Hi there,
The alert among you may wonder what happened to part two if you
get the digest. Some kind person appended it to part one. This is the
last part...but not the end of the story...
Mini 35th Birthday Party - Part 3 of 3
A journey of discovery shared by myself and Lucy a 1983 Mini City (998cc).
Spent the remainder of Sunday looking at Lucy's engine. That's about the
limit of my technical ability! Pulled the plugs, counted them, put them back.
Checked the water. Checked the oil. Looked at the rust on the boot. OK it's
obviously a problem beyond my experience (sneaking suspicion that I know
exactly what it is and exactly how much it is going to cost...)
So finally Monday arrived - a bank holiday in England, not the best of days
to be wondering about taking your car to the garage. The original plan was
to attend the Mini race day at Silverston then drive on to Edinburgh through
the night and into the "wee small hours". The prospect of breaking down in
the middle of the night, however, called into doubt the soundness of this
plan. I decided to head for Silverston and see how she went, if she was
unhappy I would try to nurse her up to Edinburgh in the daylight...
Event 1: IT'S A SIGN!! Somehow I missed the turning for Silverston, taking
this as a portent I decided to abort the trip to Silverston and head home.
Event 2: Splutter! OK enough's enough, leave the motorway and head for...
Banbury. OK where in Banbury will I phone the break-down people from...?
The train station! Easy to find - good plan.
Event 3: Mr Mechanic arrives wiggles some bits (it's a bank holiday he is
probably being payed double-time) adjusts the points a bit and has me drive
around the car park trying to get her to misfire! After many laps, some very
odd looks and no sign of a misfire we decide that I might as well just try
setting off again and see how it goes. "Do you think that the combination
of badly adjusted points and three and a half cylinders worth of compression
could account for the misfire?" I asked innocently "I expect that would do
it" says Mr Mechanic, who had been joined by Mr Othermechanic also on
double time (I like to get my monies worth from my breakdown insurance - I
once had a car transported from London to Bristol (approx 200 miles) broken
exhaust, and once from Birmingham to Edinburgh (approx 350 miles) dodgy fuel
pump.
So off we limped to Edinburgh... hopefully!
Event 4: The journey: Actually rather trouble-free though Lucy clearly
wasn't 100%. She managed a respectable 65-70 mph, left a Midget of some
flavour in her wake, got left for standing by a rather nice TR4.
Event 5: BEEP BEEP!! A (modern) Cooper driver who presumably was just out
and about rather than being on his way from the show, spotted my "Happy
Birthday Mini" sign in the back window!
Event 6: Feeling so at one with Minis and life in general, gave a lift to
a hitch hiker, proceeded to have wierd conversations about alternative
realities, reincarnation etc - really must take more breaks on long journeys!
Event 7: Arrived Home! Total millage of trip - 851, total millage on
engine 98096. Not bad on three and a half cylinders of a 998cc engine
(alledgedly second time round the clock).
Memories: First drive through Silverston. People walking about carrying
tyres, seats, roll bars and bumpers, trying not to batter anyone else. A
guy on stilts dressed as a policeman. Pushing Lucy - took a large piece of
skin off my shoulder - didn't notice till the next day! The unbelievable
sight of Mini upon Mini in the carparks. Suddenly wanting to go to the next
IMM, wonder where it is? Realising I am faced with a bill for three weeks total
income to make Lucy well again :-( Birthday cake on the dashboard of a Mini
in the carpark :-)
Currently Lucy is waiting for me to save up to have her valve seats ground.
No I'm not going to do it myself, I have a vague idea of what a valve seat is
and where I would find one, no idea about grinding, no tools, no space (I
have a starter motor in my bedroom), essentially no clue! Also no money!
Still I love her dearly and I can always sort out the rust on her boot, or
count her spark plugs while I am saving up.
Daniel.
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