Project Memoirs: Mini on the Move.

[BorniteIdentity]

24 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

It should be, yes. But you can’t worry about if other people are only too happy to sit at home saying ‘it’s an easy fix’, ‘it’s an early car’, ‘should be saved’ blah blah…

Any or none of that could be true but if that’s the case they need to get off their arse, put money where mouth is and come get it. Words and sentiments are irrelevant, it needed to go.

Nobody can moan or complain, because the choice was there to bag it for essentially nothing and nobody did. You did your best.

I'm also 110% aware that I could have fixed it as I promised myself I would.  But it took 14 months for my welder to do a three week job, and the anti-freelander sentiment seems to extend to 99% of the garage population too.  Christ, I even took it to a LR specialist who were doing everything to talk themselves out of £1000 plus vat's worth of work.

I rather hoped someone would bail me out and fix it so my conscience was a bit clearer, but it's now dead.  

[goosey]

I wouldn’t worry about it, you can’t save them all 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I'm also 110% aware that I could have fixed it as I promised myself I would.  But it took 14 months for my welder to do a three week job, and the anti-freelander sentiment seems to extend to 99% of the garage population too.  Christ, I even took it to a LR specialist who were doing everything to talk themselves out of £1000 plus vat's worth of work.

I rather hoped someone would bail me out and fix it so my conscience was a bit clearer, but it's now dead.  

Seems ridiculous that people are turning away work like that!? 
Although I’d imagine it’s easier for garages to just put a few easy service/brakes/exhaust etc jobs across the ramp space instead of tying it up with dirty welding jobs. Unfortunately it does seem to be the way of things in garages now, unless you can find someone special that doesn’t mind stuff like that. They are not easily found though.

Easy for me to say this because I’ve got space, tools and know how but I’d just weld it myself. Not everyone can though, for whatever reason(s).

I certainly wouldn’t feel bad about it though! You had the best intentions and, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this car likely a scrapper before you bought it? You tried man! Win some lose some. 
If you really want to blame someone, blame the previous owners for letting it get into such a state.

[captain_70s]

The issue with a car like the Freelander is a garage could agree to work on it and then find it needs more, and more, and more, and they know nobody is going to spend a fortune repairing it. There is every chance the owner just vanishes into thin air leaving them with a fucked car.

Brakes on a 4 year old car are a safer bet.

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

The issue with a car like the Freelander is a garage could agree to work on it and then find it needs more, and more, and more, and they know nobody is going to spend a fortune repairing it. There is every chance the owner just vanishes into thin air leaving them with a fucked car.

Brakes on a 4 year old car are a safer bet.

I understand the sentiment, but the garage know I’m a fully paid up lunatic - and they knew I’d happily pay at least half of it upfront. 

Ultimately, there was no risk - they just didn’t fancy it. Their prerogative of course. 

[IronStar]

24 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I understand the sentiment, but the garage know I’m a fully paid up lunatic - and they knew I’d happily pay at least half of it upfront. 

Ultimately, there was no risk - they just didn’t fancy it. Their prerogative of course. 

I really don’t understand this logic or how those garages plan to make money or stay in business if they’re turning down known paying customers. How do they expect this to work? They do no work and get paid? 

[Split_Pin]

I took my 75 to a welder 5 minutes down the road from me. It's his his actual business too so its not like hed rather be doing brake pads and tyres. His place was full of old Polski Fiats.

When I asked him about doing a small bit of work on a ROVER he actually laughed. Never heard from him again. Game over unfortunately.

General sentiment on here is definitely that you did your best, I agree. Life is too short.

[Zelandeth]

On 27/11/2024 at 20:31, IronStar said:

I really don’t understand this logic or how those garages plan to make money or stay in business if they’re turning down known paying customers. How do they expect this to work? They do no work and get paid? 

Because the vast, vast majority of garages seem to have about 500% more work stacked up than they have hours in the day to complete at the moment.

Anything that's not just an absolute known quantity in-and-out job they're just absolutely not interested in.  

Freelanders and the like are in that really awkward spot as well in that they're old enough to have gone rusty, but are modern enough to be an utter pain in the proverbial ass to try to strip down enough to do welding.  Between trim over every-bloody-thing secured with plastic clips that inevitably break but are made of unobtanium, sound deadening everywhere that likes to catch fire and there being fifteen thousand wires everywhere that there's always a danger of missing and melting, plus the metal being paper thin...just not fun.  

You gave it a damned good shot here, but you can't save them all sadly.  Been there, got the T-shirt and felt guilty about it for years.  In this case it was a Pug 306 Sedan which needed a couple of springs, new rear silencer and two tiny patches to the sills.  

It was up for free for nearly two years, but nobody would take it on.  Eventually my mate up north ran out of patience with it taking up room in their yard, so it went.  We'd both tried to find a taker - but I was 500 miles away dealing with two parents who had passed away in quick succession, and he was working on starting up a new business, so neither of us had time to do the work ourselves.  Garages laughed at us, and it ultimately became bean tins...which I still feel bad for as it was such a clean example aside from those two tiny bits of rust.

[N Dentressangle]

With CAZ and ULEZ creeping in, I'm getting less keen on picking up anything that isn't either tax exempt or CAZ friendly. Anything 90's now means hefty tax and limited usability. Post-2001 petrols, esp low tax band ones, are looking more and more attractive. Which is boring, but life. And 90's diesel Freelanders aren't special enough for me to want to spend time and £££ on fixing up.

You gave it a good go, but the FL1 will probably never be that desirable IMO. Best scrapped and losses / stress cut.

