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Post by asahartz on Nov 1, 2009 18:00:54 GMT
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:44:02 GMT
Skye is, of course, a Mini Sky. Which was delivered to my home, via Ebay, for the bargain price of £550 (including the delivery!) Though I haven't really started work yet (due to all the other Mini issues going on at my house), I've given Skye a quick appraisal and photographed some of my early priorities. To be honest, a good weekend's work could get this car back on the road, but I want to be better than that. One of the best things about this car is the total lack of underseal - how it should be as far as I'm concerned! So there's plenty of surface rust on the white paint. Lots to clean and repaint there. So here are Skye's worst bits at present: Front panel: And underneath this bit: Rear valance: Rear wheelarch: Considering those are the worst bits, it's not too bad is it? Hang on, it's a Mini...
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:45:55 GMT
7th September: Finally managed to start work on Skye. I've been busy with Evy during the early summer, then after the IMM - what happened? Time evaporated. Mind you, this is quick in my timescales! Anyway, Skye has already changed ownership - when Holly decided she wanted the Neon (hopefully more reliable...), Skye went to Jane instead. There's the motivation - Skye is insured for the road but not MOT'd! So it's down to me to get it up to standard. Let's say there's not that much to do, but as we all know, to do it well takes time. To begin with, the front panel to inner wing plates were corroded - beyond an MOT anyway. Since the front valance was shot anyway, I started there. Once I had stripped the lights off, it was clear that the wings were at least going to need some work: I started by cutting the panel below the wings: Though corroded, the joining plates took some shifting - drilling out of multiple spotwelds, plus an attack with the air chisel to separate them! And not surprisingly, the teardrop mounts were past it - one fell apart. Behind the plates, the inner wings were holed (par for the course): I cut those out and welded in patches: With good metal to weld to, I prepped the inside of the new panel with a coat of red oxide, then, next day, a coat of white body colour. I had decided, for this job, to spray in single-pack synthetic - it's cheap, covers well, is resistant to chips, and is least toxic. The downside is a long drying time, but I can live with that.
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:47:32 GMT
13th September: Once the front panel was off, I could see that there was not much left to weld to. As I also knew that the scuttle closers were rotten, I decided that it would be false economy not to replace the wings at the same time - the A-panels would have to be done anyway. I picked up a pair of wings at BMC Uttoxeter show, and set to with the spot-weld drill again and my fantastic friend the air chisel! I intentionally left the bonnet in place to help with alignment - having already aligned the new front panel to the old wings, I don't expect major difficulties with alignment now. I also removed the windscreen, as there was some rust in the bottom corner: Here's the underneath of that: 20th September: A first attack with the rotary wire brush on the grinder (a vicious but effective tool, which requires full safety equipment!) revealed the extent of the damage, and what was still good. I've seen a lot worse: Following Emalee's tip, I unbolted the damper mounting - and it was as predicted: The bracket itself was also corroded right through: However the windscreen corner rust was not as bad as feared - there were small holes, but I had expected worse: So next job was out with the welder and spend most of a day putting in patches: And from below: As I write, I've ground back where necessary, Kurusted the previously rusted areas, coated with red oxide, coated with body white, seam-sealed the welds, and recoated with body white. Need to get some pics of the finished work, but it's ready to fit the new wing now. Then I can move over to do the same trick on the other side!
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:48:26 GMT
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:49:23 GMT
I think it's going to be easier than yours Emma!
It's Jane's car now; I think she may take it to work and some shows. But it won't get the hammer that my dailys get!
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:50:01 GMT
Eew, are those the last pics I posted? I need to put some more up... will sort that out later. Today I completed the fitting of the offside wing, which I began about three weeks ago. It's a pattern wing, so... yes, it was a real pig. After all the years the Mini has been made, you would have thought that the pattern panel makers would get somewhere near by now, but no, it fitted where it touched, and it didn't touch in many places! After much grief, swearing, and bashing about, I managed to get an acceptable fit (I have been careful not to remove the bonnet so I have something original to reference!) Today I fitted the A-panel and there was even more gnashing of teeth, as no matter what I did the two would not meet. Eventually a suitable compromise was reached, and I have one side fitted, just needing paint. Soon to begin the other side...
