Going on a long drive, what should I take?
Discussion
Fan belt, top & bottom hoses, throttle cable, points & condenser, (if you have an old-type dizzy), coil, fuses, some electrical cable, electrical tape, canvas tape, some tie-wraps, some thin wire (old coathanger type), a couple of new spark plugs, headlight bulb, stop/tail bulb plus, maybe a water pump and, of course, a good tool kit.
I'll tell you an amusing anecdote:
A few years ago I was coming back from an Historic rally in Belgium with my Cooper 'S', co-driver and a Range-Rover service car absolutely full of Mini bits. We stopped to wait for the ferry at Calais and pulling up alongside us in the queue was a young Swiss couple in a fairly old Mini 1000. The Swiss guy got out and opened the bonnet as his Mini was running really very rough. He didn't seem to know much about it so we offered to take a look. My 2 service crew plus the co-driver and I removed and cleaned the points, re-set the points gap, changed the condenser, fitted a good set of 2nd hand plugs, re-set the valve clearances and checked the static timing (it was 8 deg retarded). We tightened up the carb attachment bolts and richened it up a bit (plugs were a bit white), adding some 3-in-1 oil to the carb dashpot (it was a bit dry). This we did in about 50 minutes as we had all the kit. It sounded great then. We waited for him when we got off the boat and he was so grateful. He said the English are wonderful and his little car had never gone so well. I don't think he could believe his luck. He just didn't know how to thank us, which made us feel good as well. He kept wanting to pay us, which we would not accept, of course.
I'll tell you an amusing anecdote:
A few years ago I was coming back from an Historic rally in Belgium with my Cooper 'S', co-driver and a Range-Rover service car absolutely full of Mini bits. We stopped to wait for the ferry at Calais and pulling up alongside us in the queue was a young Swiss couple in a fairly old Mini 1000. The Swiss guy got out and opened the bonnet as his Mini was running really very rough. He didn't seem to know much about it so we offered to take a look. My 2 service crew plus the co-driver and I removed and cleaned the points, re-set the points gap, changed the condenser, fitted a good set of 2nd hand plugs, re-set the valve clearances and checked the static timing (it was 8 deg retarded). We tightened up the carb attachment bolts and richened it up a bit (plugs were a bit white), adding some 3-in-1 oil to the carb dashpot (it was a bit dry). This we did in about 50 minutes as we had all the kit. It sounded great then. We waited for him when we got off the boat and he was so grateful. He said the English are wonderful and his little car had never gone so well. I don't think he could believe his luck. He just didn't know how to thank us, which made us feel good as well. He kept wanting to pay us, which we would not accept, of course.
cooperman said:
Fan belt, top & bottom hoses, throttle cable, points & condenser, (if you have an old-type dizzy), coil, fuses, some electrical cable, electrical tape, canvas tape, some tie-wraps, some thin wire (old coathanger type), a couple of new spark plugs, headlight bulb, stop/tail bulb plus, maybe a water pump and, of course, a good tool kit.
I'll tell you an amusing anecdote:
A few years ago I was coming back from an Historic rally in Belgium with my Cooper 'S', co-driver and a Range-Rover service car absolutely full of Mini bits. We stopped to wait for the ferry at Calais and pulling up alongside us in the queue was a young Swiss couple in a fairly old Mini 1000. The Swiss guy got out and opened the bonnet as his Mini was running really very rough. He didn't seem to know much about it so we offered to take a look. My 2 service crew plus the co-driver and I removed and cleaned the points, re-set the points gap, changed the condenser, fitted a good set of 2nd hand plugs, re-set the valve clearances and checked the static timing (it was 8 deg retarded). We tightened up the carb attachment bolts and richened it up a bit (plugs were a bit white), adding some 3-in-1 oil to the carb dashpot (it was a bit dry). This we did in about 50 minutes as we had all the kit. It sounded great then. We waited for him when we got off the boat and he was so grateful. He said the English are wonderful and his little car had never gone so well. I don't think he could believe his luck. He just didn't know how to thank us, which made us feel good as well. He kept wanting to pay us, which we would not accept, of course.
Thats a good story!
The list is almost the same one as I had already made up, which is good to know.
Not in the South of France in August per chance?
cooperman said:
Fan belt, top & bottom hoses, throttle cable, points & condenser, (if you have an old-type dizzy), coil, fuses, some electrical cable, electrical tape, canvas tape, some tie-wraps, some thin wire (old coathanger type), a couple of new spark plugs, headlight bulb, stop/tail bulb plus, maybe a water pump and, of course, a good tool kit.
I don't think he could believe his luck. He just didn't know how to thank us, which made us feel good as well. He kept wanting to pay us, which we would not accept, of course.
firstly:
you must either have a really unreliable mini, or you were definitely teh head of your local scouts group when you were younger
secondly, i can imagine that that bloke couldnt believe his luck! any idea how much that work would have cost him to get a garage to do? my guess is a good couple of hundred quid.
They're all b****y unreliable if tuned to give c.115 bhp as my 1964 'S' is in full rally trim. Even new bits are unreliable when used in competition. Only this last weekend my all-new 1310 cc engine pumped oil into the water on the East Anglian Clasic Rally and I've had the head off to change the head gasket only 650 miles after the full rebuild.
In fact, it might be a good idea to take a head gasket as part of the spares kit as if one did go getting one in Europe could be a bit difficult. Just a thought. Maybe a thermostat gaket would be a good thing to take as well.
In fact, it might be a good idea to take a head gasket as part of the spares kit as if one did go getting one in Europe could be a bit difficult. Just a thought. Maybe a thermostat gaket would be a good thing to take as well.
cone said:
front wheel bearings.
Maybe. Alternatively, in the pre-trip major service the front wheel bearings should be checked and, ideally, re-packed with grease.
All the hydraulic cylinders should also be checked for any signs of weeping, especially the rear slave cylinders and the clutch slave cylinder.
You could go on adding 'ideal spares until you had so many the luggage wouldn't go in but realistically you just want the 'usual culprits' in Mini breakdowns. Any big failures, like a clutch or CV joint would mean a call to the AA or RAC (assuming you have bought the membership) or to Mini Spares who would courier any parts to an hotel address within about 48 hours so long as it's within Europe.
I hope you have a good trip.
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