mistakes you should better not talk about.....

[LDR209H]

You lucky wotsit. Mine looked a bit ordinary (a bit like a 'walkers deep ridged crisp').
Good job the bloke who sprayed the car had some paint left over.

[rich@minispares.com]

:
Good job the bloke who sprayed the car had some paint left over.

ive got to the point with my sprint that I don't worry about dents, rust, paint etc


so many people have now reversed into it, climbed on it, not see it in carparks and rammed it that I just don't worry anymore


its passed the last two mot's with one of the rear lamps held together with tape, I got sick of replacing broken ones, stuck it together with electrical tape (to get round the 'visible white light showing' on the mot) and its never been touched since!


its getting a bit 'shabby chic' now but just keeps on rollin'

[LDR209H]

I believe you've just stumbled on another good thread title Rich.
'Your best olden days (or otherwise) MOT bodges'
Hammering tin strip into radius arm bushes and the like. Found that one in all it's glory in a hydro frame I was stripping t'other day.
My other mk2 project is a 'hybrid' (someone's converted it to dry on 1 side only !! )
Yeehaa,(spin those spurs !!)ride 'em cowboy

[YMJ]

image

Aha......so that's who you got it from........'doesn't surprise me!

[ChrisM]

Take old junk to tip including a random rusty rear subframe. Few months later "why can't I find my rear S displacers anywhere"?

[mk1]

Oh Chris,

That is a bad one.

You know I did exactly the same with an S logbook

& the really annoying thing is that I never even transferred it into my name. So once it hit the skip it was lost forever.

[northern monkey]

I have two,

Having a loose unbagged jack in the boot...full tanks of juice and a small leaky Jerry can in there as well + add a late start to a wet Monday morning,over eagerness to get to work.....result.... smoke and a very strange smell in the car,with strange random electrical gremlins....open boot to sparks from battery terminals,lots of smoke,and a partly burnt jack from where it had sat across the terminals...

A few weeks later ,after tinkering with selector rods and some new seals..and yet another monday morning drive to work through the single track lanes after a prolonged downpour,which consisted of a great route through a swollen ford... I entered the ford which was quite deep,and lost all gear selection and ground to a halt.....the car gently settling mid river...after opening the drivers door to exit the car thus filling it with very muddy water,I then had to push it up hill,starting knee deep in the freezing December rainwater,and after slipping a few times I eventually got the front of the car out of the water far enough to grope underneath and discover..that someone (me) had left the roll pin out of the rod joint or not fit it correctly and it had promptly parted in the river at 07:00am in torential rain in winter...
This is how i discovered that a small section of a barb wire fence makes an excellent substitute for a missing pin

[rich@minispares.com]

A few weeks later ,after tinkering with selector rods and some new seals..and yet another monday morning drive to work through the single track lanes after a prolonged downpour,which consisted of a great route through a swollen ford... I entered the ford which was quite deep,and lost all gear selection and ground to a halt.....the car gently settling mid river...after opening the drivers door to exit the car thus filling it with very muddy water

I drove my minisprint through a huge flood last year, it was that deep that the water was well over the bonnet and it filled up to the level of the door seals inside. - I guess it was at least 9" -12" deep and about 20 feet long

I thought it was quite funny, particually when I saw the face of 'mr audi' in his posh new audi 4x4 who had bottled it on the other side flooded road, he was quite surprised to see some idiot in a mini appeared out the water like the creature from the black lagoon.


he has had the last laugh though as ive had tons of electrical problems since!

[Chalkie]

A few weeks later ,after tinkering with selector rods and some new seals..and yet another monday morning drive to work through the single track lanes after a prolonged downpour,which consisted of a great route through a swollen ford... I entered the ford which was quite deep,and lost all gear selection and ground to a halt.....the car gently settling mid river...after opening the drivers door to exit the car thus filling it with very muddy water

I drove my minisprint through a huge flood last year, it was that deep that the water was well over the bonnet and it filled up to the level of the door seals inside. - I guess it was at least 9" -12" deep and about 20 feet long

I thought it was quite funny, particually when I saw the face of 'mr audi' in his posh new audi 4x4 who had bottled it on the other side flooded road, he was quite surprised to see some idiot in a mini appeared out the water like the creature from the black lagoon.


he has had the last laugh though as ive had tons of electrical problems since!

