217 replies to this topic

[alex-95]

nice one.....bet yr glad that's done, messy job.....

 

It wasn't to bad, It hurt my thumbs though

Nice, neat job alex. I bet you're pleased with it. I would be. I plan on using the same method for my mini when I get to that stage. Keep up the good work. Joe

It's not too bad for my first atempt, I will know what to do on my project when i come to doing it. Definatly cut all the lengths out and place it where it should be going first though.

 

Thanks, Alex

 

 

We went to a local steam rally at the weekend and spoke to a couple of mini owners, There was only 3 minis there, riley elf, clubman estate and ours.

[alex-95]

We have been had a few drives out in the mini but not in the rain, Not because we didn't want to get it wet but because the windscreen wipers wouldn't work, well they moved up a bit but no more. Luckily We bought a second hand set up off someone on here So this weekend we fitted them as I think we'll need them if we go out for a drive in the next week or two.

This is a picture of the old one after we took it apart, the drivers side wiper bit was the one that was causing the problem as it is made of a mix of steel and aluminium. We drilled a hole where the indent  on the shaft so that we can spray lubricant in it which has made it run better so we may do it to the ones that are fitted so that they dont seize up like the original.

 

We have a couple of bits to do on it, Spray the boot light black and change the fuel sender over as this one has stopped working, but I think it could be the float has filled with fuel as it moved on the fuel gauge.

 

Hopefully that all makes sense

Alex

[alex-95]

The other day I took the number plate light off gave it a sand down, a couple of coat's of primer and satin black paint...

 

 

Much better that the horrible pitted chrome one, and not too bad of finish either for the first time i've properly painted with a rattle can.

 

Alex

Edited by alex-95, 11 August 2013 - 06:56 PM.

[Chance]

A much much nicer Ritz than mine

Fancy tidying mine up while your at it?

Have you still got your original alloys? If so are you keeping them or would you sell them?
I want to make mine original again soon and it never came with its proper wheels

[alex-95]

more original than yours

 

Haha, Got a bit to much work to do, got my project first.

 

Yep still got them, They will be going back on one day, the white ones were only bought because they were cheap and had goodish tyres.

They do come up on ebay from time to time, the centre is the hardest part to get, Lulu85ritz bought a 12" steel wheel hubcap and cut it to size and they look fine, just need sticking on.

I'm trying to get some original door cards for it and a couple of other bits to make it more original.

[Chance]

My interior is fully original have the original stereo somewhere too

I do look from time to time
Hopefully some will come up

Deffo keeping it original now but I don't know whether to put the original exhaust On or not

[alex-95]

I think the only original things in the interior is the seats and steering wheel.   I am trying to get a radio too.

 

they should do, Infact there is a set on facbook, on the group "Classic Minis and Parts for sale"  Just need the centre caps.

 

I wouldn't bother with the exhaust unless yours is huge.

[Chance]

We'll I took the original Off and put a stage one kit On so I've still got all the parts

I think I took my radio out and may have lost a few small bits from it but I'll find out when I get to the stage of putting everything back to normal

Its coming Off the road soon and I'm gonna have a go at sorting the rust out and hopefully make it a nice original Ritz

I want another mini that I can 'modify'

[alex-95]

So today we finally sealed up the apanels and valance with some sealent, fixed the fuel gauge and tuned it a tad.

The fuel gauge didn't work so we suspected it to be the sender unit, so put a long screwdriver in the tank and lifted it up and down, it worked, we took it out and compared it to a new one, no difference. We could hear that it was scraping against the tank and got stuck in some places so bent it to stop that and put it back in added fuel so it lifted it but didnt work, lifted it with the screwdriver it worked. Then we tryed the new one (bent it before we put it in, it worked, So that was that fixed!
We took the old one apart: The wires in the middle had seperated so it worked but only at empty or full.

 

Then we went about giving it a quick tune, set the dwell angle and revs with this gunsons testune, It's alot better than a new digital type that we've got, then timed it, spot on.

 

 

Alex

[alex-95]

Also forgot to add that I retapped the number plate light to 5mm as one of the bolts wasn't catching, put some stainless philips bolts ones in too and is much better.

and added a rubbishy picture to the numberplate light update above of the chrome one.

[alex-95]

We've been to a couple more steam rallys in lulu.

 

Hit 50000 Miles Today, the camera didn't have the card inserted properly so missed it with all zeros .

 

And on todays cornwall air ambulance charity mini run.

 

We had a great day, a very good route. We filled it up before and after to see what MPG we were getting, We worked out that we were getting just over 52 MPG, which is pretty good if the amount of petrol we used was right.

We've also got it running better than it was, no flat spots when accelerating.

 

Edited by alex-95, 01 September 2013 - 09:02 PM.

[lulu85ritz]

So nice to see her out and about hope your having fun! I'm not my Cam belt has gone buggering my engine!

[alex-95]

So nice to see her out and about hope your having fun! I'm not my Cam belt has gone buggering my engine!

Yep, tonnes of fun . I saw that, Not good

[alex-95]

Bit more of an update, we've been to a few more local rallies and fixed a couple of things.

We have had a problem though, it says that it's overheating, We don't think it is though as we have rigged up a thermometer attached to the temperature sensor which was reading around 50c, we think it could be the sensor or gauge.

 

First off was the sunvisor, It didn't fit right up to the roof lining and had become rather baggy on the cream side. So we cut along the top to get the insides out. Inside is a wire frame (middle bit below) and some foam stuck to a bit of cardboard . so dad got some

corrugated plastic that we cut to the same size as the cardboard, and also a couple of peice of wadding to replace one layer of foam. And then glued it back together.

Looks much better, and you can't really see the cut, only where it had ripped a bit before hand.

 

Tamworthbay kindly sent me some bis that he had, 2 air vent locking rings, door latch surrounds and an original type gear stick gaiter. So have finally been able to fit the air vent cover thing, just need to get some ritz door cards to fit the locking surrounds.

 

 

We gave her a bit of a service the other week too, checking lights, greasing nipples and a couple of other bits.

We also made a trip up to castle combe travelled around 350 miles (I think) with no problems   no pics of lulu though

 

 

Think thats about it.

 

 

 

[lulu85ritz]

Glad to hear you have had no big problems and she is being good for you.