Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 06 August 2019 - 07:19 AM
A bit of progress on some of the jobs on the car. I had sourced a grille a couple of years back and needed to make time to restore it. Thanks, Ben (Ben_O) for the advice on the restoration process, I think the result is quite good.
One of the mounting fixtures was rusted and damaged. Hopefully I can find a suitable replacement for the self tapping screw to go into.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 06 August 2019 - 10:13 AM
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 06 August 2019 - 10:42 AM
That’s a good looking grille now!
Thanks, Tim :) Got a NOS badge for it too :)
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 17 August 2019 - 12:58 PM
A little bit more progress. Took off all the bits from the old grille and fitted the refurbished one. One reflector refused to come loose.
The side pieces of this grille were in worse shape than the other one, so this morning I took those off taped them up and painted them and then swapped them out.
Also picked up a perfect Autoplas louvre, which looks rather neat when I loosely placed it on the rear windscreen.
A bit of an odd one, but I can't seem to get the grub screws from the flip fuel cap loose, so I can't get the cap off and thus can't shift the tank position to remove the taillight from that side of the car.
I recall it was a bit tight when I put it on and I'm thinking maybe I should try and tap it loose.
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 19 August 2019 - 08:06 AM
Fitted an Autoplas louvre on Sunday. Quite chuffed with how it looks on the car.
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 28 August 2019 - 07:19 AM
We had our best Mini run this past Sunday in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Mini. Here are some pictures from the day.
The oldest Mini in South Africa. No. 2 in the country, completely restored.
There were also two completely original GTSs.
This Mk1 is a single family owned car. Beautiful patina on it.
A nice selection of BMW MINIs in attendance too. The BMW dealership (SMG Tygervalley) were our hosts for the meet point.
And some pics of my little E from the day.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 29 August 2019 - 05:59 AM
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 09 September 2019 - 09:27 AM
Decided to sort out the taillights this weekend, since they've been sitting at my desk for quite a while.
After much difficulty, I got the flip fuel cap removed, then I removed the tank and the old taillights.
I know there is a how-to guide that says that it's worth using the mkIV loom connectors, but I don't plan on going back to the mkIV lights, so I used the bullet connectors from the mkII/III loom ends.
Fitted the lights and everything seems to be working fine, although the earth connections are weird... there is no place for the spade connector to slide onto on the mkII/III lights.
Quite happy with the look. I need to wire up the reverse light, but I'm still deciding how I want to route the wire into the boot.
Super Mini Mad
Posted 09 September 2019 - 11:22 AM
Looks great. My OCD is kicking in with the alignment of that number plate!! 
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 09 September 2019 - 11:43 AM
Looks great. My OCD is kicking in with the alignment of that number plate!!
Thanks. The number plate is horizontal but bent towards the screen which makes it look skew. Honestly, stealing number plates is a problem here and I remember coming out from the shops some years ago and finding the number plate bent outwards. I really want to take it off and straighten it or replace it. There's a lot wrong with the car and it kills me seeing a long list of things that aren't up to scratch on it.
Super Mini Mad
Posted 09 September 2019 - 12:16 PM
Ha ha, my car is in a million pieces, so don't worry I was only pulling your leg about the number plate.
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 10 September 2019 - 08:14 AM
Some fun times, I know I messed up the wiring in some way because the park lights and gauge lights came on when I pressed the brake. Removed the tank this morning and pulled the wiring out to check it out, and now the LHS is working after some fiddling but nothing seems to work on the RHS... dunno what's going on. I think I need to get some help with this.
Also, both flasher units have failed, so no working indicators... and literally none of the spares places close to my house have them (and they say they don't stock them either).
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 12 September 2019 - 09:28 AM
A very small update. The rear lights are all working now! Replaced the flasher units and checked and worked through each connection again. The last job is to solder all the connections and apply some heat shrink to make it neat. I also need to get the extra reverse light wired and I was curious about how to correctly earth it. The loom earths is connected to the housings of the mkII lights, but would I need to run an extra earth from them to the reverse light housing?
Edited by Vinay-RS, 16 September 2019 - 06:53 AM.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 13 September 2019 - 05:48 AM
Put's foolish ideas in peoples heads
Posted 13 September 2019 - 08:25 AM
Thank you, Tim :) I think that is the best plan. I think the actual reverse light switch might be giving issues, as it doesn't seem to work with the car in reverse and with the light earthed to the battery earth.
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