Changing Gears IV

Several weeks after installing the rebuilt transmission into the Midget, I noticed some uneasiness in the clutch pedal, and one night it started making loud noises when depressing or letting off the clutch pedal. David and Dad were up one day and David took a ride with me to check it out. He concluded it could potentially be a thrust bearing within the transmission. We experimented with different oils, and although it alleviated some of the symptoms, it wasn't a permanent fix.

I called the fellow from whom I got the transmission to explain my situation. Then I asked David to call him (as my mechanic) to better explain the symptoms. The seller agreed to send us another rebuilt transmission free of charge with the understanding that I'd return the first one once we got it out of the car. Both David and I reminded him to send us one with a reverse light switch. As you may recall, the first one he sent us didn't have one, and we had to swap the neck with that of the original transmission. He wrote this down when I was on the phone with him, and that note appears on the invoice I received with the new transmission, but of course, the transmission was without one. I didn't realize this was the case until I was able to compare the new transmission with one of the others...which was today, when we went for Round 2 of the transmission swap.

The process itself went rather smooth (aside from having to swap the necks again due to the aforementioned absent reverse light switch). I think we started at around 9am. We got the engine and transmission out within an hour, made the swap, and put it all back in. We finished up at around 1:30pm. I was really impressed that we were able to do everything in 3 1/2 hours. I think my manual says it would take a person 4 hours to simply get the thing out of the car. Because we didn't heed Dad's advice to clean up the floor when putting the block back in (see video), my hair and back were doused in gear oil for the rest of the afternoon. Nasty smelling stuff. I also like how we ran a gasoline-powered forklift in an enclosed garage.

So everything is back together now, but unfortunately, I'm still having some issues. I get a NEW noise now when shifting into second gear. And the clutch pedal still doesn't feel right. David and Dad noticed some oil coming out of the clutch slave cylinder during the festivities. So right now, I plan on ordering a rebuild kit for the clutch slave cylinder (the same thing I replaced in the Mini). Just looked it up, and it's only nine bucks.

I'll be driving the Midget all week in hopes that the second gear noise will get better as I break in the new transmission.

Little Things

Got some little things done today on the Mini.

First, for as long as I could remember, the hazard lights never worked on the Mini. After doing some snooping around, I discovered that there was a line fuse missing from one of the wires hanging by the firewall. I swapped in a spare (there are two spares inside the fuse box) and they now work! And as a bonus, my interior light (which never worked before) works as well. Which I'm equally as excited about.

Second, I needed to re-glue a piece of carpet by the footwell that came off during the steering column and master cylinder R/R. I made a trip to the auto parts store and picked up a bottle of headliner/carpet adhesive spray...the last one on the shelves. It was $11.50 and only needed a couple shots of it, but I figured I didn't have a choice. As I was checking out, two guys came in asking for the exact same thing and were bummed to find out I got the last one. On their way out, I stopped them and asked if they wanted to buy it from me after I use the little I needed. So they made a stop at Hollywood Video as I reattached the carpet in the parking lot. I asked $9 for it, which I thought was fair considering the small amount I used.

Lastly, my interior rear view mirror has never really stayed in one place due to the less-than-stellar suction cup design. I filled one of the ball joints with super glue (toward the roof) hoping that'll make it sturdy enough. Then I can still adjust the angle at the mirror end. I don't know if it'll work as well as I'm hoping though. I'll see tomorrow morning.

The Mini is up for inspection by the end of the month, so I'm glad I at least got the hazard lights fixed (though apparently that wasn't cause enough for it to fail last year.)

One Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of owning the Mini. I encountered more problems than I initially anticipated, but the damage wasn't too bad on my wallet. Here is a very rough breakdown of the problems I encountered and the cost associated with fixing them.

Fuel Leak at Carb - $100

Squeaky Brakes - $75 (this includes brake pads I ended up not installing)

Sticking Throttle Cable - $20

Heater Core Leak - $35

Bad Thermostat - $10

Steering Slippage - $0

Clutch Loss - $135 (this could've been just $25 with proper diagnosis)

This adds up to $375. Which isn't great. But that's how much people spend on cable a year (which I don't have). It's also nice to know that I never had to take it to a shop for repairs, so there were no labor costs involved.

But this wasn't meant to be a post about numbers. Just a post in celebration of my awesome Mini!