846 replies to this topic

[ryomini]

Mucking about with minis is fun :)

[Mini Manannán]

 

looks great! will get mine to a rylstone classic one of these years..

You definitely will enjoy it. It is a great weekend away, although a lot of driving over a couple of days. 

 

Tomorrow we are off to Bathurst for the V8 supercars round, and the 50th anniversary of the race when the Cooper S came 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9th outright. There is a bit of an event organised, with 82 Minis and 27 Mokes along for drives, dinners, car display and a parade lap. Plenty of photos to follow in time!

 

 

Well that sounds a hoot!  Yup, plenty of pics please Timmy.

[timmy850]

Here's one with the stickers and numbers applied

[timmy850]

This year was the 50th anniversary of the 1966 Bathurst 500 race where the Morris Cooper S filled out the first 9 places. Similar to 10 years ago a trip was planned to celebrate... I think the total was 82 Minis and 27 Mokes as part of the group!

I booked in for the trip as soon as I heard about it as its not an opportunity that comes up very often. I took my uncle with me, as he used to race minis and mokes back in the 80's and was always brought up watching the race every year with my grandfather (back when they had interesting cars).

We drove up with 2 minis and a 4wd filled with luggage. It was a decent drive, about 4.5 hours on the Thursday and got to the meeting point (a Harness racing club) a bit after lunch. We met up with all the fellow mini owners to receive the race numbers and find out all the necessary details.

After dinner we parked back in the shed at the harness club. There were stalls for washing horses which happened to be the right size for minis too. The car had never been so clean, getting a wash Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons!

Our fine luxury accommodation for the weekend..

Friday morning was a bit foggy and we went for lunch to Blayney, about a 30 minute drive.

Always a great site seeing the roads covered in minis!

Friday night was a formal dinner with Bob Holden (one of the drivers who won the 1966 race) as a guest and an auction of various bits and pieces of memorabilia.

An early start Saturday (much before my normal waking time) and we headed over to the Bathurst Motor Racing Museum where we would be parked on display.

We headed out for the parade lap around lunch time. It was a real experience being on the track on race weekend with so many people around and all the advertising banners and race fencing up!

I took a video on my phone as we went around the track. Unfortunately there were a few spots of rain on the windscreen, and the camera kept changing focus from the rain on the window to the car in front and back again so it is unwatchable. I managed to get a few screenshots from the video but nothing very clear... My uncle took some photos around the track on his camera so I'm hoping he got some good ones. The "speed limit" was as fast as the car in front, which did vary a bit...

Spent the afternoon at "The Chase" baking in the sun watching the second tier V8 class.

We headed back to the harness club early to watch the top 10 shootout at the bar on the TV with air conditioning and cold beers, definitely a good place to be!

Another early morning Sunday and we parked in front of the Motoring Museum again.

The Moke driver parade & top 9 mini parade was on in the morning. The top 9 placed cars in 1966 were replicated with matching stripes and decals.

The crowd was building before the race!

We headed back to the Museum to have a bit of a chat and break

I loved the free range Moke reserve

I went for a quick tour of the Museum

The race roared off for the next few hours, unfortunately all the good spots get taken pretty early, so I found a place in the shade. We left early again and watched the end of the race in the air conditioned bar.

One last night in the shed Sunday night and we headed home on Monday morning.

Overall we did probably 800km and 11 hours or so driving without any issues. Would I do it again? If they are still doing it in 10 years time I'd genuinely think about it!

[Vinay-RS]

Wow! That's so cool! A long run, with a track day, racing and a huge collection of stunning minis! That must have been an amazing trip. 

[Jared Mk3]

Would love to do something like this 

[Mini Manannán]

Sounds like a fabulous weekend Timmy, so good to see all those minis together.

[Minigman]

I've just spent the best part of an hour reading the entire post. Great little car you hav there.

[timmy850]

Wow! That's so cool! A long run, with a track day, racing and a huge collection of stunning minis! That must have been an amazing trip.

