Off topic - Minis

[defender dinky]

There are still two austin 1300's, in the garden, will take photos when I go back to empty pit and office,dd

[smallfry]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:47 AM, Steve King said:

 

 

This was also a problem on the ADO16: the Austin/Morris, Wolseley, Riley, VDP, MG, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all 1100 and 1300 range of cars! Lovely cars to drive and quite advanced when they were introduced! However designed in rust points, poor steel and poor build quality (plus poor repairs) all played their part in many thousands of these going to the scrappy!

I passed my test in an Austin 1300 GT, it is still on the road, but sadly not under my ownership and they are quite rare nowadays!

I do have a MK1 Riley Kestrel version, that is nearly restored.

 

 

Riley Kestrel, lovely. I really like the tan and taupe colour scheme too ! I remember finding these in the scrapyards in the late Seventies and robbing them of the Holy Grail for my Minis. A rev counter ! Plus twin carbs.

I had a '66 MG 1100 for a time too reg 954D. Wish I could have kept it AND the reg number. Not an option back then sadly.

Also had a '67 Austin 1100 that a work colleagues father had bought new, and had sat in his mothers garage for 15 years after he died suddenly. Still had the plastic factory seat covers on it. He wanted it gone for nothing, so I recommissioned it . It started first time ! It was not at all rusty. I really loved it, the ride was so comfortable, and you can see why it was the UKs best selling car at the time. It also did a heady 85 mph and 40mpg if you were careful. I still have all the original sales order, receipts and green log book for it.

Lent it to my friends daughter who could not afford to buy a first car, but it ended up on its roof in a ditch, and the recovery guys destroyed it by dragging it out via the windscreen pillars. I was "somewhat upset" about that. 

[Steve King]

16 hours ago, smallfry said:

Riley Kestrel, lovely. I really like the tan and taupe colour scheme too ! I remember finding these in the scrapyards in the late Seventies and robbing them of the Holy Grail for my Minis. A rev counter ! Plus twin carbs.

I had a '66 MG 1100 for a time too reg 954D. Wish I could have kept it AND the reg number. Not an option back then sadly.

Also had a '67 Austin 1100 that a work colleagues father had bought new, and had sat in his mothers garage for 15 years after he died suddenly. Still had the plastic factory seat covers on it. He wanted it gone for nothing, so I recommissioned it . It started first time ! It was not at all rusty. I really loved it, the ride was so comfortable, and you can see why it was the UKs best selling car at the time. It also did a heady 85 mph and 40mpg if you were careful. I still have all the original sales order, receipts and green log book for it.

Lent it to my friends daughter who could not afford to buy a first car, but it ended up on its roof in a ditch, and the recovery guys destroyed it by dragging it out via the windscreen pillars. I was "somewhat upset" about that. 

Fortunately my Kestrel seems to have lived a fairly sheltered life and the sills are original! I believe that the car suffered one or two crashes; the boot floor had some strange reinforcements (now removed) and the O/S B pillar was well out of true. My late mate had the lower B panel (where it meets the sill) replaced.

The Kestrel was bought by my friend and as he had surrendered his drivers licence owing to eyesight issues brought about by MS, I was swiftly offered a half share of the car for half of the purchase price which I happily stumped up. Sadly Dave’s MS returned big time and he passed away in 2018 leaving me (with the consent and encouragement of his family) as the sole owner.

The remaining task are mainly completing the under bonnet electrics, refitting the dash and fitting the radiator and associated plumbing.

My old GT was quite economical and 40 mpg was achievable as long as you didn’t go much above 60 mph on a motorway! 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Steve King

[Carloz]

My little monster... 

 

[defender dinky]

Looks good, my son makes all fibreglass body panels for mini's, even complete shells, dd

[Simon_CSK]

In a bid to reduce my hideously large fuel bill and have a little fun I bought this a couple of weeks ago as a non runner from a Police Auction. It needed a lock kit and a drivers door window. Once I got the key she fired up instantly and goes like stink. I really wanted a Cooper S convertible having had a Cooper convertible previously but this was cheap and worth the risk. It is fun to drive and difficult not to plant the boot to the floor. 

[defender dinky]

Daughter had one, but having a new born wasn't practical it was her first car, she was genuinely upset when it went, but needed a four door,dd

[Carloz]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:41 PM, defender dinky said:

Daughter had one, but having a new born wasn't practical it was her first car, she was genuinely upset when it went, but needed a four door,dd

We think we need it but can do with less...

My parents had a (real) Fiat 600 when they got me. Worked out well... 

[smallfry]

37 minutes ago, Carloz said:

We think we need it but can do with less...

My parents had a (real) Fiat 600 when they got me. Worked out well... 

Indeed. My parents had a Morgan three wheeler when I was born ! Didnt work out well at all. Dad had to give in eventually and bought a Hillman Minx phase V instead. 

[Peaklander]

My first car was a Hillman Minx from 1965. I bought it in 1977. It was a bit of an old crate even then. The most noteable good feature was left foot operated switch for main beam. The most significant fault was a rusty fuel tank that failed me, in the dark, in a contra-flow, on the A1, somewhere between Durham and Doncaster. 

[cackshifter]

18 hours ago, Peaklander said:

My first car was a Hillman Minx from 1965. I bought it in 1977. It was a bit of an old crate even then. The most noteable good feature was left foot operated switch for main beam. The most significant fault was a rusty fuel tank that failed me, in the dark, in a contra-flow, on the A1, somewhere between Durham and Doncaster. 

