Tips For Looking After Your Mini
Turbo Mini Forums

1) Rub a thick layer of grease on the underside/inside of your bumpers to help stop them from rusting outwards

2) Ensure u grease the supension components at least every 4 months to ensure longevity

3) Buy a haynes manual, its the best £15 you'll ever spend on your mini

4) Always maintain oil levels via checking dipstick with regular oil services.

5) Get a garage to keep it in.

6) join TM :)

7) Adopt a cautious spanner grip when adjusting valve clearances to save on knuckle damage

8 )Learn to be curious about new rattles and other sounds coming from your mini.

9) make sure you always have a hammer with you oompf.gif

10) wd40 fixes almost everything.

11) if not use duck tape

12) Keep an eye on the oil level in the dashpots in your carb/s.

13) For earlier cars with chokes, get a peg you will need it

14) Fix things BEFORE they fall off

15) Listen to your Mini and don't ignore him telling you "I need repair"

16) if it isn't broke, it may well be soon.

17) If it looks like a good paint job, the rusts on the inside

18) Put the WD40 DOWN and keep your ignition CLEAN instead.

19) WD40 is NOT a lubricating oil.

20) Own a grease gun, even if you have our car serviced by a garage. Garages rarely grease suspension.

21) Drum brakes are easily adjusted and keep you alive, even if they are only at the rear.

22) Minis DO NOT have quirks, they have previous owners who didn't maintain them properly.

23) If you think you cant pack a whole week's worth of camping gear, clothes, food, beer and the worlds biggest 3 man tent in a mini for 2 adults, you can. The rear suspension wont like it though.

24) Always use the right tools for the job

25) Try and use good quality parts, you will only need to replace them again in the near future

26) use a glove to cover your dizzy to protect it from spashes on rainy days

27) A good supply of fuses is usefull (well... it is in my mini )

28) If it wasn't doing it last time you drove, the newness has worn off.

29) Always carry a fire extinguisher

30) Always fit a "Spring Washer" or "Anti-Shake Washer" or "Lock Nut" wherever possible (Mini suspension means everything works loose eventually!!!)

31) CABLE TIES!!!! are your best friend.

32) fuel can in the boot all the time, do not use it for your lawn mower, do not lend more then half to another broken down mini. (else you WILL need it that day)

33). get used to being skint

34). there is no cure for the mini bug

35) dont drive faster than 15mph over speed bumps or you will be there for the rest of the day

36) Try enjoy welding

37) Never cut corners (especially on brakes)

38) You get what you pay for (Mini's and Parts etc)

39) In case you didn't read it: fix things before they fall off

40) Cheap parts are more expensive ('cause you probably need to buy them twice)

41) If theres a strange noise turn the music up louder!!!!

42) The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

43) If theres rust stand in front of it

44) Make friends with the local garage, if your not handy with a spanner yourself, so you get mates rates because it might be there quite a lot!

45) call on DR AA josh munn

46) Wipe grease nipples before using a grease gun to avoid injecting crud into the joint.

47) Keep your antifreeze topped up year round - it also reduces rust in your cast iron engine.

48) Don't put 20/50 in the dashpot.. doesnt run so good....

49) Don't slam your rear suspension and keep all your camping stuff and 2 crates of glass bottled beer in the back when doing the L2B run...

50) Always carry spare points,cap,plugs,wd40,tyre weld and water..... of and make sure ya mrs wears tights or stockings if you dnt carry a spare fanbelt.lol

51) Rust is a serious proble, waxoil all common areas

52) Treat rust as soon as it appears before it spreads

53) Look after your mini and she will look after you

54) If your parents have a nice drive, park your mini on the road!

55) Carry a breakdown kit, consisting of fold out triangle and a tow rope.

56) Make sure you have a relative that can weld... cheap labour

57) Inspect and change the rubber/silicon floor plugs regularly

58) Makes sure all engine bay/bulkhead holes are grommeted. (especially if you take the speedo bracket thingy off) of you will find a pool in your foot well.

59) If your mini doesnt leak oil chances are its empty.

60) That switch with the brake pedal on it is just there to test that the bulb illuminates. The bulb should illuminate on it's own if the brake fluid gets too low.

61) Join a Mini club. Their full of helpfull people.

62) carry a picnic - people wont think you have broken down yet again

63) check your tyre pressures at least every week. its makes a LOT of difference.

64) Take an evening class in Contorsion. It will be very helpful for disconnecting pedals and bottom hoses

65) take your phone with you so you can call people and then listen to them laugh as you ve broken down

67) Know your way around an engine so if it breaks down you will have a clue to what it is

68) Maintain your breaks to a VERY high standard - especially drums...

