Castle Combe : Classic, Kit & Retro

With the fantastic racing circuit

at Castle Combe on our doorstep, it seems we should be attending more events at the venue, so

WCM gathered for a club stand at the Classic, Kit and Retro show.

With a sunny start, things were

looking good, and WCM soon ar-rived on site and set up the club area with the most important things taking priority, so the bacon

sandwiches were cooked immediately, and then we got on with the matter of some track time.

In the mean time, those back at the club stand did

the top job of recruiting

new members too!

We were well served with 3 Clubman's and an Elf, 2 of which have engine con-

versions too, with Rover K series and Vauxhall 8

valve power.

Lunch was the traditional Chilli Con Carne which was polished off

fairly swiftly. With the track so close to WCM, and the variety of cars on display

offering much more interest than a mini-only show, this is sure to become a WCM favourite event.

Poor Quality Rubber components

Page 2

Members have been frustrated recently at the poor quality of rub-ber components coming from our suppliers. It seems cheap Chi-nese rubber is making its way onto some of the core items we all need—balljoints, engine mounts and the various bushes. Recent examples include bottom arm and tie bushes needing re-placement after just one year and track rod end rubbers perish-ing without a car even turning a wheel.

Choices for owners are

thankfully varied, but please be carful when choosing your parts, as many are poor quality. Recommended so far are OE spec track rod ends from MOSS, and Minispares up-rated tie bar bushes. Please let us know if you find a good or bad part, so we can keep the membership in-formed.

Tetbury Classic Car Show

Andrew, Cheryl, Chris and Matt decided to support a local event in Tetbury in September. These local events are a good opportunity to add some variety to the mini-only shows we mainly attend, but also prove useful for recruiting new members too. The weather was terrible the day before, but the field was well drained, and more than 700 cars turned up to enjoy the day. There were plenty of other minis there too, some as part of other car clubs, and plen-ty of individual entries too.

The variety was huge, with road going race and rally cars, concours originals, vintage models and lots of American exotics too. Even the food stalls were

getting in on the act with the Pimms stall serving from the back half of a mini! As per most local shows, there was plenty of food and

drink on offer, and various activities for kids too. There were some traders onsite too, one with some interesting old transport related signs and memorabilia. There are plenty of this kind of event going on each year, so we will be looking to put more in the diary for 2017.

Page 3

DSN classics

have been trad-

ing for many

years supplying

mini owners with

quality parts,

but more recently have introduced a new

range of parts aimed at providing quality re-

placements and enhancements, mainly with

CNC machined alloy items.

When Mutley was in need of a rear subframe

to replace a beam axle, new trunions were re-

quired, and the Retrosport ones fitted the bill

(and less cost than original steel items too).

The quality is superb, and the machining to

Product Review - DSN Classics Retrosport Alloy Parts

the exact tolerances required.

The product range includes oil filter housings,

engine steadies, brake parts and a whole lot

more.

Check out the complete range at

www.dsnclassics.co.uk

Club members have been busy over the past

couple of months getting their cars roadworthy

again.

Gaz has re-

commissioned

the British

Open Classic,

which is look-

ing good with

its ATS

wheels. This runs an interesting Megajolt

electronic ignition on its 1275 motor.

After 2 years

Kate has got

Molly back on

the road too.

With stunning

paint and con-

trasting trim, it

was let down

by some dan-

gerous spannering in the past, but all now

sorted and roaring again.

Oil Leak Fix

One of the

most common

complaints

from mini own-

ers is the tradi-

tional ‘scent

marking’ from

oil leaks.

Commonly this can be fixed with a new seal in

the rod change gear linkage. Where the link-

age enters the gearbox,

the rubber O ring per-

ishes or gets compressed

letting the oil pass by.

Dave’s mini Mumbo had

a serious case of this,

whereby it was dropping

so much you could see it

running down the road, quite concerning.

A specific gear linkage roll pin punch makes

the job a breeze.

Mumbo is now leak

free again, at least

from that area!

More roadworthy cars

Page 4

WCM Saturday Club Runs

WCM Club runs happen every 2nd Saturday of the month. The July run was to the Windmill in Portishead. Getting to Portishead is a bit of a nightmare for anyone, as the Bristol south roads are always congested and there are many crazy bus drivers to contend with. Despite this, the convoy of 7 cars managed fairly well to keep together, caus-ing many heads to turn. The venue is a good one—lovely views across the

estuary, lots of outdoor space and some reason-able food too. Defnitely a venue to return to in the future. With over 20 members attending the meet, we took the opportunity to discuss lots of club activ-ities coming up, and make the final decisions for the Castle Combe show.

Our August run saw us take in another local spot in the area with a drive up to Minchin-hampton Common. We are really spoilt where we live, with so many fantastic roads and places of interest within an hour of most members. Minchinhampton lies in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, and the common land is a huge area of grazing for cows and horses (plus a lone don-key!)

We arrived mid afternoon and kicked off with an ice cream from the Winstones van onsite, fol-lowed by pitching up for a good chat. The weather came up trumps for us, meaning it was sun cream all round. The run also gave us a chance to get in some good convoy experience, and with the members involved, a steady 50mph on A roads meant for a very pleasant pace.

Page 5

Whilst recommissioning Nobby, a 1996 Cooper,

Matt was struggling to get the clutch hydraulics to bleed, with lots of air being sucked in all the time.

As the car had been off the road for a while, it

made sense to renew the hydraulic components, as

the rubber parts will have likely perished.

The parts to be replaced are the master and slave cylinders, plus the hoses connecting the two.

