My 1967 Mk1 Austin Cooper S

[apblake]

Also replaced the bump stops and added the spacers that were missing on my car

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And I replaced the rebound stops as well - the old ones were allowing the radius arms to sag too much

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[apblake]

While the brake system had air in it I also took the opportunity to make new brake lines for the engine bay. The existing ones looked like they had been routed by a drunken sailor. Now I believe they are pretty close to how they would have been routed originally on the car and I put in place the clip that holds them together which had been missing.

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One of the clips to hold the brake/clutch lines on the firewall was missing so I also got that in place

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[apblake]

Finally got around to painting the angled stiffener on the front panel black. I'm pretty sure all of the lip around the edge is supposed to be painted black as well, but I didn't bother since it really can't be seen behind the grille.

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Now you don't see the stiffener, whereas it was clearly visible before

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[apblake]

I also noticed that the inside of the rear bumper was particularly filthy so I took the bumper off and took apart the overriders to clean off what is likely 40 years worth of grease/dirt/surface rust. They just suck the stuff up. Got everything cleaned up and put back on the car. I'm guessing the front bumper has less hidden gunk, but I'll still take it off when I have time to do the same treatment. Also was able to polish and wax the paint in the areas that you can't normally get to with the bumper in place.

Before

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After

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[iain1967s]

Just a saw you posted this great driving video of your car

https://youtu.be/yB_aJUk-Cj8

[apblake]

Thanks for adding Iain - it was fun to make the video!

[Tagus]

Whoa, thanks for the drive!!
I want to add a bit to your story although it's a bit off topic. A few years back a co-worker, who knew I was into Mini's, showed me a picture of an Austin 1800 for sale just down the road from me. I live in the Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada. He thought I would be interested in the car. I wasn't but I could see there were boxes in the back seat with perhaps Lucas labels poking out. I went to see the car and made a deal to by everything in the back seat not knowing what the boxes contained. Turns out they were full of BMC NOS bits. Through some sleuthing I concluded the parts came from probably the closing of the Austin dealer on Church St in Toronto. Seems he/they must have divided up the inventory and headed west.

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On another front I'm working on the big brother to your car, a 1966 Cooper S. I purchased this from Avery of Rust Valley Restorers fame prior to the TV show coming to cable. Here's my progress so far. I had to replace the complete bottom 6" of this car. I'm painting the roof white in honour of the '66 Monte Carlo.

[apblake]

Wow - fantastic car and very cool about the connection to the dealership. I’d love to know what happened to their records. They were the official importer for BMC in Canada for a while. I do know that a subsequent owner of the dealership was a bit of a sketchy fellow who was kidnapped and murdered (possible over some unpaid gambling debts). If you turn up anything interesting from the bits you acquired I’d love to know!

[Tagus]

Wow, this story has intrigue!
Here's a link to the parts. I've taken pictures of most of them but haven't had a chance to chase down the models they fit.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

[jl46]

Hello Adam,
Great video !
Is there any chance you will be bringing your MINI to MME here in Rochester NY this
weekend 6/30- 7/3 ?
We would love to see your car !

Jim

[apblake]

Wow, this story has intrigue!
Here's a link to the parts. I've taken pictures of most of them but haven't had a chance to chase down the models they fit.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

That's a lot of parts....

[apblake]

Hello Adam,
Great video !
Is there any chance you will be bringing your MINI to MME here in Rochester NY this
weekend 6/30- 7/3 ?
We would love to see your car !

Jim

Just emailed you - unfortunately no - would have loved to go

[apblake]

Couple of small updates:
I thought I was done replacing anything prone to damage by ethanol in the fuel system, but there was one more thing. The fuel tank float/sender unit and the seal for the sender in the tank. The sender was still working, but the plastic float had been compromised by the fuel over time and there was actually a bit of fuel inside the float itself. The sender also had a bit of corrosion and the seal was not ethanol proof so I replaced both. I think this has now eliminated the very last of the fuel smell in the trunk.

Fuel tank float with fuel inside the float

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Old fuel tank sender with corrosion on the sealing surface

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[apblake]

I was also getting a type of whirring sound from the front right hand side of the car when driving after the car had warmed up. The whirring noise was related to the speed of the wheels so I figured it was the front wheel bearing. Guessing that like most of the wear components of the car these have not been replaced since 1990. So I replaced both front wheel bearings and that seems to have solved the issue.

Front hub with the new Timken bearings installed

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[apblake]

I also decided to preemptively replace the battery with an Optima Redtop battery (If anybody is interested I went with the 35 size - I'm pretty sure the 34R would have fit as well - this is of course if your car has been converted to negative earth - if it is still positive earth you need the terminals reversed). They are expensive, but I opted to change it primarily because it is a fully sealed battery and I don't want corrosive battery fumes to eat away at the steel of the battery box (especially given how sealed up these batteries are compared to batteries in an engine bay).

Nicely cleaned battery box prior to new battery installation

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The new battery nice and snug in it's new location.

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Now for the controversial part. I opted to install a battery cover and battery cover strap. I know that this was not specified in the parts manual for Coopers, but per the thread discussing this elsewhere on this forum there are plenty of instances where people have bought unrestored cars that had the battery cover and strap or they can be seen in pictures of unrestored cars. Maybe it was something they did for certain export countries, or maybe some dealers installed them, or maybe the factory deviated from the parts manual, or maybe it is just wrong to have the cover. In any case I think it helps tidy up the trunk and cover up the ugly modern batteries (not that anybody can see any of this anyway).

I opted to buy the battery cover strap from Minispares (it's pretty cheap) just to get the little bits of metal on the ends, although they would be simple to make. I don't know how accurately reproduced these metal bits are anyway. If somebody has a closeup photo of an original I'd be interested in seeing it (or maybe not, because then it would nag me if the one I have is inaccurate...). Then I bought some Pirelli strapping and replaced the black rubber on the Minispares part with the Pirelli webbing cut down to size.

Part I bought from Minispares

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After replacing the rubber

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Finished result (the wire protruding is for a battery tender)

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[Peter Laidler]

I can see exactly where you are coming from regarding the sealed battery (they're not actually sealed, but.....). I put mine into a heavy duty poly bag and plopped it back into the battery box. Fed the leads outside the bag and rolled the open end of the bag up. Battery sealed with space to expand and contract or gas-off - into the bag. Been perfect and corrosion free for many years.