Month: August 2017

Today I took Mini out for the second shake-down run this season

First I changed to brand new sparking plugs, then I rolled her outside, and torqued wheels – about 1-2 flats each bolt.

On our first run, we had observed that under hard braking, the car pulled right.  I adjusted the (front) brakes, and found the left free, so I cranked down on the adjusters ( pumping the pedal after each adjuster).  On the right, the adjustment was tighter _ explains pull _ but there are two high spots.

Back on the ground, I added oil (SU oil) to the SU dashpots (when all else fails!) and started up – right off.

Since this car does not enjoy cold running, I warmed her up at 2000-3000 RPM, until I had 140 H2O temp, and then went for a little cruise.

o Brakes much better, pedal better, less pull.

o car ran well

o new turn signal works well

Back in the garage, I measured the ride height (wheel to fender arch), put everything away, and declared it a good day!

As for any leaks, I am going to wait for all the old stuff to leave…

 

Thanks to all who have helped, esp. Brad, Don, and Chuck

Sunday 13 August, I got some bits at Ace Hardware to help with painting and mounting my new nostalgia.

On Monday 14 August, I repainted the front floorboards, prepared for the clutch completion, and added a few looks to the garage:

(Allen and I got the BMC sign 25-30 years ago…)

On Tuesday, my son Allen arrived around 5pm, and we

We did a coast down, so I will tighten up the fronts and continue putting on miles…

The car and the garage were in need of a clean up, so I cleaned both!

I tried to adjust the clutch, and found I had to bleed it.  I tried to bleed it – using the pressure bleeder – and ran into difficulty.  Chuck Linick came over, and we discovered the source of this problem: a small hole in the bottom of the master cylinder.

New part on order.

Chuck also looked at the leak from the rocker cover cap, and we decided to order a new one – see picture.

New part also on order.

We removed the holy CMS – see picture.

MUCH thanks to Chuck!

On this saturday, I did some organization and cleanup in the garage, charged the batteryand then I removed the plugs,added oil to the cylinders, and brought up oil pressure (to 60 lbs.in**2) on the starter.

Brakes feeling good!