With a bit of help I managed to "roll" it out of the garage & into the workshop to see if it could be re animated.
Safety first, I thought. Jacking each corner up & freeing off each wheel in turn & adjusting the brakes while the battery charged for the first time since 2009. Fit a new throttle cable as I had to pinch the original one as an emergency spare ages ago. Refit the battery, turn the key . . . . . nothing. The ignition light came on, but no click, click, click from the fuel pump. No worries a quick whack with a stick sorted that out and it rattled back into life, if anything a bit too enthusiastically. It sounded more like a woodpecker than a fuel pump. Still no worries, I was only playing.
Wind the choke stops out a bit as the choke pull has always been very stiff, no point hanging around, lets give it a go. Engine turned beautifully, fast & happily, oil pressure came up almost instantly, but not a squeak from the engine. Not a pop, a fart or a cough, nothing. Give it a minute, try again, same result, not a solitary spark of life. Taking a leaf from my own book, I squirt a good dollop of Easistart down each air filter & try again. . . Vroom!!!!!!!!! The engine bursts into life & runs relatively sweetly for about 5 seconds. . . then dies again, try again, same again. Hum, now what could the problem be?
Maybe the fuel has gone off? I remove the fuel line from the right hand carb fit an extension that trails off into a bucket & hit the ignition. Fuel pump clatters, I can feel a little puff of stale petrolly air chugging out of the end of the pipe, but no fuel, not a drop, not a molecule. Hum, maybe there isn't any in it?
After a frantic hunt round the workshop, the only petrol I can find is about 1/2 a gallon of 2 stroke mix that I use in my Welbike.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I tip the entire can full into the tank & turn on the ignition again. rattle, rattle, rattle, chug, chug, click . . . . . click . . . . . . click. a stream of absolutely vile looking deep yellow coloured petrol emerges from the end of the bleed tube into the bucket. which is almost instantly replaced with the familiar pinky colour of the 2 stroke mix. We now have fuel!
Reconnect the fuel line, wait for the float chambers to fill and the engine splutters into life with the first turn of the key, after a few seconds the revs build & it's happily thrumming away at about 2,5000, I ease the choke screws back a turn and a half & the engine settles down to a steady rhythmic 1,000 or so. This continues for a few minutes as the temperature starts to rise. Once the engine is up to temperature, a quick check for leaks proved fruitless, all lights working as expected & its time for the test drive.
I reverse out of the garage & find that the engine although it ticks over ok is a bit reluctant to pull, nothing terrible but definitely down on power. Still, no worries I'm sure it will clear up, & no sooner do I think it than it happens. YVJ pulls off down the road as happy as Larry. Up the main hill in my village & down the other side, now probably doing 35 or 40-ish. Whoops, car coming up the hill & parked vehicles on both side of the road, time to slow down, apply gentle pressure to the middle pedal, nothing, bit harder, nothing, jump on brakes with all my might n/s front locks up Min does violent turn to the left, corrected, stopped, no trauma, no collision, Hurrah! Hum, I think, better give the brakes a bit of a work out in private. Try the same again, up to about 30, hard application of the brakes, this time violent turn to the right, I was ready for it this time, stopped fine. BUT! This time both front brakes had stuck on at about 75% effort it was all the little engine could do to drag the body along at all. Right foot flat to the floor & left leg pumping furiously on the brake pedal after a few more second everything frees up nicely & I can now brake in a straight line.
Quick trip "round the block" & back into the garage. No leaks of anything, fuel, water or oil, car is filthy under a thick layer of dust, but is now officially all systems go. Tonight its bath time & off to the MOT station tomorrow.
I am now officially a mini owner for the first time in 4 years Woo Hoo!
Master. . . . ."MY MINI LIVES AGAIN"!
M
