327 replies to this topic

[DaveJH]

You could have used the card to pay me via pay-pal!!

But to be honest to do those few jobs would have only been £25, plus £15 worth of bits!!!

Stop telling me the details, it's annoying enough already!

[DaveJH]

Nice thread.

Glad your Mini will finally be sorted.

I'm dreading the day i decide to strip my Mini lol Not sure what i will find!

I too had a problem with my washer pump which turned out to just be a dodgy wire.

Good luck with the rest of it!

Yeah I'll have to check the wires. Might also be a blockage or a dead pump I guess.

Barney is looking great - being newish to all this, I've not seen Shifty's work before, but I certainly hope you'll have a garage space when I need some welding doing!

Must feel good to have him back and almost on the road again.

Cheers. It actually is very frustrating. I can't get the bloody tank back in properly. Can't remember which pipe is which and they refuse to sit properly. Once I've sorted that though I have to sort the washer and a couple of lights that aren't working before midday tomorrow. Having no garage is a killer!

[Boycie]

Cheers. It actually is very frustrating. I can't get the bloody tank back in properly. Can't remember which pipe is which and they refuse to sit properly. Once I've sorted that though I have to sort the washer and a couple of lights that aren't working before midday tomorrow. Having no garage is a killer!

Look on the bright side, at least you have something to actually bolt the fuel tank to now
Joking apart, a solid Mini is a car worth spending money on to keep it nice, before it was a car that was (sadly) one step away from being broken for parts. Now it has hope! And will be a lovely example of a Rover Cooper when you get it painted

[DaveJH]

Hah true. Paint comes after I've replaced the front end. Oh and after I actually get some money.

[DaveJH]

Right, as usual my lust for getting back behind the wheel has overcome my sensible saving side and I'm planning to get this baby MOTd the day before I go back to university. Sounds risky but I had it MOTd in September and its been garaged having its welding done most of the time since then. Also, I'm paying Andy to come down and finish him for me using its previous failures as a to do list. He's also going to give it a general look over to spot any obvious problems. As usual this will wipe out my bank account's overdraft leaving me penniless at the start of term. It's going to be a few months of 'Pint or petrol?' or 'Food or fuel?'. Still, at least I might get a chance to drive him again! :)

[Shifty]

Aldi baked beans and thin sliced bread it is then??!!

I'm glad andy is able to help you out, i'm only sorry that I couldn't do more myself.

[DaveJH]

Certainly is mate. And no worries, I should have mentioned this stuff to you while you still had the car! It's going to be tight, Andy is talking about coming Friday, MOT and new rear tire are booked for Saturday morning, leave for uni on Sunday. One mistake or unavailable part puts me back to square one..!

[Shifty]

That would have been a whole lot easier!!

It would have been much easier to do it then.

Good luck with the MOT!!

[BusheyTrader]

It's good to see you're close to getting your Mini back on the road after all the bad luck earlier on..

Adam

[DaveJH]

Andy has been and gone, very long day for him! He was on the road by 6.20 this morning, arrived here at 9.20 and left at around 7pm. I got the parts the car needed for him, he literally worked all day and is still driving back now. Here's what got done:

Track rod end replaced (and ball joint which he noticed was nearly dead!)
Steering gaiter replaced
Rear brake unstuck, hopefully enough to pass the MOT
Passenger side mirror on (though pretty loosely, can't get it tight to the car unfortunately, at least it looks prettier)
Interior back in
Fuel pump working fine (I missed the earth connection - durh!)
Washer pump replaced and working
Radiator fan turned around - apparently it was on backwards!

There wasn't time to sort the rear fog lamp though, the bulb is fine but there's a connection issue between the wiring loom and the bulb, hoping to sort it tomorrow before the MOT. Also I need a new bulb elsewhere and we couldn't get the new rear brake shoes replaced because the passenger side adjuster was completely stuck solid. Going to have to replace the whole back plate and adjuster in the future and then fit the new rear brakes.

Lucky I check because he did leave two wheel nuts undone, but he did the last three hours of work in the dark with a couple outside lights to work by so it's understandable. All in all I'm pleased with the work he did, he's a top bloke. Just hope I can sort the fog light in the morning as it should be the only failure left now! Fingers crossed for tomorrow...

[Shifty]

Man, that's cutting it close!!!

Good luck with the MOT tomorrow.

[DaveJH]

Yes it is. Really hope it isn't too close!

[Shifty]

For the fog lamp, if you get stuck just chuck a new wire from the switch to the rear lamp.

Run it through the car, not the best idea but will get through a ticket.

[DaveJH]

Yep, though we checked with my multimeter and power appears to be getting to the connectors on the boot side, the issue therefore seems to be in the wires that go from inside the boot to the fog light itself, hopefully I can do a resistance test tomorrow, work out where the problem is and quickly fix it in the morning. Should be alright! I did a dodgy looking cable with a switch for my fuel pump when it had it's old problems, not sure the MOT man would have liked that but thankfully its fixed now!

[DaveJH]

Sorted the fog light, it appeared to just be a dodgy connection. Got my tire sorted and went to the MOT. As usual, something went wrong.

It failed on emissions, going to have it tested to see if its the sensor on Monday, if not it might be the cat.
Then the fan belt snapped (which I've never even heard slipping before today!) so the MOT was aborted.

The guy MOTing the car is a mini nut himself so he did a very thorough test, he advised me of the following issues:

Front subframe bushes have gone at the front, rear brake still seems to be sticking (didn't get far enough through to test it properly), the rear subframe needs a couple of patches (could be an advisory) and there might be a couple of spots up under the scuttle near the front suspension mounts. He couldn't check the radius arms.

The only upside was that I didn't have to pay for the MOT because it was aborted early but I still got a to do list from it. Now I need to find another mobile mechanic and some more money.


Seriously disappointed.