519 replies to this topic

[Jared Mk3]

Glad to see you're still busy with this  Nice upgrades to the braking system.

[Vinay-RS]

Glad to see you're still busy with this  Nice upgrades to the braking system.

Thanks man! Super chuffed with how it's running now. Fingers crossed that I can sort out the front brakes, rack ends this coming weekend. 

[Vinay-RS]

Not much of an update. This weekend I met up with a friend. We swapped the one back steering rack end and tightened everything up. We set the tappets again and the motor sounds really smooth now. I gave the car a quick wash, polish and wax. I'm hoping it doesn't rain before next week. 

 

I also found a Perana louvre with side clips, although it's missing the top clips (and I'm not sure what those are supposed to look like). Still, very happy with the purchase. It needs a clean and perhaps some plastic paint to lift the colour and there are a few small cracks that I was told I could fix with some Q bond, so I will try that.  

[johnR]

No real update, as I've been lazy to work on the car and busy packing up everything I own for a move. 

 

Got the handbrake cables (which really need to be swapped out), but found out I need a second person to loosen the little brackets by the handbrake lever. 

 

Cleaned up the car super quickly on Friday evening with the fading light. It actually didn't come out too badly. Hoping they eventually lift our water restrictions and we can use proper car soap and water to clean the car. 

 

Then got to meet up with a couple of friends and their Minis at a street show (cars, stalls with food and handmade stuff) on Saturday. We want to make this a thing and just meet up regularly (weekly or every two weeks) for a drive or just a cup of coffee. 

 

This was the photo of the day IMO. Stunning picture taken by a friend.

 

There were also a few other cool classics at the show. A split window VW Van, a convertible Beetle and a Lotus Elan were the cool mentions. 

Keep posting the pictures of sunshine - it keeps my spirits up when it's raining here!

[Vinay-RS]

Keep posting the pictures of sunshine - it keeps my spirits up when it's raining here!

 

Will do! We're rolling into winter, but I think they're a lot milder than the winters up there. 

[Vinay-RS]

So, the little 1275 E completed a 1000 km round trip this past weekend :) I'm so proud of the car. It ran faultlessly for the entire trip apart from my friend deciding the check and set two of the rocker clearances when we stopped. 

 

This weekend was the Knysna motor show, and the organisers had decided to have a special display for the 60th anniversary of the Mini. Three Minis drove down from Jo'burg (1 Mk1 Cooper S, 1 7 port Mk1 Cooper S, and 1 MkIII Deluxe with some tasty upgrades). Two Minis drove from Cape Town (my 1275 E, and my friends Mk1 Cooper S). We took a slow drive on Saturday morning, stopping for coffee and to check out some local classic car dealers to see their wares. Then we attended the show on Sunday before driving back on Monday morning, again, taking a slow drive back and completing each leg of the journey in around 8 hours. 

 

Here's some pictures from the trip.

First stop for coffee at a nice roadside coffee shop.

 

Next we stopped for some fuel.

 

A pair of Minis running D1s :) 

 

My friend checking the valve clearances because he didn't like how the engine was sounding  

 

A very neat Mk3 at a local car dealership.

 

Parked at the car show on Sunday:

 

Lovely sunshine on the drive back.

 

A pair of stunning classics in this through the windscreen shot. Mk1 Cooper S and Lotus Elan. 

 

The last stop before returning to Cape Town. Old school place with some cool handcrafted items. 

 

Really keen for another road trip now. Just need to save up to pay for fuel

[JXC Mini GT]

Your 1275E is looking great, and that's a lovely collection of photos.

[Vinay-RS]

Your 1275E is looking great, and that's a lovely collection of photos.

Thanks, man :) I took a lot of photos from the show

[Vinay-RS]

Did a bit of work two weeks ago on Saturday. I fitted the new discs and cleaned up a build up of grease under the car, it still leaks from places and will need sorting out at some point. 

 

On the drive home I noticed some rubbing and scratching. The rubbing faded fairly quickly, in like a day or two, although folks had suggested rebuilding the calipers, investigation of them shows they're in perfect order with no leaks and they work perfectly. 

 

The scratching did not fade. I got someone to check that I'd torqued it correctly, and I had. I then took a short drive and while driving I heard a loud bang from that side, pulled over and checked that nothing had disconnected (thankfully not). I'm almost 100% certain the front right bearing has collapsed I limped the car home at 40 km/h, which was the speed at which the whirring sound was minimal.

 

The car is now safely parked up in the garage while I look for a new bearing. I'm curious if it's worth fitting non-genuine bearings? I fitted the GHK1140MS bearings and I'd heard they aren't bad and work well, and I'm guessing they failed because I installed them incorrectly. I'm keen to not repeat this incident, but I'd like to know if I should wait and get the GHK1140 Timken ones instead. 

[timmy850]

I tried cheap bearings, but when they failed I went to Timken and haven't had any issues since. It's not a job you like doing more than once, so the extra spend is worth the money I think 

[Vinay-RS]

I tried cheap bearings, but when they failed I went to Timken and haven't had any issues since. It's not a job you like doing more than once, so the extra spend is worth the money I think 

Yeah, going to place an order with Minispares soon. Besides, the extra walking for the next week or so is good exercise  

[Vinay-RS]

Box of Minispares arrived today. Most of the big stuff in the box isn't mine, but it does have some new bits to get my car going again. New bearings and some uprated drive flanges should do the drivetrain a world of good :) Time to get it all installed in the next few days. 

 

[Vinay-RS]

Started stripping the hubs to get the new bearings fitted and the hub didn't come free from the CV joint, tugged at it for a bit and boom:

 

So the whole side shaft came out and the outer bearing and seal were completely trashed... The inner bearing and seal were stuck on the CV joint too. Very odd things. 

 

Anyway, since it came out anyway, I figured I'd get new thicker GTS side shafts, which should be better. Also, it means the car won't be running quite so soon. I'll need to get the new shafts, clean them, drain the oil and then remove the pot joints. Clean and assemble everything on a bench and then fit it back. I also need to adjust the top ball joints on both hubs as they seem pretty loose at the moment. 

[johnR]

Keep the sunny pictures coming - we're having a poor summer atm!

[timmy850]

I’ve been bashing some old cv joints with a hammer & punch to get them off the driveshafts, they are a very tight fit and have a circlip to hold them on.

The pot joints are designed to slide in and out like that as the total driveshaft length will change over the range of suspension travel. It’s probably a good time to regrease them and change the boots if they’re worn out. As long as you didn’t lose any of your balls it’ll be fine! Just remember the pot joints don’t fit through the subframe hole