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:50:54 GMT
I'm sure I'd taken more photos... but no, none on my camera. Which means I don't have a pic of that vision in white which is now the inner wing! But here, to make up for that, I took a couple of shots under the fitted wing: - through the headlamp hole - and looking the other way, showing the seam sealer. I'll topcoat this when it's gone off in a few days. But you get the general idea - clean and pretty in white under there! Here's the exterior of the fitted wing: The seam gaps are filled with white Tiger Seal to keep the old tinworm at bay! Today I started on the other side. This, fortunately, is in better condition. The damper mounting is clean bare metal behind - but bare metal - which is why they rust! There are a couple of small holes at the front end of the sill, and the scuttle closer needs replacing, but it's not bad. I should have paint on this by tomorrow night.
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:51:34 GMT
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:52:05 GMT
A bit more done this weekend, though working round hockey matches & paint prepping is fairly slow progress! Thursday: welded in the repairs to the bottom corner of the inner wing, and the scuttle closer, then primed that up: Eventually got some topcoat on it too: Friday: welded on the new wing. This side fitted much better than the other side and didn't give me much grief. Apart from getting the A-panel to meet of course! This is my technique - I punch correctly-spaced holes in each edge, then put a 5mm bolt through with some flat heavy washers, and tighten it up until they pull together. Then tack-weld and seam right down! Next it's all treated the same as the other side - seam sealer on all the seams under the wing, and white TigerSeal outside. Sunday: prepping for paint, and a coat of primer. Strangely there's a bit of lifting on the nearside scuttle corner, which surprised me because this synthetic enamel shouldn't do that. So I'll have to let that dry then strip it back again before I can get on to topcoating - sometime round next weekend I guess!
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:52:32 GMT
Well, I got some topcoat on last week, but it's not been going well. I'm still getting used to this paint, and I got the mix and the spray density all wrong last week, so though the picture looks OK, there are loads of runs. So today has been spent rubbing down the runs and putting another coat on top. It's passable now; there are still some problem areas but I'm going to put it back together next weekend and get on with the back end; I'll do the paintwork properly in the summer as I'm going to need the car on the road quickly now and I haven't the time to get it perfect.
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:53:16 GMT
29th November: OK, got the front end back together. I never enjoy fitting a windscreen, but that one seemed tighter than most, even with Adam's help - I've fitted them alone before. I found a nasty electrical bodge in the headlamp conversion. The kits do come with bullet connectors for the sidelights - but a former owner had fitted them like this - twisted together and bound with tie-wraps - and insulated them up with parcel tape! Ball joints need doing on the front for the MOT - don't they always? but that job will wait while I do the back end. I was feeling pretty ill when I started the back - well, the side, to begin with, so didn't get too much done that weekend. It was bloody cold too! And Skye, as ever, has decided to be a nuisance. First, a tiny hole in the sill where it's been welded in an unusual way: That's a quick fix: 6th December: Then there's the usual trouble on the lower quarter. That's no surprise and I've had plenty of practice at fixing these! I thought I was about a week from an MOT. Wrong! I then took a rotary wire brush to the underside of the rear wheelarch. Imagine my surprise when it went right through! This little hole at the back, I knew about and was prepared for: But not this big one at the front! There are also a couple of holes at the top. I seriously debated replacing the whole arch, but they're expensive and it's a big job. So instead I fabricated a large repair section: At which point I ran out of gas and cutting discs... so it was time to go in for the night. Hope I can get the stuff to get on with it this weekend...
