467 replies to this topic

[Retro_10s]

Those wheels are looking really smart. nice one!

[1984mini25]

Well I've had the tyres fitted at the cost of another £75, for some clueless tyre monkey fresh off the last boat to throw around the bare rims, scratch the inside of two of them and fit clip on weights for alloys, not steels. (The rims on alloys are thicker than on steels) But what do I know? I've only got 23 years experience at fitting tyres. The only reasons why I'm not anymore is because of my back and other recent health issues.

When confronted had the cheek to blame the 'rattle can' paint being soft. They aren't ****ing rattle can paint, they were baked in an oven and left in the warmth of the dining room for a few days. It's ok though it's not like I've gone to any effort or expense at all as you pretend to not understand english until payment is involved.

So, I've had to touch up with a brush the scratches (down to bare metal) which I know most people wouldn't care about (or see) but gone of the day of doing a job properly or with care. (It's always tyres, the last two times 2 different places couldn't fit directional tyres the right way round (also had tyre sensors so you couldn't just swap the wheels round) and short, not long tyre valves on wheels with hubcap, which makes getting at the valves impossible without removing the hubcaps each time)
And see how it drives and if they have been balanced properly, or I'll then have to find somewhere else to have them rebalanced properly. It's just as well they never fitted them to the car or I'd probably have ended up with it jacked up on the floor pans.

But so far I've spent £129 on 5 tyres, £300 on the stripping, blasting and painting and another £75 on the 'fitting', so just under a fiver over £500 for what is basically a standard boring set of steel wheels. It would have been cheaper and easier to just throw on a new set of alloys.

It also got a bit too late in the day for some proper overall car pics, as it was a bit of a struggle fitting the rears with it on axle stands in a single garage. Then rolling it outside (the only pair of spare wheels have, have less than optimal 14 year old tyres) to swap over the fronts.

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Edited by 1984mini25, 30 October 2025 - 04:37 PM.

[1984mini25]

And an update on the manifold. I couldn't find anyone willing to skim and reface it, so resorted to an old glass shelf and some wet and dry. I'd got it flat enough to a point but unfortunately with my new normal eye wise straight lines are no longer straight and are blurred, fuzzy and wavy. So I've found someone locally who could check it over with us with a straight edge and any further sanding if needed. It's about as straight as it going to get by doing via this method. I'm just waiting on my new lot of hardware to arrive, as the first lot I ordered the seller sent metric studs and washers in a kit sold for use on classic minis/a series. I have also had an issue with the long studs for the carb. The ones in the replacement manifold had knackered threads, and one I ended up having to destroy a bit further for the double nut method to work at removing it after putting up a bit of fight.

The ones I'd found to use from a thermostat kit turns out won't work, as they are about half a nut too short so I'll have to reuse the ones already on the car. I did have some new ones spare and even some in an alloy manifold, but do you think I can find them? The studs I can understand being easily hidden, but an alloy manifold is a little larger and shinier to lose.

[1984mini25]

I've just finished up swapping over the manifolds, also stripped and cleaned up the carb while it was off and used all new hardware. Thankfully the carb to manifold studs were easily removed and swapped over as I couldn't find the correct length for new ones.
But I think it's pretty obvious that the old manifold was leaking even with two gaskets. I've yet to check the old manifold, but I'm assuming the flanges are all going to be uneven with each other. I might try refacing it or chop the exhaust section off just for the inlet.

Oh, and it's looking like I'll have to take it elsewhere for the wheels to be rebalanced properly, these weights (for alloys not steels) are just waiting to fall off (wasn't the cheapest quote I got either)

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Edited by 1984mini25, 30 October 2025 - 04:54 PM.

[sonscar]

Why not use stick on weights?Steve..

[1984mini25]

You didn't see the amount of stick on weights they tried using, it's was 3 to 4 strips (60g per full strip) per wheel.
And with a lot of mini and smaller wheels there is clearance issues on the front with the brake calipers.

Knock on weights are quicker and simpler.

But as this is this garages second attempt and was happy enough to send them out of the door, I'm not going back, instead I'm leaving an honest Google review.

What annoys me is I have 23 years of tyre fitting experience (also Michelin trained from working at Costco) something that clearly the tyre fitter doesn't have. It's not like tyre fitting isn't day/week one of nvq level 1 motor vehicle college courses, anyone with a bit of intelligence and common sense can fit tyres correctly.

Edited by 1984mini25, 31 October 2025 - 01:38 PM.

