655 replies to this topic

[bcjames]

My mini. Called Florence, I love that name! She's a 97 Cooper Mpi, BRG, shiney, standard, leather seats, and my pride and joy! She's done 70k miles, 8 of them with me, and im the third lucky owner. She was maintained by Rover until they went, and then the previous owner worked for an F1 team, cool!

When I got her:





Inside:





Lots of things different to my carb'd minis:



Engine bay could use a clean and some repainting.

I had some bad water leaks due to badly fitted silly, but Dr Bob of Mini Hospital fame fixed her up! Now she's as near perfect as I dare have my daily car

I need to get some new side laurels, the boot badge is missing, and I have a matching boot liner kit coming from retro retrims

Edited by bcjames, 15 May 2010 - 01:00 PM.

[carboy001]

Very nice mini mate. Looks spot on for a standard mini

[bcjames]

Very nice mini mate. Looks spot on for a standard mini

Why thank you!

[bcjames]

So, after around 6 months of faultless ownership, some *person* bumped into her I can't wait to have a drive way, people seemingly cannot parallel park!

Not cool:



Pushed the valance and lip out slightly. In sorting that out, the paint cracked a bit and generally looked pants.

Bum in air:



Minisport sent me a new genuine bumper, that was a complete bum to fit. But she's back together now.

The bit I rattle canned along the valance lip doesnt look as smooth as the rest of the paint. Do I need to wet sand and polish it back up?



Oh and I had to get the water pump replaced as that was leaking. Wish I'd done it myself, got a bill for £131

[shedonwheels]

Awww nice name!

She looks mint

edit: i didn't see the bump photo, poor Flo! Did you manage to see who did it or did they drive off? I agree about the bumpers and the non-gen ones are even worse!

Edited by shedonwheels, 15 May 2010 - 02:03 PM.

[bcjames]

Thank you Amy!

[bcjames]

edit: i didn't see the bump photo, poor Flo! Did you manage to see who did it or did they drive off? I agree about the bumpers and the non-gen ones are even worse!

I don't know who it was, they hit it and drove off. There's no way you could do that and not notice, and what makes it sadder is everyone in this street knows myself and the car

I really thought a gen bumper would slip straight on, but it was still a bit awkward, took a friend to hold the NS while I got the OS in.

[bcjames]

I poked a hole in her

I had some water ingress issues last winter, but I thought I'd solved all of it, lots of bits were replaced. Turns out today that where the windscreen rubber had leaked, a very small, localised patch of rust had been allowed to form on the end of the dash rail, where it meets with the A pillar. I hit a pot hole today, heard a bump, and suddenly my top dash rail looked a bit loose! Gave it a wiggle and the dash rail has come away from the A pillar. Hopefully its not too major to fix, although theres a a bit of bubbling on the scuttle, so I'm fearing the worst

In other news, Florence got some new underlay from Newton Commercial. The last lot was wrecked by that aforementioned water leak through the sills, although I managed to save the one-piece carpet. The uniform green looked cool, and the carpet both fits and feels much nicer now. I was suprised how much work it took to cut the pieces to fit, I thought being NC it would be straight out the box ready. I got a decent stanley knife this time around, and that made it much easier.





Also, a few days after the garage changed my waterpump, I had a problem with the fan running constantly. I thought it was that Rover-memo'd problem needing the expensive bit of wire, but it transpired to just be a broken clip. I've bodged it on for now with a twisted clip, but I'd like to sort it properly. Does anyone know if the brown clip can be purchased alone? Or failing that, will this solve my clip problem, and save me from having the potential constant fan-on problem in future?



Still to come, fitting a 12v line, maybe in the switch panel if it'll fit, and a boot liner kit from Retro Retrims In the bigger picture, sort the dash rail/scuttle issue, 2nd gear is feeling crunchy, and theres a little oil leak.

Edited by bcjames, 20 May 2010 - 05:07 PM.

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Its simply gorgeous. Debaged rear end just looks SO right!

