Racing Green 89 Mini

[94touring]

Yeah that's strange with the rust look discoloration. Are they possibly burnt and have a rust appearance? 

[MiniDave]

I never felt them get hot, and I checked them every time we stopped as we drove home from South Dakota, but they def looked weird. It was odd that the pitting wasn't all the way around the rollers either - it just seemed to be on one side.

At any rate, it's fixed now.....on to the next problem - whatever that turns out to be.

I'm going to drive it later today or tomorrow morning and see if I still hear anything, if I do I'll tear down the right side too.

[MiniDave]

I decided to go ahead and tear down the right side and check the bearings - the good news is they looked fine, and I noticed I used Timken bearings and not Chinesiums......I'll repack these and put them back in - I wasn't hearing any noise but thought if the left side looked that bad I should at least check.

I also found the end of the axle all beat up - no idea how the heck that happened as like on the left side, I know I'm the last one to work on it and I could not have gotten the nut on with the end of the axle damaged like this.

On top of that, another mystery - the cup in the upper control arm is broken on this side too......what in the heck causes that?

So, I guess I'll pull the bonnet back off as it makes it much easier to work on,  plus I have to remove the wiper motor to get to the big ass bolt, and I can't get the spring compressor in there with the bonnet on either.

[MiniDave]

All better now, I did have to remove the bonnet, it just made it worlds easier to get the wiper motor out of the way so I could use the cone compressor.

I was lucky that the remains of the cup came out ok, sometimes those things are really stuck in the control arm. There was a small bit of plastic that had been beaten down thru the little hole in the control arm but I was able to get it out with a set of bent nose pliers. I also greased all the zerks before I put the wheels back on so the front end should be good to go for a long time. Looking at these pics I can see I need to put another turn on the hi low to get it where it was.

Everything went back together smoothly, so all I need to do now is give it a good bath. Our MINI club is meeting for ice cream Saturday evening so I want it looking good for that.

[94touring]

Good deal.   

[MiniDave]

My poor little green Mini has been living in the garage for the last month or two due to the typical winter weather we've been getting and the tons of salt that's been poured on our roads - I had planned to drive it to Sat's breakfast meeting of the Age and Treachery Racing group but we've been getting "wintery mix" of rain, ice and light snow today, so I'll bet the roads are coated in salt again. Too bad as we had enough rain a few days ago to really wash things down nicely.....

I noticed the last time I drove it there was a noise in the left rear on braking, so I'll need to pull that drum and see what's up - it has new shoes and only a thousand or so miles on a new set of Minifin drums but it sure sounds like metal on metal.

We may be doing a local roads run in April so I want it all spiffed up for that, we have two new classics in town that we want to get involved, that's why we're planning this run, plus we just like to get our cars out and hit the roads too!

[94touring]

That annoying squealing noise on the inno went away with the 4 pots, as did the jerky brake booster engagement.  It's like it was meant for 4 pots!  Having a squeal sure is annoying though.

[MiniDave]

I've been hearing a grinding noise in the left rear brake, especially when braking hard so I decided to check it out. I have fairly new Minifins and Mintex shoes so I wasn't expecting it to be metal on metal - and it wasn't. All I found was a ton of black brake dust, it was completely dry - no grease or brake fluid.

So I just cleaned it all out with a short brush, shot some brake clean on everything and put the drum back on - there was still plenty of shoe left and no unusual wear patterns that I could see. I also adjusted the shoes a bit, I think I got an extra 2 "clicks". I still need to adjust the brake handle end too, it's too many clicks up of the handle before anything happens and I have to really pull it up hard for it to hold on the slope of my driveway.

I'll go ahead and do the other side too just to be sure......

I'm due for an oil change, but man is this thing leaking oil now. I'll need to get it up on the rack so I can see where the heck it's all coming from and to do that I'll need to get the hot rod down on its wheels and get some help moving it about. It's not that hard to roll, but I have a pretty good slope to my driveway so controlling it could be an issue - I wouldn't want to be on one of the You tube vids of a guy chasing his car as it rolls down the block!   

[MiniDave]

Last year just before we went to Rushmore and MMEMW, I bought a nice new MiniSpares dipstick, with a T handle and a couple of O-rings where it fits into the blcok....a nice looking piece of kit.

