I took a few minutes over lunch to try to pull the gauge cluster out...emphasis on try. It's not out. It is loose from the screws but won't really move. Could be the oil pressure sender holding me back.
But.
The fuse that blew seems to be for "Heater blower motor, windscreen wipers/ washers, radio. These systems will operate with the ignition switch at position I or II" according to the internet and I did notice that the blower switch was ON yesterday. As I was lowering the heater blower out of the way just now, I did get a whiff of the smoke smell. Maybe that is the culprit?
From theminiforum.co.uk:
Main fuses (four-fuse fuse block - later models)
Fuse connecting Rating (amp) Circuits protected
1 and 2 35amp Stop lights, reversing lights, direction indicator relay, heated rear window, headlight dim-dip relay. These systems will only operate with the ignition switch at position ll
3 and 4 25amp Horn, headlight flasher, brake failure circuit, radio memory. These systems operate independently of the ignition switch
5 and 6 25amp Heater blower motor, windscreen wipers/ washers, instruments. These systems will operate with the ignition switch at position I or ll
7 and 8 15amp Left Hand side and tail lights, instrument panel lights, headlight dim-dip relay
Note: The fitting of additional accessories which are required to operate independently of the ignition circuit should be connected to the “4” terminal
Even if the blower motor is the culprit, I'd still like to get behind the gauge cluster to make sure of no burned wires and clean up the contacts.
Looks like I have some digging to do.
Gotta get a can of new old stock british wire smoke to put back in that harness
In reply to Recon1342 :
They're surprisingly roomy in the front seat. Nothing more than a large child fits in the back.
In reply to Patrick :
It's on back order so I'm going to just light some incense and hold it around the harness.
I exposed as much of that section of the harness as I could and all of the wires look totally fine. Nothing strange whatsoever. I feel like I've heard of instances where the heat from wires travels around and shows itself in strange places but I feel like I should have seen some evidence. I got everything buttoned up and took it down the street and back, no smoke. My wife then took it around the neighborhood for probably 5 minutes with no issue.
Ted Fiesta is correct about the ignition on overload if the points were closed at the time. If you had left it longer there is every likelyhood that it would have burned the points and damaged the coil. Note as well that only the things connected to the even numbers are actually fused. There are still many unprotected circuits on a 4 fuse Lucas system. You probably caught it in time.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Interesting comment about burning the ignition if the points were closed. I wonder if having the ignitor in there saved me.
Custom battery hold down.
I looked at the picture and thought I saw duct tape with bolts in it lol. Love seeing this car coming along!
In reply to chandler :
I'm not that much of a hack!
No pics but last night my wife took Queso on her first totally solo, no one to save her trip all by herself to meet a friend for dinner. Both she and the car did great and she seemed quite proud when she got home.
Speedo still doesn't work - when I had it apart it seemed like the end of the cable that spins the speedo was broken off.
Lights are finicky. She had to hold the high beams on the whole way home. I'd like to remove the aftermarket balasts, etc. I need to spend time looking at how they were installed (hacked) to go back to stock.
Fuel gauge still doesn't work.
BUT! It does now have a shift knob so it was probably a bit nicer to drive.
NOHOME
MegaDork
6/14/22 9:58 a.m.
In reply to AxeHealey :
The more your wife drives the car the better it will get.
Or else!
Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:
NOHOME said:
In reply to AxeHealey :
The more your wife drives the car the better it will get.
Or else!
Absolutely true
In that vein. It looked to be the original crusty voltage regulator on the back of the gauge cluster so I figured I'd start there with figuring out the fuel gauge and dash lights not working. The new one is swapped in and the dashboard lights now work but still no dice on the fuel gauge. I bought a replacement sending unit but will do some troubleshooting while there's a bunch of gas in the tank just to avoid just throwing the parts cannon at it. I figured even if I don't use the sending unit now, the one in there will eventually go bad and I'll have one on the shelf.
Next was the speedo cable. By some miracle, I ordered the right one of the roughly 1,000 different cables used on Minis over the years. Not only was the end into the speedo broken off but the cable itself was also broken inside the housing.
And all of this done in a 15 min work break. Success.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Did you test the speedo to ensure in is not seized before installing the new cable?
TurnerX19 said:
In reply to AxeHealey :
Did you test the speedo to ensure in is not seized before installing the new cable?
I did not. Didn't even think of that.
Use the old cable end, shove it in there and try to rotate?
In reply to AxeHealey :
Yes. It should rotate very easily, like .2 inch pounds. 75% of the broken cables I have seen were caused by seized instruments, regardless of brand.
Confirmed not locked up. I also looked closer at the housing/where the cable broke.
That's where it broke and there were 2 other splits in the housing. I think the damaged housing just ended up wearing the wire down and slicing it in half.
In reply to AxeHealey :
It did not need to slice it. The extra angularity allowed by the housing break caused the inner cable to fatigue there.
So here's something fun. Now the speedo works...but way too fast and doesn't return unless I go in reverse.
Do I have to like recalibrate it or something? Or is the spring inside broken?
In reply to AxeHealey :
Good chance the spring has failed, but it could just be the bearing, which is just a tiny oilite bush. If the spinning part gets too close to the needle disc it will read high, the more wear the higher. If it is worn enough to actually touch the disc it can stick at peak even if the spring is intact. Any slight bend in the needle disc also produces similar symptoms. Successful repair of this symptom eluded me. I would just send them out after the first few I failed to fix. Unfortunately the folks at Nisonger have discontinued their repair service.
I've only spent a few minutes looking but I don't even see any of the parts available from the normal Mini parts places. Odds that I'll just end up needing a replacement speedo? I have a good friend with a parts Mini but the condition of the speedo is unknown...
In reply to AxeHealey :
I have never seen official repair parts for any Smiths instrument. I am sure that Nisongers had some due to their relationship with Smiths in England, but there was never any repair manual published either. I do not know if my internal part names are even correct, they are just "describe by observed geometry". Certainly the main spindle bearing would be adaptable from some McMaster-Carr item. The rest of it not so much. A good watch maker /clock repair person would be more likely than anyone else to help.
I sourced a known good speedo from a Mini FB group. Turns out it didn't have a provision for the voltage stabilizer so I had to do some swapping of parts and, yeah, Queso's speedo was broke.
The one displaying 63550 is the one that came out of the car. Missing both the needle spring which is supposed to be soldered to the unit itself as well as the bent spring that keeps pressure on the white plastic arm. The movement also sounded very rough and didn't recenter.
Last night I got the replacement odo/needle setup into the case that came out of the car and used the original face with the center that came in the new one. Took it for a ride and realized I'm an idiot and the original outer face is in kmh while it's middle showed mph. This morning before work I took it apart and put in the 90 mph face. Should be good to go!
Next on the list is the fuel gauge and trying to get the dash lights to work.
Queso out and about. The speedo works although maybe not strictly accurate. Driving behind my wife I realized it badly needs an alignment.
A brake seems to be dragging. Add it to the list.
