Sunday, 19^th April 2009

Spring Mini Clinic 2009

Due to the Soapbox cart challenge for this years London to Brighton only two cars were booked into the clinic.

The day started not with a Mini but my daughters Saxo as she had hit the kerb putting a hole in her tyre. This was a good opportunity to check the air on her other tyres plus the fluid levels under bonnet.
It’s strange that some do not understand the importance of this!

Any way on to the Mini’s at just after nine the two J’s (Justin & Jason) turned up in Jason’s Mini fully loaded with bits for the soapbox and his car.
Jason required a new hub and bearing fitted to the offside and new ball joints on the nearside.
I let Jason get on with the dismantling of the front.

Eric had turned up and he required a replacement electronic ignition fitting to his Clubman (it had points).
This was any easy challenge out come the dizzy this was mounted in the vice and the new points fitted, retimed and one happy client.

By this time the other members started to arrive, Arni, Kevin, Steve, Sean, Debbie, Harvey and Dave.
The next job was rebuilding the front hub, this went well until when I went to fit it they had bought the wrong side (ask a boy to do a Man’s job).
Due to the time I got on with rebuilding another hub and doing the ball joints. The rest of the members dismantled Jason’s car to fit a roll cage. Dave Hobdell was on hand to goose all the male members (ask about Justin’s Back).

When this was completed the resident chef Sean got to work on the Bar B Q. it was well appreciated.
The next bit was the best bit building the Soapbox. Armed with welding gear, drills, bolts, wheels etc we set about the task.
The first trial was halted as my welding did not hold up to Steve’s weight. The first road trial with Berni and Lipo showed design faults with the traction of the front wheels.
Steve went home and robbed Harvey’s bike of the wheels. After lots of trials on height etc another Berni and Lipo and all was better (you should see the video).

Summing up, good weather, good people, good food, good cars and a good laugh. My best Clinic.

Next instalment of the Soapbox build is Monday 4th May at my house. 

October 19^th, 2008

Winter Mini Clinic

Alec's house. Time for the second and last Mini clinic of 2008. After Justin had to cancel the planned work on the estate due to a failed MOT we were left with a service on mine, checks on the handbrake on poppa's Mini and the front subframe mounts on Jason's. Justin brought his saloon around to have the nipples greased and had a look at the amp with stretch, our resident stereo expert.

It was a very relaxed day, with stretch, Dave Hob and Eric turning up for a chat and Alec, Jason, Justin and myself working on the cars and poppa watching. We also had plenty of time to sit around the BBQ and chat.

The only negative aspect was Jason finding a rust hole in his sill, close to the front which needs fixing (read the forum, he's already started). And the main positive aspect was that we once again collected a bit of money for charity. A fiver per car seems a very fair deal and though we didn't have many cars, it all adds up in the end (every little helps!).

Sunday, 20th April 2008 saw the first Mini Clinic of the year. The week leading up to it had been a nightmare as far as the weather was concerned, so at least my expectations weren't high. We met at 9am, or at least the first few of us met at 9 am at Alec's house. Dave and me turned up at the same time and put the cars on the drive, Dave first, me second. Alec took the role of telling us what to do and lending a helping hand where required and Dave and I got on with the work on our cars. Dave wanted to replace the water pump and I wanted to take out the heater and replace it with one I had bought about two years ago.

We both got on quite quickly, manily due to Alec giving instructions on what to do and how to do it. A little tip at this point, the water inside your heater is not the cleanest, when draining, try not to get covered in it. My heater came out without any major hitches and instead of replacing it, I repaired it. As it turned out, it wasn't a difficult thing to do and since I know it does not leak probably the safer way. In the meantime Alec got busy trying to undo the bolt that holds the standard top engine steady to the bracket on the bulkhead. I had tried to get it off to replace the bushes but hadn't gotten very far. Initially Alec did not either until he brought out the angle grinder and grinded the head off the bolt. We then used a hammer to knock it through the hole and grind off the bottom bit again to get the steady bar off. All this banging unfortunately also damaged the bracket which will need replacing at some point. Not a job I am looking forward to as it means taking both master cylinders off.

While Dave and I were busy Sylvia turned up, ready for a service on her car (oil and plugs) and Ashley and Justin both came round to help but no to have anything done to their cars. Justin even turned up on a bike. We quickly found a job for Justin, the BBQ needed firing up and burgers and sausages were waiting to be cooked. Justin did a good job and not much later we had a nice lunch. The service on Sylvia's car got done in a matter of a few minutes, waiting for the oil to drain actually took the longest. My only question is, why is it so difficult to remember what side the drain plug is on? It should really be enough to jack the car up on one side, but it has to be the correct one, so the oil can drain downwards rather than upwards.

Next up was Jason. Dave's car was still being worked on, after the water pump came the rear shocks and new locks for the doors and boot. Or rather the recycled items from Justin's scrappy which, unlike the ones on the car, work off one key. Jason wanted adjustable bottom arms, which (his words, not mine) he found frustrating to put onto the car. At this point Debbie had also turned up and her car needed a bit of work done to the exhaust. While Jason and Dave worked on their cars, Alec and Debbie got on with the exhaust and Justin and myself looked at my car again.

The extra engine steady I had installed was, according to the master, not done correctly so we thought we could fix that. We got the steady bar off at the bulkhead end and tried to visualise how Alec had said it should be installed. He was thinking of how it was done on his car, however on mine it didn't seem to fit. So we hatched plan B, which meant using the other engine steady I had bought. It needed a bit grinding off to fit but then went on quite well. Only, to take off the one on the car we had to take off the radiator and fan and then put it all back together. We did manage, but not quite by the deadline Alec had set for the day. Though, once my car was done and we thought we were all ready, Dave found that his bonnet wouldn't shut. He had taken it off for better access to the engine and it had been put back, just not tested. So another ten minutes if adjustments took place before well left and enjoyed our newly fixed cars on the way home.

A great big Thank You to all who helped out on the day, in my case especially Debbie for crouching under the dash to undo some bolts. And of course a great big Thanks to Alec for his hospitality.