groovylee

well, the Jaaaaaag has gone to the big Copart in the sky im going to go and buy the mini cooper convertible from Jamescarruthers of this parish tomorrow night, so this needed to go. i did retain the refurbed alloys of this, so will see if there is any interest for them on here, if not, i'll be banging them on fleabay. Lee

i think i can remember them all: 1992 rover 214 SLi 1986 Astra mk2 1990 sierra 1.6 1989 Mini Mayfair 1990 mini cooper 1972 mini clubman 1275GT 1998 Vectra estate 1998 Peugeot 306 hatch 1999 Alfa Romeo GTV 2.0 TS 2002 Citroen Xsara estate 2005 mkIV Renner easpace 2002 Nissan Terrano 2001 MGF 1998 Ford Fiesta 1992 Reliant Rialto 1979 Rickman Ranger saloon 1989 Rickman Ranger cabrio 2000 Skoda Octavia hatch 1998 BMW E30 320 convertible 2004 Fiat Panda 1.2 2009 Jaguar XF 2014 Ford Focus estate 1.6 1979 Hollier Mosquito 2002 VW Passat estate 1992 Mini Neon i may have missed one or two . not too bad for 26 years motoring edit: forgot the 2000 Alfa Romeo 145 and the 2000 Alfa Romeo 145 QV

well, i managed to get both tubes sorted, and the bantam back together. yay! rode it 14 miles to work this morning. damn thing nipped up on me three times. nursed it in to work. looks like no trial on that tomorrow then chucked it in the back of a workmates van, drove it home... it fell over and broke the clutch lever. its now sulking in the garden while i prep the Ranger for the trial instead. open heart surgery planned for the bantam whenever i get a minute. ive got until easter to sort it ready for the next trial anyway. the fun of old two strokes eh?!

in todays biking fun, i decided to change the cracking tyres on the bantam for some nice new MT43s. all was going well, old ones came off nicely, new ones on ok for the first bead, fit the tubes, put the second side on.... you know where this is going.... pinched tube. dammit! got the brand new spare tube.... yep, pinched that one too. bugger. awaiting delvery of two new tubes tonight, and will be much more careful when trying to fit this one. the rear went on ok, but i cant quite get one section of the bead to seat properly. i'll give it a bashing with a mallet to help it along.... oh, and i hate rimlocks.

congratulations!

cheers Mexico, thats great info. my first challenge is getting it running roughly right, then get a decent exhaust fabbed up for it, get it tuned up, and then go from there. I'll give you a shout when im getting to the stage of actually getting out on a trial.

i'll take 4 please, let me know how to send you ponds

My secret Santa got me an awesome collection of cable ties, air fresheners, and electrical tape. I'm now checking the security to my security cameras at home, as I'd been chatting to Mrs groovy that I used the last of the cable ties on the bloody Xmas lights, and I need some for the mosquito 😳🤣 thanks Secret Santa 🎅

Mine arrived today, the only mail I've had for over a week! Got mini groovy to open it just in case, so I'll save the reveal for the 27th when I'm back from deepest darkest Bodmin 😋

im away over xmas, returning home on the 28th, so i will be delayed in sharing my *excitement on here. so whoever got me, im not being ungrateful on xmas day, im just not there lol

posted by mrs groovy this morning

Presents packed and ready to drop.off in the morning to the postal carrier of choice.

deets sent

count me in again please

cheers! i couldnt figure out what went wrong with that!

well, the Edinburgh trial went well, in so much as i made it home under my own steam unfortunately, after 39 hours awake, i succumbed to a bit of man flu, so i have been off work for the past two days. daytime tv was getting on my tits, so i decided to go and tinker with a bit of wiring. so far i have managed to fit 4 little rocker switches - one for a reversing light, a fog light, the compressor, and the USB socket thing. one currently spare, but im sure i'll think of something to connect to it. i'll sort the final compressor wiring etc when i feel a bit better. I also managed to fit a shelf above the engine, where i hope to build a bracket for the trolley jack. pics to come later

forgot to add - new brake calipers arrived yesterday - standard mini ones for now, just so i can crack on until i sort out the bleed nipples on the 4 pot metro units. i am waiting on the hoses, and i ordered a new brake flaring tool, as i wasn't totally happy with the double flares on the current one. this new one looks much better, so fingers crossed. ive also got a load of new crimp bullets coming, so i can crack on with the front light wiring. after that, it is a case of wiring in a reversing light, fog light, the compressor, and a USB socket for phone charging and a mini usb maplight i have. then finally it will be sorting out the timing and mixture, then i should be in a position to road test it! fingers still firmly crossed for the beginning of november. nothing much happening this weekend, as i am doing the edinburgh trial in the Rickman. hopefully i wont break anything on that, or i will have even more blockers.... Lee

And this was the happy moment. I've got a new dissy on the way, as I don't trust this one, but it was good enough to check it runs. Forgive the blowy exhaust, I hadn't tightened up the manifold properly. VID-20221002-WA0027.mp4

the intention is to get it running on this setup, get the first event out of the way, and then get it over to a custom exhaust place and ask them to make up a nice quiet stainless jobby for it. hopefully it wont cost too much, but i think it'll be worth it in the long run, as i can see this one not lasting forever......

only just getting around to updating this from the weekend.... made a start on making a suitably shit(e) exhaust for this. now bear in mind im doing this with a stick welder, so it was never going to be pretty.... first up. ah. that wont work. time for a bit of dodgy cut and shut. and then a bit more couple more clampy bits and a suitably shite exhaust hanger. this is only temporary...

im only down in shefford, so once it is up and running, i'd be more than happy to come and have a play around a few roundabouts 😁

i'll let you know soon hopefully! fingers crossed i can get the exhaust done today, and then i might be able to get it started! although i guess brakes would be useful first.... 🤣

started to mock up the rear mudguards: then got busy with some metal bits and ended up with this: then yesterday i finalised (for now) both side brackets, and got the mudguards mounted up, along with rear lights fitted: happy with that. spent the rest of the day wiring up all of the lights, so i now have working indicators, rear lights and brake lights. the way that the gear linkage is set up means that there cant be a reversing light switch in the usual sense, so i need to wire one to a manual switch on the dash, as well as a rear fog light. at the end of the day i picked yup an exhaust that i hoped would fit, but it wasn't to be, so i will mostly be cutting and welding exhaust today, as well as hopefully manufacturing an engine cover / shelf on the back. i'll try to take more pics today Lee

Thanks mate, I'll give that a go on the other side