Classic Mini Fun Run #4

Started by MiniDave, January 02, 2015, 11:38:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MiniDave

Weather cancelled our trip to the northwestern Arkansas hills last November, so we're planning to try it again in March over spring break.

The chosen event dates are March 14-17, so mark your calendars and get your Minis ready for some fun!

We headquarter at the Best Western Eureka Springs - 800-814-8307

We have 5 different runs already planned, and E. Springs offers plenty to do in the evenings. We have people from all over planning to go, and a wide variety of Classic Minis to check out, so plan to come and do some driving. The roads in northwestern Arkansas are fantastic - lightly traveled, twisty, hilly and perfect for Minis!

I'll add more names as people chime in.

So far, we have...... 

Dimini - Red P'up
MiniDave - Champagne Beige Clubman Estate
Bruce K - White Cooper
DRuder - Black Cooper S
John K - Blue Cooper
Moxie - White Cooper
DW - Red Cooper S
MiniManiac - Blue Cooper
ImagoX - Red Cooper
KSMini - Green Cooper S

More details will be posted as our plans firm up and we get closer to our travel date. It's gonna be a blast!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I use to take my rx7 there to drive the roads. ...more like full out racing.   I usually had to repaint my front bumper after those trips.   Great area to drive.   I really need to get a mini back on the road.   

MiniDave

#2
Alrighty then, the group is shaping up nicely......if everyone's plans work out we'll have cars from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas!

Come join us!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Plans are firming up.

Right now we have 4 cars coming down from KC on Friday March 13 - Me, Don, Seth and John S - and we're planning to be at the hotel no later than 5-ish to avoid night driving and to get checked in before dinner, then we're planning to find a restaurant and eat, trade stories and just have a nice evening out.

John P and his wife Johnna are coming down Sat am and since we'll all have cell phones, they'll try and meet up with us for an afternoon drive Sat or just hang out in Eureka and go on the next two day's drives.

Don R's plans are a little in the air, but right now he's planning to be there Friday afternoon too.

Bruce and Dean are planning to arrive Fri as well.

Two people have not been heard from lately and are questionable.

Sat am the plan is to meet for breakfast where I'll pass out copies of all the routes we've pre-planned . At that point people can choose any route they want and either go in small groups or all go together on one route, or just go drive where ever they want. I've purposely left things pretty loose so folks don't feel like they're bound to a rigid schedule. The plan is just for a bunch of Mini friends to go run around the country in their cars and have fun, nothing else.

Don I is bringing his latest Quad rotor to get some aerial shots if we find a good scenic place to pause too.

I would love to find a spot where we could hold some impromptu drag races, but that may not happen.

The host hotel is the Best Western Eureka Springs - 800-814-8307

http://www.innoftheozarks.com/
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I may be able to come if I can find time to get the blue mini on the road.   

MiniDave

#5
Excellent, one or two people are coming up from the Dallas area and meeting up with Dean outside Tulsa, you could hook up with them and caravan together if you like. Get with Dean for the details of the meet up time and place. We're still about 4 weeks out so plenty of time to get the car going, right?  ;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I'd like to say yes but I'm probably the busiest I've been in years.   

MiniDave

#7
Only 2 weeks out now, we've had a couple of KC guys drop out due to family or work obligations that couldn't be missed or rescheduled, but we've added a couple more folks from Fla, Arkansas and Tx.

Weather should break by then (I hope) but the nice thing about going early in the year like this are no bugs and no overheating!  ;D

Average daytime temps for this area in March are mid to upper 50's, but it's not unusual to see it as warm as 80. By next week we should be able to get an idea of what the weather guessers think we'll have for our trip.

If you haven't booked your room yet at the Best Western - 800-814-8307 - call and ask for Margie and tell her you have a Classic Mini, she's putting us all in the same general area.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Well, we all made it to Eureka Springs, some of us in better shape than others......

Bruce and Dean ran in rain all the way, Bruce had trouble with wet ignition parts, running on 3 cylinders for a ways, and part way along Dean's electric fuel pump gave out. It was fortunate that Bruce was along so he could run them up to a nearby O-Reily's to get a new one. They found shelter in a car wash - no one will be using a car wash when it's pelting down rain! - and got the new pump installed and on they went.

We ran into similar problems, but first only about thirty miles from KC we were stopped dead on the highway by an accident, a woman towing a trailer had flipped and the truck and trailer were sitting backwards, crosswise, upside down and blocking both lanes...... that took us close to an hour to clear. Once back up to speed it was clear sailing till we got to Joplin and we ran into the same rainstorm that Dean and Bruce had been fighting. Truckwash rolling up thru the grill finally shut John down to 3 cylinders or less for a while, but it cleared up eventually and we were back up to speed. Don saw water dribbling in the corners of his windshield, and found wet floormats when we got to the hotel

Then about 50 miles out and running down a delightful twisty road - my clutch gave up. I had put a new master cylinder in before we left, but the pedal just went to the floor. If I pumped it hard enough long enough I could get it to release just enough to start the car in first gear and get going, then shift by matching revs, I drove the last 15 miles or so in third gear so I'd have enough revs to make it out of the slow uphill turns.

