Halloween a hoot!
by Faith Lamprey

GRAFTON, MA ? This year's Halloween Party at Greg and Janet's was very well attended.  There were so many people there, I had a hard time circulating from room to room.  Oh, wait that was because I went as an angel and my wings were too wide to maneuver without banging into someone. 

The food, as always, was plentiful and delicious.

Prizes for the best costumes on the kids went to Woody, Dorothy, Space Girl and the Crusader.  Prizes for the best costumes on the adults went to Greg Mazza, who dressed as a woman and had the best boobs in the room, and John Haig who came as a ?con-artist.?  (You should come to this party just to see John?s inventive costumes!) 

We also gave an award to Mary and Hugh just for being there.  Greg had seen their Mini in his town and stopped by to invite them to attend.  Actually, we were hoping to embarrass, I mean impress them so much that they would become members! 

Many thanks to Greg and Janet for opening up their home to us every year for this event.

From the Barn
by Dave Black

Last month we left Geoff and Barbara's Cooper S almost ready to drop the lump in.  In fact the night after writing last month's article found me doing just that!  No real problems were encountered ? just had to bend the inner fender holding the radiator shroud a bit.  Next came the battery cable.  The body shell that had been sourced for Geoff was an 850 and had a floor-mount starter button.  The battery cable ends at this button, then a separate cable continues to the starter.  The Cooper S has a key-start that activates the solenoid, thence on to the starter.  So a new battery cable was fabricated that runs all the way from the battery to the solenoid (about 10').  A solenoid was fitted, then a short length of cable that runs from the solenoid to the starter.  Now, trying to produce a quality job, I used soldered fittings for the ends of the cable, started to connect things up, then realized that this was supposed to be a positive-ground car.  Of course, I'd reversed the battery terminals, so had to un-solder the fittings and get them the right way round.  That doesn?t sound like much of a job, but I couldn?t risk soldering in Geoff?s freshly painted trunk, so in order to get enough slack in the cable, it had to come out of its housing that runs the length of the body under the floor ? a small but tiring detail!  Okay, so the engine was in; next came the connection of electrical, fuel, and water lines.

There were no fuel pumps with all the bits and pieces that had been stripped from two cars, so we got a new, original SU from the parts shelf and thought for jollies I?d bench-test it before fitting it under the car.  Good thing, too, cause the new pump wouldn?t fire!  Took a used one and then another, and another ? none of these pumps would work!  For two nights I took one apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong, but to no avail.  Finally tried cleaning the points, which are the bane of all the SU pumps, and voila!  So under the car I went with mounting bracket and fuel pump in hand ? connected the fuel lines, and then another glitch ? this Mini has twin tanks and the connecting pipe was missing!  Got one ordered and while we wait, installed the brake servo with new lines, then put the wheels back on, got the car on the ground and charged the hydro lines. 

All looked fine until I pushed the car and it fetched up tight.  Something was interfering with the rotation of the front wheels.  Soon discovered that the wheel weights that had been installed on the inner part of the rim were too close to the inside edge, and they were scraping on the disc brake slave cylinders.  Now, not for nothing, but don?t you think that anyone mounting 10" A008s on Minilite rims (this was a new set recently purchased, mounted and balanced) would have to assume that the predominant application for them would be Minis with disc brakes?  I guess not ? so off they came and went to the local tire store for balancing.

In the meantime, the engine fired without so much as a hesitation, but now I had to consider cutting the hole to fit the remote shifter.  Remember, Geoff's body shell came from an 850 with magic wand shifter, so the hole was in a different location.  Working entirely under the car, I managed to mark and cut this hole ? and not make it too big!  The rear support bracket was missing from the collection of parts, so I had to source one out from the Barn?s collection (can?t believe there was one there!).  Also found an RC40 exhaust that fitted right up to the original S exhaust manifold.   After all was done, it was time for a test drive ? and WOW!  What a rocket!  Lots of torque pulling the car around the circle.  Left some rubber both on acceleration and deceleration!

With the Mini as far along as this, it was time to invite Geoff and Barbara down for their own test drive.  They arrived last evening and the smile on Geoff?s face after tooling around the drive was compensation enough for all the sweat-and-swearing that had preceded it!

The next step is to Spencer's for final fitment of the driver's door and all interior bits.  Geoff and Barbara will be driving next season for sure!

Not much else doing this month, though Ron Blanchette bought one of the rebuilt 1275s for his Mini 30.  (Only two left!)  Ron will probably pick up the engine and do his own installation in Maine.

On an unrelated topic, I recently had to change the control stalk on my 2000 Dodge Pickup.  This is the one that controls wipers, signals, and high-low beams.  Replacement was fairly straightforward, but upon inspection, I discovered the cause of failure ? the name Lucas is prominently embossed on the plastic housing!  Thought we were done with them, but it looks like we?ll be able to blame Lucas for electrical faults for some time to come!  (In all fairness, the unit had performed well for 230,000 miles before failing.)

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