My Dad had a '63 Minx for a while; it was a faithful but sluggish beast even for those times. I have memories of driving an older Minx to the auctions when I worked at a garage, it had 4 speed on the column which was tricky to master and on the way I realised though I was holding the steering wheel rim steady,  the car was weaving a bit and the middle of the steering wheel was wobbling, but not the rim. I then noticed the spokes were cracked..... I was pleased to arrive after no sudden steering movements.

[Steve King]

A lot of 60s cars had the foot switch for main/dipped beam - my Riley does.

Cracked steering wheels were common too! My dad was left holding a hoop and had to return home just holding on to the spokes - this was in a 105E Anglia!

[defender dinky]

Well, while on holiday this guy purchased a mini pick up fibreglass shell, from my son, surely this load is illegal, he had a 3hr drive to do, 

[JohnnoK]

On 4/7/2022 at 3:34 PM, JeffR said:

Having driven everything from Alfas to Zastavas (I try to forget the latter) , a well set up Mini will out corner most things, you may need a few sessions with a chiropractor after a long drive, but in terms of grins per pound, you cant beat them.

 

Can't comment on the Zastavas, but my first car was an Austin Mini 1100 that became a 1275 with twin SUs when I cooked it thanks to that bloody bypass hose failing on me. Drove like the clappers and had shocking brakes, but I still regret "upgrading" to an Alfetta 2 liter.

I used to drive it from Cape Town to East London to visit the folks every year, a 2100km round trip that was almost always a total hoot and attracted one or two speeding tickets along the way.😆

[JohnnoK]

8 hours ago, defender dinky said:

Well, while on holiday this guy purchased a mini pick up fibreglass shell, from my son, surely this load is illegal, he had a 3hr drive to do, 

Now, you have my attention...!

Pity I'm at the arse end of the world, though. Out of interest, what would a pickup shell sell for?

[defender dinky]

Pm sent, johnnok, dd

[defender dinky]

Marvellous, while still waiting for v5 after seven weeks, the lady has found the original logbook for the 1963 super deluxe mini mk1, it says previous owners, none, so he must have had it from new, dd

[Happyoldgit]

Was a long time ago now but my first car was a red Mk1 that had the long non remote gear-lever. It hhat had a wooden dash very similar to that.

[Steve King]

On 5/21/2022 at 4:35 AM, JohnnoK said:

Can't comment on the Zastavas, but my first car was an Austin Mini 1100 that became a 1275 with twin SUs when I cooked it thanks to that bloody bypass hose failing on me. Drove like the clappers and had shocking brakes, but I still regret "upgrading" to an Alfetta 2 liter.

I used to drive it from Cape Town to East London to visit the folks every year, a 2100km round trip that was almost always a total hoot and attracted one or two speeding tickets along the way.😆

The A series engine featured two easy ways to cook itself! The bypass hose was one, and the other was the heater takeoff valve on the cylinder head!

The heater takeoff valves were badly made at the time, but the current aftermarket replacements are largely carp and fall apart! 

The bypass hoses that are convoluted and made of thin rubber should only be used as a roadside repair and should be replaced with a suitable length of heater hose. Unfortunately doing the job properly means removing  the fan and water pump, which in turn means removing or moving the radiator.

[JohnnoK]

10 hours ago, Steve King said:

The A series engine featured two easy ways to cook itself! The bypass hose was one, and the other was the heater takeoff valve on the cylinder head!

The heater takeoff valves were badly made at the time, but the current aftermarket replacements are largely carp and fall apart! 

The bypass hoses that are convoluted and made of thin rubber should only be used as a roadside repair and should be replaced with a suitable length of heater hose. Unfortunately doing the job properly means removing  the fan and water pump, which in turn means removing or moving the radiator.

Yup, mine failed about a year after I got the car, steam hose went in between head and block when it was rebuilt.

[miketomcat]

Hydraulic hose worked well to but requires the head or water pump off to fit.

Mike

[Bowie69]

Silicone versions are available now.

[Alsace_rangie]

The A+ engine did away with the bypass.  Think all you need is a new non-bypass water pump and a blanking plate or e newer spec head.  Worth considering if you are doing some replacement work anyway

[David Sparkes]

For the A+ engine the thermostat housing changed; an insert housing was placed between the head and the actual thermostat housing, the top of which had a small diameter bleed hose spigot pointing horizontally. Clearly longer studs were required. The primary purpose of the insert housing was to contain a heater outlet spigot, to take a 5/8"ID heater hose. Remember the A+ came in with the Metro, which had a full flow heater matrix, and a separate expansion tank, to which the small diameter bleed hose went.

The full flow heater matrix became the bypass circuit for when the thermostat was closed.

I converted a BMC Mini A Series to the A+ spec, doing away with the heater tap but retaining the BMC Mini heater box. In the summer the heater box, with the outlet flaps closed, became a hot box, but as this was in the UK, and windows could be opened, this 'excess' heat was never a problem.

Blanking plugs were used to block off any bypass hose openings.The other advantage of using the matrix in full flow is that the matrix did not become a dead end reservoir into which any casting sand, rust, etc was dropped due to poor flow of the coolant. It was the build up of this rubbish that restricted the standard Mine heater matrix, and gave the reputation of BMC Minis having poor heaters.

Regards.

[dangerous doug]

Don’t want to be THAT guy but the bypass diddnt disappear on the A+. The later iterations did away with it but my 84 a+ had the bypass tube until I did a semi dry deck conversion. You can blank off the bypass tube aslong as you either fit the later thermostat housing or do what I did in the beginning and drill some holes around the thermostat base to allow the coolant to circulate.

before I pulled mine apart the engine was basically 997 copper spec and it was driven hard all the time. Best thing to do was the dry deck/semi dry deck conversion with the 4 blade fan and a slightly bigger rad if you wanted to keep temps down