[sonscar]

With that much weight I would be tempted to rotate the tyre on the rim and retry.Tyre fitting is more skilled than many people give credit for,imho.Steve..

[1984mini25]

I think it was more operator error at not setting the balancer property, just throw the wheel on with what ever settings were last used to save time and stick the weights on and hope it's ok.
Or 'balance it' stick the weights on and done out the door, rather than checking it, or worse adding more weight the second and third time to counterbalance the incorrectly placed first lot of weights.


The most the old tyres needed on the same rims was 50g, with the others all needing around half and less than that.

[1984mini25]

Well I've since sent a message and left an honest Google review, both have gone unanswered. I also popped out to get fuel and less than 3 miles one of the rear weights has left the chat. I've only done a maximum of 40 mph being local 30 and 40 limits, but I also heard it ping off and bounce around inside the wheel arch. luckly it didn't find its way into the tyre, unfortunately it was left wherever it's flown off to for the next unlucky sod to run it over.

[1984mini25]

Well the Google review got a reply to call them (the same person I had issues with during the fitting fiasco) so I did, only to get abuse and to change the google review, no offer of compensation for the damage caused, inconvenience or to drop by for them to be rebalanced.

Still, the other vehicle is due it's mot at the end of the week, could do with a service (I'll do that myself as it's easy and I want the right oil being used) and a new set of tyres.
Which depending upon how the mot goes is a tad inconvenient, as now the weights on both fronts have fallen off and the one remaining one on the rear I've removed (it was rolling round on the rim) and am stuck with having to stick to below 50mph until they are rebalanced again.
I have managed to sand down and spot repair the deep scratched caused to the paint on the wheels. Luckly I had them sprayed in a standard wheel silver, so had a rattle can spare that was an exact match and some clear.

Edited by 1984mini25, 05 November 2025 - 08:45 PM.

[1984mini25]

Also realized I haven't posted any decent pics of them, phone is still not the best, but the best pics I could get while one was off earlier today.
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[1984mini25]

I've finally had the wheels rebalanced for a third and hopefully final time. I ended up using the local Kwik-fit (not ideal but they are the closest) as the other car which has just had it's mot had an advisory for all 4 tyres, and predictably they are a size that isn't easily available anymore (13" steels with 155's) and the same tyres they quoted for I found elsewhere fully fitted for £180 less.

I also got a reasonable quote for getting the mini wheels rebalanced for the following day. Removed the wheels from the mini again (not easy to do in a single garage) loaded them into the other car and dropped them off the following morning, only to find they couldn't do them until the afternoon or to rebook for the following week and that it was going to be more expensive than what I'd been previously quoted.

So I reluctantly left them before explaining exactly how I wanted them balanced, and not to scratch up the paint etc. Upon returning later that afternoon/early evening, I find a set of 5 wheels all balanced with the correct weights (not excessive either) and no further marks or scratches to the wheels and another £45 lighter.

I do have some ugly wheel weights to mask up and paint, but I can live with that until the spring.

What was also rather annoying was upon refitting the wheels back onto the mini, something within the ratchet part of my torque wrench decided to let go and jam up. Thankfully being a decent branded torque wrench (bought 20 years ago and not abused) I've since been able to buy a repair kit and fix it so it's fully functional again.

But with the wheels, tyres and balancing fiasco now over you'd think that would be it with the mini, not likely.

With the ignition side of things now sorted (with the exception of the ignition advance) the standard needle is far too lean, so swapped it back to a new one of what it was last tuned with. Unfortunately in doing so I lost the little spring on the end of the needle. I tried looking for were I think it flew off in the garage, but couldn't find it. Luckly a spare carb that's been used and robbed for parts still had one I could use.

It's so much better and driving back to how it used to, but upon returning home and later checking the levels I found no coolant in the radiator (or at least below the fins in the radiator) I don't remember it ever getting above normal on the gauge (which are known for lying) and I didn't drive it that far with the reduced amount of coolant. (Although I'm not too sure how long the coolant had been low for)

Checked the obvious places for leaks and nothing been leaking onto the garage floor when parked up. And then discovered the newly fitted heater valve by the steering column leaking at both hoses. 2 new jubilee clips, a top up of coolant/antifreeze (about half a pint) and running up for 20 minutes and all happy and leak free.

