73 Mini

[MiniDave]

The owner came up with the idea, I just built them. I like the idea too - you have to remove the battery to install them - but once in they'll not become dislodged like the damn J-rods.

[MPlayle]

Parts list to recreate?

[MiniDave]

Sure, all parts #'s from McMaster Carr.....

2 - 3001T501 turnbuckle clevis end with clevis pin and cotter

1- piece 1/4-20 allthread, cut to length

1-pkg 25 - 92239A175 flanged wing nuts (or 2 std wing nut and washer from hardware store)

[MPlayle]

Thanks.  When I get to tackling various things on the Moke I am going to see what is being used as the battery hold-down and my switch to something like this.  Also makes for good reference for other future Minis.

[MiniDave]

I had to make an extra slot for the battery cable to fit the cardboard battery cover - this is some heavy cardboard - making this look right was a challenge!

[MiniDave]

Installed the owner's "Euro" plate for him, whadya think?  ;D

[MPlayle]

Looks sharp!  I hope Missouri PD don't give him grief for it versus the standard state plates.

[MiniDave]

More and more I think it comes down to the individual cop.....most of the time it seems they really don't care, but you get the wrong guy on the wrong day and it could cost you a couple hundred.

That said I ran Buzz for 2 years on his British plates, and I've run the Racing Green car on the Kansas "euro" plates for over a year and not had a lick of trouble......so touch wood, fingers crossed etc. and I always have the real Kansas plates and reg in the car just in case.

[Dmulder]

where did you find the fresh air hose?  I've been looking for one for over a year now.

[MiniDave]

I think he got it at Somerford, you are talking about the one in the fender well, right?

Only problem is, it's not completely right - the correct one has a ring on the end that fits into the hole on the firewall end, the other end just slips over the end of the tube in the grill. This one is just a straight piece of tubing, I think a piece of metalized dryer hose would work as well and be easier to install.....and cheaper!

The other thing is, the correct hose (the one MiniSpares shows but is out of) has a piece of foam inside - I think for noise abatement, but it could also trap dust and such.

[MiniDave]

He came up with a few more "oh by the way can you's", he wants me to adjust the doors tighter, see if I can install a radio antenna but not drill a hole in the body, he says the horn works, and then it doesn't, and then it works again and something about the choke cable comes out of place then hangs the choke open.

I think I found the problem with popping out of 4th gear, I've read about this on other forums - they say the seal kit for the shifter has a bellows in it, if you use this it won't compress far enough and doesn't allow the lever to move far enough to fully engage the gears. This car has one so I removed it, I'll see if it works OK on the drive up to school. Since his cars never see rain, snow, sleet, hail or any other type of moisture  (he doesn't even use water to wash the car, but some waterless product) I'm not too worried about dirt getting into the seal.

I've arranged to use the school's shop on Sunday morning, so I can do the alignment, set the ride height and fix the exhaust without having to lie on my back. He's planning to come get it Monday, it will be good to be able to park my classic in the garage again.

We'll do the dash in the next round, as he still hasn't gotten word that the bulkhead cover has even shipped from England yet.

[MPlayle]

What I have read that a number of folks do with regard to the bellows for the shifter seal kit: they trim 1/2 to 1 rib off the bellows to shorten it enough to retain some of the intended protection, but eliminate the bunching that interferes with proper shifting.

[MiniDave]

My exact thought too.....but rather than taking it apart and removing the bellows, I just cut it off.

[flipstah]

What a beauty, Dave!

[MiniDave]

Yes, I think he got a really good car to start with, and once done it should be a very fun and drivable car, I'll be working on it again this afternoon, but I'm about done, all I need to do is sort the alignment and refit the exhaust properly so it doesn't drag when he pulls into his garage.....can't do that till Sat or Sun when I can get into the shop at school.

It also seems to have an electrical draw, I'm betting it's in the radio....I have it wired so he car run it without the engine running, and I think that's where the problem is.

Oh, and I found that there are different bellows that come with the seal kits for the shift rods, the one I took off the car was a thicker rubber and the bellows folds were bigger, the other one I have the bellows folds are sharper and the rubber seems more flexible and thinner - you can fold it down about 1/2" tighter than you can the one on the car, Ill post a pic to show the differences.

[MiniDave]

Just drove the '73 for the first time with the new smooth a ride suspension - man is this thing nice now! Rides like a dream, especially compared to the way it was with the coilovers. That pretty much answers the final questions I had about rubbers vs coils. No rattles either - told him it was the damn shocks.......I don't know if I want to spend more money on my '89 Racing Green, but I almost think it would be worth it to swap it over to these too.

I wasn't able to get on the rack at school, so it still needs to settle, reset the ride height and do an alignment, plus when he broke the exhaust mount he drug the system back till it's hitting the subframe, I need to get it on a rack to fix that too.

It's hot today and I only drove it a few miles but the temp gauge is still a little above normal, but when I refilled the cooling system I might not have gotten it full or there could have been an air bubble so I've got the box fan on it and once it cools off  I'll recheck to see it's full. Other than that - the hot start problem turned out to be the distributor was loose and the timing was way advanced, so I reset it and tightened the clamp and now it starts easily.

The shifter problem was that bellows on the shift linkage, works perfectly now.

He's still waiting for that bulkhead cover he bought in England, so we'll put off doing the Broadspeed dash till it comes in, and he wants me to come up with a way to hide a radio antenna behind the dash.......anyone who has a good way to do that I'm all ears.

[94touring]

Good to know.  I'm suppose to order smootharide for the 66.

[MPlayle]

Dave,

there seems to be a lot of mixed reviews about the "hidden" antennas.  This one seems to get a bit more of the favorable mentions.  Most seem to be so-so for results.

http://www.ecshylites.com/page/page/761353.htm

[94touring]

I've hidden antennas behind the dash and under my seat in the rx7.  Didn't even get a fancy antenna, but works fine.

[MiniDave]

Michael, thanks.....but the link doesn't work.

[MPlayle]

Dave,

I get the same error when using the link, but I copied directly from the address bar when I created the link.  I got to the original page via a similarly "broken" link on a hot-rod forum discussing hidden antennas.  If you click the "Car Antennas" button on the left of the "404 Error" page, it will take you to the intended page.  The address in the browser address bar stays the same!

That antenna is supposedly designed with the fiberglass hot-rods in mind as they tend to lack the steel body for a ground plane.

[MiniDave]

Cool, thanks.....

[MiniDave]

Well, it was a short leave.....he only got a few miles down the road and the temp gauge was almost pegged, so I had him bring it back. Might be putting a water pump on it after all. It's 95* today, but my green car doesn't do this....something's amiss.

Still won't start when it's hot either - I had to bring it back on the rack with my winch.

The good news? He absolutely LOVES the way it drives on the smooth a rides!

[MPlayle]

Also, check the thermostat.  I remember reading not too long ago on one of the Mini forums about someone that had a thermostat fail in the closed position causing their car to overheat - fluid not being permitted to flow to the radiator.

[MiniDave]

New thermostat, and you can easily feel the heat flow thru the top hose when it opens.

First thing I'm going to do is put a capillary gauge on it and see what it's really doing, then I'll go from there......