Tommy's A-series Misery - Mini Action (plus bonus Aggro)

[Tommyboy12]

Ready for the final off! Most of today's driving is in the UK so we're nearly home!

[Tommyboy12]

We made it less than a mile 😅 Brake pedal sinking to the floor

Thankfully our first breakdown of the trip was a loose bolt on the caliper which has been nipped up and a roadside brake bleed completed. We shall continue on through the traffic of Belgium!

[Tommyboy12]

We have made it to le shuttle! It's very quiet and we've managed to get an earlier train.

[grogee]

7 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

We have made it to le shuttle! It's very quiet and we've managed to get an earlier train.

I'm loving this photo montage and trip diary. You are mental, obviously - well done.

I don't think a vehicle picture has made me smile more than the 'motorbike mini' at the show earlier in the thread - great spot.

[Tommyboy12]

We've gained a flat on the train. At least these breakdowns are happening on the final day 😅

[Tommyboy12]

We made it home! The flat was a minor inconvenience that seemed to be caused by a poorly seated tyre as we couldn't find any nails or screws and it maintained air after a high pressure fill to seat the bead

This car has been a trooper all week and credit to @sharley17194 for rebuilding a car that had basically sat off the road for 3-4 years. To build an engine and take it 1,500 miles without any major incident is a great effort.

Here's to the next adventure!

 

 

[Tickman]

Thanks for the updates in the thread, really good to see the adventure from a distance.

Indoor space for fixing stuff at a show is a great idea.

[Liggle]

Great adventures, thats such a cool little car. I find myself looking at Mini's more and more lately

[Matty]

👏 legends.

[sharley17194]

Kermit certainly did us proud! He needs a bit of tinkering and a good check over before I call it a complete success but I feel good about his performance!

Even though I sit here never wanting to get into another mini, I'm happily thinking about what's next for the small green, smelly, pocket rocket.

It was such a great trip made memorable due to so many different things, I'm very fortunate to have a friend who is not only happy to join me these odd adventures but actively encourage them, it certainly makes it more enjoyable! but if I'm honest I do question his mental stability.

However, during evening beers and future planning, I think I might have found a limit.....

[Tommyboy12]

Normal service resumes. This weekend I have done some Cambridge fettling. I wanted to get the Speedo working. The Speedo drive was spinning but it came connected to a small motorcycle Speedo as the Speedo was supposedly seized. So I set about disassembly to see if I could rectify that.

Started off by removing the cowling. You have to contort yourself behind the dash to undo a couple of wing nuts and then a couple screws hidden behind the cowling.

Then with access to the back of the panel I could undo the screws holding the Speedo in and prise off the surround.

And one Speedo unit

The problem was the drive slot in the back was seized. Everything else was free moving. The culprit was freed off with some heat and gt85. Once it started to free off and turn with a screwdriver I whacked a bit in the drill and continued to free it off more. Once I confirmed it was working again I could start reassembly.

While I was in there I thought I'd clean the glass. No plastic here thank you very much!

Back together and now I have a functioning Speedo!

[Weird Car]

1 minute ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Normal service resumes. This weekend I have done some Cambridge Fettling. I wanted to get the Speedo working. The Speedo drive was spinning but it came connected to a small motorcycle Speedo as the Speedo was supposedly seized. So I set about disassembly to see if I could rectify that.

Started off by removing the cowling. You have to contort yourself behind the dash to undo a couple of wing nuts and then a couple s rews hidden behind the cowling.

Then with access to the back of the panel I could undo the screws holding the Speedo in and prise off the surround.

And one Speedo unit

The problem was the drive slot in the back was seized. Everything else was free moving. The culprit was freed off with some heat and gt85. Once it started to free off and turn with a screwdriver I whacked a bit in the drill and continued to free it off more. Once I confirmed it was working again I could start reassembly.

While I was in there I thought I'd clean the glass. No plastic here thank you very much!

Back together and now I have a functioning Speedo!

Brilliant work, just something I never got around to doing but I’m glad it’s been done. Don’t forget to add about 8000 ish miles onto the mileage or whatever was on that Honda express Speedo 

[Tommyboy12]

Busy day today. My turbo Mini was scheduled for an MoT. Been a long time coming as I've been delayed by a few issues with fuelling which involved fitting a new fuel pump and retrimming the fuel pressure. This morning I dragged the old girl out to do some final checks.

I was greeted with this as I went to grease my nipples...

Not ideal but thankfully it hadn't extended into the main floor or into the heel board.

I cut out and swept up the remnants.

Then welded in a new section. Unfortunately I had to chase a thin but up the sill panel but not the first time!

Dressed a bit more and a nice thick coat of waxoyl!

Then onto the MOT this afternoon!

Thankfully it was a pass and on with another year of motoring! I barely covered 300 miles last year so I really do want to make more of an effort to drive it this summer.

[Tommyboy12]

My other roadworthy Mini is MoT exempt now which feels like a burden lifted even though I will probably still submit it for a pre-MoT inspection every year. That being said it hasn't been out of storage all year. So I brought it out on Friday with the intention of taking it to Himley Hall Mini Show on Sunday.

Reunited for the first time in about 8 months.

There was time for a polish and a run out before the show to check everything was ok. She's running sweet as a nut, except for a seized choke cable. I was going to pick one up at the show but show prices were in full swing and it was 3 times more expensive to buy one there than online.

Himley Hall Mini Show is great. There's always plenty on show and this year in my opinion has been the best one in a long time. Much more variety and not quite so overrun with modern Minis (not that I don't like them I just don't want to see them at shows as they're everywhere on the road). Some of my favourites below.

