1983 Mini City

[colinf1]

Hi Conor,

Thanks but I have one coming from Minispares, hopefully today!

I had one on these one prior to swapping the rocker assembly, that seemed to be in perfect condition when the head was lifted off.,,

But looking back on it now, I could have saved myself some hassle by sliding the rocker shaft to the radiator side while in situ to gain access to the damaged arm. But you live and learn.

[colinf1]

Head back from getting skimmed..



I've got ARP ultra torque lube, some VHT copper gasket cement spray, new studs amd nuts and Victor reinz gasket, now to find time to do it...

[colinf1]

All reassembled, so hopefully that's it sorted now.

One thing I noticed when the carb was out, the jet didn't seem to want to come up fully and the choke/wax stat would stick fully down and not snap back. I've adjusted it all as best I can and seems to be running ok. Not sure why it would be sticking as it had the full rebuild kit...

Put the black grille on for a change, bit tight on the passenger side trim and bonnet could be adjusted upwards.
I then took it to a local tractor run. Seemed to drive fine, maybe needs fuel tweaking, but no sign of any overheating even though it was a very warm day.

[colinf1]

One of the studs from the new kit from minispares ....



Don't know how that passed quality control, once it was screwed in, it was about 5mm out of line from lining up with the stud hole on the head.

Also it only came with 5x of the same length front studs, so had to relocate the coil onto the flywheel housing..

[colinf1]

Second version of the 3d printed number plate digits,

[colinf1]

A few smallish jobs this evening, checked spark plugs to determine fuel mixture, a bit whitish so enriched the mixture slightly.

Adjusted the bonnet pin, it was pulling the bonnet too far downwards, so backed it off a few turns, much better alignment along the inside of the wing.

[colinf1]

Went to a local vintage car and tractor run today, not a bad turn out and weather kinda held out, just a slight shower.

Car seems to be running good, engine temp nice and steady just on N.
I've a very slight knock when releasing the clutch to pull off, tried to rock the engine by hand but it seems to be as steady as a rock. I did notice that the inner poly bush on the top engine steady had started to crack, need to see if I have a replacement in my spares box.



Next big run is on the 4th August to Hillsborough for the Mourne Mini Club annual show, so that will be a 160km round trip.

[woody]

Personally on the engine steady I like to fit one poly and one rubber.

[colinf1]

An almost fault free 150km trip. The only issue was a slight splutter/misfire about 20kms from home, only lasted a second or so then all back running fine.



Now it needs a good clean and polish, ready for Mourne Mini clubs annual show at Hillsborough Castle & Gardens.

[colinf1]

At the Mourne Mini Club Annual show at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens yesterday, about 170kms in total, all pretty faultless. Mini was packed to the hills with picnic, chairs, blankets and enough stuff to keep 2 toddlers occupied.
Rain put a dampener on proceedings, closing in shortly before 2pm and remaining constant for the rest of the outing.



Next up is the Causeway coast mini meeting in Portrush on 1st September, about 200kms there so that's a weekend away.

[colinf1]

Dropped the exhaust off today, had a bit of a blow at the joints, so put some gun gum on it and refitted it. It was hard to get it to start, cranking over but not firing, checked connections at coil then it started immediately.

Took it out for a spin for ice cream this evening, loaded up the wife and kids and set off. Came to a junction to turn onto a minor road and lost power on the approach, thankfully there was a small housing estate just off the road that I managed to free wheel to. Cranked and cranked again and not firing, checked plugs to see if I had flooded it, all dry. Disconnected and reconnected the wires to coil and it started up straight away.

I think I'm going to run a new ignition feed wire to the coil, the ends had new connectors a few weeks ago but the wire inside was a bit corroded looking. I've a new electronic dizzy to go in, but need a 0.8ohms coil for that, so that's the next job on the list.

At least I got my ice cream and an uneventful journey back home!

[woody]

Probably doesn't need a new wire run just a bad connection at one point. With the engine running move the loom about a small bit at a time until the engine cuts out . You should narrow it down quick enough.

[colinf1]

On the "Dash o the O'rish" run Bushmills to Portrush this evening.



Was late kicking off so most of the run was at dusk, with the last leg back to accommodation in darkness, the 1st time driving it at night...low beams bit of light, high beam a bit of light in the distance...I hate to see what the standard sealed beam lights are like!

[colinf1]

A snap of the mini at the show yesterday. Around 250 classic minis at the show in all and rain held off until today.



Total distance traveled was about 425km (264miles) at roughly 45mpg (6.2L/100) which was pretty good. Car had zero issues the entire weekend, we done the last leg of the journey home of 1hr 45min in a continuous stint, took a while to loosen up my stiff back once pulled up at my house!

[woody]

Looking good and its great your getting to enjoy it. What headlights are you using?

