much less noise transmitted into the cabin, most chuffed:)
 
Panky said:
Five years since he's been out and now enjoying every second:)
It took a little while to re-familiarise myself with the controls - kept putting the wipers on instead of the indicators etc. The most embarrasing one was when I first went to start it after the engine re-build - choke out and turn the key - cranking away like crazy but wouldn't fire, that was until I noticed I'd pulled the heater control knob out instead of the choke:rolleyes: Started fine once I'd actually operated the choke.
Click to expand...
Been there too lol!
 
Humph. New spring didn't last long on one side - about two miles and a week in the garage:rolleyes:



Completely collapsed and almost as low as the old ones. Mini Spares dispatched a new one immediately though, cant fault their customer service. Getting quite good a changing the springs so shouldn't take me long.
 
No, brand new. They sell thousands but occasionally get a duff one apparently. It's going back to the manufacturers for investigation.
 
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