330hp Honda B series with CRV 4WD system. This thing was absolutely spotless.

A Nissan Micra engine conversion. Usually people carry over the fuel injection but on this particular car they had opted for an SU carb on a custom intake.

I have a weird fascination for shortys!

My absolute favourite was this car. Which has only just got back from driving round Chile! It reached near 6000m high in the Andes. I would absolutely love to do something like this in one of mine one day. The guy did the Mongol rally a few years ago in another Mini which is also a bucket list item of mine! He also took a TVR on a 27,000 mile round the world. A true man after my own heart. His web page is pub2pub if you're interested in his story.

[timolloyd]

I’ve read one of his books, where he drove a very tired Porsche 924 from Bristol to Cape Town. Really interesting chap.

[Tommyboy12]

I've been bumbling about in the Cambridge recently. The Speedo repair lasted all of 17 miles before it snapped the cable. Thankfully I've been able to find a new cable and it's on the list to fit.

I went to a local car show in it on Wednesday evening.

There were some cool cars present including an E23 BMW M5 (one of only 26 left) as well as a Triumph Herald estate!

Today I took it to work for a car show in the car park. Again some cool stuff present including a 1959 Moggy with a Rover K series and a Land Rover with a Perkins Prima (made in the very factory I work in!). Also present was my friends Vauxhall red top-powered Clubman Mini.

The very cool Lady

The Mini (a genuine 1275GT car)

[Tommyboy12]

Rain has stopped play multiple times this weekend but in-between I have managed to get some welding done on the Mini.

Cutting out the old floor was already done. It was a mess of rust.

It took some fettling but I got the new floor in

Then painted it in a lovely coat of brown again

Very much MoT level welds with not a lot of grace given for looks but it's strong and means one corner of the floor is ok now! I will seam seal the underside at a later date

I started to move onto the rear floor. It's a lot worse than I remember and I'm going to have to change my plans and drop the rear subframe which you can see from inside the car. You should not be able to...

[Homersimpson]

That takes me back to the good old days of buying mini's for peanuts and doing a bit (usually a lot) of welding to get them through an MOT.

[Tommyboy12]

It's just a shame they're not that cheap anymore!

[Matty]

24 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It's just a shame they're not that cheap anymore!

I was hoping to get my dad in one with his winnings from selling the other car. He went and had a do in a 1275gt the other day and hated it. Tbf it's 30 year since he last drove them. Mild disappoint. 

[Tommyboy12]

If anybody is interested and hasn't checked the for sale section recently I am selling my MGF. It's not getting used and deserves a home that will use it.

 

 

[Tommyboy12]

I restored the headlights on my Porsche today. They look so much better for it. I was a bit nervous about doing it on such expensive headlights but they've come up great.

Before. Not overly noticeable but the top of the lenses most exposed to the sun were really oxidised and fuzzy.

As seen here

The Cayman has a really handy quick release mechanism for the headlights. Insert the tool in the tool bag. Turn 90 degrees. Out it pops.

After polishing the first. Compared to before

And now with both done

Very much worth the £25 for the kit and the 45 minutes to do it. Go out and do your headlights!

[Tommyboy12]

I took the turbo out to a Mini meet at Caffeine and Machine near Bedford last night. I will admit it's not as good as the original C&M but a nice excuse to drag it out.

We did have a minor breakdown on the way. Popped the fuse for the fuel pump. Unfortunately I carry glass fuses and full size blades but no mini blade fuses.

Thankfully a member of the public stopped and offered me a fuse! I am very grateful to him.

So we managed to get to C&M a little bit later than planned.

There wasn't much interesting there. Mostly modern Minis which aren't my cup of tea. This one was quite interesting

Plus a nice Caddy

[Tommyboy12]

I've been busy welding again. I'm determined to get this car done!

I ripped off it's face first. Both wings are rotten and the front panel was full of holes.

I delved into the scuttle corners. The passenger side was fine but the driver's side was very crispy. Unusual really as it's usually the outside one which goes first from the road grime collecting in the gutters.

Missing the scuttle closing panel, a holey flitch panel and the edge of the scuttle is missing. The scuttle itself is solid so this was caught at the right time. I'll repair the edge of the scuttle panel and replace the closing panel. But first the flitch.

I happened to have an off cut of the vent hole from a panel used on another Mini

Welded in an half dressed

Where the front panel joined the inner wings was rusty so welded in some new sections to the inner wing

I ran out of gas at this point. So peeled off the rest of the wing from the inner wing then I painted it brown and that was it for today

I'm hoping to get more time on it tomorrow morning

 

[Tommyboy12]

I took the Cambridge to a car show this morning. Some cool stuff on show. I parked next to a friend's lovely 1300L Cavalier

He got a shot of me in the queue activating air conditioning as we dawdled in 😅

A few of the interesting things. It was very a mixed show but I really like that. Far more interesting than a single marque

Following the show I went and picked up something for my brown Mini...

[High Jetter]

Commer PB love.

[Weird Car]

So happy to see the Austin out n about and being a reliable an car 

[Matty]

Is that a charger you got for the brown one?

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Is that a charger you got for the brown one?

It very much is! It needs a bit of bodywork yet but it's in the pipeline once I have finished the considerable amount of welding

[2flags]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It very much is! It needs a bit of bodywork yet but it's in the pipeline once I have finished the considerable amount of welding

Isn't that like painting the Forth bridge? Once you've finished one bit, it rots out somewhere else. At least, mine always did. 😄