Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - a Workshop Day Today

[tooSavvy]

7 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Today a viscous gang of Mini fixers turned up and tried to overwhelm my Mini in to submission!

Might be slow moving but stick together, eh 😉

Lovely old metal on show.....👍

🚙💨

[Tommyboy12]

That Countryman is lovely!

[Six-cylinder]

4 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

That Countryman is lovely!

It is a converted van that belongs to my friend Colin (I don't know why he doesn't join AS and tell his own stories).  It started life as a van hence the roof vent. It was converted early in its life and Colin has the receipt to say the extra £58 purchase tax due for it being counted as a traveller with rear windows fitted has been paid.

[Tommyboy12]

I hadnt even spotted the roof vent! A very nice conversion in that case.

[Six-cylinder]

I refilled the Seicento with petrol today after 241 miles. I filled because it was reading a line below half and didn't trust it, but 5.25 gals went in its 8.4 gal tank meaning I could have gone a bit further. To save you the maths that is 45.9 mpg, better than my usual 42 mpg with the car.

The Rolls Royce returns 14 mpg and the DS  26 mpg. I have been using the Rolls more than the DS in all this dry weather, but the Fiat for all the local errands so my guess 50% of my miles to the Fiat, 40% to the Rolls and 10% on the DS. I make that a fleet average of 22.5 mpg!

 

[Six-cylinder]

Yesterday was back on the Mini, it is the car that keeps giving! Now the battery is faulty, we left a U shaped washer off the speedo cable gearbox end. The bad news is the radiator has to come out again to fit. However the water pump has started to weep so the radiator has to come out anyway. Also a few more test miles revealed the there is a bit of power on, power off shunt so I have ordered the engine stabiliser bushes.

But at least the guys cleaned the windscreen! 

[Six-cylinder]

The evening was better with a good run in the 20/25 to a small local car gathering.

[hairnet]

25 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

28 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

 

 

 

 

when is teh sex (tm) getting a stroke

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

The evening was better with a good run in the 20/25 to a small local car gathering.

Interesting hood cover on the blue TF.

[Six-cylinder]

3 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Interesting hood cover on the blue TF.

I never really noticed it, it is a local car and I will inspect and ask about it next time I see it.

[Six-cylinder]

My Rolls Royce was upstaged today by a 1929 8 Litre Bentley!

[High Jetter]

Is that a bronze Stiletto?

[Six-cylinder]

23 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Is that a bronze Stiletto?

Yes and it won car of the show today, his prize is a free breakfast next month!

I only made it to 3rd place, in case you wondered.

[High Jetter]

Stiff competition, tbf.

[Six-cylinder]

7 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Stiff competition, tbf.

It is a small event in a pub car park, about 20 cars attended  and it is just peoples choice and what you fancy on the day.

I voted for the Sunbeam because my first car was a Hillman Imp Californian Coupe.

I was impressed with the landlady today who moved her 22 plate Toyota onto the road outside so there was more room for the classics.

[High Jetter]

11 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

my first car was a Hillman Imp Californian Coupe

Mine too - EDY 667E, had a good few 'firsts' with that car 😀

[Six-cylinder]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Mine too - EDY 667E, had a good few 'firsts' with that car 😀

Any pictures of yours?

Mind was 8 years old when I got it and it was pain, fault after fault. I bought it with a noisy gearbox from my boss at the holiday job I had. I put in a reconditioned gearbox that went noisy a few months later, it was replaced FOC but I still had to remove and refit it. The worst part was the rubber drive shaft couplings. From memory, faults included throttle cable, exhaust broke, king pins, carburettor with poor starting and radiator leak. Also bits of rust were growing in the year I had it. BUT never head gasket, my boss paid to have that done before I bought it as he was preparing it for his wife who took one look at it and rejected it! 

[chaseracer]

6 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Any pictures of yours?

You DO mean the car, right? 

[High Jetter]

23 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Any pictures of yours?

Sadly not, as far as I recall. It was white, I got it in late '77 or early '78 so was at least 10 years old, before passing my test. My (7 days) older girlfriend had recently passed, so was able to supervise our daily drives to and from school, and elsewhere. It was pretty reliable, at one point taking me from Eastbourne to Worthing and back on a regular basis. I did brake work on it, had problems with a master cylinder after re-sealing it and think I had the petrol tank out at one point. I may well have fitted Sparkrite electric ignition to it, as I was working for Longlife Accessories at the time and took full advantage of staff discount.

