Interesting videos

[Willie_B]

Those two were fun to watch. Thanks Bruce

[BruceK]

This is insane.  Watch at the 5:00 mark.

[MiniDave]

500 hp in a toothpick boat!   77.gif

[BruceK]

The level of detail on this build is amazing. Everything looks "correct" to scale.

Imagine if a Mini was built like this.

[ADRay]

This is insane.  Watch at the 5:00 mark.

I like how calm the dude driving the boat is the whole time

[Red Riley]

The level of detail on this build is amazing. Everything looks "correct" to scale.

Imagine if a Mini was built like this.

Kind of like BMW did with the Mini, except they screwed it up.

[BruceK]

A very loved Mini. 

[Red Riley]

[BruceK]

A look at a white and black Mini (the best color combo!  4.gif ) driving around Japan.  Nice heel and toe work too!  No English subtitles on this video, but hey, nice cinematography.   

[MiniDave]

I didn't think they sold MPI's in Japan?

At least it didn't have a distributor......so maybe an SPi/MPi mix, with SPi injection?  I haven't looked at an MPi injector setup, so I don't know for sure what it looks like, but that looked like SPi to me.....but on MPi I think the injectors were right at the head, in the intake manifold rather than above the throttle body like an SPi?

That single lane concrete road in Indonesia with the Leyland Innocenti 1000 was interesting - as was the red/green color combo even carried thru the interior. I wonder if that was an aftermarket thing or Italian factory colors? Also, A/C on the Inno 1000? That was a surprise.

[BruceK]

I think the white and red Mini in Indonesia probably came from Japan and was dressed up to look like an earlier Innocenti model. As you know the Japanese are as crazy about Minis as we are in really love customizing them and making them retro and unique.

As to what was available in Japan MPI / SPI, I think all years of Minis were always available in Japan up to the end in 2000 - many privately imported throughout the 1970s and 80s.   It just became more of a formal import effort when Rover made extra efforts to add air conditioning to the cars in the 90s. The advent of air-conditioning in Minis was really done to cater to the needs of the Japanese market.

Somewhere I have a 1990s book from the "305 Club" in Japan. (305 referring to the Mini being 3.05 meters long).  It has a lot of historical photos showing the Japanese embraced the Mini way back starting in the early 60s and raced and loved them since  early days.

[MPlayle]

The Japanese spec Minis of the 1990's were always SPI.  However, when the MPI came out in Europe , the Japanese spec Minis got the MPI block but remained SPI intake.  They also retained the side mount radiator to allow for the a/c.

I don't recall an engine bay view of the Indonesian Mini to tell about the a/c.  I did see a accessory fan clipped to the dash in front of the driver and thought that might be what the narrator was referring to as a/c.

I'll have to watch that video again to see.

Edit: Watching it again, there is an under-dash unit of some sort where the heater would normally be.  There is not enough of an engine bay view to see the other a/c components.  I do like how she uses a panel board to make a picnic table arrangement in the open boot.

[BruceK]

Thanks Michael.  I didn't know that about Japanese market Minis.  Now I understand what Dave was referring to.

On the Indonesian car did you see the little diorama the owner set up on the rear parcel shelf?

[MPlayle]

I did see the diorama.  I thought it was a nice touch.

[94touring]

Crew of 4 coming back from Europe today and the captains retirement flight.  I recorded the water cannon salute.

[94touring]

Exterior view.

[BruceK]

That looks cool with all the light reflections too. Nice that his retirement is being recognized like that.

[Red Riley]

[BruceK]

That must have taken a lot of work! 

[BruceK]

Much racing entertainment to be found below.

[BruceK]

The Rich Rebuilds channel on YouTube, which has focused a lot on Rich learning how to deal with wrecked Teslas (and Tesla corporate) has now changed focus and Rich is looking at a classic Mini.  Kinda funny to get a non-Mini person's take on things (apparently the doors on classic Minis are quite thin – amazing!  ;D ).

[MPlayle]

It even has the Weber carb!  I noticed he did not use the choke when they actually got it to start - probably not used to a manual choke.

It did act as though the carb had been re-jetted for the engine as it ran smoother than the Mini Van I had that came with a Weber installed (the one I changed back to an SU carb).

[MiniDave]

I wonder if that's an aluminum head or just painted silver?

It's also a Hydro car, and it's still "up" after sitting since 2012....for some reason I thought only the S had hydro. must be wrong....

[tsumini]

LOL did two blocks and a u turn over and over. didn't get above 25 mph. didn't take a corner at 50. missed all the fun.

[MiniDave]

I didn't see him get out of 2nd gear  lol.

Car's not registered or insured, so he stayed very close to home.