417 replies to this topic

[CLM]

Heya all,

 

I towed it to Florence OR last Saturday as I don't trust the engine enough to drive it that far yet. To tow it I built up some brackets that slid over my front bumper that bolted to a tow bar my father has. It worked a treat, about 5 minutes to hook it up and 5 minutes to take it off. With the way I rewired my tail lights I found I can use a 6 foot trailer light extension and just plug it right into 4 wires on my wiring harness. The Lucas bullet connectors are perfect fit in the 4 flat plug!

 

I have experienced a failure already though, my speedometer seized and destroyed the hairspring for the needle, I now need to find another 90mph standard 850 speedometer, although I did hack apart a Morris Minor speedometer clean up and lube all the moving parts sparingly and got it working in a blackface 90mph speedo body... although I doubt it reads correctly :)

 

 

I also think my clutch master cylinder is failing as it's not always fully releasing the clutch... doh. 

 

Chris

[jagman.2003]

Excellent progress, not just a garage ornament now it runs & drives. It certainly looks like fun.

[minimikej]

Haha, looks so cool in those pics between the modern cars. What a lot of hard work, well done!

[CLM]

Thanks guys, I am having a blast in my 'beater rat moke' :)

 

 

Hey all, it has been a hectic past week. 

 

The speedometer I rigged together failed... the needle now no longer moves... however the odometer is still working!

 

Last Saturday was the local town parade, car show, and cruise. I was determined to drive the moke in it and all set to take it out Saturday morning... when the u-joint fell apart! ARRGH! Apparently one of my steel ql500 caps slipped out of the U bolt... crap now I need to find another one to complete my set

 

I quickly pushed it up on ramps and proceeded to pull the remains of that joint from the moke and put in an old rubber cross joint. With everything all bolted back up tight I pulled it down from the ramps and pulled the parking brake... and the knob flew out of the end of it! O.o The Moke was not happy! But I managed to get it down to the parade starting point and shortly before the start my grandmother and my cousins daughter showed up to ride through the parade with me. 

 

The Moke really was not happy creeping the couple miles of the parade but thankfully it did not overheat!

 

 

After the parade I put the moke in the car show, it was the only non-American car in the whole show! And being fairly unusual it received it's fair share of attention.

 

 

After the car show there was an hour and a half cruise though the town of which the moke managed to survive without going nuclear :) I managed to win an award for having the most unique vehicle in the cruise. It was fun :) ...although I did not get many pictures due to driving the moke.

 

Today I took the old nasty top in and had the ripped stitching as well as the tear in the top sewn up and proceeded to mount it. For being so bad it turned out quite well if I should say so myself :)

 

 

 

 

All in all a fun past couple of weeks :)

 

 

p.s. I love how the tail lights look with dual red lights :)

 

[jagman.2003]

Looking good there. Great to see it out on the road. Not the only british car in town seeing the MG in the background. Well done for getting it so solid & road worthy so quickly.

Edited by jagman.2003, 05 June 2013 - 07:38 AM.

[ba-tat]

The video of just you zooming about in your summer toy really cheered me up no end. Just brilliant.

[CLM]

Yeah well, the MG is for sale and I have seen a Triumph Spitfire around that has been Americanized... But they were not entered in the car show or cruise :)

 

Hopefully I can get this thing built into a Year round toy! :)

 

 

I had a run out to moms house today to pick up the lawn mower, on the way back I tried pulling the choke while driving and found the general lethargy of the engine cleared up and I was able to accelerate up to the road speed of other drivers... That tells me it's running a bit lean at the top end I think...

 

It's running the 1100 engine with a 1275 smog head, a cast iron manifold, and a 1 1/2 SU with biased needle. The needle it has is an AAC needle currently, any suggestions? :)

 

Moke being used as a pickup truck! The horror!

 

Chris

[jagman.2003]

Used the choke trick on an old Mini Metro (998 A+). I put a K&N filter on which left it lean. Good fuel economy, but would rocket off when the choke was pulled out.

[CLM]

Yeah but I think that would cause my fuel economy to be totally horrible...

 

Fuel flow and vent are good, I also checked for air leaks and did not find any... so far...

 

I am thinking I need to replace the distributor as well as the timing seems to move around a fair amount.

 

Aside from that... I think I have found an idea for how to fit Australian rear arms in my English moke and keep the little wheeler look :)

 

An image from the web I modified to show my idea.

 

I am thinking of extending the bodywork slightly to move the rear panel back far enough to clear the larger tires. I think it could be done smooth enough to still look like a stock little wheeler if it isn't sitting next to another moke. If anything it would only add 2 inches to the load bay which could be mostly hidden by some form of storage box.

 

... Oh, and the camper trailer I am thinking of building to tow with the moke... :)

 

Also borrowed from the web and modified ;)

 

Chris

[jagman.2003]

Nice pictures. Good luck with the trailer.

[buddylove]

Wow, Chris.  I haven't been on TMF since sometime last year.  You have made so much progress on this, congrats man!  

[CLM]

Wow thank you Buddy, I thought you fell off the face of the.. well.. Washington! Are you going to try to make Mini Meet West?

 

And thanks :)

 

Chris

[buddylove]

Unfortunately, I don't have enough PTO to make it to MMW.  Hope you have fun though!

[CLM]

It's a prize winning Moke!

 

 

...ok it's more of a gag trophy but all the real winners got was an engraved glass ;)

 

I'll take some pictures close up tomorrow, just got home from Mini Meet West and I am beat!

 

But I want to add something else... While I was there I read up on some oil pressure issues and I think my oil pump may not be in very good shape. It doesn't seem to build pressure on the starter motor only after it fires, which seems to indicate it's bleeding down. The oil pressure seems rather variable. I am thinking of pulling it and taking it to Jet Motors in Portland OR to have the bottom end inspected and corrected if need be. 

 

And while we are on that subject, they did a bit of tuning to the moke at Mini meet, now the engine has PLENTY of torque... It will happily drive in 4th from 20ish all the way up over 65MPH. First second and third gears? Who needs them!... well ok maybe I should put the taller final drive in it like I have been wanting to do ;)

 

But I will try to get more story and pictures up tomorrow... 

 

 

oh.. ok, here is a couple.

 

Moke in a snowstorm at Mt Bachelor.

 

 

Commandeered by the Stig and the Queen!

 

Rusty and Moke 2XS

 

Chris

[johnsn]

AAAAA!

I missed MINI MEET WEST!

 

Oh well.

 

Congrats on the aword.

 

john s