69) if your out and a fuse blows, and you dont have a spare, find a fag packet, use the foil from inside, take your blown fuse out and wrap it in fag packet foil, it'll get your electrics working again long enough to get you home!

70) When you rebuild ball joints, grind them in first with valve grinding paste, they'll last forever, even with sportpack wheels!

71) always have a spare

72) Never jack the front of your car up on the sump

73) Never re-use split-pins

74) A good way to protect your mini from being stolen: when you park up, open the bonnet, take off the dizzy cap and remove the rotor arm. 10 sec job, free, and no matter what they try, the mini wont start!

75) Don't over tighten your sump plug, It doesn't stop the drip, just strips the thread

76) Never give up smile.gif

77) Smear a little Vaseline around the mating faces of the dizzy cap - keeps the moisture out (and carry spare points).

78) only put gasket seal on one side of the rocker gasket, as you will probably be taking it off again, and get T bars to make that job quicker.

80) When taking part in a high profile bullion robbery in the centre of Turin, don't drive onto the roof of the Fiat car factory. Any remotely intelligent Carabinieri will just park at the bottom of the ramp, blocking your escape.

81) Get to like spaghetti. They serve it four times a day in the Italian prisons...

82) Carry a 13mm spanner, you will be surprised. EDIT NO carry a 1/2" spanner the mini doesn't use metric fixings

83) Always used the right tool for the job, learn how the mini supension works so when theres play you known whats normal and what isnt ( there shouldnt be any) And if there is grease everything first and check again works sometimes

84) One for the SPi's - If your mini refuses to start as there is no power to the ECU, check the wiring loom for broken, corroded power cables (brown) from the starter motor. Also check a fusable link hasn't blown along these wires

85) You can only have two of the following three - Cheap / Reliable / Fast

86) They're Just like a having a beautiful woman. High maintenance, an expensive hobby and continuously needing "working on" (not always a bid thing - we ALL enjoy working on our cars...)

87) if your going to be working on your mini all day (engine), remove the bonnet its only 4 nuts and will save looking like Quasimodo (this is more about maintaining you so you can maintain your mini )

88) invest in a car cover £50 pounds from Halfords...bargin!

89) After engine removal/replacement, them few left over nuts and bolts belong somewhere, not just the spare bits box! :s

90) When the Temp. Gauge reads off the red.......pull over for god sakes!

91) Spending a fiver on a tin of underseal every year, and using it, saves a lot of time and money in the long run!

Edited by Spooner on 19th Nov, 2009.

I'm not feeling the last one, I've just spent the last 3 weekends removing all of the bloody stuff from mine lol.

Also..no.6 is weak

no 62 is now a goer for me. Always good to have an excuse lol.

In boost we trust

no' 6 isn't much good lol

2012 Avon class c 2nd place 13.8 @98mph

i think its copied from tmf? quick quick chage no 6 to say TM that would be the best tip on there

they would never know!!!!

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

I have to this this is a curious mix or bollocks, a bit of fun and an attempt to makes some halpful advice.

I think here on TM we have proved 85 to be wrong many times over.

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

69 sounds dodgy in more than one way.. :)

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

45) call on DR AA josh munn


WTF is that all about?

TBH it's all a bit gay....

Probably should have stayed on TMF where it was found...

Point 48? isn't the SU oil 20/50?

In the 13's at last!.. Just

I thought it was a monograde oil?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

53) Look after your mini and she will look after you

Hmmm, I didn't see my mini helping me when I messed up my ankle and couldn't walk. It just sat there in the garage and didn't move the lazy fucker.

Yes, send this back to TMF.

I've just wasted my life reading it.

hehe ... makes good reading !! it may be bollocks ! but some bitz made me smile

rule one!

join turbominis and thats it !!!
No Bull just get the answers and work done

thats right benross..

thing is loads of it was writen by clueless people on TMF, 1/2 the stuff there i wouldnt do or just so bloody obvious...if you do it you deserve to have a fucked car! and in the rest...well maybe my sence of humor has died but some of the "funny" ones i just thought were stupid.

what a misserable twat i am!

David.

Rule 2 - Don't forget rule 1.

Send it back to TMF.

I drill holes in everything..!

Mr. Prawn, the friendly Crustacean- slowly making steps towards forced induction.

yeah, what a thread, ace, ive got some

92, dont set fire to your mini

93, dont drive at 30 mph into a wall

94, dont drive at 40 mph into a wall

95, dont drive over children in mini

96, dont throw bricks at your mini

97, dont drive your mini into the sea


hope these help, ive found them vital

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

^^^ LMAO!

2012 Avon class c 2nd place 13.8 @98mph