The rebuild of Jemima Puddleduck

[jimmyjamjar]

Hi all!

I am fitting a new steering wheel. Now this aftermarket unit has a hub that does not have those lugs that the original had for cancelling the indicator stalk. I am considering cutting a piece off the original and tapping, threading and screwing it on to the new hub but was wondering what others have done, Could i just tap the new hub and screw in some 8mm rod to act as triggers for the cancelling. Any advice appreciated.

[DomMINIque]

If I remember over the weekend I'll take some photos of what is in my clubby and the steering wheel has been changed to one of these aftermarket ones.

But then again my indicator stalk is also using the earlier bullnose indicator stalk as opposed to the original clubby indicator stalk.

[Pumba]

Lets see some pics of your new steering wheel and hub. Your idea of a small rod screwwed into the hub should do the trick. 

You are making great progress

[jimmyjamjar]

I read a post the other day showing the towing eyes that someone had fitted an it reminded me of the towing setup I made for my Mini. I made some square tubing with a piece of angle welded to the one end and bolted these with high tensile bolts through the body and onto the sub frame. Then I made up a folding ( for storing) A-frame with tow hitch. the ends of the frame bolt to my brackets also with high tensile bolts. I used this to tow my Minis around Pretoria and used the same setup to tow Jemima Puddleduck back to Cape Town when I retired. It worked beautifully and I drive at up to 140 Kph (No officer I was within the speed limit Honest! ). I had a small white flag on the steering wheel so I could monitor the tracking.

     

[jimmyjamjar]

I finally got around to taking pis of my steering wheel. I solved the proble, of lugs to trigger the indicator stalk by tapping the boss and fitting nuts with the heads ground to match the indicator trigger seems to work ok.
       

[Jared Mk3]

Keen to see some more progress on this now.

[jimmyjamjar]

Time to start thinking about my new dash construction. I know pretty much what it will look like but I am wondering about the extra gauges to fit , definitely an oil pressure gauge and maybe a vacuum or driving gauge but I am not sure if I should fit an ammeter OR voltmeter. What do you think , ammeter is a bit old fashioned more for generator cars rather than an alternator fitted one. Any ideas or advice appreciated.

Also I have an new 11 fin oil cooler, is it worth fitting ? I am not a boy racer and the car will not be thrashed all over the place so is it worth putting in?

I don't want to go overboard with gauges . I got that out of my system back in the 60's with my tweaked Wolseley 1500 that had a dash full of gauges, looked impressive, even had an aircraft altimeter for show! LOL

[jimmyjamjar]

Greetings!

I have just started to install all the electric bits and when I was installing the tail lights I noticed that one of them had an additional red reflector stuck on top of the existing moulded in red reflector, upon checking my spares box iI noticed that the spare s I have  also had additional red reflectors stuck on . I presume this was done at the factory and was wondering if this was a legal requirement like the white reflectors on the front grill that the SA manufactured Mini's had to comply with local legislaton. Does this still apply? I know you can buy reflectors the right size.

Where can one buy material to make new seals for between the lenses and chromed mounting. I don't feel like paying 18 UKP from Mini Spares!

[Jared Mk3]

The reflectors were added onto the lenses at the dealers. Some cars had them attached to the body, some to the bumper and some to the lights like yours. The lenses didn't have the SABS logo on them, so South African made reflectors had to be added on later to meet local requirements. I don't imagine traffic officers giving you trouble if you use the original lenses with their built in reflectors. But, yes, you still need to make sure that both the front and rear of the car have operable reflectors.

[jimmyjamjar]

Thanx Jared I will add some new reflectors as I have a bunch on my towing bar that I can take 2 off.

I have started to put the electrics back in and have just finished the front including a set of driving lamps I bought years ago, just need to get some relays and fuses to complete the wiring. Then the main loom and I can begin to see the end of the process (hopefully)