Safety Reminder
Discussion
As was helping my Grandson to put the new brake pipes in his 1986 Mayfair, I was reminded of the stupid arrangement with the pressure valve in the front bulkhead. Unlike all other brake system hydraulic unions, those on this valve have METRIC threads, although you can appear to make the older imperial fittings engage. They are METRIC on the vertical tandem master cylinder as well.
I always wonder how many Mini rebuilders and repairers have made that mistake over the years. One wouldn't mind if the metric sizes were much larger to prevent this, but they are not.
Just have a care, folks.
Peter
I always wonder how many Mini rebuilders and repairers have made that mistake over the years. One wouldn't mind if the metric sizes were much larger to prevent this, but they are not.
Just have a care, folks.
Peter
Cooperman said:
. No wonder Rover went out of business!
Hmmm , nothing to do with our GOV upsetting the Japs ,selling to Ze Germans who then stripped everything good out , then (so far) allowing "the management" to put aside a few quid into their pensions .No i'm not bitter.
But yes Pete one of those things that once caught out - never again things , it also foils my- why are you using metric spanners on a mini , with my mechanics arguement
cone said:
Cooperman said:
. No wonder Rover went out of business!
Hmmm , nothing to do with our GOV upsetting the Japs ,selling to Ze Germans who then stripped everything good out , then (so far) allowing "the management" to put aside a few quid into their pensions .No i'm not bitter.
But yes Pete one of those things that once caught out - never again things , it also foils my- why are you using metric spanners on a mini , with my mechanics arguement
As the famous comedian Terry thomas might have said "they were an absolute shower". I remember going there and taking one of their very senior managers out in my company car of the time, a Granada Ghia Coupe. He said, "why can't we make cars like this which people want to buy?"
The product engineering and quality control were virtually non-existent.
They took between 120 days and 180 days to pay their suppliers, which meant that the suppliers did not really care about them. Little was spent on design & development and the best that could be said about the TR7 was that it was a collection of spare parts travelling in close-formation. I do know that the camshaft manufacturers regularly put them 'on-the-stop' due to late payment and the result of this is that your Mini may not have the correct cam for the model as they fitted whatever was in stock - that's why the measured outputs of different Minis of the same model vary so much. The same applies to the Metro.
It was then all sold to British Aerospace who suddenly realised that they had bought little of value, although they paid little for it, then BMW took it on and they realised that to produce decent cars would have cost a fortune (just as Daimler-Benz realised when they bought Chrysler) and they had to dump it before it dragged them under. The old TU influences had never really gone away either which added to the misery. Then the 'Crooks' from the venture capital lot got a hold of it, realised it had no-where to go, and ripped a load of cash out before it went under.
I could go on about the lack of development capital for engine development (K-Series head problems, etc) and the fact that whilst Ford and GM have one engine range, Austin-Rover had several different engines of the same size and output.
By 1988 I had given up being prepared to deal with them after a senior buyer told me that my prices were too high (I charged FoMoCo and GM the same rates too and they were happy to pay) and that I should be happy to work at cost price for the priviledge of dealing with the only British motor manufacturer.
I always say, "remember the Marina, the Ital and the Allogro" - say no more!
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