Finally purchased a Mini....

[Jims5543]

Many thanks to Dan (94 Touring) my old RX7 buddy who has great taste in cars like I do.   ;D

I have been harrassing him for years to sell me his pickup and he refused. Keeping his eyes open he connected me with a guy selling a 1978 Austin Pickup with a 1275 engine working A/C and a custom bed cover.

I just insured and registered it today. I drove it all over town, RHD is tricky to get used to and I am still not relaxed driving it, it takes some thinking.

I already have a few projects in mind, one is a exhaust leak, I am not sure where but I hear it and it bothers me.

I am going to have to get used to oil leaks but I am going to try like hell to make them minimal.

I am also going to do a full tune up and then figure out what maintenance needs to be done as well.

If any of you remember I posed up a bunch of pics of my Grandfathers British Leyland repair shop that he owned in the 60's and 70's in NYC.

Here is the truck:

[94touring]

I just realized you have Australian doors, bastard!  Those are the rarest and most sought after doors for early makes that would typically have sliders.  Not only can you have your arm out the window but you have ac to boot.   Lucky  36.gif

[Jims5543]

Yeah, I had no idea those doors were a big deal, the seller told me they were Australian but there were no keys for them.

One of my goals is to have all the cylinders match one key. Lofty goal I am sure.

I already found a Mini Prism pole, I am trying to set this up so I can do some Land Surveying out of it once in a while. 

[Jims5543]

I have a ton of questions I hope no one minds.

First, I am not a fan of the "bed cover" it leaks water profusely and I think it takes away from the looks of the truck.

Anyone know where I could find a bed cover for the truck?  It has the grommets or twist locks for a tonneau cover in place already. I think I could handle building my own if needed. Ideally ordering a custom one.


When I start the engine for about 1 second there is a bearing knock as the oil pressure comes up, normally I would be alarmed by this with ANY car but I know these cars are different so I am not sure this is a huge deal or not. I do not hear the knock anywhere else.


I mentioned to Dan it feels down on power, I am going to do a full tune up and compression check, hopefully in a week or 2 as soon as I procure the parts. My only comparison is my 1995 Toyota pickup, it weighs 2700 lbs and has 115 HP with a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder.

This is supposed to weigh 1600 lbs and have 80 HP it feels very sluggish, I like I have to beat the snot out of it in order to keep up with traffic from a red light.

I also noticed the PO has the idle set to 1700 RPM, then I realized he has that for when the AC is running, I had to do the same with my old RX7 so I understood that.

More questions coming. I have to get to work.

[Jims5543]

OK, any suggestions as to how to mount the US tag over the euro?

Right now I have the US tag up in the back window and I am leaving it there until I am told to move it.  ;D

I like the Euro Tag on there and do not want to take it off.

[94touring]

Some guys have a bracket to mount it below the rear bumper down low.

[Mudhen]

Sorry, no help with your questions...but wicked neat looking PU!!   4.gif

Seems a little too 'finished' for Dan to have been involved with, though...

[94touring]

I found where mini mania says the tonneau covers are no longer available.   Looks like I get to do a custom one myself now.  I'm thinking a big piece of vinyl bound at the edges with the clips at their prospective places.   To prevent sag there needs to be ribs that run across the top of the bed the cover rest on.  I'm thinking something that's incorporated into slots in the cover with rubber ends as to not damage paint where it sits, with the ability to slide them out of the slots to fold it all up if needed.

[Jims5543]

She is finally tusked away properly in the garage. I made my 20 y/o son do a lot of heavy lifting to get the racing Karts out of the way so the Mini out of the "British weather" we have been experiencing lately.

I really need to get up to speed on this car fast, I have a million questions and want to buy parts for her and have no idea what I am doing.

Dan, expect an email by the end of the weekend with an extensive wish list of items I want but have no idea which ones to get.

Here she is next to my RX8 R3 in the garage, she is so tiny!! She is also in the space that my 500+ HP RX7 took up for 14 years so it is pretty weird seeing a different car there. I sold the RX7 after buying the RX8.  Time to grow up..... a little.....




My wife laughed when she saw how much room was in the garage after the mini was placed in there, the racing Karts took up more room:



The PO sent me these manuals, I am vary grateful for them, should I shop for a Bentley Manual as well?




I am pretty certain the car is not running 100%, I am going to do a full tune up on it and see if that helps.

My parents are coming down Sunday to visit, my mother is completely geeking out over this truck as well as he younger brother.

As mentioned their father, my grandfather serviced these vehicles back in the 60's and 70's when they were the cars to own by the who is who.  While my grandfather would never would own one, he felt they were garbage.  LOL!! I could not resist. This has caused quite a bit of nostalgia for my mother and uncle. Myself as well, if it were not for that man (my grandfather) I would never be the man I am today. He was a huge influence on me.

His shop did own a couple of Mini trucks though..... Actually Morris Minor Vans...

[94touring]

Haynes manuals, you're set.   Speaking of rx7's, I miss mine terribly.

[Jims5543]

Bentley Manuals are much better in my experience.

I sort of miss mine but I urge you to drive a R3 RX8, most amazing out of the box car (suspension wise) I have ever driven.

[Mudhen]

Racing karts?  Would be interested in hearing more...last year we signed up for some indoor karting that we never followed through on - maybe this winter will get us off the fence.  How old were your kids when they got into it?

Last generation RX7 here...mmm....sexiest car ever.

