10 replies to this topic

[MELANTRAFALLS]

Hi

Firstly I'm new to the forum and to restoring minis to be honest, my wife does own a 99 cooper but i havent had to do much to that yet. I run a garage and own and fully restored a 72 Vw camper and a 73 beetle so know more about them, so if I sound a bit thick im sorry!

Im currently restoring a 1995 1300cc Mini sprite for a customer up to show standard. Currently detailing the engine and engine bay and they wanted silicon cooling system hoses but i have run into problems with them. Every listing i have found on any website list hoses for 1275 upto 1989, then spi 1990 to 2000 or mpi. My problem is this 1995 is running a single carb.

Have spoke to minispares / david manners who said they dont do a hose kit yet for a 95 with a carb, and huddersfield minispares who said that year should be a spi not carb? so if its got a carb fit the hose kit for model years up to 1989? But the pictures they show on the net dont look like the hoses this 95 mini is running?

Has anyone come across this before? If so what hose kit did you fit?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Dave

[ToM 2012]

hi i have orderd a black silocon hose set of ebay done the job for me and mine is a 1991 model.

[ToM 2012]

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1c1ce736fc these once i have had.

[herdy]

https://www.minispar...c/c-grh002.aspx
Any of these are for a carbed 1275.

[Dan]

Mini Spares should stock all the individual parts you need. Sadly during this period the cooling system was being messed around with a lot in a host of very slightly different models so there are all sorts of different layouts and nobody will want to make complete kits. I wouldn't mess around with other branches of Mini Spares, and wouldn't bother with SHuddersfield at all (especially given their typical wildly incorrect response). Either use the Mini Spares website and find the hoses you need or talk directly to the main office. They are very helpful. Simon@minispares is a member here and is excellent at helping people with things like this if you send him a message.

[MRA]

95 none cooper and automatic could of been carb upto early 95, possibly later if it sat in the showroom.

Cooper would have an SPi well before 95.

And all 998 where carb only.

[AVV IT]

Carb minis ceased production in 94, so a 95 model should be an Spi. But I suppose it's possible for your car to be a 94 model that somehow didn't get registered until 95, or an Spi that has been converted to a carb.

Either way you won't find a silicone hose kit for a post 92 carb mini, because no one actually makes one. The problem is that on the post 92 carb cars Rover changed the heater plumbing and therefore the bottom hose. Because the Spi was introduced less than two years later, very few cars were ever fitted with that bottom hose making it unviable to produce a silicone version financially, in fact even the standard rubber bottom hose is now obsolete for those models.

It's not a problem though, as you can make do with a standard bottom hose. The only differences between the late carb hose and the standard item, is that the heater take off on the late carb hose is longer and wider.

The length of the take off isn't really an issue, because it just means that a longer length of heater hose needs to be used to join it to. It also means that the join between the two will be closer to the water pump than before. The take off is wider because the heater hoses on the post 92 models were changed from 1/2" to the larger 5/8" diameter. When fitting a standard hose you can therefore either use a reducer union to join the 1/2" take off on the bottom hose to the larger 5/8" heater hoses, or if you are changing to silicone heater hoses as well, then the union wont be necessary because the silicone heater hoses will be 1/2"/13mm anyway, as they are not supplied in the larger 5/8" size.

This is exactly what I have done on my 93 carb sprite.

Edited by AVV IT, 14 March 2013 - 09:11 PM.

[Dan]

Heater hoses changed to 5/8" in 1988, it's only the bottom hose connection that was changed at '92 as prior to that an adaptor was fitted. Is the post '92 carb bottom hose not exactly the same as the SPi one but without the second return connection? I though the heater part of it was exactly the same and it was simply the manifold return that was deleted? If so then the best thing surely is to buy the SPi hose and plug the second return.

[AVV IT]

Yes that's correct Dan, the Spi hose is essentially the same as the post 92 carb hose, but without the heated manifold outlet. But not only is the Spi hose almost three times the price of a standard bottom hose, but as far as I can see, there's really no great benefit to fitting it to a late carb model, (particularly if you are going to be connecting it's 5/8" heater take off to a 1/2" (13mm) replacement silicone heater hose anyway). Also, unlike the standard bottom hose, you would then have the hassle of blanking off the unwanted and unsightly manifold outlet on the Spi version and the potential that might then have for future coolant leaks.

So as far as I'm concerned, using a standard bottom hose is an easier and far cheaper solution.

[Dan]

I can understand that. I can't see why they don't make the late carb bottom hose in silicone though, when you look at all the silicone bottom hoses the part that changes between all these models is a separate part that is joined on. It wouldn't be much effort to made a copy of the SPi mandrel for this section but without that second pipe. I know of people who have had completely custom silicone hoses knocked up for specific cars and it's not all that expensive if you have a hose to copy so even if they only ever sell 10 of them the cost would be negligible.

[AVV IT]

I agree, but then having now fitted a standard bottom hose on my car, I doubt I'd actually bother with the correct post 92 hose now, even if it did come into production in the future. Particularly if it's going to be priced anything like the rubber version of that hose was when it was available, (i.e. over £60 as opposed about £8!!)