|
|
|
Nothing major happened, apart from a necessary transmission fluid change. And - nothing to report here either. But I though it was worth mentioning that the oil smelled, looked and feeled like new. Not a single piece of dirt, no a hint of abrasion. Usually on old transmissions, I find a hint of dust-fine particles in the oil. Not the case here. So I guess the transmission is in good to very good condition. Have a bunch of nice holidays! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 22, 2017 19:25:23 GMT
|
Sooo - the car has temporarily been moved to another location, as we need the space at work during the "holidays" (when noone works, but everyone actually works ). I've done a deal on some aluminium - er sorry, aloominum wheels. They are rare, apparently they just about fit without arch extensions - and they are certified for TÜV and 100% road legal and come with all the required paperwork. And you all will probably know them. And whilst I soon have legal wheels, those illegal suspension parts wait to be fitted I need a smidgen more camber to fit the massive chunky 165 tyres I want to fit. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2017 21:21:30 GMT
|
Once it has fully cured, yes. But raw linseed oil takes literally ages to fully cure... Boiled linseed oil is a bit faster.
But be carefull with the stuff - linseed oil drenched rags are known to self-ignite. Always dry them in the open, never throw them in a bin. The wood workshop in our school burned down because of this...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2017 20:05:25 GMT
|
I thought about this, yeah. But it's not just that area that's significantly weakened It's just the first place the rust broke through. I'm not comfortable using those wheels - so I'm not going to. ------- Had another after-work session today. Hazards still not working... So I checked every wire for passage, checked all the fuses and aux fuse holders. And - ha! So I replaced it with a brand-spanking new fuse holder. Checked the new fuse holder for passage even (you never know), installed a brand new switch (after testing if). And - for FÜCKS sake!! Still no hazards... Despite passage in every direction, to every bulb, a working switch and 12V at the relay.... So - turns out it was the other aux fuse: I had checked it with the voltmeter. All seemed fine. So I fitted a new fuse with some electrical grease and left it alone. Assuming it's fine. Now the thing is; if something tests OK, it may still be faulty. In a last-ditch effort, I turned on the hazards to see if there might be another harness smoke leak... Touched the wires to check if they get hot. And when I bumped my fingers against the fuse holder - the relay did a wee little "click". Just the faintest of faint "click". *Click*, *click*, *click*, every time I touched the fuse holder. So I grabbed it with my whole hand - et voilá - hazards working like a charm So whenever I probed it, I held it with my hand - contacting the broken wire. And when left alone - it had no passage... For crying out loud!! I hate wiring... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2017 17:59:29 GMT
|
Your are not wrong. I'll hold onto mine forever... All good reasons!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2017 17:43:53 GMT
|
I'm biased, but any MB build between 1980 and 1992. you didn't ask about rust, did you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2017 11:31:02 GMT
|
Yeah, that's probably one of the biggest changes in the 5 years I was "out" the Mini scene... Now they start restoring cars to perfect factory-spec concours condition, right down to the correct 1961 pop-rivet and factory tire air. And boy are they expensive now! I guess the times when these cars were plenty & cheap to toy with are over. My other Mini - I guess nowadays I'd have to pay 5-6x the price. I'm trying to make a deal on some road legal alloys (it's Joymoney) right now, they too should fit without arch extensions. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2017 10:29:40 GMT
|
Since I've been mentioned, may as well add a bit... I've got good results with Owatrol Oil. Far better than with all the other "rust converters" on the market, and I've tried a fair amount of them. But it takes a long time to fully dry, depending on how thick you put it on. And it doesn't disolve or "convert" rust, it just encapsulates it, so to say. Works well to prevent it spreading further, though. And it's easy to paint over. Which you should. The even cheaper solution: lin seed oil. Owatrol apparently is just that, with some additives to have it solidify quicker. Lin seed oil realy takes weeks to fully dry. But it also gives it a lot of time to spread and creep - which it does well. Owatrol doesn't work so well on "surface" rust or blank metal. It needs real rust to work. And you can never tell if it realy did creep into the last seam, joint & crack. But this