A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road
with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage
'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of the
'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in the
garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would get
us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would the
battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips to help
get it going would be appreciated.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it on.
What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small bit of
surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth, if
anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted effort
for reselling it?
Thanks for any advice.

johngood_____ wrote:

A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road
with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage
'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of
the 'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in
the garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.

Absolutely not!

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would
get
us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would
the battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips
to help get it going would be appreciated.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it
on. What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small
bit of surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth,
if
anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted
effort for reselling it?
Thanks for any advice.

Battery will be US.

Other problems may include the hand brake seized on, the clutch seized,
brake hydraulic leaks or seized wheel cylinders.

It's also likely that the tyres will have deteriorated to an extent that
they would be a danger.

For the safety of yourself and others, you should only move it on a trailer.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:21:03 GMT, "johngood_____" wrote:

A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road
with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage
'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of the
'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in the
garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would get
us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would the
battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips to help
get it going would be appreciated.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it on.
What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small bit of
surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth, if
anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted effort
for reselling it?
Thanks for any advice.


I'l have it ;-)

Seriously, that's a Mk1 Mini, increasingly rare. Look at the prices on
Ebay.

_Any_ Mini with tax & test should be worth over 1k these days, and Mk1s
are very desirable. For God's sake save it somehow.

You will be unlikely to get it started without some work; the fuel tends
to gum up in the carbs after that length of lay-up, and you'll like as
not need to change the battery for one that's charged. Borrow a trailer
if you can, if the car is anything like you'll easily get the cost of
hiring one back. If you're anywhere near Nottingham I have a trailer
that will suit. I know plenty of people in the Mini forums up and down
the country that would be just as eager to help.
--
Regards, Chris (Please take out my car to reply by plain text email)
---1967 Riley Elf---1978 Mini 1000---1971 Mini Clubman---
----1972 Mini Clubman estate----------1979 Ford Capri----

johngood_____ wrote:
A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road
with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage
'with nothing done to it since'.
After three years in a garage, you can expect some deterioration of
rubber components. Are the tyres flat at the bottom? Are the brake
flexibles showing any sign of rot? If it has the rubber trumpet style
suspension rather than hydrolastic, do they look OK?

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of the
'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in the
garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.
Possibly, but not necessarily, see above.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would get
us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would the
battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips to help
get it going would be appreciated.
Once you have jump started it, even a clapped battery will keep the
engine running provided you don't stall it. But, if damp has got into
the engine, it might not turn over at all because the piston rings might
rust to the cylinder wall.
But it hasn't got an MOT and it hasn't got road tax. The only place you
can legally drive it to is a garage for a pre-booked MOT.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it on.
What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small bit of
surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth, if
anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted effort
for reselling it?
Thanks for any advice.

The best advice I can give is either to sell it from the garage in which
it currently sits, and let the buyer worry about how to move it, or to
at least put it through an MOT test, when you can make the decision on
whether to repair it and sell it with an MOT, or wave the failure
certificate at the buyer so they are aware of what they are letting
themselves in for.

Jim

In article ,
johngood_____ wrote:
A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the
road with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a
garage 'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of
the 'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in
the garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road
worthy.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would
get us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or
would the battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice
any tips to help get it going would be appreciated.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it
on. What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small
bit of surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth,
if anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted
effort for reselling it?

My first thoughts are to wonder if the friend offered the car for use
rather than to be just sold on?

My second thoughts are that if he just wants rid, it's a heap. Very very
few people don't realise reasonable 40 year old cars will be worth more
than scrap. Quite the reverse, actually.

--
*Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

The date being 14 Nov 2007, "johngood_____" decided to
write:

A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road
with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage
'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of the
'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in the
garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.

Not necessarily, but there's a good chance it won't need much work to
return it to working condition.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would get
us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would the
battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips to help
get it going would be appreciated.

If the battery hasn't been charged it could well be u/s so take some
jump leads. Take care - it is probably positive earth! If you get the
engine running and don't stall it the battery should get you home.

Take the plugs out, put a little bit of oil in the cylinders and turn
the engine over for a bit to get the oil circulating. It might be
worthwhile undoing the oil filter pipe banjo on the front of the block
and running some oil back into the oil pump to prime it.
Then check the distributor points, check the plug gaps, clean and
replace the plugs.