It's still raining, tho it's supposed to stop tomorrow morning and for the rest of the weekend the weather looks gorgeous. I also think my alternator may have packed it in too, it squeals like mad when I start the car, and when I had the lights on it was showing a fair discharge. There are auto parts stores here in town, so I'll pull the alt and have them check it, and I'll pull the slave cylinder and see if I can find a cup that will fit it. If I'm lucky I should be ready to go Sat afternoon or for Sunday's rides.

If I'm not lucky, Rose will be heading south on Sunday with the Audi and the new towbar I built to get me.

More as it happens.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Shrimps

Wow, misery loves company!

But it's Friday the 13th, whatcha gonna do?

Hope things turn around for you guys the rest of the weekend.

MiniDave

I know, right?

Well, alls well that ends well, and in the Mini community the one thing you can count on is plenty of support.

And that's what I got today.....the first thing we found was that the clevis pin had come out of the clutch linkage on the pedal end. The pin was on the floorboard but no cotter pin, but of course everyone carries cotter pins. It was a challenge to get the pin back in but Don laid upside down and managed to get it in again. That done I still had no clutch, nothing was leaking fluid and bleeding it repeatedly did nothing to improve things.

I was trying to figure out where I was going to get a clutch slave cylinder in Eureka Springs when Dean rummaged around in his boot and walked over and handed me a spare, brand new still in the box. 1 hour later the clutch was bled and sweet!

The Alternator turned out to be a loose belt, that only took 10 min to fix and now I'm good to go again!

It's also supposed to stop raining this afternoon, so we may just go find a pub and spend the rest of the day hanging out in E Springs, then hit the roads tomorrow.

Edit: Since the rain stopped bucketing down, we went for a drive....yes, we drove down the sidewalk to get there......shhhhhhh.  ;D

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Mudhen

GREAT pic!!!   4.gif

We used to say on advrider that the adventure begins when things stop going as planned - sounds like you're having an awesome adventure!

Jealous.

Pat

MiniDave

Yep, yesterday was a Loooonnnnnnggggg day of driving, and all the cars made it with no issues......



Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#13
We all made it home safely and with no further issues......my clutch worked perfectly the rest of the trip and since the weather cleared we had perfect driving conditions both for the rest of the weekend and the trip home, I think overall we did close to a thousand miles - that's a lot in classics, but proves they can be reliable with just a bit of work.



Don's Vtec P'up had been cutting out occasionally usually under hard load, so once we got home we got out his borescope and took a look in the tank. He'd already replaced the filter and pump, so we suspected a dirty tank and sure enough, he said it looked like a shipwreck inside the tank! We pulled the tank and took it to the local radiator shop to see what t would cost to get it cleaned and sealed. Their first quote was pretty reasonable, but when they got a look inside and saw it had been sealed before (poorly I might add) they upped their quote to the point where Don said screw it and ordered a new stainless steel tank for only $100 more.

It should get here late next week and I think that will cure his problems.

No one else really had any problems all weekend except Ruder - his starter locked up. I took about an hour to get it out and on the ground where we found a loose bendix sleeve, a few raps with a hammer and cold chisel set the sleeve again and it worked perfectly all the rest of the weekend.

Having fun with Ruder's starter......



A couple guys had to go home Sunday, so Monday we were down to four cars, but we went down to War Eagle Creek and toured the grist mill there and had lunch, it was a gorgeous day and the roads were smooth and delightfully free of traffic!

Crossing the 100 year old iron bridge at War Eagle Creek



Finally it was time to head home, two of us went west and south and two of us north to KC. Despite all the small problems, it as simply a fun fun weekend. So get those classics out of the garage and on the road, where they belong!







Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

Sounds like all the grey beards had a good time.  4.gif

94touring

Wish I could have made it.  Unfortunately it was impossible this time.  Glad you guys had a good time  77.gif

MiniDave

On the run home Don was having issues with the P'up cutting out under load and hard cornering. As we'd replaced the fuel pump and filter before we left KC for Eureka Springs we suspected a dirty fuel tank. When we got home we snaked his borescope into the tank and sure enough the bottom looked like a shipwreck as he put it. We took the tank to a local rad shop to have it cleaned and re-coated but when they saw how nasty it was they doubled their cost estimate. Don decided to just buy a new stainless steel tank for $100 more and it came yesterday.

He got it installed today and says he has a new car now - it's got power, the pump is so quiet he can't even hear it and runs like a raped ape again!

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad