okay just wanted to tell people who have minis bout my week... cuz none of my family want to listen.....
I thought it was about time i took my mini in to get the lil fiddly things fixed.... so last weekend... actually 20th Oct which is a thurs i took my mini to Mini Spares and Repairs at castle hill.... nice people but newayz..
get it there ask em to look at my exhaust, doors and a few rattley things + my loose engine steady.
So they fix that... but in the test run they said i had this pinggy noise at 3000rpms... so im like loook at it and fix it... well turns out my rockers are phukd up.. so fair enough i buy 1.5 roller rockers as i have been wanting them for ages... + double valve springs...
so $600 in parts later (not to mention a labour bill i have no idea of the amount) i find out that no one knows what cam i have.... and then also when fittin the rockers i find out that my head gasket is gone.... so they have to pull the head off and fix it all up....
so instead of havin my mini out for 1 week max... its become like 3? how gay... plus i still dun know how much labour is going to be on all this... im expectin about $700-1000 considering it is 70 per house

not happy jan

the things we do for our loves and hobbies aye[/b]

Snap a crank - then whinge


hehehehehehe

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Bob Slattery
Duffman Says A Lot of Things - OH YEAH!!

negotiate on price then if ur not happy

I can change a head myself and replace gasket as I have a spare rebuilt head on the shelf always and in under two hours. $250 for the work on the head and very gay thank you.

steve

The lesson is simple......rely on others for the work, pay big $$$. Learn the stuff yourself, save big $$$.

This goes for everyone, not just you

Well, unless you have someone who can show you, you're more likely to make a mess of it. I've got enough on my plate with body work to do, but engine work is one of those things where it's either right, or wrong and will break. So I pay my mechanic to sort engines for me at the moment. When I get more time, I'll look at getting into it. Just maintenance to start with and then more adventurous. But for a lot of people I suspect, it's not just about economics.

Mechanics can be real dogs though, they will lead you by the nose if they catch a whiff of inexperience with mechanical stuff....

While I was away in the west of Oz my wife had the Forrester serviced, the mechanic asked if she wanted the tyres rotated as they were in need of such (!$110 to do so) my wife rang and asked me and as I was not there I could not do so myself or I would have saved the bucks. I thought fair enuf, they would rotate the tyres on the rims, refit and rebalance.

NOPE! they rolled the front right tyre to the right rear and so forth, retightened the nuts on wheels that were allready off the car, that is all. I don't likem.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Grab a workshop manual and ask questions here and you'll learn about it and at the same time save BIG $$$
I'd never done any mech work on a mini before this one and very little on any other car (aside from changing brake pads and servicing). In the last few months I've replaced front and rear brake flexi hoses, 1 rear slave cylinder, 1 burst fuel hose in engine bay (my fault for not seeing it was on its way out), 1 head gasket and yesterday a clutch release bearing.
All I have remaining to do now is replace the choke cable (not really urgent up here ) fix the handbrake and get a wheel alignment maybe hilo it first .
Out of all that the only thing I need anyone else to do is the wheel alignment, anyone care to guess at the $$ I've saved? Oh and I've serviced it several times too.
I'm sure I'll come across stuff I'll have to take it to a workshop for, simply because I lack the needed tools and I'm only working under the carport out front

Well, like any profession there's good and bad. I trust my mechanic completely, but a friend of mine worked in a service department for a company whose name rhymes with Fnord. He'd hand a filter to young guys and tell them to replace the filter on a particular car. They'd wait until he wasn't looking and throw the new filter in the bin and say "Job done".

My mechanic picks up things other wouldn't like continued wear on the left hand front tyre of our Galant - only by taking it to him for a couple of years would we have known that. He also helps out with trusted panelbeaters and so on, and knows old cars too. I took my Commer van to him on Friday and, unlike a young fella, he said "Jeez, been a while since I worked on one of these".

The trick is finding a trusted person who's not out to make a quick buck. Laurie, our mechanic, is snowed under with work because he's honest.

isn't all there ment to do coz all the wheels are the same anyways

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You can spin them on the rims so the natural wear you get on the outside of the tyre cos you try to drive every other car like a mini will be shared around = more mileage.

Outside rightof the tyre now equals inside left and so on.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

That's what I thought

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Simon
Daily Driver - Yellow Devil 76 Clubman
Restoration Project - Primer grey 66 Morris Mini Deluxe

That's one job I did, and boy it's a right royal PITA. You have to tighten up the nut in behind the dash, which is nearly impossible even if you move the heater down. I ended up cutting the step on the dash end of the cable and putting another nut on. Then I could tighten it up nice and tight from the front of the dash. Okay, so you can see the nut but it was a lot less hassle.

I do chassis work, like brakes and suspension. I have yet to find time to learn all about points, timing and so on. I used to do all my engine work on my bikes, but they haven't had points.

Is that right? I know you're not supposed to swap wheels (with radial tyres) side to side, although you can with crossplies. The above sounds like that's effectively what you're doing, although I don't know why it would be a problem.

Or maybe that's only on Toranas, Belmonts and Kingswoods with Radial Tuned Suspension