goes for pretty much all other products as well. But the longer it takes to cure, the higher the chance that it fully penetrated all rust. And went where you can't look. That's why I prefere slow-curing products - like Owatrol. As far as cavity protection goes; I swear by Fluid Film fluidfilm.de/en/ - mostly because it works, and because it doesn't contain any solvents. And I tend to spend a good amount of time in my cars, why would I breathe toxic fumes all the time? Makes no sense to prevent the car from rusting by eroding the driver... The downside is; it stays soft and may get washed away over time. So it needs refreshing from time to time... Comes in liquid to almost-solid viscosity. I use the medium range. Applied to the wheel arches & bottom/outside of the car, it lasts for a winter driving season, sometimes longer. And I do a lot of milage with my cars. Downside; some rubbers don't like Fluid Film and swell up and get soft. Other rubbers are totaly unimpressed by the stuff... I'd test compatibility when using near door seals etc. - especially if they are hard to find or expensive. We had cases of destroyed door seals on customer cars (customers applied FF). It's not an easy subject, this rust-stopping-preventing-business. I found "my" products, for me and for my requirements they work well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2017 17:36:01 GMT
|
Deep in the outback of my brain I vaguely remembered something like this... Thanks for the clarification! ------ And - we have an update! More electrickery. Everything working, except the hazards. After much measuring and doing more or less purposefull testing, I determined that the hazard switch is a dud. New one should have arrived many days ago - guess noone in the logistics business could forsee that chrismas would come THIS early this year... At least on this side of the Channel. Since Royal Post only took a couple of days to deliver a set of new Lucas L734 side markers. i think they'r meant for Jaguars. Bepi Koelliker imported this car to Italy. They were one of the major importers of Leyland cars, so it seem logical they would install these (as they were mandatory for Italy). ^the old ones had seen better days... I also bought a set of GT wheels. From germany, so delivery took over a week. And I guess they will go right back, since upon inspection... Well, I've not seen a wheel with an actual rust hole in it. Two have holes and one is so badly corroded that I don't feel safe using it on public roads. Only one that would be OK to use, but far from perfect. In other words; I've ditched the idea of using 40 year old steel wheels. And last but not least; I've polished the outer edge of the grille & headlight surrounds. I think it brightens the front end up a bit and makes it less dull. I like it! So - still waiting for that blöödy switch - and then - maybe I can finally take it for a TÜV inspection to make it road legal in germany. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 13, 2017 19:37:33 GMT
|
Started with this sticker... Which I found oddly amusing: "Nippy and silent like a weasel - Mitsu Turbodiesel" and because I like my diesel, and weasel rhymes with diesel... So that's that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, this is my 2nd cast. Turned the little brass bit on the lathe, filed two flats, drilled a hole. Gave it a good polish - et voilá. Another key fob. Not perfect, but I'm amazed that even the thread is so detailed. I filed off most of the parting line. This was a present, but I think I'm going to make another one for myself. Should I find the time... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Do the back wheels rub ? Mine did when I had 12” at the back. No. Some random italian put on spacered drums front & rear. So wheels wise, I'm facing disc-brake choices. But I can always reduce my trac width... Speaking of wheels; I'm waiting a set of 1275GT steels. Should arrive soon. and again I have to apologise for super-cräppy pictures, but I worked the odd after-work hour and only had my "vintage" phone with me. So I sorted the wiring, lights all work. However, when I had put everything bacl together - no more indicators - which had worked before. I'm slowly loosing my will to fix those blöödy Lucas electrics... And I removed the super-dodgy seat braket extension... With the seat bolted to the rear holes 6 all the way back, I'm comfortable in a Mini. Luckily. So it should be ready for TÜV - only it isn't... Because indicator no worky-worky. Bastärd. I'm buying electronic relais, maybe that's a fix. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I can't think of any cars I don't remember...