I rebuilt the engine in this car about 3-5K miles ago and the last time I had it out on the road for a club event I noticed it was running just a tiny bit warmer than usual, but not overheating by any means.
Over the next few weeks every time I checked it, it was low on coolant. So I got out the trusty coolant pressure tester and put 15 psi on it, 20 min later it was down to about 5 psi. Ruhroh....
I looked everywhere and could not find a leak, so I pulled the plugs out for a look see......
So I ran compression next and sure enough #2 and #3 were both low, so......off with it's head!!!
Clearly water has been getting into those two cylinders, the gasket didn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would, but a leak is a leak. When I built the engine I had the block and head skimmed so I would have a good straight clean surface. I'm running 10.3-1 compression, so not terrible. The gasket I used is the same composite one I use when I build a race motor too.
So today I went ahead and cleaned up the block, locktited in the head studs (I've had them back out before, but none of these were loose) as a precaution and put a new composite gasket in place.
Tomorrow I'll get the head all cleaned up and put it back together......
That's a shame. Is this for the green car?
Yes.
Got it all buttoned up, still don't know what caused it to go, but the new one seems to be holding OK. I did a 50 mile trip today in 95* temps and didn't lose a drop of watta.....
It needs to be good, as I'm leaving for the national Mini Meet in South Dakota on Sunday. One nice thing, it's supposed to only be in the 70's and 80's there......
It's always sumthin......
I was rotating the tires and giving the Racing Green a good once over and saw this - the cup under the ball in the left front was completely broken. Fortunately I had some new ones in stock - even tho it's a PITA to change one without taking the upper control arm off. I managed to get it in tho, but I think I set the suspension height a little high, so I may have to adjust it a bit yet. A quick trip around the block to set the suspension might be a good idea. All the others look fine....no idea why just this one decided to E36 M3 the bed.
Don and I did a 50+ mile hiway run yesterday in 95* plus temps, both cars ran perfectly temperature wise, tho it was pretty hard on us! I also got "spotted" and found my pic on Facebook - the angle of the pic makes it look like no one's driving!
So, we did the trip to Spearfish, SD for the national Mini event, 130 classic Minis showed up and it was a terrific event. The trip out was uneventful, temps were good and while a long drive, there were no casualties.
The drives in the mtns around the area are fantastic, we did Rushmore one day and Devil's Tower another, however as the week went along it got HOT!
The drive home was pretty warm, we split the drive in two days so we didn't drive too late into the afternoon and the final day which promised to be in the high 90's we left at the crack of dawn.
The good news, we had no problems with any of our cars!
That's good to hear! I'm surprised you didn't tow the car out that far. Have you not made a tow hitch for the new Audi, or are you driving it for the romance of it all lol
No Time
UberDork
10/17/24 7:19 a.m.
Glad to hear it all worked out.
I love the green with white roof, but I may be biased.
Glad to hear the Mini held up well for the trip.
Is that an authentic Kansas "euro size" license plate?
In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :
I did tow it, but two other Minis went with us and they drove theirs - I can't do the heat so I drove the Audi and towed the RG. We also had one guy who towed his on a trailer.....which was a good idea in case someone had a terminal failure as we could always drive the one on the trailer if need be.
As it turned out, no one in our little group had any issues!
In reply to OHSCrifle :
HA! Not exactly.......but I do carry the "official" Ks plate with me, however no one police wise pays a lick of attention to it. I've had sheriffs, HiPatrol and local cops right behind me and none have had a thing to say about it. The number is correct, it has the Ks state seal on it and the yearly sticker - maybe they figure it's something you can get from Ks for Euro cars? Dunno.......but till I get a ticket or something I'll keep using it. I've had one on the car for 8 years now.
