are snow chains available small enough for 10" wheels?

cheers steve

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Cheers Steve.


1973 south african mk3, 1275 +30 (1300), RE13 cam, hif44, mildy worked head with s sized valves, pulsar dizzy, 1.5:1 minispares forged rockers.

if you want to see a pic of a mini-in-chains, go to www.morrismini.com , click on cars, then on 'read about my Cooper S'.

A few months after I took the cooper to Falls, I went to a local 4wd shop, and IO talked to the owner and we looked in their catalog, you can get them, about $150 for a set of diamond cut - it's tempting to get some for my van

ive actually just came back from buller and cant imagine driving 3 hrs to buller in a mini!...imagine goin up the hill with no power n 3 hrs of non-stop bumpyness

lastly the tot of seeing the the mini covered in snow is a big NO NO!.....

also...dont think u can fit the skis/snowboards in the boot

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98 brg rover

Thats because you'd drive an advanced fuel injected automatic, with the air con taking about 70% of the 998's power.

With the old and primitive carby fed 1275 however this shouldnt be a problem.

old and primitive carb engine... don't ever say that - you're right tho, there's nothing as much fun as beating all the modern pieces of crap up the mountain - the 4wd's are always the slowest. Damn heavy pieces of junk. Just don't try racing another mini, way too much fun and leads to tradgedy (check the link above )

3 hours in a mini is great - after the first 20 minutes you get in tune with the engine and slowing down feels really wierd. I can drive for longer in my mini than I can in my VT commodore. 3 hours up to Hay each year is easy, I don't even turn the engine off - except when I run out of fuel like this year!

I read somewhere in my MIni books that a scandinavian country required snow chains to be able to be fitted, so management asked Issiogonis to design in some extra clearance in the arches. He retorted with something like "My cars have front wheel drive and superior traction. They don't need snow chains."

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

he was a grumpy old bastard wasnt he?!?

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play 3d car games for free

Yep! As Mini-nuts we worship the guy, but I would have hated to work with him!

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Ooops, I should not have said that, I bet the Mini plays up on the way home now cos I dared to offend the CREATOR!

(We are way OT again!)

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

roof racks for the snowboard
glenda (my mini) should have no troubles getting up the hills, she pulls hard up punt road hill when i'm at trade school. so she has the torque to handle it.

and she made it from melbourne to sydney no troubles at all, just purring (ok roaring) all the way.

can't wait to get up there again tho this time in the mini. i only just got back from hotham. and as entertaing as the drunken monash uni ski club bus was, i'm sure the mini will be more so.

i'll try hire some chains in mount beauty, ( at least i know from that link they have some) and order some through work (a jeep specialist) for next season.

cheers steve

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Cheers Steve.


1973 south african mk3, 1275 +30 (1300), RE13 cam, hif44, mildy worked head with s sized valves, pulsar dizzy, 1.5:1 minispares forged rockers.

made it to falls creek and back (just) via the jeepjamboree for work in marysville,damn the mini looked funny surrounded by the beefed up jeeps,
our wrangler had 38" tyres on compared to my little 10" rims damn funny.

but the main reason for the post is to say i got my chains, my uncle in bright had a set that i borrowed. never needed em though.

damn i love the road up the hill from mount beauty. it would have been amazing had the hydraoulics for the clutch not failed at the very bottom. got up in 3rd only and had an absolute blast none the less. the dramas for the mini only continued from there. the next day tryed bleeding the system, this really didn't help at all there was nothing. so we starded the car in 1st and used the synchros to get into the gears from then on.
all was going well untill about 30 mins ouit of bright the engine starts spluttering and cutting out.
so we pull over and try starting the car again, it fires up the runs for a few seconds then starts cutting out only firing for a second at a time.
start freaking out.
after a lot of stress and nicotene, we decided it was the wiring for the ignition circuit, so we plugged the positive from the horn straight to the coil, beautiful, problem solved.
only now we couldn't turn the engine off with out open the bonnet. and having to start in 1st, made for some fun.
problems solved we kept driving for another 10 minutes when the engine dies all together, thinking we had blown a fuse for the horn circuit we started freaking out, having no fuses. but the wire had just from=ken of the terminal from the horn wire.
so we ran all the way home like this purposly stalling the engine averytime we had to stop so we where able to restart the car in gear with out having to hope out and unplug the wires to kill the engine.

all went beautifully until caulfeild and 7 km from home we catch the lights and have to stop, tryed to start again but the battery was too flat to get us going after a few starts in gear in quick succesion. so we start the engine in nueatral to get some charge into the battery. after a few minutes we decide thats enough so go to turn the engine off. the mini had cracked the shits and wouldn't open the bonnet for us now. so there i am at 3am sunday morning standing in the middle of a major inersection banging on the bonnet to get it open, when the cops pull up next to us.
try explaining all this to the cops, and top it all off with the fact that my rego sticker did not match my new personalised plates (new sticker cam today)

we got the bonnet open killed the engine and went to start her.
click click, after all the strain on the starter it packed it in.
so after cruising at over 120kmh most of the way there and back and all the problems we had overcome we had to get the racv to tow us the last 7 km home.

most of the drama's i faced with a bit of concussion from a failed backflip too. ( fear not i wasn't driving like that i was mearly the mechanical brains for the trip home)
and i got a speeding fine for 121 in a 100 zone on the way up after all that too.

despite all the woes i'll do it time and time again next snow season.

gotta love the mini's determination to get us home, love that little car.