I would have paid a pint to see this!!!

[northern monkey]

A few weeks later ,after tinkering with selector rods and some new seals..and yet another monday morning drive to work through the single track lanes after a prolonged downpour,which consisted of a great route through a swollen ford... I entered the ford which was quite deep,and lost all gear selection and ground to a halt.....the car gently settling mid river...after opening the drivers door to exit the car thus filling it with very muddy water

I drove my minisprint through a huge flood last year, it was that deep that the water was well over the bonnet and it filled up to the level of the door seals inside. - I guess it was at least 9" -12" deep and about 20 feet long

I thought it was quite funny, particually when I saw the face of 'mr audi' in his posh new audi 4x4 who had bottled it on the other side flooded road, he was quite surprised to see some idiot in a mini appeared out the water like the creature from the black lagoon.


he has had the last laugh though as ive had tons of electrical problems since!

I've got to admit that I added heat shrink sleeve to my ignition leads (bridging every joint)...never had any moisture issues with them and Pad4's "works" marigold glove over the dizzy is still a very relevent damp fix......

on another note I ran the car every day for about three month with the barb wire repair still in place....It made the M.O.T. chap frown though..so I knocked a fresh pin in to please him....no sense of humour some folk

[minidean]

I don't want to talk about it

[medwaybeat]

Having a loose unbagged jack in the boot...full tanks of juice and a small leaky Jerry can in there as well + add a late start to a wet Monday morning,over eagerness to get to work.....result.... smoke and a very strange smell in the car,with strange random electrical gremlins....open boot to sparks from battery terminals,lots of smoke,and a partly burnt jack from where it had sat across the terminals...

When doing first oil change after rebuilding the engine and running it in I thought it would be good idea to jack the car up a bit to help get the last of the oil out, I trapped the battery cable between the jack and subframe. Dead short, huge amounts of smoke, with the terminal melting and running down the side of my new Lucas battery.

Looking at the mechanical petrol pump before engine build I pushed the pumpy arm thing and filled my eyes with petrol.

[northern monkey]

And my latest one.....after going to work in the mini today,I've brimmed both tanks with super unleaded,drove it back to its hiding place and parked it on the driveway..sideways...on a slope......cue thirsty me having two brews and a natter before returning to my everyday car for the trip home....as I walked past i noticed the distinct smell of petrol...lots of petrol (feals & looks like a super tankers worth)...lots of foo*$@g expensive petrol on the floor running slowly towards the drain....Oh bollocks forgot about the balance pipe and two very full tanks...on a slope it just peee's out....and yes I did this a few months back just to make me feel really good.

[mk1]

Don't feel so bad about your experience. I did exactly the same in my MK2 S many, many years ago, only I also had a steel oil can in the boot & no battery cover. the boot filled with fuel, the can shorted the battery out & I had to stand at the side of the road & watch my lovely S burn.

[R&R]

I was only 15, couldn't drive (some say I still can't). Had re-panelled my 1962 mini, rebuilt the engine and box with the aid if my dad, put it back in the car with the aid my friends at the village post office, and now I was alone with my first car, for the first time in its running but largely unassembled state.

I decided to balance a seat in the drivers side, and having pushed the car out of the garage, was attempting my first drive back up our steeply sloped drive, back into the garage. Grabbed hold of the steering wheel, turned ignition key......engine fired up.....depressed clutch, engaged first on the wand, and let the clutch up slowly........steering wheel came off, I catapulted backwards on the seat, cracked my head on the rear seat pan, and the car ran into the chest freezer. Luckily nobody saw it, so keep it quiet!!

[mk1]

That is a VERY STEEP drive too!