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:53:52 GMT
21st Feb: Finally got back out to the garage this week; weather has not been inviting lately! Slow but steady progress this week, and Skye as usual has been full of surprises, both good and bad. The arch repair section above was welded in weeks ago, but this week I finally got the job finished off and painted. Time to turn the car around and do the rear valance and check the remaining wheelarch. At which point the clutch seized! It came free quickly with a squirt of WD40 on the release arm, but again lost me some time. Car turned round; inspect what I'm up against here: This hint of rust tells me that there is some work to do behind it; the sill below has been replaced and is sound though the welding needs refinishing - the gaps will leak! Here it is cleaned up: Inside the boot is the slightest hint of rust in the otherwise-solid floor, plus the patch in the corner to finish off. This shows the inside of the finished arch repair. On the other side, which I had hoped was better (well it is, but not much!), I found several holes after attacking it with the rotary wire brush: (the closer over the subby mount has gone too; however I now know how to fix that from inside the car!) As for the valance, it had gone badly: I know what to expect behind valances as bad as that - so imagine my surprise to find the closers were near-perfect! Best condition valance closers I have ever seen! I got to cleaning up the underneath with the wire brush - the usual surface rust, but some of it a bit deeper. Here's the inside of the boot once I'd cleaned underneath: Several holes evident in that, so then it was chop the whole tinworm-infested section out and weld in a new section: (Perhaps I didn't quite cut far enough, or pehaps butt-welding to the thinned metal was optimistic, but I ended up cutting a bit more out and lap-welding that in, hence the joggled section! I should know better by now...) So, next job is to get the valance on, then I can do that nasty wheelarch repair stuff again, and finally lower the subframe to clean up and repaint all the surface rust round the whellwell, battery box, and over the subby. Here goes...
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Post by asahartz on Apr 22, 2010 15:54:27 GMT
April: Wow, is it that long since I updated? I've been busy too, Easter hols and nice weather. But it looks like I don't have pics of everything... The valance is on. Bang on, and it's good. I looked at the grotty wheelarch and fabricated a new section: Here's the arch beforehand... ...and with the rot cut out... New sections welded in: Now just after I did this I discovered that the top of the arch is in fact available as a repair panel; I'd only ever seen full arches and inner sections before. Oh well, useful fabrication practice... I needed to weld a little bit in the bottom of the rear wing too, then it was time to hit the primer: At this point I got to lowering the subframe. Things got tricky. Now remember the back end of the car is up on axle stands so I can't get under the front... I intended to take the back section off the Sportex exhaust to lower the subby. At which point I discover the two sections have been welded together, rather well too, so the exhaust has to stay. Still, I can lower it enough... until the front-back brake pipe decides to fracture above the subby union. Ah well, no point in struggling, get the whole thing off now. It's quite delicate, lowering it just far enough to slide under the battery box while dragging it over the exhaust on a pair of trolley jacks! It looks like a typical garage job. The subframe has been replaced, but no prep and protection - the bare subby as it was supplied by Hadrian has been thrown on the car without even removing the label. It needs a paintjob to protect it, and the rusty underbody needs cleaning and protecting too. My usual regime of Kurust, red oxide and topcoat underneath, while the subby gets red oxide followed by black rubberised antichip paint. I took the opportunity to seal all the seams above the subby with Tigerseal while I had chance. Underbody: Subby: And here's another "good thing I did" job. While stripping the radius arms for the same paint treatment I spotted this - doesn't even take an expert to see what's wrong with this one! Luckily I had a pair of fully reconditioned radius arms complete with fully sorted brakes in the shed, so they got the paint instead. Next it was refitting the subby to the car and rebuilding all the suspension on it. Obviously new brake pipes and hoses, and I took the opportunity to throw on a set of HiLos that were also in the shed. As I said, a lack of photos. I'll take some more tomorrow. The passenger door was pretty rough along the bottom, and had a nasty dent at the bottom of the window. Back to stocks, and there's a really good door stored on my garage roof, so I dragged it down, cleaned and prepped for paint - nice to get some sun! And the bootlid had a dent, so that's knocked out and filled, prepped for paint... Here's the two freshly topcoated: And after hardening for a couple of days, door fitted and back end reassembled - here's the back end as it looks on 21st April: My seats have gone to a friend for professional cleaning - he sent me a before/after pic last night for comparison! That will be better I think! Skye is coming on very nicely now and hopefully will be ready to go to the Thong Run with the CER...
