Rambling Words, Rambling Wheels

Iowa’s long, hot, wet Summer of 2010 is coming to a close. The Iowa State Fair is history. The kids are back in school. And the garden is slowly fading to dried shoots from the abused ground.

This was to be the Summer of Mini for me. I had Grand Plans for the Morris, between my ambition and weeks of available PTO. A quick look back channels my Fatalist side, declaring the Summer a Failure, Lost to schedules, conflicts and weather.

Iowa’s long, hot, wet Summer of 2010 is coming to a close. The Iowa State Fair is history. The kids are back in school. And the garden is slowly fading to dried shoots from the abused ground.

This was to be the Summer of Mini for me. I had Grand Plans for the Morris, between my ambition and weeks of available PTO. A quick look back channels my Fatalist side, declaring the Summer a Failure, Lost to schedules, conflicts and weather.

But, wait, I’m an Eternal Optimist. And, on closer reflection, perhaps the Summer wasn’t so Lost.

Grad and Travel

April and May were filled with travel and graduation activities. There wasn’t much time to putter around the garage. In fact, there was little time for much else. I did spend time on a couple air bus rides reading my Haynes Owners Workshop Manual, walking through both engine and brake tear downs and rebuilds. “Air bus” here does not refer to the manufacturer of aircraft, but rather the deplorable condition of air travel these days. Commercial air travel has stooped to, or even below, the level of comfort I find on my regular “land bus” rides.

There was some time for tinkering in those months, including working the wiring loom from its various restraints. The wiring seems to be in decent shape, considering its age, but what’s left of the fabric covering will need to be cleaned or replaced.

Racing and Discoveries

June brought a slew of racing and the start of the sweltering Heat. The IndyCars filled Father’s Day weekend at the Iowa Speedway. I was back at it the following weekend working at a grass roots race, put on by ChumpCar World Series. See my account of that adventure here .

June was also a month of Discoveries on the Mini. The 2-3 inch hose that supplies air to the under-dash heater passes through a 6 inch hole in the firewall. As I scraped at the seal around the host, I Discovered it was layers of masking tape spray painted black. This wasn’t a thin layer of tape, mind you, but layer upon layer to a full inch thick to create a faux seal.

The bigger Discovery lay just ahead. Since the electrical and other controls were all removed, I pressed forward to remove the vinyl covered pressboard dash panel (which was painted black over the original Tartan Red) and the instrument cluster. On these original Minis, this cluster consisted of three gauges: a large speedometer flanked by smaller gauges for oil temperature and petrol level. These are mounted in a large oval-framed enclosure (the binnacle) smack in the middle of the simple dash.

Lifting the binnacle revealed a small, folded piece of Official Looking Paper. It was the last registration for the car. And it was registered on December 17, 1976. My 12^th birthday, in the year of our country’s Bicentennial. The car still wears the plates and stickers from that registration.

Heat and Rain

July and August brought Intense Heat and Flooding Rains to Iowa. The engine compartment received my attention as time permitted. The final push came during a week of PTO. Damage to my project lights diverted me early in the week, leading me to take day to install new lights and outlets throughout my garage. It was sweaty work, but will pay dividends for years to come.

I spent the rest of the week attacking the car with Crud Remover (a locally-produced cleaner) and a wire brush. The poorly applied black paint fell away to reveal a fair amount of original Tartan Red, and some bare metal. I made every effort to leave as much Tartan Red as possible. Just knowing that the original paint was there felt right.

August is drawing to a close, and the Traveller has fresh paint on the exposed subframe and a great match of the Tartan Red on the bulk of the engine compartment.

As I look Back on the Summer, I see Racing, Wiring and Painting. Nothing Lost; a Summer Enjoyed.

Video and Pics

There's a quick time lapse video of the work on the engine compartment. See it here.

And, you can find a Picasa album with a full project phots here.