Archive for the ‘Mini Cooper’ Category

Bye Bye, Mac! After 14 months of fun and karting to work, it is now time for me to part ways with Mac, my Mini! After the initial difficulties that I had with the garage and warranty, he has run perfectly every day since. There is a sense of guilt on my part as I never held up my end of the bargain with him. You see, I promised to get the small bits of rust fixed but I never got further than the driver’s door and scuttle panel. I promised that he would have an upgraded engine and I even promised to add a new stereo to replace the factory standard unit. Sorry Mac, I just didn’t have the time to do it! With my larger plans for a vehicle restoration project, its time to get a ‘normal’ car again.

This is the moment when I was going to announce the purchase of a Mitsubishi Shogun that was to be my protest against all the 4X4 protesters out there! It was going to be my symbol of defiance against those that are clearly scared when they see one coming and feel the need to spout off about mothers and school runs! It may (probably would :-D) have gone off road but I would have kept it shiny on the road just to show that I dont like it dirty (you know what I mean Leigh)!! I was looking forward the pub arguments and the games of chicken that I was clearly going to win against all the Fiestas and Saxos out there!! The problem is, this is going to have to wait a while. When I went to pay for the Shogun, I found something else entirely… and I’ll be picking it up at the end of the week!!

Here is Dave under Mac helping me (try) to fix the oil leak that has plagued the sump since St Martins Garage fixed broke it last time. We successfully fitted a new gasket to one of the drive shaft cover plates except it turns out that the leak may be from a small rubber ‘o’ ring underneath the plate. Needless to say that after it all went back together it still leaked… bugger! At least we managed to fix Dave’s exhaust with the proper and safe use of welding equipment! Tomorrow we will be aiming to order up a number of replacement bits from minispares to sort it out … again!! As usual, watch this space!

Just because it sounds funny and I would like to confuse anyone that has the slightest interest in my Blog, I have decided to call my Mini, Mac after my Mac mini!! Having clarified that point to save any confusion, it would now be appropriate for me to complain again about Mac, he is leaking oil in very small quantities. After all of the problems I have had with him (mainly due to very shoddy work from St Martins Garage), I really feel that soon enough, he will be running great!! It’s not all bad though as I have discovered that he can do about 10 miles on just the smell of petrol… good work Mac, saved me having to push!! As it is related, I should mention that I am also getting on very well with my Mac mini, less problems than the Mini, Mac so far… not hard as I would already have had to give it to the computer garage for 6 weeks so they break the DVD-ROM drive for me.

Scientific testing has proven that you can was and dry and entire classic Mini in less time than it takes to clean an 18 inch wheel on a Golf GTi. This leads me further to suspect that the Mini can be completely polished, cleaned inside and a coffee break completed by the time the last 3 wheels have been washed. As I live in a dusty lane I have to further conclude that by the time the Golf has been washed and dried, the Mini will again be muddy and in need of a wash.

This is my new car! Its a Tahiti Blue, Mini Cooper Sport and boasts a 1.3 litre multi-point injection engine! I am quite sure we will be hearing lots about the fun and hassles I will be having with this British icon so I have created a new category for it! It has no name yet… Monty was suggested but do any of you have any good ideas!?!?