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Post by clambod on Apr 23, 2010 8:34:52 GMT
You have been busy. It's looking really good now. It least you know it's sound underneath What's the single pack paint like? I've been using 2k paint and I'm really impressed with it.
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Post by asahartz on Apr 23, 2010 15:40:40 GMT
It has advantages and disadvantages. It takes a long time to dry, so once topcoated you can leave that bit of the job for a day. So progress can be slow at times. However it coats really well, you can get a finish in a single coat. And you can leave the paint in the gun without it setting.
With any paint it takes a little time to get used to the best way of spraying it. I'm not sure what size jets are recommended; my JGA is set up for celly but seems to work quite well with this. I have learned though that it doesn't need very much thinners. Too much and you get runs.
Supposedly it's more chip-resistant. Time will tell. Apparently it's the least toxic, but it still stinks so much I wouldn't like to spray without my air-fed. It's supposed to be fairly resistant to interaction with other paint too, but I've had a couple of areas blister. I've seen worse.
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Post by clambod on Apr 24, 2010 6:32:22 GMT
I'm Chris too by the way. The first time I used the 2K paint I thought I'd done something wrong. It went on all nice and wet and shiny and an hour later it still looked the same, until I touched it and it was almost tack free and that was when the temperature was below 10 degrees. Evidently the hardener uses the moisture in the air to cure, great for this climate.
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Post by asahartz on May 2, 2010 21:21:25 GMT
Well today I started to clean and refit the interior - the arches needed a lick with the grinder and a coat of paint where I'd patched, and at the same time I decided to fit the rear seatbelts which for some reason came in a carrier bag in the back of the car... One was fine, the other was missing the buckle and bolts. No problem, had a spare set in the shed though it's the wrong colour. Plenty of seatbelt bolts in my stripped parts bins. Until I got out and went round the back... The replacement top bolt I had used was a shade too long and it had pushed out into the C pillar, cracking my fresh paint! AAAGH! This meant changing the bolt for a shorter one, then hammering the lump back down, filling the resultant dent, and repainting the lot. Time I could have used doing something else. Anyway it's done now, and while I was at it I painted the nearside step and the bonnet. Still to do: Bleed brakes Change nearside ball joints Refit foglamp Turn car round Repaint offside door and rear wing Fit new grille with new buttons Refit all seats when they come back from my cleaning friend Buy & fit new wheels & tyres Then with any luck it should fly through an MOT and we'll be back on the road!
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Post by clambod on May 3, 2010 5:47:51 GMT
Sounds like it's coming along nicely now. Pity about the boltin the C pillar. Bit of a bugger that.
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Post by asahartz on May 3, 2010 20:19:49 GMT
Another mixed day today. Ball joints sorted - the top one was only finger-tight! New joints fitted top and bottom. Brakes bled, car started first time (but then ran out of petrol at the bottom of the drive!!) Jane helped me push it back into the garage. Foglamp bracket has rusted away (don't they all) so I fabricated a new one from galvanised angle. Painted it up, leave to harden before fitting. Ordered new wheels - Midland Wheels have a good selection, good prices, and a 10% Bank Holiday discount which saves me £32! Plus, I'm in Coventry at the end of this week, so I save another £17 on postage Start work on flatting and painting rear wing. Blow a bit of primer on it, it all blisters - grr! It seems that if I leave it to settle and flat back again, the topcoat is more forgiving than the primer. So I'll leave that for next weekend. The door needs to come off to paint really, there's a little bubble on the bottom that needs attention and it wants the usual weld on the shoulder. Nothing serious, but easier off the car. Still to do: (list is getting shorter!) Refit foglamp Repaint offside door and rear wing Fit new grille with new buttons Refit all seats when they come back from my cleaning friend (He says they're done) Fit new wheels & tyres Then with any luck it should fly through an MOT and we'll be back on the road!