[Jims5543]

Both were around 7 years old when they started. My older boy was karting in the scca more than on tracks. We did it more for fun than to race. So we frequented open practice sessions and just played. I used to have a KT100 Kart and my older son has a Briggs World Formula. We just installed a new engine in it (and I blew out my back lifting the engine over and over getting it aligned right) with the plan of selling it.  My younger son outgrew his kids kart (50cc kart for 6-9 year old kids) and we are debating what kart to get next. Most likely a Rotax.

This is my younger son on track in the 50cc Kids Kart a couple of years ago.

[94touring]

Here's my old ride, well one of them.

[Mudhen]

Here's my old ride, well one of them.

Gorgeous.  I can see why you got into Mini's.   8.gif

Looking on Craigslist for karts - I guess I need to first work out where they can use them around here to see what kind we should get.  I think autocrosses allow them - that might be the only venue near us.

[94touring]

Here's my old ride, well one of them.

Gorgeous.  I can see why you got into Mini's.   8.gif

yeah makes sense right?

[Mudhen]

A '99 Saab Viggen was the most powerful car we've owned (although I think Martha's JCW is close to that)...obviously nowhere near what the RX's put out but it seemed like by the time I was having fun I was risking my license or hurting someone.

Now I'm older I think I've learned that putting a car on the edge is the fun for me - so a slow car like a Mini reaching that edge at a much lower rate of speed is perfect...

Didn't those RX's have TONS of issues?  Like bad engine problems?

[94touring]

Mmm to me no, but they don't last 200k miles either.  A couple reliability mods took care of most the factory gremlins with the 3rd gens.

[Jims5543]

I went through a couple of engines in my RX7 as I pushed the envelope really hard.  I built mine to be a Autocross menace. It was too, it would take top time at most every event I went to with it. When I sold it it was making 460RWHP and weighed 2600 lbs. To put that into perspective, when I would take it to a track day it would out pace full racing trim Ferrari 460's.

My 2 engine failures were my fault. Both cases were not the engine but in one a faulty thermostat and the other a faulty boost controller, actually it was wired up wrong.

The last engine was in it for 5 years have over 20K miles on it and made multiple trips from Florida to North Carolina to the Tail of the Dragon and back.   It was build right, and everything surrounding it was done right.


RE: Karting, find a local track and see what they run there before purchasing. My nearest track was a circle track, I did not like it for 2 reasons. I hate roundy round racing and the track was not safe, there were some serious issues and I feel it is a matter of time before a kid is killed there.

The second nearest track is a road course and it is well run and very safe, they run mostly Rotax Karts there with supporting racign series. Since we did not want to get into racing (due to time and $$ constraints) we did not care what kind of kart we picked up, we just wanted something to have fun in on practice nights.

Back to the Mini, I cleaned it up real good over the weekend, washed it with detergent soap then did a mild compound and really good synthetic wax. She looks much better now.

Dan, I am going to get that shopping list together this evening. Busy weekend.

My mom and dad came down to visit Sunday, mom was dying to see that car and go for a ride.


Now Dan, you mentioned that I need to figure out what Dizzy I have, here is a pic, let me know what I need to do to determine that.



This is also the culprit of my big oil leak, I notied the valve cover gasket is seeping too so I will probably redo that as well. Any info on what to order for what looks like the exit for the shifter linkage?



A couple more engine shots so you can see how she is equipped:



Looks like I have headers and a full exhaust on it.



As well as a K&N intake.




I also notice it has braided brake lines, and I am not 100% sure on what shocks are in it, by the looks of the rims and fender flares I would guess a PO was gearing towards sportiness.

Also by the pinstriping and badging on the rear fender, it seems these guys owned it at one time.

http://www.plmini.com/

[94touring]

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Gearbox/Gaskets/Oil_Seals/MSSK050.aspx?150401&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/seal.aspx

Your dizzy is really buried in there, you'll have to get the cap off and look for some Id or something.  I just ordered a seal kit for the shifter linkage on the car I'm reassembling, had I known I would have bought two.   Looks good!

[94touring]

Just looked and can get all the parts that come in that kit from my vendor. 

[Jims5543]

Yeah, the AC really take sup some space under the hood. I will be loving it next summer though.

I might have time this afternoon to dig in there and get some info off the dizzy, then I will put together a shopping list this evening.

[Jims5543]

After milling this over a bit I am going to go for a updated dizzy. This will be my first update / TLC item on this car.

I am thinking this is the ticket:

http://www.123ignitionusa.com/MG.html

I think I have an A+ engine, I have not looked at all the cue but one of them is the dipstick, mine drops directly into the block, no tube.

I need to look for the lack of a bypass hose from the water pump to the head to make sure.

If anyone has experience with this, please chime in as to which one I will need exactly, otherwise I will shoot off an email to them to see if they will help.


I am also on a hell bent hunt to find a perfect motor oil / and additive combo. I am thinking Castrol GTX 20W/50 with a zinc additive and lucas oil treatment.


Dan, I need to get you my list, it is daunting........

[94touring]

Definitely run 20/50 oil.  Sounds like you're on the right track.

[Jims5543]

Looks like I am adding a clutch master cylinder to the list....

I took it to work today, I happened to be driving near the house and smelt gas real strong, turned out to be a gas station I was passing and not the Mini.  I decided to head to the house and see if the mini was leaking gas, turned the corner to the house and the clutch pedal went to the floor, looked at my work boot and it is covered in fluid.

My son and I pushed her back into the garage. May as well do the slave while I am at it.