1978 Pickup, giving her some love...

[MtyMous]

Haha

[Jims5543]

I wish! I have adjusted the valve clearence on this truck at least 5 times in 500 miles. Lol!!

[94touring]

You get that water temp working?

[Jims5543]

You get that water temp working?

Yep, see back a couple of posts. I squeezed my hand behind the alternator and pushed the wire back on. It works and if correct runs nice and cool. Our ambient temps are in the low 80's right now. 

[94touring]

I saw it hooked up  4.gif. Figured with your luck it still didn't work though lol

[Mudhen]

I saw it hooked up  4.gif. Figured with your luck it still didn't work though lol

Ouch.

:D

[Jims5543]

I saw it hooked up  4.gif. Figured with your luck it still didn't work though lol

Well, I thought that too. But it appears to be working fine. She is parked today, it is terrible out so she gets a break. We have a "cold front" moving through. So upper 70's instead of 80's.

[94touring]

Yeah it's been literally freezing everywhere I've been. 

[Mudhen]

It was 10 here this morning.  I hate being cold almost as much as I hate hearing the furnace come on.   50.gif

[Jims5543]

I grew up in New England, do not miss it at all. People down here in Florida moan about lack of seasons, I do not, I get pissed if it get cooler than 65° here.  I am most happy in 100° weather.

If I have to spell it out, hotter means less clothing. Think about it, you never say, wow she looks hot in that parka.  In a bikini? yes, not a Parka.

[Mudhen]

I grew up in New England, do not miss it at all. People down here in Florida moan about lack of seasons, I do not, I get pissed if it get cooler than 65° here.  I am most happy in 100° weather.

If I have to spell it out, hotter means less clothing. Think about it, you never say, wow she looks hot in that parka.  In a bikini? yes, not a Parka.

:D

Whereabouts did you grow up?

[Jims5543]

Born in Nassau County Long Island (Islip) Grew up in Mineola (very close to New Hyde Park) then when I was 10 years old moved out to Shirley / Mastic area near the Hamptons.

Moved to Florida when I was 18 and wished I grew up here, took the summer I was 19 off and spent it surfing.  At 18 I was smart enough to know cold sucks.

[MiniDave]

So Jim,  I just read thru your whole thread and noticed no one answered you early on when you asked the question about the float having liquid in it......and the answer is no - it should not have fluid in it, and that was the source of your flooding problem. It takes a bit for the float to fill, and when you took it out of the carb when you were changing the jet some of it evaporated out again.

Now that you're on top of things, are you going to keep it?

I have a friend with a similar P'up, red with the olde English white top too, only he has a Honda Vtec motor in it. One of the reasons he bought it was for the Honda reliability.......hahahahaha, what he didn't count on was the fact that the rest of the car was still vintage Mini! In spite of everything (and there has been a LOT of everythings) he's done 18K miles in the 6 years he's had it.

Anyway, I hope you persevere and keep your little trucklet.

[Jims5543]

I have a brand new carb now so to old float is gone. I figured it was supposed to be dry inside and yes, it was the source of one of my "car almost caught fire" moments.

She seems to be very happy right now, which in turn, make me happy. I have been actually depending on her a lot these last 2 weeks since my son has my normal daily driver (95 Toyota Pickup) while he waits for a part for his E30 to arrive. You think Mini parts are a PITA, E30 parts can be just as bad, Turner Motorsports and Bav Auto are notorious for taking forever to ship a part.  It took him 2 months to get a radiator once and it was nothing fancy, a stock one. We are waiting for a mid driveshaft support bearing, something he could have purchased at Autozone but he thinks that Bav has a better one. So we wait for almost 3 weeks.

The Mini truck is running well, my confidence in it is ever increasing. I wish I could get the wife on board, I wanted to use it to go out the other night and she refused telling me she was not in a mood to be broken down somewhere. I know how she feels but I feel like I am back on top of this thing.

Once we get our shop up and going I am planning on doing some more mechanical work to her as a preventative measure.

[Mudhen]

Assume BavAuto and Turners are only taking forever to ship because they don't actually have the part themselves - but if you ever need me to go in there with a pipe or something let me know - they're both local to me.  I've used both for MINI parts in the past...I particularly like to use Turners junk pile to keep my car on the road.  77.gif

[94touring]

Glad your confidence is building back up!

[Jims5543]

They do make a silicon valve cover gasket. I have 2 in my garage safely set aside.

http://www.the-vintage-racer.com/index.php/manufacturer/12-gasket-innovations?page=2

Ordered on December 30th and they just created the shipping label today, 7 days later.  It seems every part supplier has the same customer service SOP.  Wait 1-2 weeks to ship the part, the customer did not REALLY need it.

No wonder Amazon is crushing everyone.

[Jims5543]

The clock in my dash only runs when the car is running. LOL!! that said I have now put over 4 hours of driving time in with her so far this week.

I used her in the field today and yesterday and will again tomorrow.  I have put probably 300 miles on her since Friday last week.

The more I drive her the happier she seems.

[Mudhen]

 71.gif

That's the coolest rig.  I want one.

[94touring]

Awesome man.  300 miles...time to put gas in lol. 

[MiniDave]

The more I drive her the happier she seems.

I preach this non stop to all classic car owners......they're cars, they were meant to be driven not sit in a garage.

How do you like the tonneau cover now that you've lived with it a bit?

[Jims5543]

The more I drive her the happier she seems.

I preach this non stop to all classic car owners......they're cars, they were meant to be driven not sit in a garage.

How do you like the tonneau cover now that you've lived with it a bit?

I am a huge fan of the ARE fiberglass tonneau covers that hinge by the cab and lock down. I have put them on all my pickup trucks. Sadly they do not make them for Mini Cooper Pickups.

This one was custom made, I wish he had put the sides over the rails instead of stopping at the top of the rail. It would have hid the holes from the turn buckles better.

All that said, I like it, it is somewhat of a PITA when you are in and out all the time but it keeps stuff dry when it rains and comes off in a jiffy when I want to haul stuff around so it is doing its job.

[Jims5543]

The more I drive her the happier she seems.

I preach this non stop to all classic car owners......they're cars, they were meant to be driven not sit in a garage.

How do you like the tonneau cover now that you've lived with it a bit?

Oops and yes, you are preaching to the choir. I am in the same camp with driving cars. I always drive mine and the only reason this one sat so much is because it had a lot of neglect issues that all reared their head as I tried to use her.

[Jims5543]

Finally!!! The gasket arrived, it only took 11 or 12 days to get it.

I just permatexed it to the cover and now it is finger tight on the engine.

I will clamp it down in the morning and hopefully no leaks.

[MiniDave]

I'll be interested to see if this does the trick, before I send $15 for a freakin valve cover gasket!  ;D

In the past I've had good luck with a fresh cork gasket carefully glued to my aluminum valve cover, and that's what I'm running on Buzz now So far, so good, and I've had it on and off a number of times to re-torque the head and adjust the valves etc.