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Cheers Steve.


1973 south african mk3, 1275 +30 (1300), RE13 cam, hif44, mildy worked head with s sized valves, pulsar dizzy, 1.5:1 minispares forged rockers.

thats the funniest, but one of the saddest stories I've ever read. Well done for surviving it with your sanity intact - or lack of it depending on how you look at mini owners in general. Might even trail you up there next year if you take the brick - nothing like invading a monster truck rally with our little monsters

My thrust bearing packed it in on the way back from Hay this year, but luckily my electrics didn't have any issues, and I live in Wodonga with only half a dozen traffic lights between my house and the highway - I had it EASY!

LMFAO, that has gotta be one of the most horrific and hilarious holiday drive stories I've ever read.

Glad ya made it back, in one piece. And it's great to look back, and laugh about it all.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

Hmm reminds me of when i got my mini from Coffs Harbour.

Got the car pink slipped for a permit to bring it home to queanbeyan.
The next day set off at 8 am from Coffs and get 1 hour away and the althernator belt parted ways with the car and it's self. Ring my mate in Coffs (it's sunday on the last day of school holidays) mate the mini just ate the alternator belt.
No worries he said i'll bring my spare one out. 1 and a bit hours later he rocks up with belt in hand. Whack it on and start her up bugger! the alternator isn't spinning f@%k its siezed. S*#t what are we going to do??????
Ring another mate in Coffs with a mini, mate bring us the spare alternator in mate #1's second mini. 2 and a bit hrs later we get the alternator on and we're off again 4 1/2 hours later but she's purring along at 100km/h (actually 110 according to my missus in the falcon following) wondering why i'm passing traffic left right and centre ahh well just enjoying the looks i'm getting
Get to Kempsy and go to stop AAAHHH F@$K!!! no clutch!! Another call to mate #1 what's wrong?? Mate#1 try the clutch adjusting screw it may have wound it's way in.
Ok tried that bingo!! and we're off well not so fast the starter sloenoid packs it in it won't wind over. extension bar to the rescue. Ok off again.
The missus and i agree I'll stop only for fuel. No more hassles till we get to sydney, go to use the clucth again, no clutch!!! BUGGER!! try adjusting screw not enough thread (insert many swear words here) 10pm in sydney no clutch or starter how the hell am i going to get through all thse lights with no clutch or starter?????
We devise plan if i see lights change to red i go straight back to idle in first and putt till it changes if i have enough space before lights go green again and she puts the hazard lights on the falcon which acts as a rear guard. didn't always work but the only times i had to stop were at lights facing up hills (karma anyone?)

Any way once through sydney no dramas and get home at 2am after a 1hr snooze.
go out the next day and the bugger kicks over first time every time 20 times.
I had the master and slave clyinders reconditioned.

Went to the pits to get a blue slip to effect rego in the ACT (where i have an address ) get out to the inspection station pay my fee and got to start the car and guess what, the bugger won't start i have a quick fiddle and a few choice words later it goes ok que up and leave the engine running. they look over the car one young pommie fella says it's not leaking oil mate you must have run out or be low, nah i say it's just a freak. ok no worries they check everting and in our haste to put it back together the other half put the left seat in the drivers side and vice versa, they pick up that the seats aren't restrained from tipping forward so i rip them out and swap them over right there (only with a mini) ok they say up to the (dreaded by mini's) rolling road brake tester.
Ok go to start it......@#@#@!#$#%$#%#@$@!$#%$ BUGGER!!!!!
won't start ok out with the auxiliary starter solenoid (steel bar) ok no worries mate but i'll have to fail you on that cause it has to start every time (more swear words under breath)
Get it onto the brake machine and it passes with flying colours. the brakes are the only thing i've never had issues with, they are the best iv'e ever used in a mini.
After mutch begging and pleading he says if i can get it to start 10 times in a row he'll pass it, it does 9 and won't do 10 for the life of it.
More begging and pleading he lets it slip. YAY off for the new plates WOOOHOOO!!!!!! .
I go home and fit the sticker and plates go for my first registerd blat in the beast and smack!!! a nice rock into the safetyglass front screen 100% vision to 0% within 10 minutes of the drive . Man i'm not meant to be driving this mini am i??? Contemplates selling said car nah i'm hooked bigtime now

Oh and the engine blew up about 6 months later ahh well i'm learning to deal with this sort of crap now.

Since the re-build the car hasn't missed a beat since bar regular maintenance

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thats why a matic's better (in that matter)
no clutch to worry about

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Inconspicuously Conspicuous
Appreciation without Depreciation
forever chasing clearer skies...