Post by 1982minihl on Feb 5, 2015 23:19:04 GMT
Hello , I have not owned a Mini since a 'J' reg Clubman around 30 years ago but recently bought a 34k miles non running 998cc 1982 Mini HL auto.
The car is quite solid, its still got its original sills which look reasonably good though have not had a good poke yet, the front footwells have had a small amount of welding according to a previous MOT report but I haven't manage to find where yet. The rust on the front wing seams looks like it is superficial surface rust (hopefully), under the back seat & in the side pockets is mint, there are the usual holes in boot floor corners & the rear valance is shot, all the rest appears to be pretty good, I'm hoping this can be an easy running resto, when the the light nights come & weather warms up.
Thinking a manual gearbox swap would be easy I wasn't particularly concerned about the auto box but I have since done a little reading & found there is a lot more to it than I realised so it will be staying an auto.
The Mini is now running well but the ignition key isn't operating the starter at the moment, the ignition side is fine but the key won't operate the starter maybe ignition switch wiring, etc but I'm not worried because I know the engine is healthy.
The car was last on the road in 2009 & had been stood on a driveway under a cover since then.
Having got the Mini running I now also realise why it has been stood so long, when in drive it tries to move forward but makes a horrible screeching grinding noise however it drives backwards really well.
From reading the Auto Mini forum this is classic forward clutch failure & it is right on cue because apparently the forward clutch usually packs in around 30K miles.
I have bought another auto gearbox & will be using the top & reverse clutch in that to rebuild my forward clutch.
There are some pics below of the Mini as it was when I viewed it with both back tyres flat & some of it back home with new back Yoko tyres on. I am looking forward to getting cracking & getting the car back on the road. I have one or two other jobs to finish before I can get stuck in.
Since I bought this mini I have bought another complete auto-box for spares (condition unknown) & another low mileage complete auto engine/box/subframe/running gear unit (condition good, hopefully).
The car is quite solid, its still got its original sills which look reasonably good though have not had a good poke yet, the front footwells have had a small amount of welding according to a previous MOT report but I haven't manage to find where yet. The rust on the front wing seams looks like it is superficial surface rust (hopefully), under the back seat & in the side pockets is mint, there are the usual holes in boot floor corners & the rear valance is shot, all the rest appears to be pretty good, I'm hoping this can be an easy running resto, when the the light nights come & weather warms up.
Thinking a manual gearbox swap would be easy I wasn't particularly concerned about the auto box but I have since done a little reading & found there is a lot more to it than I realised so it will be staying an auto.
The Mini is now running well but the ignition key isn't operating the starter at the moment, the ignition side is fine but the key won't operate the starter maybe ignition switch wiring, etc but I'm not worried because I know the engine is healthy.
The car was last on the road in 2009 & had been stood on a driveway under a cover since then.
Having got the Mini running I now also realise why it has been stood so long, when in drive it tries to move forward but makes a horrible screeching grinding noise however it drives backwards really well.
From reading the Auto Mini forum this is classic forward clutch failure & it is right on cue because apparently the forward clutch usually packs in around 30K miles.
I have bought another auto gearbox & will be using the top & reverse clutch in that to rebuild my forward clutch.
There are some pics below of the Mini as it was when I viewed it with both back tyres flat & some of it back home with new back Yoko tyres on. I am looking forward to getting cracking & getting the car back on the road. I have one or two other jobs to finish before I can get stuck in.
Since I bought this mini I have bought another complete auto-box for spares (condition unknown) & another low mileage complete auto engine/box/subframe/running gear unit (condition good, hopefully).
