Yes, but for how long?

A change from PMW this weekend.

Mrs R's Mini had refused to start last week but I wasn't concerned as it was down to the fact that it hadn't run for a while and being also cold the battery didn't have enough life in it to turn the engine over fast enough (come to think of it this reminds me of PMW).

One week later though with the battery having been on a trickle charge Lil Min sprang into life when I refitted the battery and turned the key.

So next was UNJ our TR7 convertible. The repairs to the starter motor connections and the replacement second hand starter motor are still doing the trick as it fired up no problem either - I am getting to like this!

I suspected the clutch would be stuck though as it has been months since the car has moved and I was right. Having moved Lil Min well out the way I started UNJ in gear with the clutch depressed to free of the clutch which it eventually did. Now I will be starting and moving both cars every two weeks so hopefully that will keep them both OK through the winter.

Now on a roll I moved on to the problem with the interior lights and rear sidelights not working as helpfully pointed out by the French Police back in September (oops).

I checked for poor earths but then moved on to removing the light switch from the dashboard. I had done this in a car park in a small French town in the early hours back in September to try and clean it up but hadn't fixed the problem.

This time I could take my time in my garage and stripped the switch down, cleaned the contacts and then used switch cleaner, re-assembled the switch, put it back in the car and success :-)

See below

But for how long?

Helping out

At the very last minute I was asked to help out the local Church with any classic cars I could muster as they were running a fun day to raise funds.

Unfortunately they had been let down.

As it was so late I could only help with our cars but here's UNJ and Little Min

 

Looking great

My Club Triumph friends will think I have lost the plot here!

Not only featuring my wife's Mini Mayfair but admitting I polished the chromework on it as well as washing the car (oh the shame of it).

Does look great though. Photos were taken for insurance purposes.

A Mini triumph

Today I spent the entire afternoon spannering etc but not on a Triumph.

In fact I made no progress on the 2000 engine rebuild at all.

No, I spent the afternoon waxoyling and generally fettling my wife's new car - a 1992 Mini as seen below.

Lovely car with only 18000 miles on the clock.

Possible addition

There could be a new addition to the fleet and this time not a Triumph!

Actually it's my wife looking to buy a small car to nip about in when the Peugeot 308 really isn't needed. Maybe a quick trip to the coast in the sun as well perhaps.

So we have looked at a 1992 Rover Mini today and it seems really good, very solid and with only 18000 miles on the clock. Lots of history with it and sitting on Rover "minilite" wheels - oh, and it's a very tasty shade of red too.

Real shades of the Italian Job!

Other than that though, a steady 3 hours again. Initially helping Bryce in his latest project which is a BMW Compact for a one make race series. Track rod ends proved very reluctant to come off but did so eventually.

Back on the engine rebuild for PMW it's slow and steady - old gaskets take some getting off I can tell you.