Went and picked up my other halfs Mini today, had a lovely drive in the country, cruising through blossom riddled lanes, elbow out the window, shades and the reassuring melodic beat of a 1600 TP behind me Arrived and spent a while freeing off one of the rear drums, then she was good to roll The only towing I'd done previous to this was in my old Austin Maxi and on motorcycles when I was a dizzy up central London. I certainly noticed the extra load, Lola pulled steadily and I was careful not to slip the clutch to much as I'd heard with a heavy load it'll just fry it, got home hassle free and the missus is one happy lady Now I feel a steep learning curve of mini things is going to broaden my knowledge
I drive with my elbow out the window in winter as well as the wing mirrors knackered so I have to keep altering it
Lou will be out there first thing tomorrow with a bucket and tub of elbow grease, i'll no doubt be freeing things off with oil and a hammer
The plan.......well.... to get her on the road as soon as possible The reality........weather has been pants, as we have no drive or garage we are sorting her on the street and I've been busy moving rubble and stuff in Lola, but we've stripped the back brakes and had to replace one wheel cylinder, installed new shoes and stripped the rear brake pipes out, as they were steel and rusty been making up new ones and purchased some new flexi pipes, next is cut out old fuel hose and install new, already have pipe and clips, and new shocks. Engine starts, after throwing petrol down her throat, but fuels not getting through the carb, so examined the carb and it's a big SU off of a metro, the float needle was grooved as was it's seat so have replacements for them, float chamber gasket is leaking probably due to the base cover being warped from downpipe heat, just gotta blow it out and jobs a goodun. ... it's gonna be a busy next week at Beakey towers, on top of the mini I want to fit my spare door to Lola and maybe make a fishtank stand....but we'll see how it goes
the later A plus engines came with the later HIF carbs as did the metros, a 38 for a 998 or a 44 for a 1275
Aha, we are still doing research, but it was a bugger to get off the head as the manifold is huge and was at some point heated with the cooling system. It's all new to me this mini lark but I'm learning fast.... a carb you have to oil ? mad I tell ye