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Post by clambod on May 4, 2010 7:10:09 GMT
It's a bit of a begger when you get the paint on then it blisters
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Post by asahartz on May 12, 2010 22:50:59 GMT
Coming together nicely at last. Over the weekend I sprayed the door and the rear wing. Got a nasty run in that and had to flat it back and do it again, but it's good now. There was the tiniest hole in the inside of the door, so I cleaned it up, welded the hole and painted it. The door finished a bit flat, but a few minutes with the electric polisher and the G3 soon sorted that! Put another coat on the bonnet too, and that's come up beautifully. Collected my new wheels down in Coventry - the ones I really wanted were out of stock, and the next best were matt, so I've put a coat of clear on them to keep the grime at bay. Midland Wheels is out in the middle of nowhere, but they do have huge stocks and a great service - I can recommend them! Rebuilt and refitted the rear foglamp with newly-fabricated bracket. Hope it works! Fitted the bonnet - as it was a replacement, it took a few minutes to get the fit right. Fitted shiny new bumpers and shiny new grille. Fitted opening rear side windows - I like them for summer ventilation rather than the fixed windows it came with. Fitted new locking strip in the rear screen as the old one was a bit crabby. Collected cleaned seats - repaired drivers seat which had split at the very back of the base, fitted them in, very nice! Polished up chrome arch & sill covers, started fitting those. Will finish them tomorrow! Job list is getting shorter - should be ready for MOT on Saturday! To do: Finish chrome arch covers & sill strips Fit new aerial (original has the wrong angle for the wing hole) Rewire radio as it's not ignition switched - can't be doing with that! Fit new wheels Pre-MOT check
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Post by asahartz on May 15, 2010 12:36:32 GMT
Nice evening, so I got the car outside to finish up the arches and put the new wheels on. Also fitted shiny new door mirrors too. Still need to fit the door cards & interior handles etc, but I want to waxoyl inside the doors first. Et voici! nearly finished and shining in the sun... though I do need to polish the roof! Just the radio and pre-mot check tomorrow... fingers crossed for Saturday! And yay! it's passed without even an advisory! Attracting a lot of attention and praise in the process. The tester used to work for an Austin dealership and sold the last Cooper S in the country, so he knows his Minis. So we'll be out at the CER Thing Run in a couple of weeks!
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Post by niceboy1275 on May 20, 2010 14:40:15 GMT
Awesome work! you should be very proud, it looks great!
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Post by clambod on May 21, 2010 7:12:19 GMT
You have done a really cracking job on that. glad it went through the MOT so easily.
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Post by asahartz on Feb 22, 2011 20:28:27 GMT
Skye has been off the road for a couple of weeks as the y-piece on the LCB has split on top, and as some numpty has welded every section of the exhaust together (seamed not just tacked) the only way to get the exhaust off without cutting a perfectly good LCB is to drop the whole engine & subby!
Well finally I have permission to finish my garage, so Skye will soon be in for a bit of a transplant. I've decided to drop the 1275 in while I have the unit out, and having noticed the suspension being a bit harsh and the front end sitting low, I've been out to P&L today (it's not far from me) and invested in a set of their coils. Looking forward to getting that on the road! I'll be able to compare notes with Joakwin and his Minitastic coils...
