Caesar the 1275 E - Diary of minor changes

[Vinay-RS]

I got some old stock carpet fitted today. I'd cleaned it up a while back and glued on some sound deadening underneath it.

[Vinay-RS]

Not much of an update. We had a Mini birthday run, which was well attended. A good set of classic Minis and new MINIs attended.






Then this past weekend, there was a classic car meet. Quite frustrated with the number of people not wearing their masks, but the cars were quite lovely. Including a rather rare (locally) Reliant Scimitar and this Morris Minor with some interesting designs painted on it.







I glued back the indicator stalk cover with some plastiweld stuff. It seems to be holding fairly well. Would prefer to replace it, but I don't know if one can get just a new cover for it.

[Vinay-RS]

Not much of an update on work that I have done.

I wasn't keen to try and fix the brake booster and rebuild a gearbox (figured I'd mess it up). So, I asked Stuart (aka Mini'formance) to rebuild the gearbox for me. Also got a clutch and brake company to rebuild the brake booster for me.

Dropped off the car with Stuart this week to get it some much needed TLC.

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Fit the gearbox, replace the timing chain cover with one with a breather (and timing chain if needed), fix the top engine steady brackets, spray paint the firewall, fit the brake booster, plumb up the breather pipes, fit the smaller washer bottle.

Inside the car, fit a heater, radio, speakers, sort out the electrical issues, and fit the parcel shelf box thing (which I picked up and fixed up at a swap meet last week.) Also got some front grille reflectors.

Quite excited to see what the outcome of all the work is.

[Quinny1293]

Very nice Vinay! cars looking really cool and glad its getting some proper TLC and can think of nobody better than Stuart to do the work! Love your E, its really nice car.

[Vinay-RS]

BIg update! Got the Mini back yesterday evening!

Rather happy with the work that was done on the car. The car isn't leaking oil anymore, which is a big plus! The sleeve that I had fitted from Minispares was rather loose on the selector rod, Stuart had a sleeve with a tighter fit made up and fitted it and the selector is feeling a lot tighter.

The engine was painted, GTS gearbox fitted and the timing chain breather added and all plumbed into the carbs.
The radio, speakers and the little parcel shelf have been fitted and the interior is looking a little tidier.

Stuart said that it wasn't worth fitting a brake booster with the split front/rear brake master cylinder. He said it was more likely to cause problems. So I will look at selling on the booster and brackets to another project if someone is building an early GTS that has a tin can master cylinder.

Stuart said he was rather impressed with how this car drives. Seems like it was a well built motor.

I only had a fairly short drive back from his place yesterday, but hopefully will get a chance to stretch its legs over the weekend.

[Quinny1293]

Great news at least, the man knows what to do and has a magic touch to minis!

[Vinay-RS]

Took a nice drive out to the Franschhoek Motor Museum with some friends on Wednesday. The Mini drove super well, apart from wanting the stall (the idle was a little bit low) and a crunch when shifting down into second (more on this later).

Some of the cool cars at the Museum.





Here are some pictures of the Mini during the engine removal and gearbox swap.




Fixed engine steady bracket.


Damaged water pump bypass.


The engine all shiny and clean with a re-cored radiator and the breathers plumbed in.


Got the reflectors on, so the front looks correct again.


Rear parcel shelf speakers look just right in the car.


I rather like this little parcel shelf and the radio fitted under the switch panel. I sourced some fascia panels and I need to get those mounted so that the radio is secured under there.


Now, back to the gearbox. Took it to Stuart to have the breather pipes fitted and the idle raised. We took it for a drive and he confirmed that the synchro is second gear is stuffed. Which is a shame, because they were brand new items purchased and used in the rebuild. He's already said I can bring the car in in the new year and we'll get it sorted. It doesn't really affect the driving of the car on the upshifts, and if you blip the throttle on the downshift, the shifting is mostly ok. So going to continue enjoying the Mini until next year rolls around

[Vinay-RS]

So, this is going to be the last update on this thread for a while

Decided to take one last drive in the Mini before we part ways for the foreseeable future. Drove along the coast with a friend in his Mk1 S, and then took to the Franschhoek pass and another mountain pass. Got some stunning pictures and it was quite a nice way to enjoy a good drive. (This was all last Saturday).






When parked next to the dam.



One of my favourites from the day.




And from the top of the pass.




and probably the coolest shot from the day.


Anyway, now the Mini is with Stuart to get some stuff sorted out and then will be heading on a truck to live with my parents for at least a couple of years.

[Shukran]

Was the gearbox sorted? Is it at your folks place now? How much do you miss jolling around in a Mini, what are you driving now?