[colinf1]

Thanks Woody, hopefully get a few more runs out in it before the weather turns.

Using Wipac H4 Quadoptic from minispares.

Singing its praises all day, then cut out on the way home from work, both wires (ballast and 12v) connectors broke off when I pulled them off, where they had been crimped.

Thankfully wasn't too far from work that one of the service lads could bring me a few new connections. New ones on but still no start, then unplugged and replugged the wire from dizzy to alternator and it fired up.

I need to upgrade my in-car tool bag to have some wiring connectors, plus the cap came off my bottle of 3 in 1 oil, soaked the bottom of the bag and some other stuff in the boot!

[woody]

I can't remember exactly what I use in mine but I think there Phillips something like these
https://www.philips.ie/c-p/12342RGTS2/r ... light-bulb
. Wouldn't be a mini without some sort of oil leak.

[colinf1]

Swapped out a few connectors around the coil and distributor, the one from dizzy to alternator only took a twist to come off, so that must have been the issue.

I need to swap out the passenger door striker plate, one tapped hole won't tighten so door keeps coming out of alignment. Should have a good spare one that will need cleaning and painting.

[colinf1]

Had a local vintage show on today, thought I'd pull the car onto drive and give it a quick wash.

Would start, but only stay running for a couple of seconds. Wouldn't restart. Wiggled a few wire, still wouldn't start. Checked the wires for voltage with multimeter, was only getting 5v from the ballast on key on, getting 12v at coil when cranking.

Decided to swap out the dizzy for an electronic unit from minispares, and of course that needed a 0.8ohms coil and a 12v feed. Instead of running a new wire, I just moved the output wire from the ballast to the input 12v, and left the ballast in place for now.

Got the dizzy installed roughly in the same position as the old one came out, fired up straight away, timing set to around 10btdc as it was too bright on the driveway to see the very faint timing light.

Idle needs to be adjusted now as it's around 1200rpm.

I'm not sure what's gone wrong with the 59d and lumenation setup, maybe it's the ballast resistor, maybe it's the points/condenser...




Probably only a few more runs before it heads back to the shed for the winter

[colinf1]

Getting a strange low voltage reading on the ashtray clock and ignition lamp illuminated.

Dropping to 11v when running then after a few moments it will creep back up to 14.4v, then a few minutes later it will drop back down again.

Lights and wipers going at the time, the wipers definitely slow down with the lower voltage.

I have verified reading on ashtray clock with multimeter, check and cleaned all connection on alternator and the wiring block to alternator.

Still getting the same issues.

With all the heavy rain the past few days has resulted in a wet passenger foot well. Looks like the rain is getting in around the wiper box spacers, dripping down onto bulkhead and getting in through the blanking plate. Had a dehumidifier running in it all day so it's not as bad now. Will lift the carpet and get it fully dry.

Mourne run on Saturday, so hoping the weather improves.

[colinf1]

A quick check over the mini Saturday morning, readying it for the Mournes Run.

Managed to get the screw unsiezed to get the grille off, so that made things easier. Tightened up the alternator belt a bit more, just to see if it would stop the noisy alternator, but sadly not.

A quick check on some bolts for tightness then spotted the LH CV boot had sheared off its flat crimping part, so had to put a bandage on it...a second boot split length ways and cable tied around the other one. Not pretty at all...

Checked the CV boot once we arrived at the car park/starting point, all looked intact, no signs of any grease being flung anywhere.

Run was very good, lots of nice classic cars, nice roads and scenery, plus the weather held out too.. about 90 cars in total and around 200km / 120miles done.








Might manage one more run before winter hibernation...

[colinf1]

Having a tidy round the shed today, and came across my missing demister vent!




Had pulled the shed apart last year looking for this and ended up buying a replacement.

Not much else to update on, got my replacement alternator from Minispares, so will get that fitted soon.

A quick calculation shows total mileage for this summer is 2000miles or 3200kms, add a few more to this before it's put back in the shed....

[colinf1]

Really enjoyable run out today on the Cooley run, joined by some of the Norn Iron and Minis in Northern Ireland clubs.

19 at the starting point, another 3 joined along the way, then lost one due to electrical/fueling gremlins creeping into his Elf! A few others peeled off before getting this photo on the Sleeve Gullion drive...



A few more photos;











Plenty of smiles, beeps and waves along the way, weather stayed dry and car performed perfectly!

That's it now, I'll use it during the week for work to use up most of the petrol, then it will be moved to the back patio waiting for it's last wash before getting put into the shed.

Total milage for this year now stands at 3350km!

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Good day out, really enjoyed it.

[colinf1]

Good day out, really enjoyed it.

This was us heading to Flagstaff Lodge to get dinner, only for them to have stopped serving Sunday carvery 15mins before getting there!