[rustdevil]

21 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Yes and it won car of the show today, his prize is a free breakfast next month!

I only made it to 3rd place, in case you wondered.

Two beautiful cars there and a jag 🙂

[Six-cylinder]

On 27/07/2025 at 21:13, rustdevil said:

Two beautiful cars there and a jag 🙂

Is “and a Jag” a general thought or that model?

[rustdevil]

7 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Is “and a Jag” a general thought or that model?

It is jags around that era.

[Six-cylinder]

18 hours ago, rustdevil said:

It is jags around that era.

If you want a smooth, reasonably powerful, decent looking Grand Touring car they are nice. Negatives are they are getting old and expensive to repair. For me the deal breaker is the over £700 road tax.

The oldest Jaguar I own is 1966 and the youngest 1976.

In the past we have owned a 1995 Jaguar Sovereign 4.0, 1996 Jaguar Sovereign 4.0 and a 1999 S Type 3.0 SE and I enjoyed them all.

[Six-cylinder]

Yesterday I got the chance to help out my friend Geoff who has helped me so much with my Mini project by lending him our car trailer. One of his 4 Minis is fitted with a 1275cc engine that has been breathed on. It has never run right so it has gone to Southam Mini Centre to be sorted out and runs so rough he did not fancy driving it the 40 miles.

When he returned the trailer, we had a few minutes getting my Mini ready to take to the local Mini event on Sunday. New battery fitted, rear number plate reattached and coolant topped up. The new water pump has arrived as the old one is weeping, but we did not have time to fit it and the gasket was missing.

Last week I had tried to start the VP1500, but it would not go as it had a flat battery and while it turned with the jump pack on it, it did not suck any fuel into the inline filter. I have another battery for it so next week we will try and get some fuel up. Last time this happened we had to disconnect the pipe from the fuel pump to the tank and put on a short pipe from the pump into a can.

The VP1500 is its usual shabby self, but the wheels stand out looking so good (Thank you @Andyrew)

[Mrs6C]

7 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

The VP1500 is its usual shabby self

What do you mean, shabby? It's lovely!

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

What do you mean, shabby? It's lovely!

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

What do you mean, shabby? It's lovely!

Shabby chic!

[richardmorris]

9 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Yesterday I got the chance to help out my friend Geoff who has helped me so much with my Mini project by lending him our car trailer. One of his 4 Minis is fitted with a 1275cc engine that has been breathed on. It has never run right so it has gone to Southam Mini Centre to be sorted out and runs so rough he did not fancy driving it the 40 miles.

When he returned the trailer, we had a few minutes getting my Mini ready to take to the local Mini event on Sunday. New battery fitted, rear number plate reattached and coolant topped up. The new water pump has arrived as the old one is weeping, but we did not have time to fit it and the gasket was missing.

Last week I had tried to start the VP1500, but it would not go as it had a flat battery and while it turned with the jump pack on it, it did not suck any fuel into the inline filter. I have another battery for it so next week we will try and get some fuel up. Last time this happened we had to disconnect the pipe from the fuel pump to the tank and put on a short pipe from the pump into a can.

The VP1500 is its usual shabby self, but the wheels stand out looking so good (Thank you @Andyrew)

You know, I think that disco would look better with a beige wing.

[Six-cylinder]

First weekend of the month is always busy with local events.

Friday evening was Milton Keynes Classic cars gathering with the Rolls Royce. Turns out it was a bit of a Classic Mini vibe to this month.

Saturday morning was a breakfast meet for MK Modern Classics, shame the Rolls Royce broke! It never failed to proceed but stopped charging, investigation showed a glass fuse had blown in the dynamo control unit but in spite of replacing this it still did not charge. I fitted a standard 25mm glass fuse but really it should have a 20mm slightly fatter one, but it made contact so I did not see why there was a problem.

Saturday afternoon was a gathering at a local Café Belge that I had never been to before. Good turn out and different cars to those I usually see.

I took the non-charging 20/25 and looked in the regulator cover again to find I had missed the broken non covered fuse wire. When I got home (plenty of battery for this local stuff without modern electric draw) I fitted some 20 amp fuse wire and I am charging again. Short test drive and everything seems ok, but I don’t know why it blew.

[Vantman]

That regulator is a work of art!