Project Snicket, Everything Else

Right, so clearly that was a lot of work done in short space of time. This post will bring me up to date now.

I have been trying to split the previous posts out to make it easier to read and follow, since if I combined them all together it would be one huge MEGA-POST, and no one has the time to read that.

This post is more of a brain dump of the other things I have done with the Mini that don’t fit a particular category or are too small to be their own post.

First up, is yes, the second replacement oil drain plug I fitted a few posts ago (with the thread tape and Rover crush washer) has successfully stopped the oil leak. I finally have oil only where it should be! Praise MOWOG the fickle god of British cars.

Secondly this arrived the other day. One monster of an Imperial socket

“Whats that beast for?” I hear you ask. Well, when I was in the engine bay the other day I randomly noted that the main subframe tower bolts were… loose. Not just loose, but barely even in their threads loose. 1-5/16″ is the size of those bolts, so I got the socket to correctly torque them up.

I don’t know if they just forgot to tighten them? They obviously had a socket that worked, because they had to remove them in the first place. Oh well. The car feels a bit more planted in the front now, but I’m actually amazed how little you could tell when they weren’t tight. I guess it puts a lot of strain on the other mounts though.

Another item that arrived is my utterly gorgeous new rocker cover. You have likely seen it in some other photos, but just look at it. MMMM.

Unfortunately being the idiot I am, I didn’t notice the part that said “when you order this you will need longer bolts to hold it on”. Well, I didn’t get those bolts, but I did manage to make mine work by trimming down the new bushes. Its tight, but I got it torqued down correctly, and with no leaks!

A couple of other little items I had been waiting to fit were some washer jets (the old ones were WELL buggered)

And a new hazard relay, so now I have on demand hazard lights. Check out that lovely heatshrink.

I secured these two up onto the wiper motor to stop them rattling about, next to my new washer bottle

Speaking of washer bottles, the caps are proving bloody hard to get. No one does new ones, but thankfully I managed to source a good used one that will work.

Once I had run new hose to and from the washer pump, I found out that the original pump that came with the car, despite making the right noises, didn’t actually move any water. I guess that is why it was removed… The replacement pump in the above photo is the pump that originally came fitted to Effie when I first got her. It works perfectly, and now I have two pathetic jets of water that kind of shoot onto the windscreen. Water drops as proof.

The last couple of items that also got changed out were the starter solenoid, and battery negative lead.

The starter solenoid was absolutely coated in oil. I don’t know how, but it was all over it and up in all the terminals. I tried to clean it, but gave up and sourced a replacement. It had also previously overheated the wires, causing some damage to the insulation, that was taped up.

This is the trigger wire once I removed the tape. Lots of bare copper and a melted terminal cover

I cut the terminal off, crimped a new one on and covered the lot with heatshrink

I did the same to the other bare wire; the constant feed

I removed the old solenoid from the guard, and fit the replacement in its place. I used copper grease on all the terminals, to help keep corrosion away.

The car now starts much nicer. Previously it would be very slow and lumpy to crank, almost like the battery was almost flat, despite having a fully charged battery. Now it just whirrs over, and fires up.

I doubt the battery ground lead made any difference to that, but it got replaced anyway. The old one, despite being a replacement already, had frayed badly where it met the terminal on the boot floor. I also wanted to fit a battery terminal with a wing nut for quick disconnection.

So that’s where we are now. Once I have the rear light bulbs sorted, and the battery secured, we will finally be ready to go for the re-registration inspection. Exciting!

Parts Used

CAM6822 – Rocker Cover Minifin
GUG705009VC – Rocker Cover Gasket
12A1358MS – Rocker Cover Bolt Seals Neoprene (NLA, Use 12A1358) x2
CAM6823 – Rocket Cover Bolt Long (Recommended for Minifin) x2
GWW1080 – Washer Jet x2
HD12PAC – Tridon 2 Pin Flasher (Indicators)
GFU2507 – Hazard Flasher
GWW906 – Washer Bottle
GWW951 – Washer Bottle Cap (NLA)
GWW202M – Washer Hose 5mm
13H5952 – Starter Solenoid
Battery Lead 10″ Lug/Lug
Negative Battery Terminal

Please note these parts are specific to my car and may vary. Please check before ordering.