Fix or chop

[battered]

Although mine did suffer from engine stoppage if you drove in the rain, water came through the grill, showered the spark plug or leads , engine stopped. You could buy a guard that bolted to the rocker cover that solved it.
When I see minis now I think, how did I ever drive in them ..tiny.

Giving rise to the Mini "Marigold glove" fix. Cut off the fingertips, thread the glove over the distributor HT leads.The rest over the distributor. Tie up the ends. No more leaks.

 

[Drago]

Excellent news. Im glad it will live to fight another day, and for the cost of maybe 2 monthly payments on a new motor.

 

[KneesUp]

Austin, Leynads were funny things, they fell apart quickly sometimes....but often lasted forever, sometimes a lot longer than their more 'exotic' foreign counterparts

I think manufacturers were a bit less careful about where their steel came from or at least less able to detect if it was substandard. Ford allegedly bought a load of steel from Russia in the late eighties that was cheap, but not as good as they were told and so it rusted like a mad. That was why D plate Fords were often rusty and few survive. They were known a D for Death in the trade apparently.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Excellent news. Im glad it will live to fight another day, and for the cost of maybe 2 monthly payments on a new motor.

hope so, garage were meant to phone..... this morning.

 

[MrGrumpy]

hope so, garage were meant to phone..... this morning.

its ok all done, noise gone however I'm now fully aware go where the other noise is coming from. Knocking on rear suspension. The rubber donut at the top of the strut is the apparent cause. Mechanic had one before. Wont fail an MOT as there is no movement in the suspension or bushes/anti roll bars etc.

However subframe has to drop to get to it! What a PITA.

 

[oldwheels]

its ok all done, noise gone however I'm now fully aware go where the other noise is coming from. Knocking on rear suspension. The rubber donut at the top of the strut is the apparent cause. Mechanic had one before. Wont fail an MOT as there is no movement in the suspension or bushes/anti roll bars etc.

However subframe has to drop to get to it! What a PITA.

I had a Fiat Ducato which had a rumble very like a wheel bearing gone but Jack it up and spin the wheel and it seemed perfectly ok. The noise in fact came from a top bearing on a front suspension strut but I only got the answer from a motorhome owners site as no garage could find the cause.

 

[oldwheels]

Always quite fancied a Cooper original or a GT1275 with loud exhaust twin pipes out the back :-) . Modern cars just all look the same these days, certainly far more reliable for sure but don’t have character!

Character is ok up to a point. My VWT2 had lots of character, mostly bad. I did about 100,000 miles in it tho'. Most expensive vehicle to keep on the road I ever had.

 

[MrGrumpy]

its ok all done, noise gone however I'm now fully aware go where the other noise is coming from. Knocking on rear suspension. The rubber donut at the top of the strut is the apparent cause. Mechanic had one before. Wont fail an MOT as there is no movement in the suspension or bushes/anti roll bars etc.

However subframe has to drop to get to it! What a PITA.

A bit of Googling and the ARB bushes seem to be the common issue ? Cheap and relatively easy to do ? Next on the list I think.

 

[byegad]

It's a huge improvement on the original Minis, most needed welding for their first MOTs. You would be lucky to get 80,000 miles out of most cars then.

I had a 76 Mini 1000, for18 months. Bought new it had rusted through on the lip under both rear windows!

 

[Drago]

its ok all done, noise gone however I'm now fully aware go where the other noise is coming from. Knocking on rear suspension. The rubber donut at the top of the strut is the apparent cause. Mechanic had one before. Wont fail an MOT as there is no movement in the suspension or bushes/anti roll bars etc.

However subframe has to drop to get to it! What a PITA.

Your mechamic may wish watch the Wheeler Dealers episode where Ant removes and replaces all 4 struts on a MINI and not a dropped subframe in sight.

 

[T4tomo]

When I see minis now I think, how did I ever drive in them ..tiny.

Very few cars gave you the feeling you got when driving an original mini, arse on the floor, (suitable aftermarket small) steering wheel angling away,
...like driving a go-kart

Giving rise to the Mini "Marigold glove" fix. Cut off the fingertips, thread the glove over the distributor HT leads.The rest over the distributor. Tie up the ends. No more leaks.

mine had a freezer bag over the dist cap and a strategically placed piece of perspex attached to inside of the grill, and WD-40 in passenger footwell just in case....

 

[Illaveago]

Always quite fancied a Cooper original or a GT1275 with loud exhaust twin pipes out the back :-) . Modern cars just all look the same these days, certainly far more reliable for sure but don’t have character!

Old cars were much simpler to work on and repair by the side of the road. Some parts were common for different cars and didn't have to be a specific date or model .

 

[Illaveago]

I had 2 minis, a 1965 Austin Mini super deluxe 850 hydrolastic suspension and later a Morris Mini 1000 dry suspension with wind down windows,both had opening rear windows, a must for hot weather.
Both cars went round the clock, they had a few problems over the years but nothing major. One main problem was forgetting to check the electrolyte level in the battery in the boot .

 

[tyred]

A friend of my Dad's bought a new Mini in 1970 and had it until about 1994 without any real issues with it (although his annual mileage would be low by most standards). Rust killed it in the end.

He replaced it with a late model Opel Corsa A which rusted to bits by the time it was 10 or 11 years old. He then bought a Toyota Starlite which he still has.

At about 73 years old, he has only owned those three cars in his lifetime so far yet so many seem to need to constantly change cars.

 

[battered]

A friend of my Dad's bought a new Mini in 1970 and had it until about 1994 without any real issues with it (although his annual mileage would be low by most standards). Rust killed it in the end.

He replaced it with a late model Opel Corsa A which rusted to bits by the time it was 10 or 11 years old. He then bought a Toyota Starlite which he still has.

At about 73 years old, he has only owned those three cars in his lifetime so far yet so many seem to need to constantly change cars.

He must have had dry storage for it. On UK roads, stored outside, they were rotten inside 7 years. As regards renewing cars, I do about 15k miles a year. I buy older cars and run them well beyond 100k if I can, but an awful lot die between 120k and 150. They just aren't worth mending when a better car is yours for £600. In other countries (France, notably) there isn't the supply of older, decent, running cars for loose change so it's more reasonable to do a repair.