I am a shed dragger.
Posted 14 October 2014 - 10:50 PM
It's a curse that many a classic mini owner has had to endure, with symptoms that can go on for months, if not years, as you slowly unearth the full extent of the how the disease has spread through your mini. I am of course talking about the pain of P.O.S (Previous Owner Syndrome) a condition that ranges from cases of minor neglect, to the most severe and tragic cases of utter bodgery!!
So now it's time to share with fellow sufferers here, how you have come to terms with P.O.S. 
I am a shed dragger.
Posted 14 October 2014 - 10:51 PM
This is my story...
Soon after getting my mini on the road, I found the nut from the o/s upper damper mounting sitting in the middle of the boot one day. Presumably it had worked itself loose due to the previous owner not tightening it fully when replacing the damper, which by now fallen out of its mounting in the wheel arch, and was flayling around behind the wheel. 
Damper reffitted and nut correctly tightened, I knew I really should check out the near side damper too, but as that would involve removing the fuel tank, I kinda didnt get around to it. Sure enough I soon found the nearside damper flayling around behind the nearside rear wheel too, so now the fuel tank was definatley going to have to come out. 
When removing the tank, I then find a pool of water under the spare wheel, a problem I thought I'd already solved with a new boot seal, but apparently not. Some spraying around with a garden hose soon revealed that the water is pouring in between the rear light clusters and the body, mainly because when fitting replacement rear lamps, the previous owner had failed to fit any rubber seals behind them!
Oh well, it's a good job that the fuel tank's coming out, as both rear lamp clusters have now got to come out too!! 
Camshaft & Stage Two Head
Posted 14 October 2014 - 11:26 PM
Mill Road Garage
Posted 14 October 2014 - 11:48 PM
I have 2 that i can think of.
when i first owned my 25 back in 01 it had a scabby rusty patch on the front corner of the roof which i didn't pay any mind to as i didn't own the car long enough to do anything with it.
I sold it to my uncle who also left it and when he sold it to his mate, he just parked it up in the garden and left it for a few years.
I passed his house one day and saw that the scabby patch had turned into a hole so i decided to warn him about and advised he patch it up to stop the water getting in and causing a load of damage.
When i finally bought it back from him years later, he hadn't done anything to the hole in the roof and this had subsequently caused the scuttle, windscreen surround closing panel, a panel reinforcer, hinge panel, dash top rail, flitch and inner wing to completely rot away as well as major damage to the front floors from water settling there.
Anyway, a few months later due to a house move, i had to sell it on again, this time to my cousin who stored it in his council garage. During a chat with him a few months after he bought it, he told me that the garage roof was leaking. I advised him to mend it and he said he couldn't afford to so i said to chuck a cover over it to stop the water and re-fit the bonnet.
He didn't and when i bought it back off him, the front bulkhead and cross member was totally rotten
All this damage caused when it could have been avoided by a couple of quick simple jobs.
Ben
Well I'll be buggered if I can find it
Posted 15 October 2014 - 12:06 AM
I was very lucky too. Me and my mate flew to Brizzal to check out a clubby estate, checked it over, under and everywhere in between, paid for it and drove it back up the M5/M6 to the Heysham ferry terminal, got 200 yards from the terminal and everything went dark and the engine died on the dual carriageway. A quick check found the mechanic hadn't secured the battery terminals and the +ve had fallen off, a quick clout with a spanner and we were off again. Sooo glad it hadn't happened in the Brummy rush hour! 
Crazy About Mini's
Posted 15 October 2014 - 04:42 AM
Crazy About Mini's
Posted 15 October 2014 - 06:48 AM
Mini Mad
Posted 15 October 2014 - 07:43 AM
Hey Jokers :)
I can top all of yours :)
got my car, ill start from front moving onto the rear
Carb - the choke cable was installed wrong way so car was always runing on choke, after fixing this i realised...
Inlet manifold - was knackered because insrtead of using studs the holes were driled out and some bolts were used which is fine but the nuts could not have been put on one end so the bolt was drilled through and fixed with split pin to stop it coming out... efectively everything was loose and was held bya sealant....
Changed the inlet for porper minispares one and...
Cylinder head - instead of using imperial studs on the head some clever clogs decided to drive in metrick bolts in so they were wobbly and not holding anything which brought me to question how did i manage to drive for 4 month is boyond me.
Engine steady was snapped too.
Inside the car.
Dash, the stereo and sigaret lighter was bodged into the harness to get positive feed i think if i recolect it was connected with dash lights without fuse or anything and it was not even soldered... i notised this after my lights and stereo simultaniously stoped working.
car drivers side floor or shall i say floors... i had the total of 3 welded in there and instead of using correct mini repair panels i think some floors were cut out other minis as they were 3 different colours.
wiring,,,,, im not even going to go there.
rear - subframe was held to hill board by twho bolts.
copious amounts of filler at the rear and front ... that i have found so far...
Arches were strategically placed to cover the rot :)
i think this is about it that i can remember... had my car for about 5 years now :)
Traders Area Specialist Mod, North and Scotland Area Manager
Posted 15 October 2014 - 07:54 AM
Wiring, scotch locks, bare twisted wires etc....
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 15 October 2014 - 07:58 AM
On The Road
Posted 15 October 2014 - 08:07 AM
Mine is purple, but I have been told that's normal
Posted 15 October 2014 - 09:11 AM
There was a repair piece in the rear corner of the boot of mine made from a piece of rear 1/4 from another car which was seam sealed in. Not a sign of weld anywhere.
And this was within inches of the rear subby mount
Up Into Fourth
Posted 15 October 2014 - 04:45 PM
When I bought my Mayfair (back in 1999!) it was quite a tidy car; however there were a couple of issues:
It was owned by a very nice young lady who was going off travelling and let's just say her boyfriend's stereo installations left something to be desired. He had mounted the amp on the crossmember under the driver's seat, which I didn't know about. When I moved the seat back I got my finger trapped between the seat and the amp, crushing it completely. It took a couple of days for the feeling to come back He had also put a pair of 6x9 speakers in the back shelf but appeared to have made the hole with a tin opener. Luckily for me my friend worked in a Stereo shop so sorted the hole out properly with a nibbler.
I had an accident in 2000 where I needed a new front end. It turns out it had been fitted with a new front end before; however the guy at the bodyshop rang saying it was something he had never seen before. The person who fitted it had BRAZED the panels on instead of welding them.
Formerly known as TneMini.
Posted 15 October 2014 - 05:37 PM
My now dead red cooper was a series of bodges; Large solid lumps of steel used instead of shaped floor pans. Large areas of filler, all sorts of things. Not as bad as many things on here.
The first mini I had was a silver Mayfair, bought on ebay for £270. Didn't look too bad although I knew there was rust. Went to pick it up, and there was silver gaffe tape below the rear windows - the metal had disappeared and I am convinced the window was held in place by the tape. Brilliant fun though!
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