A bloke on here with a Starlet Mini (no names, no pack drill) went thru the chicane just down the road, the Mini jack was loose in the boot and managed to weld itself across the battery terminals..
Luckily he broke it free before the car went up in flames.

Batteries in a Mini have a cover on em for a reason, the same reason jacks live in a vinyl bag.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Don't drop carby onto solenoid when battery is still connected.

Fuel + Air + Spark = Fire.

Luckily I had my extinguisher

From that point onwards whenever I am doing work in the engine bay the battery gets disconnected

EDIT - Also to relate to what 'broke'....
Driving along in the clubby one night and suddenly realise I have molten burning plastic dripping to the floor. Stalk had finally decided that is was too cold and promptly lit itself in fire.

Voltage regulator

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

What are you trying to say Matt!!??

Needless to say from that day on I've only ever carried a plastic jerry can in the back of the Mini, and always with the battery covered. Only need to be taught a lesson once

Shame it takes a different failure to learn a different lesson though. Ask me about the time the steering column skipped one spline on a sweeper at freeway speeds, and even though I noticed the car ever-so-subtly change direction, I swerved from lane to lane anyway to check it out.....

Yeah, ok. "Brain-dead" might be a fair assessment......

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

When I was working on the moke many years ago my disconnected choke cable came to rest on the soleniod. First the plastic melted off in 2 seconds then the whole cable got glowing red hot with smoke pouring off and sparks spitting out of the hole in the firewall where the cable went through/touched! It is still farked.

Fortunately no fire but I did burn myself trying to get it away from the solenoid.

Heehee... I've never done it myself, but rest assured you're not the only one who's done that

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

I can only laugh about it now but after finishing a complete resto on a car for my sister on the Saturday night, it attended the mini show taking out a trophy. I had made her work her fingers to the bone by giving her all the crappy jobs to do. She left for Melbourne for a week on the monday. I had the day off work but decided to move the car by hand to do some work on my own car. I slipped and was at the top of a very very steep driveway. The car rolled down the driveway and into a brick wall. Front smashed in, steering stuffed, bumper, lights, guard, bonnet. To make matters worse the car was black. I went to the doctor faked gastro and took a week off work. Rebuilt the whole front of the car working almost around the clock and was good as new when she arrived home a week later. Didnt tell her until about a month later when I showed her a photo of the car. She thought it was someone elses car in the pics not hers.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Trying to start the Cooper S up after its nut and bolt restoration, THe starter motor shorted, and the lots of smoke, and flames on the new paint work... Burnt my fingers getting the battery terminals off, and put a big burn mark in the paint work

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Hahaha love it. Good job on getting it fixed in time though.

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Carpe Diem
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1967 Deluxe (Bluey)

There seems to be a re-ocurring theme here , FIRE , from all the electrical mishaps , hence the reason i have a battery isolator fitted to my car and also my ski boat.
Whenever i do any sort of work on either, i flick the isolator off , it's easier than trying to climb in the boot and disconnect a battery terminal in a hurry.

They're are easy to fit , not expensive , and can save a bloody lot of heartache .

Part of my POS clutch slave cylinder.
The person that re built the clutch shoved a 10mm socket in between the push rod and the piston...

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

whoo free socket

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

This is a true Story, Back in the old days around 1969 I think it was
I had parked at a service station to deliver some Mini parts and happened to hear
a lady who was driving a Morris 1100 Mention that She had a noise coming from the rear
of her car, On my way out after delivering the part I could see
The mechanic had the rear of the car jacked up and was asking the lady to start the motor and put it in first,
I Ran towards the car Yelling Dont do it please
The mechanic waved me away swearing at me, Just around the time the lady let the clutch
out,
I Just Had to mention to him that Maybe my advice was not so bad after all
or words to that effect

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" A Hundred Years From Now It will not Matter what my Bank Acount Was,
The Sort Of House I Lived in, Or The Kind Of Car I drove ... But The World May Be A Better Place
Because I was Once Important In The Life Of A Child"

Got in mine yesterday morning, hit the (Toyota) electric screen washers, then the (Clubby) 2 speed wipers to wipe the muck off. Wipers no worky.
Ah well, there is a break somewhere in the Lucas smoke continuum. Not a fuse, coz everything else works. Something to search for tomorrow.

[edit] it was a bad connection onto the wiper switch was all.
I'll blame my passenger Laingy, he pulled at the wiring the other day to tidy it up!

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Heh, heh! Front wheel drive was still pretty new or rare then.