ello all! i was just posting to let everyone know my 74 leyland is on its way. im just curious if any of you all know someone for mechanical and/or body work on it. i know a place for mechanical but very open to suggestions from people who have one too. thanks!

-chris

 

No clue, but I wanted to congratulate you!!!

 

Congrats on the new MINI!

I don't know if you want to travel 100 miles or not, but Plum Springs Garage here in Bowling Green does an excellent job! The owner (or manager or whatever) is a MINI owner himself.

 

yeah i have heard rumors of a guy in the cresent hill area who is retired and works on them for fun as mostly a hobby. but no one ever seems to know his name... otherwise there as a show down at hikes lane and bardstown that has mini owners from what i understand. the only other thing is, the best place to get parts? i have heard of 7 mini i think and im on mini mania quite often, anywhere else?

 

and on one more note, are there any repair manuals out there for these original minis?

 

Check out Mini Mania. They have all kinds of great stuff for classic and BMW Minis. I'm positive that they have repair manuals for the classics.

 

Congrats.

I never see any Mini's in Louisville but while in the Highlands the other day I saw like 20

 

hey I amprobably the guy in cresent hill who work on them for fun Classic Jim Let me know if I can assist

 

well either way good to me you, and everyone else for that matter. well as of a few hours ago we got her running. the starter was a mess and seems to be better now. im really hoping to learn how to service my car myself. the car needs some major body work in the boot. hoping to maybe take care of that too. so yes, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

jim, i still have all the old mini parts if you need them.

 

well we had her running and now she wont start. havnt tried a jump yet cause of the weather. its turning over but i think its too slow. does this sound like battery or alternator problems?

 

classic jim here, check all the grounds ,at battery at engine to sub frame. sub frame to shell , most likley thats your problem ,other than a dead battery jim

 

well we have done that to the best of my knowledge. with jumpers on the battery and starter fluid it starts after some time, im really leaning to dead battery. it will run as long as we want it to so far. it has an alternator, but i assume id have to put a new or good battery in it to make sure its doing its job?

 

did you ever get the mini to start and run???

 

unfortunately no, the last time i went to start it by the normal jumping, i pulled the choke and now my choke cable is also broken. bad news is i dont have the funds to fix this stuff right now even if it is just a battery and cable(plus a bad tire). i have to wait till spring when my hours pick up or maybe ill get some return on my taxes that can get her starting. the guy i bout it from knew way less about this car than he lead on, or just lied and since i never saw it till it was delivered thats all i had to go on. which im ok with, i got it cheap and expected it may need some love. just wish i could drive it further than around the block. i waited naerly a year to get it so another month isnt to big of a deal i guess.

 

It is British It will break. Maybe you could get a few volunteers to look at it. I would be willing to help look at it if you could get a few volunteers to help. I haven't had an old Brit for almost 40 years but I may be able to remember a few things. (however the memories may cause nightmares). If you turn on the key and don't hear a faint ticking in the back the fuel pump is not working. At least that was a MG problem. Owning an old British car is a love/hate thing.

 

yeah that seems to be working. what seems to be happening is once we get it running it runs fine. it can be turned on and off with out any hesitation. unless it sits for around an hour or longer then we are right back to the beginning. the starter has already been taken off and cleaned up. the first time we tried to get it going we lost that. now thats doing its job fine. what seems to be happening is it wont turn over at all without being on jump leads, and then it has to be for a long time. so im thinking either battery of alternator. once its running, it does seem to backfire a little at the carbs, but seems to only hapeen when its first going. then once it clears up it will stay running and run great as far as we have seen. originally i was just going to see if i could borrow a good battery to see if that was it, but even if i had that now i have the choke issue. im sure it can be choked manually though, right?