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Post by asahartz on May 2, 2011 11:23:22 GMT
Well after a week in the garage, Skye is finally fitted with the promised 1275 engine and the coil springs! Now just to swap an engine, I could do that in a day, but to clean, paint, adjust fittings and connections that aren't quite the same, that takes longer... I began by prepping the 1275 with new oil seals. I plan to fit a full megajolt to this eventually, so I started with the triggerwheel while the engine was out, and of course the crank pulley oil seal. The timing cover was in a pretty rough state and took some time to clean up and paint, though the rest of the engine only needed a clean. Here's the triggerwheel fitted: This is my prototype sensor bracket before painting: The sensor I have in stock is one supplied for a Vauxhall Omega, but it was wrong and I never took it back. I think it should work. The bracket was fabricated from an old angle grinder spanner! Here's Skye with the old engine removed. Because I couldn't separate the exhaust, I lowered the subframe onto blocks, unbolted it, then me and son Adam put a 4x2 under the crossmember, lifted the body clear and rolled it back behind the engine. Here's the 1275 cleaned and ready to drop in: Next, I removed the cones from the subframe ready for the coils. First, the compressor tool needed a spacer as it's designed to work through the crossmember. Once released, the cones need to come out. Many people have told me that these will drop out without removing the top arm. I just don't see how it's possible! Anyway, it didn't matter, because the top arms have to come out to get the coils in. I removed the top arms completely and cleaned everything up and painted the subframe. In go those shiny coils! While it's all apart, I fitted new top hat bushes and tie rod bushes. The offside top hats came out surprisingly easily; the nearside was a bit more stubborn. The easy solution to this is to hit them with a blowlamp and burn the old rubbers out! Checked the balljoints while I was at it and replaced one simply because the locking tab was broken. Next, fit new engine to subframe. Easy enough. Prep engine bay; clean up and paint the bits I couldn't get to last year. The top steady proved troublesome as usual; the bolt had seized inside the tube and I ended up cutting it to remove. Here's my technique for inserting new poly bushes into the steady: 1) Use a long bolt with a supply of large washers and spacers. An old rear damper top washer is perfect as it fits the steady hole! A smear of detergent on the bush will help it slide in. 2) Tighten the nut; it will force the bush through the steady 3) Undo the nut & bolt, set it all up again to insert the tube in the same way. The completed steady with poly bush! Then it was a case of sliding the engine back under the car - I made a track from some old shelves as melamine slides quite well! - then lowering the body back down. It's slow and fiddly working with two trolley jacks under the body and two scissor jacks controlling the engine angle, but it can be done by one man. ie Me! Finally the engine was in the car: Engine finally started and running after sorting out a fuel supply issue, then round to finish off by doing the rear coils. These should have been easy, but the winter salt had corroded the hi-los to the cones and stiffened the threads; nevertheless, patience and a pair of big spanners meant I got them out without having to pull the tank. It then took quite a bit of work with a chisel and a BFH to separate the hi-los from the cones! But the coils were pretty easy to slip in, and time spent cleaning the hi-lo threads and copper-greasing them should prevent that problem next time. The difference between the removed rear cones and the fronts was amazing! First impressions of the coils are very good; much more comfortable ride but obviously a bit more roll - this is partly because the car is riding a lot higher until the springs settle. Plus I know one of the front Monroes is leaking so that needs to be changed before the MOT.
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Post by shoutforjoy on May 2, 2011 18:34:12 GMT
Excellent stuff! You have been busy. Some great work there. I'll know where to come when Joyce needs an engine transplant!
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Post by asahartz on May 2, 2011 20:53:02 GMT
Wierd - I posted another bit here but it's gone missing! Anyway, my GAZ dampers for the front (can't afford the full set right now) arrived on Thursday and were fitted - amazing! What a transformation! Set them to the middle setting for now, may experiment later. Oh, and while I was at it, I replaced the faulty wiper park switch! Took Skye for an MOT on Friday and passed without even an advisory! Yay! My tester understands Minis, he said it's running a bit on the rich side, but Minis like it that way, so he pulled the probe just before it went over! Went out to the shop later that day, on the way home the engine just died coming down my street. Luckily I was able to freewheel onto my garden. After some checking and messing about I diagnosed a dead condensor. Never had one fail that suddenly, but it's fixed and working again now.
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Post by clambod on May 3, 2011 7:26:36 GMT
Glad to hear it went through the MOT easily. I've just been catching up on the thread and boy have you been busy. It's looking really good now. Has the engine transplant made a big difference?
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