That was until the next day and finding a fresh drip of blue coolant off the bottom hose to the heater matrix. Quick peek inside with an inspection camera (lidl/Parkside and good enough for diy use) and find the inside swimming with coolant. Oh, joy, so for now I've removed the heater unit and done a heater deleat and bypassed the hoses into each other (also removing the heater valve) and cable tired the hoses up under the dashrail.

Not ideal as it's now bloody freezing and I've got parts of a dissaembled heater spread up at the house. As I've removed and looked over the matrix and it's got the tiniest leak were it's crimed over onto the plastic tank at one end. I did think about pressure testing it, but if it's leaking the only thing it's fit for is the bin anyway, so I've just bought the same £20 heater matrix (mini specialists are £40 dearer for the same one) off eBay. The old one I've worked out at probably being 15 years old anyway.

But, as the heater unit is now apart, all the foam is scrap as it's soaked it's now all apart, being sanded, primed and painted (was given an external tart up before being refitted in 2017) and fitted with a new matrix and sealing foam (the left over yoga mats from my sound insulation)

Edited by 1984mini25, 26 November 2025 - 12:55 AM.

[1984mini25]

The heater unit has all been stripped, primed and painted (with the aid of a portable heater set up in the garage) new matrix fitted and sealed up with new foam (left overs yoga mat/closed cell foam) all new screws and all fitted and plumped back in, finishing late as usual with hoses and jubilee clips deciding not to play. Costing up the paint, primer, new foam, screws, sealant (wanted black to be awkward) and hose clips has cost more than the new matrix.

I had been driving it without a heater, but wasn't ideal. Also, without the heater plumed in the engine temperature was running between normal and hot, which again isn't ideal and isn't normal running for this time of year.

Ideally, what I'd prefer would have been to do a coolant/radiator flush and then fit the reconditioned heater unit. But that's not exactly ideal, so that's a job for spring in the new year.

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Edited by 1984mini25, 09 December 2025 - 03:01 PM.

[1984mini25]

I've driven the mini a few times with the refurbished heater and new matrix fitted. I seam to have done a pretty decent job of sealing it all up with the sealant and new foam, although with the flap in the off position anything above 50mph is causing a whistling through the heater unit, which is quite annoying.

Also refitting and having the extra flow through the heater has made zero difference to the engine running temp (once it does warm up) which is slightly annoying and will need further investigation. I do also have an electric fan in the inner wing, but that has zero effect when on the move.

One issue that has been getting worse though was selecting 2nd gear without (and sometimes with) crunching. It was getting to the point I was thinking on swapping the gearbox with a rebuilt one I have (under another engine) but I've no clue (can't remember) what diff is in that one and without pulling the engine and gearbox out I don't know what's currently fitted.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the clutch as I've only recently (September) just replaced the clutch slave cylinder and bleed it all through.

Although I did have the idea of getting under it and removing the plate on the bottom of the gearstick housing. It was all removed from the car, cleaned up, painted, regressed and refitted with new mounts only 5 years ago, but I didn't like the look of the grease inside, so removed and cleaned out as much as I could with spirits and rags as I could (also removed the gearstick from inside the car to do the same) and regreased it with a packet of left over cv grease.
It's now so much easier to change gear with a lot less resistance and crunching into second (only really when really cold) so I can put off the gearbox swap for now, but will need to be at some point. As since fitting my new exhaust 3 years ago the driver's side diff cover has been leaking were the thread for the bottom bolt also shared with the exhaust mounting bracket is non-existent, and I've got some wire wrapped round the bolt/forced it to hold, so would leave me in a bit of a mess if removed.

[1984mini25]

After having it get much hotter (was idling higher than it would at normal temp) while trying to look for a suitable parking space in tescos (of course I was trying to find the biggest to reduce the chances of dents and scratches) earlier today, I did some investigating with the infrared temperature gun (once I nicked a battery out of something else first).

Either side of the cylinder head was 82°
The inlet and outlet heater pipes in the engine bay were around 64°
The inlet hose on the heater was 34°(heater valve on)
The outlet hose on the heater was 64°
The top hose to the radiator was about 60° and the bottom hose was 58° to 60°


So I have a heater matrix working in reverse (plumed in correctly) and a radiator that's is doing nothing or very little.

Thinking either thermostat, which is an 82° one and was working on the stove before refitting when the head was swapped. To drain and chemical flush the cooling system/radiator, or as it's got to be drained and refilled with fresh coolant anyway and just replacing the radiator with a brand new one.

Edited by 1984mini25, 19 December 2025 - 03:28 PM.