573 replies to this topic

[colinf1]

Been managing to get a few outings in the car recently, been to a few coffee mornings. Car was still hesitating under part throttle so took it to Cian at CCMinis in Moira to have the fueling and timing looked at. 85km each way which made it the longest continuous drive so far, all motorway/dual carriageway. Stuck to 95km/hr, a few trucks and buses overtook me but wasn't too bad of a drive. Cian was able to set fueling correctly, enriched the mixture and slightly advanced the timing. Drive home was much better, no hesitation under part throttle. He also bled and adjusted the brakes and tightened the handbrake, pedal is much firmer now.

It has developed some squeaks and rattles, latest on seems to be coming from exhaust bracket, so need to investigate that. Brake pads develop a chirp once there heated up and sounds like a washer rattling somewhere around front of car.

Let my dad take it for a spin, his first time driving a mini since he owned one in the mid 80s until I arrived on the scene 😂. He managed to navigate the steep driveway with ease...

VID-20230812-WA0000

It hasn't been using or losing any oil which is great because it's no longer making a mess of my driveway 😂

We are nearing the final few days of pregnancy, so it will probably be covered and parked up once that all kicks in, but hopefully I can get to one or two flvintage shows/ coffee mornings before putting it away for the winter...

[colinf1]

Made up an aluminium bottle/cup holder from some off cuts. Bolted onto seat bracket, I've another one for passenger side, just need to drill and tap the main body of it, then that should be ready to be installed...

[Retro_10s]

That cup holder's a touch of class, and can double as a Baguette clamp for long journeys.

[colinf1]

Tightened up the bottom radiator bolt, then done a tightness check on all bolts on front subframe, all good.

Had a rattle in the interior of the car, passenger side rear door bin area, emptied it out and run my hand around to look for anything loose, got my finger jagged by a piece of welding wire that I missed on the clean up!

Refitted grille with an extra bolt on passenger side as it was a bit rattly.

Took it out for a spin this morning after a night of intense rain and wind, rattle seems to be sorted now...

[Colinmac1330]

Are you coming up on Sunday for the CCMC day in Portrush?

[colinf1]

Baby #2 arrived yesterday afternoon, so won't be going to Portrush. All healthy and happy, great excuse to start looking for a mini estate lol.

[Colinmac1330]

Ah yes! Congratulations!

[ctwomey]

Hi Colin,

 

Congratulations to you and your wife. Wonderful news! That's all we ask for is a safe and healthy delivery.

[stuart bowes]

congrats mate glad all gone well best of luck with everything 

[colinf1]

Cheers everyone!

Got a spin out in the mini this afternoon to go get the wheel alignment done. It was out by a fair bit, but not too bad considering it was done with a string line.

Also got the lights focused, some of the small screws on the inner rim had worked loose, so they were tightened up and eliminated some rattles...

Cars and coffee this Sunday, then a local vintage show Sunday week will probably be the last few outings of the year...

[colinf1]

Good day out at Knockbridge Vintage Show today, thankfully it wasn't as warm as it's been and rain held off. It was our first outing as a quartet in the mini, who says its not a suitable family car!?!



OK, it's a tad tight lol....

A fair few minis in attendance, here are a few that I got photos of. Plenty of good feedback on my own mini too!









Might get out for another few spins before moving it to the shed for some minor fixes over the winter....

[colinf1]

Been working on another mini lately, but a bit smaller....1/16 burago Mini, was a green Mini Cooper model but had to do some modifications, naturally...

Blue ended up a bit darker than I had hoped, but tried to get everything looking as close as possible to my own one. Black seats with red piping, red carpet and door cards, 998 A+ engine and RHD.



Interior


Engine bay


And it's own 1:16 model on parcel shelf, so that's 1:256 scale to the real mini...



3d printed, then details added bybwith painting with a dart tip...

[MacGyver]

That is cool! 😎

[colinf1]

Odometer clicked over to 81000 yesterday, took ages for all the numbers to click over, the 9 looked like it had got stuck but eventually clicked over.

Then had my first non start, stuck in a retail car park, felt like it had run out of petrol, but had half a tank, fuel in float so moved onto checking for spark, seemed a bit weak, checked wiring from fuse box to coil, cleaning connections and eventually it fired up. Got home without any other issues.

Today decided to get it ready for winter hibernation, had lots of cow dung and mud splattered everywhere, so needed to get that off before moving it to shed..



Went the whole hog and removed the wheels and arches, then snow foamed and power washed it all off. Was a fair amount of dirt building up behind the arches, but all paintwork looking good and clean. Not too much tar to clean off either.

Hopefully it's dry tomorrow to get it fully dried and back in the shed.

[colinf1]

And it's in....



Much easier to move around now thanks to the 4 dollys I bought from Vevor. Left the cover off for now, let it dry off as much as possible then get it covered. Will put it on axle stands too, just to save any flat spots forming on tyres.

Small update to the mini mini on the parcel shelf, it now has a mini mini mini on the dashboard to match the actual mini. That would be 1:512 scale!