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you! Actually, they can be had for very little money... But somehow, I want to keep this one. I want to see how long you can repair stuff. It's a little experiment, it's not a functionally important bit of the car. So this is a "safe" bit to experiment with on a daily driver. Other bits - I'm a bit less happy to experiment with. And it got a nice tone to it, now that most of the insulation has fallen out Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi! Long time no see... That's mainly because I work 6 days a week, 55h and more. Just don't have the time & mojo to work on my own cars... But; oil chnage #4 this year was due, so I did that. And since I had a lift at work, I also applied about 2l of Fluid Film to the underside of the car. I also replaced the burner fleece of the auxiliary heater. It still works absolutely flawless, ignites very well and gets up to full chat pretty quickly (glow plug shuts of after about 15-20 seconds). But... You can still get the fleece for little money, and it does an important job. So why not replace it for every heating season? ^that's after about pretty much a year of regular use. Occasionally in summer, almost every day during the cold period of the year; 1-2h per day. I'm still amazed that this old heater works so well and reliable. And I had to weld the exhaust once more... A brace to prevent it from falling off. I also punched in a couple of holes, but I was not willing to weld on 3 more patches. Sounds nice with a couple of holes Milage: 1.020.000 That's all. It would also need an transmission fluid change, but we didn't have the right filter on the shelf. So it'll have to wait a bit longer. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 26, 2017 18:02:24 GMT
|
Thanks! I did some more aloominum casting, but I can't show it yet And since Mr @johnnybravo mentioned my obvious lack of hammers, someone gave this lot to me, for free: Most of them need new handles, but that's neither expensive nor hard to do. And see those wire cuters on top? The little one appears to be hand-forged, it's that old. I told my good samaritan to give the stuff to me, as he was about to throw it away. Can you believe it? Thrown away tools realy wind me up... You just can't do that! I have 6 1/4 and 1/2" ratchets, only 2 I bought. The others are rescued from work's scrap bin. And only needed minor repairs (mostly a good clean, dab of oil and some bolts) and they work flawless again. That's all. I hope I can show my newest cast soon. It's a present and I'm not sure if I'm being monitored here Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2017 19:15:44 GMT
|
Is that NOS harness smoke? Would be a waste, as I'm fairly sure the wire will not hold any smoke anymore... Another very little afterwork-friday-early-night job; replaced the brake light switch (had to wait for a UNF nut to arrive) - brake lights work. Another thing to cross of the list. And I replaced the blink window winders with original ones: ^I think those speaker pods are fairly rare? Might come in handy should I decide to install a stereo That's all... Seriously. That's all I got done this week I'm fully booked with a sh!tload of other projects... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 19, 2017 17:11:09 GMT
|
Yes, I've seen they are for sale... Dang! But other things have priority right now. Those vans are nice. Do they actually have rear seat options? ---- Today was playday. Day 7 at work... But oh well. I was not overly successful. Well, in way I was. But I got extra work. First mission was to replace the steering wheel. Which put up quite a fight. Excuse the poor pictures, my camera's battery died before I could take the first picture. replaced with a stock two-spoke wheel. Next up: electrics. Main beams, brake lights and horn. Those things didn't work. Though I didn't find an error in the wiring, even the dreaded bullet connectors look superb! No rot there. But still - no main beams. At one point I left them on to measure how far current is flowing. When I turned on the voltmeter - I noticed that a lot of smoke was escaping the wiring harness. So - obviously a leaky harness. And no replacement smoke at hand. Great. Seems like it was not the first time the smoke has escaped, since the italian mechanic that had the issue before me pulled quite the trick. The milanese smoke-re-charge-circuit: Why. Just - why? This is beyond stupid..... I do a lot of re-wiring on canadian 911s. Canadians are pi$§ poor electricians (sorry my fellow Canadians!) - but this - this beyond anything I've seen. Almost as if someone deliberately wanted to set the car on fire. I removed this genious wiring, insulated the bruned wires - at least main beams are working now. I'll replace all the burned wires, though. And - I got the brake lights working again. Just a broken switch. Easy. Only the nut didn't fit the english switch with which I replaced the Fiat switch So far, so good. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wow - i've never seen cloth seats in an R129... Much more suited to a convertible, if you ask me And they look nice as well!
|
|
|
|
|