Irish Mini Owners Club

My daughter has had one for about 9 years. She in London since 2008 so it is only out and about a few times a year, stuck in my garage the other 51 weeks. I am not allowed to sell it on pain of a being given a horrible room in the old peoples home. We got it in Cork in 2007, and it was in good order...

Hi Billy

Thanks for your good thoughts

Alas Mondello passed without me, we were away and missed the fun.

Glad to see further progress with the Hornet

Mini Ha Ha

Yippee the MPI passed first time last night. It was only 12 months since the last test, due to reminder not issuing and last test done late. However the last time there was a bit of a struggle with tracking, headlights and emissions, the last an issue as I dont understand fuel injection. Luckily at ...

We had this problem with the Paul Smith. We would do a long run and the battery would not restart the car without trickle charging first. Then Ok for another while until it ran down again

After much mullocking we ran an earth strap direct from the Alternator mounting bolt to the body.

Job was oxo

I agree with views stated in some of the posts above. It seems that Irish Assembled cars were often a bit behind as regards updates, my Mk 1 S in 1966 had only a single fuel tank, and no oil cooler, whereas I suspect most UK cars by then had twin tanks and a cooler. This car also had single colour l...

No it is a bike which is often called a bitsa, Enfield Wheels, Norton Gearbox, JAP engine, not too superior at all at present. Were you at the New Years Day beano in Roberts Cove, I missed it this year. I got a set of the new 4.5 J steel wheels for the Mini, as far as I know all the Irish 1275s has ...

Billy I am in negotiation with Hiawatha Entry forms printed off just waiting for a suitable time to broach the subject How is your Honda 50, I am about to start dismantling a JAP (J.A.Prestwich) V twin, probably take longer than your Hornet !! All the best for 2009 and hope to see you in Mizzen Mini...

Hi Billy and a happy New Year.

How are you getting on with the Hornet, you should be on the home straight by now.

I need you to progress to heap up the guilt so that I finally make a start

Look forward to seeing it out on the MTM, no pressure of course....

Mini Ha Ha

Give a shout to Paul Kelly, he is really set up to do work on Minis and my experiance is that he is as reasonable as anyone. There is an additional advantage to Paul that he is experianced and able to advise you on any other things that may need to be done in the future to ensure reliability Mini Ha...

Really glad that you got sorted out. Roll on Carole Nash

I learned the hard way not alone to start the engine but also to press the clutch and engage the gears during the lay up. In our case the clutch withdrawal seized up so we could not press the pedal to select gears. I mentioned this before on the forum, you should try to get some oil down to the pins...

There was an item in the Forum in July 2006 about this. The gist was that there was Martin Treacy in Enfield who had a rolling road and did LOADS of racing Minis etc. I would be on for a rolling road day, my car is too rich on part throttle, but we would need to go where the operator was SU enabled,...

I understand that Lincoln and Nolan assembled Austin Minis, Brittains assembled Morris, and Booth Poole assembled Wolseley. Anyone out there know who did the Riley Elfs ? Its a good idea to get a body of information together about this, its part of Irish motoring history, and it should be possible t...

Hi I would not lightly undertake stripping the engine because of the water. I have played with vintage cars for years where the oil and water mixed to give an emulsion in the engine. There are 2 issues 1 The water can cause rust 2 The presence of the water reduces the lubrication properties of the o...

Billy

How is your panel beater getting on.

From experiance I advise regular contact to monitor progress.

If progress ceases remove car from panel beater and seek again.

Good luck with the rebuild

Mini Ha Ha

Keep us posted on progress, your enthusiasm is badly needed to encourage me to go to the cold garage and make a start on last year's list ready for the 2008 MTM

Mini Ha Ha

Joeclynn was right, it needed an extra earth strap between engone and earth

Thanks for all the ideas and help

Mini Ha Ha

Problem solved There was resistance in the earth strap between the engine and the body. When the load of lights etc came on the voltage getting to the battery dropped so charging ceased. It was a strang one as all the bolts were tight and took a check with the meter to locate what was happening. Tha...

Ongoing battery runnung down issue seems to have taken a new turn now, and may be assiciated with a malfunction of the Alarm or Immobiliser. Can anyone out there put me in touch with an Auto Electrician who can test out the system and if neccessaer disarm the alarm and fit a new one. Preferably befo...

Thanks everyone

I will try try tightening the leads and check the earth straps as changing the battery did not help

Mini Ha Ha

WE have a 1999 MPI and are in trouble with the battery not keeping fully charged. The car has 13 inch Sportpack wheels, and the boot is so full of spare wheel that you can only fit in a relatively small sized battery. We got the car 2 years ago and had this trouble, fitted new battery. Still ongoing...

Similar happened to our white mini. Hit kerb RHF and wheel disappeared under the car. We found that the upper wishbone and subframe were OK, but the lower wishbone was bent, tie rod broken and the lower steering swivel joint had sheared off. Also the drive had been damaged and nice GB Alloy wheel wr...

Thanks to the Organisers for a most enjoyable weekend. The format was well thought out, and the combination of the great and varied roads together with the social stops made us all feel part of the event. It was an experiance to be in the jubilant crowd at Mizzen celebrating the completion of the ru...

Was talking to a friend who commutes from Derry to Dublin each week. He goes M1 to Dundalk, then Blayney Monaghan Aughnacloy etc to Derry. I will probably choose to avoid the Motorway and go Slane Ardee Blayney, a good early start and save the car for the real day. Thinking of which the squaw is in ...

I think the Hornets were assembled by Booth Poole in Islandbridge, but I may be mixed up between the Wolseleys and the Riley Elfs. They also assembled MGs. Alec Poole, who was a member of the Booth Poole families, raced an S in the 1960s in Ireland and UK with great success. The car he drove in Irel...