I don’t think there is such a thing as done with a classic mini. If Minibox has taught me anything its that there is always something that needs to be addressed, or you just live with it. After having what felt like rapid posts getting the car back together this one comes after a little lul, honestly I hit a wall and I didn’t want to look at it.
Not many pictures for this post and I am not sure where I left off on the last one (yes I could go look, no I’m not going to). So the brake limiter and booster were done, limiter was leaking booster caused the engine to run like crap. So I bought new ones, I was done fiddling around with the booster and said F it. Works out that I can unbolt the front end, made this job a whole lot easier. I probably would have attempted with it on if it weren’t for me having to trim the front end due to door contact (no pics of that or the touch up paint, it came out good I guess). Anyways so it was out with the old and in with the new, all bled up and the car was running good.
Next up was to mess with the ride height and get it where I want it, I can’t remember why I didn’t drive the car during this process (think the booster hadn’t shown up yet). But I attempted to get it to settle out by rolling the car back and forth and bouncing on the sills… fun fact it didn’t work but the car was even to where I could mount the arches. Drilling 22 holes in a freshly painted car sucks but with the random chips I put in this thing it didn’t phase me as much anymore. Didn’t get many in progress pictures but I think they came out pretty good, tires definitely have some poke to them, I kinda like it though.
So I mentioned my rolling back and forth didn’t help settle it because after my first test drive the RH front was just scrubbing on full lock, A quick adjustment before going to dinner and I was impressed that it ended up the same height as the LH side. The rears on the other hand settled a little more than I would have liked, I love the look but I’m concerned about scrubbing. I will most likely play with the height a little more would rather have function over form.
So the first real drive was to dinner, It wouldn’t be a mini if it didn’t have issues though. First issue, I seem to get a knock sound on the bulkhead when changing gears, its almost timed perfectly to when the engine rocks due to torque, doesn’t happen all the time only when I drop the clutch (not really dropping hope I am making sense). Next issue was the headlights, I must have put the led bulbs in upside down cause the beams were reversed, I have since flipped them and it seems correct. The next issue threw me off for a second because the engine started running like it did with the bad booster, would make sense because it had a big air leak on the carb, glad I carry zip ties, the pvc line came off the carb. Another issue I hope to have resolved was the bonnet rattling on the front end. I had an extra 1/4 window seal I butchered to line around the bonnet, seems like it should do the trick. So far so good though, the car was definitely a lot less rattly at idle now.
The last issue noticed was the most expensive though…. my coolant temp gauge would not read higher than 120. After some troubleshooting it was determined I must have broken the line. After some additional troubleshooting once it was out I found that the line is most likely broken at the gauge, my guess I broke it fumbling with the dash cards. I only guess this because if you twist the housing on the gauge just right it will read nothing or 120 when it has heat on it, oh and Im 90% sure I can smell the gas escaping…. this was an expensive oops. I have the new gauge installed, I tested it before installing and after the gauge was installed in the car, I wasn’t taking chances lol. But after a test drive my temps were reading correctly.
With all that done, my last tasks I’m not in a hurry to do, those are put the rear bin chrome trim on, the rear quarter finisher panels, and carpet or do something with the rear seat area. I’ll get to all that eventually for now this is how she sits. I hope to go take some nice pictures somewhere soon though.
The Rust chronicles 