1978 Pickup, giving her some love...

[MtyMous]

I had great success with my first one and only had an issue with old gunk on the mating surface from an old gasket. I scraped it off and had a clean mating surface. Tightened it down just snug enough to where the gasket began to "squish" a tad. No leaks from the top.

[Jims5543]

Gasket working great nice and dry up top now.

Took the driving lights off for now.

[MiniDave]

I like the clean front end!

[Jims5543]

Front bumper is kinda of knarled up from the driving light mounting brackets rubbing on it. Our host just got a sale!!


I was on the fence when I took them off, I was so used to seeing it with them on that it looked naked without them, looking at it again today I am digging the cleaner look.

[94touring]

Yes I sell those, lol.  I have several on top of the paint booth. 

[MiniDave]

I often wonder about the effect on cooling of having half the grill blocked by driving lights, especially in the hotter climates....

[94touring]

Considering the radiators are side mount, I bet it's minimal.  The radiator capacity is usually the culprit. 

[MiniDave]

Yes but the cooling air comes in from the front, and the lights appear to block about half of it.....just wondering. It may have no effect at all......

[Jims5543]

To think a month ago I was about to give up on this poor little truck and now I am daily driving it. thanks for the encouragement again guys.  I thought my passenger door hinges were shot, turns out the bolts were loose. I tightened it up and the door closes much better now.

Thanks again gang, I really appreciate the help.

[Jims5543]

I am driving through this fancy neighborhood Friday to go survey a fancy house that was owned by some very fabulous men. The color coordinated garden hoses gave them away.

I keep hearing this weird rubbing sound every time I turned right. Upon arriving at the fabulous house I walk around the Mini looking for the problem.

I was not expecting the exhaust to be resting very close to the ground.

So I grabbed my tool kit and a wire flag then dived under her in order to ascertain what the problem was and what I needed to do to fix it.

A hanging bracket snapped. So I pulled the exhaust back up and wrapped it with my wire flag.
 

To be honest,  after going away for the weekend I forgot about it. So this evening I remembered it and then remembered I had purchased a variety of exhaust hangers. I dug those out, found one that worked and wala, all fixed.



Probably going to have to think replacement exhaust eventually. This one is pretty rusted up.

[94touring]

Lol nice.  Yeah probably due for a new one. 

[jedduh01]

Solid Fix- Good repair but i see future failure in the near future again... Be prepared

That rubber mount on the subframe to the bracket in your picture is under alot of STRESS pulling down - Even new ones dont like alot of DOWNWARD Stress - the ends will shear off and youll be back to bailing wire.

Prepare- Buy a few of the rubber mounts have on hand.

Double check the Center hanger - in the center of the rear subframe- in front of the muffler.Making sure all is connected still and taking any torque or twist out of the exhaust -that will rip that down.

Nice job== Keep Truckin

Thats Mini Life!

[Jims5543]

Thanks for the tip, I do not believe there is a center brace. I will take a look I have a variety of hangers on hand so I will see what I can do to get another one on there.

My old Toyota pickup had a hacked off exhaust, I returned it back to stock. In anticipation I purchased all these hangers so I would not need to run to parts store. To my delight, when I got under there, all the factory hangers were in tact.

So now I have about 4 hangers. I am sure I can fit another one on somewhere.

[Jims5543]

I, like Austin Powers, like to live dangerously. I could not remember my last fill up nor the mileage.

I thought I was ok to get through the day. I had my 1 gallon reserve gas in the back.

I decided to push on in an effort to get to the REC90 gas station near my office.

When I finally arrived to the station I put 6 gallons in.

Whew!! That was close.

[Jims5543]

I might be getting paranoid, but, it seems the engine is getting noisier. I am going to re adjust the valves this weekend.

We are picking up a spare spare car Saturday so I will not have to depend on the Mini so much.  Which I like, I prefer to take it out here and there, not every day.