[bcjames]

Its simply gorgeous. Debaged rear end just looks SO right!

Ah, my own quandary! I like it clear like that, especially when its all clean and shiney, but then for the sake of originality, I'd also like to re-add a rear badge. Thanks for the comment

[bcjames]

I'm about a week late posting this, but tah-dah!!



Rather nice, courtesy of Chris at retro retrims.

New to do list:

• scuttle :|
• gearbox
• check engine
• paint otherwise awkward to reach engine bay bits while its out
• refurb subframe

Also in the week, she got some new brakes. I had a horrid noise coming from the OSF disc, turned out that my pad had completely disintergrated on the inside of the disk. I bought some new pads and discs from MRA minis, but upon fitting found my calliper to be a bit fubar! Cue Martin and Debbie going to great lengths to sort me a new pair, answer all my questions, and even deliver them! Brakes feel great now!

Current mini-karma is neutral, money spent and more needed, but its sunny, the stereo plays The Jam loud, and theres lots of B roads out there

[bcjames]

My mini was off to the good dr bob of mini hospital fame to stop her latest leaky bits. That's all done, and she's weatherproof once more!

The suspsension has seen better days so I thought it about time to sort that out. I've got new cones, knuckles, hilos and dampers to go on. I've taken time off to do it but I'm still waiting on parts. It's from MRA though so I know I'm in safe hands

I can't do anything really until those bits come, so in preparation I stripped and regreased the hilos, ready to go on the car.





Can't wait to get these fitted now!!

Somewhat older news, but mr roofless made me some new decals a while back to smarten up the car. Awesome!



Shes also had beefy tie rods and new brake calipers from MRA. On the whole, she's in pretty good order now.

If I get the suspension done in good time, I'll maybe look into sorting that leaking timing cover...

Edited by bcjames, 12 November 2010 - 01:13 PM.

[bcjames]

So, getting the suspension done was fun! The new type of cones avaliable sit and settle differently with hi-los. After stripping and rebuilding the suspension several times, only to find out it was right the first time, I was a bit dejected with it! As such, oil leak went unfixed, car went uncleaned! Anyway, I finally got it sorted, and its sitting great on genuine hi-los, KYD gas-a-just shocks, and new cones all round. Made a great difference to the ride! Once these nexts jobs are complete, I'll get it set up properly.

I had to be nice to it again, its a mini! So with (I think) a wheel bearing on it's way out, I thought I'd change them, and the ball joints. This has meant doing the CVs too, since none of it would come apart. A local garage made a mess of doing my ball joints last year, one has always been a bit loose, and now even with no shims in, there is no resistance on the ball-joint pin! Great.

Thankfully I have MRA minis literally just up the road, who are amazing at keeping my mini on the road! I spent all day trying to get first the hub, then the outer cv, then the inner cv off, and with Martins help and advice it all worked out!

So, its back on axle stands!


P1010033 by bcjamesmini, on Flickr

(Note damage in grill due to a pigeon!)

Shiney bits to go on!


P1010034 by bcjamesmini, on Flickr

Me 1, Car 0:


P1010036 by bcjamesmini, on Flickr

Took me all morning to get that off!

I think I need a new hub

Hopefully doing the other side tomorrow goes a bit smoother!

Oh yes and for feeling bad about it going unloved for a month or so, I've ordered it genuine mats and a replacement rear badge

Edited by bcjames, 12 February 2011 - 08:50 PM.

[shough]

Lovely Mini, Does the NC insulation do much for sound deadening?

[bcjames]

Thanks. Seems to help a fair bit, although its not going to give the results of dynomat etc. I still have the heavy sound deadening on the floors, and with this its easy to have a conversation at motorway speeds. That said, its a bit hard to judge with this being an MPi. Even when I ran it with the carpets out due to a leak, it was much quieter than my old mini 1000 was!

The NC stuff feels nice and fits well, so I guess in that respect it might be a better insulator than cheaper versions.