Yesterday I went to change the oil and the T handle came right off in my hand! I don't know if it was made with a little epoxy to keep the handle on the rod or what, but I knew I could do a better repair than just stick some JB Weld in the hole - tho that probably would have worked I prefer a mechanical solution.

So I ran up to Westlake and bought an 8-32 allen set screw, drilled and tapped the T handle and it's on there solid now. I might go back and buy a shorter set screw as this one sticks out a bit.

Oh, and I machined a small flat where the screw hits the rod so it would have a good place to bite

[MiniDave]

Took an early morning run with the local MG club - and I do mean early, it started at 7 am -  which meant we left my house for the meet up point at 6:30!

So as we were meandering around trying to find roads with curves in them, all of a sudden I had the strangest thing happen.....it felt like I was sitting on a balloon and the air was slowly going out of it and once all the air was out it felt like I was sitting on an open 5 gallon bucket with my butt down in the hole!

I'm pretty sure I know what it is - the webbing under the foam gave way, but it was just so strange that it did it so slowly - not with a pop!

So, I have a couple of options - I can fix the seat. Or I can re-install the WRX seats I had in here before - or just the driver's seat since that's the only one that's broken. Or, once Dan gets home again I can see about getting the other seat he has in his shop for me.

Whatever I do I need to get it done before I leave for the Ozarks on the 10th.

The white mini belongs to local guy Zac, he was a surprise show up because he's on call today! But it was nice to have another Mini show up for the meet.....Zac drives a train for a living. I helped him rebuild the engine and gearbox in his car and he did a super job, the car runs and drive's beautifully!

The green XKE is almost done after a 4 year restoration done by the owner - it's turned out beautifully, and the sun really showed off that green paint.

The blue MGA coupe belongs to the owner of the local Armacost Museum, which is mostly dedicated to all things Studebaker - as his father was a Stude dealer for decades. He's about 6'5" and I have no idea how he fits in the MGA coupe', but he does. He says there's plenty of head and leg room - once he's in the car!

https://automotivemuseumguide.com/armacost-museum/

The red Midget was the leader of the run, and I saw his wife waving her arms around and yelling at him anytime he went over about 30 mph - made for a long, slow trip this morning! I thought she was waving off a bug or something, but no.........The tall guy talking to the woman is Chris Armacost (MGA owner) and the woman is the wife of the tour leader.

We also cruised by the brand new, just opened 4 million sq. ft Panasonic battery plant in Desoto....jeez louize that thing is fricking  huge. It was supposed to open in July but with all the uncertainty in our political waters these days, they postponed it. It may open sometime before the end of the year, but it may also never open. Remains to be seen.......

[94touring]

Once Brant is out I can move the pickup to unbolt that seat. It's just stuck for now on a pallet without access to get the seat out.

[MiniDave]

OK, found out what happened, and when you look at the pic it makes complete sense why it felt like a balloon slowly deflating......the rubber tore, and it started at one end and slowly worked to the front.....making it feel like my butt was falling into a bucket! The foam still feels ok, in order to replace the diaphragm I have to take the backrest off, then remove the cover and foam, which is glued to the frame. I'll probably just take it up to my seat guy and let him do it......

https://www.minispares.com/hgd100150-seat-base-diaphragm-1993-2000

[MiniDave]

I decided to put the WRX seat back in, but it's too hot and I'm too tired to do the other one tonight, I have a MINI club Sonic night meetup in a couple of hours, but I may put the right seat in that matches the back seat before I head down to Ozarks - or I could put the other WRX in, who knows? 

[MiniDave]

Drove almost 100 miles to and from the MINI club event last night, which is getting harder to do on these evening events as it gets dark a lot earlier now and I really don't like to drive at night, even in familiar territory. This one started at 6 and I got there early and left by 7 so only the last 20 miles were in the dark.

I have the new seat diaphragm on the way and I took the seat apart and delivered the bottom half to my upholstery guy who says once the new part gets here he should be able to turn it around in a day. So, if it gets done in time I can swap it back out or just leave the WRX seat in place.

The Mini has been on two consecutive 100 mile drives with no issues, so I'm fairly confident taking it to the Ozarks next weekend. Even so I will leave the tow bar attachment on the front just in case.....