Plus it is a productivity killer, my co worker is now an expert on the truck and can give you a full run down on it if you ask him. He learned all this from hearing me field questions 5X a day every day for the last 2 weeks.

[94touring]

It's probably your imagination!

[MiniDave]

hearing me field questions 5X a day every day for the last 2 weeks.

ain't that the truth! And everyone who stops you either had one X years ago, or had a family member with one or knew someone who had one.....

I have the same problem with my Jag.

And everyone asks me if it's the V-12, and they're somehow disappointed when I tell them it's "just" the six.  8.gif ::) ;D

[Jims5543]

6 cylinder and 3 carbs yes?

[Jims5543]

My grandfather used to tell me what a fun task it was getting all 3 carbs in sync.

This was his shop in NYC in the early 70's.

[MiniDave]

6 cylinder and 3 carbs yes?

No, mine is a '69, from '68 on they had twin Strombergs but I swapped mine for some SUs......

But I never had any trouble with the triple carbs either.....

[Jims5543]

I thought this was really cool and thought I would share this with you. The previous  owner of my BMW made a 3 ring binder and organized all the receipts for the BMW in it.

He has it divided into sections, repairs, upgrades, maintenance and legal, he keeps all the paperwork pertaining to the car in there. I have all the work done or paid for by the previous 2 owners in there.

Since the car was almost a shell destined for a junkyard when the guy 2 owners  ago restored it, I have a lot of receipts in there. Plus I have the owners Manual and maintenance records when it was new too.





I liked the idea so much I started one on the Mini as well.

[MiniDave]

That's a great way to do it, I have those for the house and another for my shop, with all the owners manuals for shop equipment and appliances and such, sure makes them a lot easier to find.

I have binders for each of the cars, they go with it when I sell one.....

[Richard1]

If your bumper is just scratched, you can sand it and polish it. You can also take out dents and then finish it. The how to is in my signature. That is the beauty with stainless.

I agree on the cooling. So many cars around here have big cattle catchers and monster driving lights that they overheat.

I just finished my exhaust system today. I used the SPI front section and joined a Corolla exhaust pipe with muffler to it. At the joint I dropped a metal hanger made out of a piece of scrap steel with an L facing upwards to a bolt through the floor (the bolt is long enough to use two nuts for adjustment). The long end fits one of the bolts on the connection from the front to the Toyota (actually flipped the toyota one around so the muffler is at the front, and cut off the curved connector that was at the other end). Then I cut hooks for the rubber mounts off the tail end, cut it in half, and welded half to the front of the rear frame above the handbrake guides, and the other half to the side of the pipe at that point. This pulls the tail pipe tight against the rear corner of the frame, so I made a rubber cushion for it (like the one on the windshield wiper motor, but from a heavy foam) and glued it to the frame.

Then for fun I added a chrome curve extension to it, after cutting the end so the angle would match. (not sure yet if I like the extension).

[Jims5543]

Lets talk engines, we are getting close to that time for me. As much as I would like to fool myself and think I can do a rebuild myself, it will not happen, I work 70 hour weeks and have 5 projects going at the house at any given time.

So time for consideration as to where to get a engine from.

I would prefer a newly rebuilt engine, I am game for laying up my Mini for a month or two.


Anyone have the resources to build one for me?  Or do you have a source of a company (prefer the southeast USA and not MM) where I can send the old girl off for a spa treatment.

Oil pressure before my last oil change, 10 PSI at idle and 30-40 at 50 MPH hot.

After oil change with a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer, 30 at idle and 60-70 at 50 MPH hot.

Band aid I know, but damn, it has kept this rattling mess alive a lot longer than I expected. Last oil change I the magnetic drain plug had a large marble size wad of metal shavings on it. Plus the mystery rubber pieces are back.

I want to pull her off the road in about 4-6 weeks and pull the engine, I am pretty sure I cannot rebuild myself so time for options.

Thanks in advance.

[94touring]

7ent but they are west coast.   I'm trying to think who does engine work on the east coast but my mind escapes me.