As Nobby is a post 1982 car, it has a verto setup,

which has a short actuating lever and a specific

slave cylinder—this cylinder looks similar to the

pre-verto setup, but has a different ‘throw’.

Replacement of these items may sound daunting,

but with the correct tools and some patience, its

easily sorted out.

Unfortunately access is a bit tricky on the later

cars, so rather than spend time trying to work

around parts which are in the way, it’s easier and

ultimately quicker to remove them. In this case,

the items to come out were: Brake master cylin-

der / Servo, Air filter box, Relay box, ECU and Horn. In reality, taking these off only takes 20

minutes and makes access nice and easy.

Once removed, the

next job is to re-move the clutch

master cylinder.

Working inside the

car, you need to

remove the clevis

pin holding the pe-dal to the cylin-

der—this is usually

seen as daunting,

but with some extra long pliers this is a simple job.

Clutch hydraulic system replacement

Removing the drivers

seat is recommended too. When you come

to replace later, I

chose to use an R

clip in place of the

normal split pin.

One of the retaining

nuts for the master

cylinder is hidden and again access is difficult.

Depending on the exact master cylinder you have,

it may be easier to access with a swivel head ratch-et spanner, this has worked

successfully for me in the

past.

Next remove the hydraulic pipe from the master cylin-

der and you can then remove

it from the mounting posts.

The slave cylinder is mount-

ed to a plate, and as access to the rear most retaining

bolt is limited, it may be eas-

ier to remove the cylinder on

the plate. The flexi hose will need to be replaced so

if needed just cut this off.

Replacement of the new items is the reverse of re-

moval. Remember to grease the end of the slave

cylinder where the piston inserts through the rub-

ber. I also decided to fit a one piece braided hy-

draulic hose—little more in cost than the two sepa-rate items.

Once refitted, it’s time to bleed. This is easiest

with an assistant inside the car.

Top up the master cylinder reservoir and attach a

bleed ‘pot’ to the slave cylin-der bleed nipple. Have your

assistant pump the clutch

pedal.

It may take some time for the system to prime and start

drawing fluid in, but when it

does, be sure to keep topping

up the master cylinder.

When all air is clear through

the bleed pipe, hold the pedal down whilst the bleed nipple

is tightened. Finally, check the pedal pressure and

that the slave is moving freely.

Page 6

When I was younger me and my dad restored a mini 850 cc called Jo (same colour as Mr Beans) so I could pass my test and have a nice car, after a while of trying to drive we realised it wasn't going to happen the clutch went on the Mini and it was decided she would be sold so she was never finished to the level we wanted her. My dad passed away last year and I decided now I've passed my test I would finish what we started as a sort of tribute if you like. So I started my search for the perfect car for the project, I found her in Wales she is named Gwen as I found her in Gwent, and to be honest the name suits her.

I have had Gwen a little under two months and although it's a very short time she is one of the family now.

So far I have mostly managed to remove stuck and rusted parts but she needs a lot of work and a lot of TLC, however my plan is over a pe-riod of time is to restore her to her former glory and as she is a mini Cooper maybe make her a little fun and sporty inside and classic Cooper outside.

Gwen—Mini Cooper project, by Andrew P

There has been some confusion among members recently, as Somerford Mini Spares have moved, and are now located in Calne! The new address is :9 Harris Road, Porte Marsh Industrial Es-tate,Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 9PT.

Somerford stock a huge variety of new parts, some difficult to find items, and also carry second hand parts. Recently, we have found them one of the only places around to also carry out wheel align-ment, which is proving difficult for those peo-ple running 10” or 12” wheels, where most commercial places only cater for 13” and up

Somerford Mini Spares—Now in Calne!

I bought the 1995 mini Sprite in mid-June and have been doing lots of little jobs on it to bring it up to standard. It's had only covered 21,300 miles its 21 years and was in really good, unmo-lested condition, but as with all minis there was still work to do. Initially it had electrical issues as it wouldn't hold its charge in the battery and had starting issues. This was traced to a very slack fan belt and some bad connections in the wiring and en-gine earth. In the weeks that I've owned the Sprite I've done the following jobs:

Rear brakes checked, cleaned and adjusted. Front brakes checked and identified that pads need re-placing. Front bumper refitted as centre bolt had snapped and bumper rattled. New bumper bolts fitted. Full engine service (oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm.)

Fitted a new weather shield and discovered that original was missing as the car has a metro starter motor. That ne-cessitated modification of the weather shield to get it to fit. Fitted new roof gutter trim. Addressed the small rust patch on the rear bumper seam and repainted in rover electric blue mixed up at our local Halfords. Refit original bumper with new bolts after they all sheared off when removing. Cleaned up and repainted the trim around the factory fitted sunroof with satin black.

Cleaned up and painted the grille with satin black.

Re-wired the Stereo (soldered connections) and fixed the inoperative rear speaker in the process. Started the refurb of a set of rover minilite al-loy wheels. Interior has had a full deep clean using car-pet cleaner to bring the seats up like new again.

It’s all about the details—Lee and Michelle’s latest

Page 7

16th October: British Mini Fair 2, Stoneleigh Park Worcestershire 2017 25th—29th May : International Mini Meeting, Piltown, Ireland

4th June - Cherished Vehicle Show, Allington Farm, Chippenham

2016 17th September: Mini Action Day, Castle Combe Circuit

2nd October: Breakfast Club meet, at the Haynes Museum, Sparkford 9th October: Malvern classic car, commercial & mini show

Diary Dates 2016/2017

Facebook : West Country Minis

Website: www.westcountryminis.co.uk Email: info@westcountryminis.co.uk Phone/Text: 07464 374743