 
 

Would love to do something like this 

 
 

Sounds like a fabulous weekend Timmy, so good to see all those minis together.

 
 

I've just spent the best part of an hour reading the entire post. Great little car you hav there.

Thanks guys!

I've been buying and fiddling the last couple of weeks, with most of that involving the electrical side and the exhaust. The exhaust had been blowing on the join where the manifold meets the down pipe. It looked like I didn't push it on far enough before clamping it tight. I fiddled with it for an hour on my back trying to get it to fit on properly and then decided to take off the manifold and do it on the bench. You can see where the pipe has been crushed by the exhaust clamp..

In hindsight it was a good idea as I discovered there was a leak at the head too.

I spent another couple of hours trying to get it to fit together properly on the bench before deciding nothing was round and it wouldn't go back together. I took it off to an exhaust shop and they sorted it for the grand total of $20. The middle exhaust hanger had torn too, so it was an easy time to replace it.

When the manifolds were off it was the perfect opportunity to replace the broken speedo cable and the ancient radiator hoses.


I've never been a fan of electrical wiring, and there was a problem as the IGN light would turn on when the car was off and turn off when the car was running. The generator had been swapped for an alternator a few years before I got the car and the regulator wiring looked a bit dubious. After a bit of reading and poking around it turned out one of the wires on the alternator was on the wrong terminal and that solved the IGN light problem. The alternator on the car is internally regulated, so to simplify the wiring and remove the horrible scotchlocks I removed the regulator altogether.

Purists look away.. It's now stored safely in the original parts box.

Here is the engine all back together. The new radiator hoses have been installed along with the new speedo cable. There is also a new firewall blanket which looks nicer.


A few people in Australia have been using the programmable Accuspark ignition module and I decided to get one. The current distributor is a 45D copy with vacuum advance and a "Mini Sparc 2120" kit that uses a Bosch ignition module (the black box on the inner wing) and modern coil. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with it, but it takes up a bit of room and doesn't look quite right. I have no idea on the ignition curve, other than it's OK at full advance.

In a box of parts that came from my grandfather with the car was the original 25D distributor. It's still in good condition and will need a new set of plug leads. I'm not 100% on whether I will use the vacuum advance as the unit is 50 years old and might not be working correctly.

To go with the 25D is an electronic ignition module, Stealth Blackbox and a matching coil. While I'm not expecting a big difference on this engine, it will be nice to know I can keep it for future engine plans and tune it accordingly. The benefit of the Accuspark system is that you lock out the mechanical advance and do all the advance and dwell using a program on the computer. You can adjust the advance very easily and run a curve that isn't possible with springs and weights and you can hide the unit up under the dash.


Another mini owner had a drive of my car during the Bathurst event and noticed my seat was very far forward despite being at the back of the adjustment. I then found out later cars had different seat brackets to my car which give you a bit more leg room. A pair popped up on eBay so I grabbed them.

My original ones are at the front, and only have one hole to choose from. My new pair has the extra holes to move the seat back. It's much more comfortable now!

[Vinay-RS]

Were you able to take it for a drive after fixing the exhaust issues? Did it feel nicer to drive? 

[timmy850]

Were you able to take it for a drive after fixing the exhaust issues? Did it feel nicer to drive?

It does seem better, although it is still loud and a lot of engine noise. The short 3.76 diff probably doesn't help!

[Jared Mk3]

Engine bay looks good.

[timmy850]

Engine bay looks good.

Thanks Jared, still got a few things to tidy up..

I changed the fuel filter yesterday and discovered the vacuum advance line hadn't been hooked back up. I've also flipped the horn around as it was apparently on the wrong way

I've got the spotlight grille attached properly for the first time. I've got some wires and relays to get them working when I can get some time

[Jared Mk3]

Has your fanbelt flipped?

[timmy850]

The fanbelt is definitely on the right way (just went out to check). It's smooth on the inside and ribbed on the outside. Surely there's a joke there somewhere..