11 replies to this topic

[jonbott]

how easy are they to replace?
looking at a mini later today and told no brake lights and needs driveshaft doin
If I buy it I`ll get a haynes

[Guess-Works.com]

Drive shaft or CV joint, as the shaft is only a piece of metal...

Brake lights are easy, just a matter of finding out why they don't work, either bulbs or the brake switch on the pedal box.

[jonbott]

the cv joint is easy no?

[Guess-Works.com]

Yes and no.. you need to remove the hub to get the CV off, which with old ( potentially non runner ) minis can prove an issue because of stuck ball joints... but if changing the CV, it's a goot time to inspect the wheel bearings and hub condition generally...

[AlexM]

You might have trouble getting the inner joint out, I bought the correct tool for this, have used it quite a few times now and its kinda paid for itself in time. You will also need a socket to remove the hub not and I find that having the ball joint socket is also a good investment.

Personally I found the job easy, although I didn't run into any obstacles. Thats when things get difficult, siezed componants etc might double the time you would spend usually. When reassembling items make sure you correctly grease that which need to be greased and also putting copper ease on ball joint swivel pins will make them so so so much easier to split next time round....and wire brushing everything...

[jonbott]

the car`s a runner just short tax n test,which worries me a bit,been looking for a mini for a while,now found 2 locally I like ones an early and ones a later one hmmmmm

[Garagiste]

Get the one with the least rust, everything else is cheap and easy in comparison!

[jonbott]

Get the one with the least rust, everything else is cheap and easy in comparison!

actually goin off track are later minis easier to maintain?

[Garagiste]

LOL, that's a big can of worms and opinions differ! It also depends as to what you call later, but IMHO the very last ones had more things to go wrong (cats, injection etc) and from what I've seen rot even worse than the earlier ones.
I'll give way for people to argue the opposite though, as I've not had the ownership experience.

[jonbott]

I`ve looked at the minispares and the bits that are needed for the older mini seem cheap enough the owner seems nice too watch this space by the end of today I`ll prob be a mini owner(again!)
oh the late ones an 85

[Guess-Works.com]

anything pre 86 are usually pretty good, the bonus with an '85 is it'll have disk brakes as std, I don't know how early the other one is, but may still have drums on thr front.

[jonbott]

anything pre 86 are usually pretty good, the bonus with an '85 is it'll have disk brakes as std, I don't know how early the other one is, but may still have drums on thr front.

def its a 73