Drain the tank and put some fresh petrol in it, and make sure that the
petrol pump is working. It might need a little encouragement. When you
know you've got some petrol and some sparks give it a try.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it on.
What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small bit of
surface body rust (and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth, if
anything?

As it's a Mk.I or II it's worth quite a lot. On no account scrap it!

Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted effort
for reselling it? Thanks for any advice.

If you get it running, and, better still, taxed and tested, it will
fetch a higher price. If you don't want to do any work on it just sell
it "as seen" from where it is.

--
Richard Porter
ricp at / www. minijem.plus.com
"You can't have Windows without pains."

"johngood_____" wrote in message
...
Thanks for any advice.

ebay it "as is" (maybe roll it out of the garage for pics), you'll get top
price with least hassle.


--

Tony Bond / UncleFista

www.bradford7.co.uk

Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...

On Nov 14, 5:38 pm, Jim Warren wrote:

Once you have jump started it, even a clapped battery will keep the
engine running provided you don't stall it.

Not necessarily. Chances are it's got a generator and they're not the
best performers at the best of times.
Running it off a spare battery isn't a big deal though. My worry
would be all the brakes.

Many thanks for all the most useful advice. We will not be able to sell it
from
the garage which is in Clapham. We have to get it to where we live which is
near
Finchley Central. We are going over on Sunday morning to see if we can
manage to start it or tow it.

If the mini is positive earth, would we connect our jump leads from our
Corolla (negative earth)
like this: corolla +ve battery to mini earth and corolla -ve battery to
mini +ve battery ?

Also if the handbrake has been left on and has rusted on to the rear brake
drums, I'm at a bit of a loss to know how to free them, since we wont be
able to get the drums off to get at them?

If we need to get a car trailer, where might be a good place to get one
from,
any ideas on that one please? Thanks for all your kind help.

johngood_____ wrote:

Many thanks for all the most useful advice. We will not be able to sell
it from
the garage which is in Clapham. We have to get it to where we live which
is near
Finchley Central. We are going over on Sunday morning to see if we can
manage to start it or tow it.

If the mini is positive earth, would we connect our jump leads from our
Corolla (negative earth)
like this: corolla +ve battery to mini earth and corolla -ve battery to
mini +ve battery ?

Forget about whether the vehicles are +ve or -ve earth. Just connect
battery -ve to battery -ve, and battery +ve to battery +ve. DO NOT allow
the vehicles to be in contact with each other!

Before even trying to start the Mini, put it in 4th gear and see if you can
push it enough to turn the engine over. If you can see that the engine is
definitely not seized, get someone to sit in it and hold the clutch pedal
down. Now try pushing it, whilst still in gear, to see if the clutch is
freeing. (In other words, the engine not now rotating.)

Unless the engine is free, and the clutch lifts OK, there would be no point
wasting your time trying to start it. It might be worth seeing that the
brake pedal doesn't go to the floor first also!

Check to see there is coolant in it. If it has frozen up during its period
on non-use, it may well have forced a core plug out of the block when it
thawed.

If the above is OK, connect the jump leads, then allow the Corolla to run
for at least 15 mins or so before trying to crank the Mini.

If it starts, bear in mind that it has an electric fuel pump, and a weedy
dynamo, so if the battery is as completely knackered as I imagine it to be,
you may have trouble keeping it running.

Also if the handbrake has been left on and has rusted on to the rear brake
drums, I'm at a bit of a loss to know how to free them, since we wont be
able to get the drums off to get at them?

If the rear bakes are seized on, look first at the handbrake cable quadrants
under the front of the rear suspension swinging arms. These often seize on
a Mini in regular use! You may be able to force them round with a large
screwdriver.

Failing that, try removing each rear wheel in turn, and beat the drum with a
hammer. You may shock the shoes free in this manner.

If we need to get a car trailer, where might be a good place to get one
from,
any ideas on that one please?

Sorry can't help you there. Try Yellow Pages? Or maybe look in the local
paper to see if anyone will do car transport cheaply?

Thanks for all your kind help.

You're welcome. Let us know how you get on.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.