[Split_Pin]

24 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

CAZ friendly

Now that my son is playing games in a basketball league, away games now take us at least near a ULEZ in cities. The E46 in my opinion is a good blend of usability ULEZ compliance and interesting enough. Its heavy on the fuel and tax though but as long as the car doesn't fall into *that* band then I'm happy. As such I won't be picking up any more diesels except if its for my wife who does a fair few miles but doesn't need to travel near a ULEZ.

Old, retro (and non ULEZ compliant) cars just become ornaments in my ownership. My wife and son generally don't like them and I don't like subjecting them to salty winters so they just end up sitting in my garage. Something might come up with a bit of non- car person street cred but these are usually expensive (I'm thinking old BMW or a Beetle). Or if it's something I really want like a Talbot Alpine, old Renault or a base model Sierra and I'd be happy just to take it home and love it 😊

 

[RayMK]

On 28/11/2024 at 21:57, Zelandeth said:

Because the vast, vast majority of garages seem to have about 500% more work stacked up than they have hours in the day to complete at the moment.

Anything that's not just an absolute known quantity in-and-out job they're just absolutely not interested in.  

Freelanders and the like are in that really awkward spot as well in that they're old enough to have gone rusty, but are modern enough to be an utter pain in the proverbial ass to try to strip down enough to do welding.  Between trim over every-bloody-thing secured with plastic clips that inevitably break but are made of unobtanium, sound deadening everywhere that likes to catch fire and there being fifteen thousand wires everywhere that there's always a danger of missing and melting, plus the metal being paper thin...just not fun.  

You gave it a damned good shot here, but you can't save them all sadly.  Been there, got the T-shirt and felt guilty about it for years.  In this case it was a Pug 306 Sedan which needed a couple of springs, new rear silencer and two tiny patches to the sills.  

 

It was up for free for nearly two years, but nobody would take it on.  Eventually my mate up north ran out of patience with it taking up room in their yard, so it went.  We'd both tried to find a taker - but I was 500 miles away dealing with two parents who had passed away in quick succession, and he was working on starting up a new business, so neither of us had time to do the work ourselves.  Garages laughed at us, and it ultimately became bean tins...which I still feel bad for as it was such a clean example aside from those two tiny bits of rust.

Your 306 experience was similar to my mine  with a  '94 Tipo 1.4ie.  Larger garages seemed to prefer vehicles which could just be plugged in to a diagnostic computer.  It is apparently a nice, fairly clean money stream replacing sensors and emissions related valves.  Smaller garages were happy enough to attack minor rust problems, ball joints, hoses and driveshafts but shied away from suspension bushes or obsolete electronics.  After 12 months of sitting in the large forecourt of a smaller garage as a 'fill-in' job, other easier jobs on other cars always took precedence.  I tried classic car friendly garages and even an Italian car specialist garage which was initially interested in taking the Tipo on but these overtures came to nothing despite me offering money up front and making it clear I was prepared to pay ('cos no longer able to do the work myself).  I offered the car FOC on the Fiat forum but no takers.  In the end, because the Tipo had deteriorated whilst sitting outside for a year, I gave up on it as a lost cause. It's probably festering in a recycling yard which the garage arranged to collect it - if it has not already been crushed.  A bit sad maybe.  For me, a weight off my mind.  

[BorniteIdentity]

I moved house last month. Despite being fairly ruthless and trying to travel through life lightly - I still have some shit in my neighbour’s garage. She’s moving, I’m moving, so it had to be addressed. 

Nothing too bad- spare parts, interior trim, motorbicycle and apparel and 17 boxes of floor tiles that another neighbour has thus far failed to arrange in the traditional fashion within my kitchen.

I’d been having problems with the Mini battery. I bought a new one but it would randomly just disconnect when starting. I worked out that part of the problem is I bought the biggest possible battery which meant the positive cable wouldn’t quite sit where it wanted to, and the positive terminal itself. The connector on the cable simply sits on the post - no screw or nut or nuffink. 

Following advice here, I just bought an 038 for £38 and stuck it on this afternoon. With a tap of a hammer and a wiggle it went second time. 

After a nice period of idling, and remembering all the other niggling faults, we were off and away to my new council garage which has sat empty for nearly two months since taking it on(!)

 

It needs a bit of recommission work early next year. Wipers are new but fucked, exhaust is bought but not on the car, clutch slave the same and the throttle cable is sticky. 

Nonetheless, it was nice to drive it again. I reckon I’ve done 30 miles since getting it back! Must try harder. 

Anyway, it’s packed up for the winter. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Nonetheless, it was nice to drive it again. I reckon I’ve done 30 miles since getting it back! Must try harder. 

scoping out its DVLA record, being registered on the 5th of January 1984, means its eligible for Historic Vehicle £NIL tax which also means once its in that taxation class (if its not already), its ULEZ exempt, so might be a fun one to take to work and back?  (I am not actually sure when I last saw a mini like yours running around London, I know of one parked up in Wanstead that I saw during driving lessons but thats all that comes to mind in recent memory)

[adw1977]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

I am not actually sure when I last saw a mini like yours running around London

I saw one inside the ULEZ a few months ago:

https://autoshite.com/topic/31857-als-spotting-thread/#findComment-3153619

[Noel Tidybeard]

i'm pretty sure there should be a self tapper through terminal into battery post- my '73 1000 did

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'm pretty sure there should be a self tapper through terminal into battery post- my '73 1000 did

That makes very good sense. I think there’s even a hole on the top of the red terminal cover.  Thanks!

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'm pretty sure there should be a self tapper through terminal into battery post- my '73 1000 did

Yup, soft posts used to wear if screwed too often though (!)