May 2014

Well here we are only 29 days left until departure. Not panic stations time yet, but still doing some things here and there to the car, mostly just small jobs that should make the car somewhat more comfortable for the trip. We've drained the radiator again and and turned the heater tap 180 degrees so that the heater pipe no longer rubs against the engine steady brace, which is due to having to relocate all the pipes to accommodate the new heater tap and the new radiator (new rad doesn't have a lower outlet or tap or anything which is a bit tiresome), the good part is that the coolant is no longer a delightful shade of mud, despite only being in there for about a month, and seems to be maintaining a much more respectable bright green colour. We've also made some new plywood trays for the lower parcel tray, they are in two pieces as the Mini heater that I installed some time ago would preclude the single piece board item it is supposed to have. The two half panels fit well and securely and no doubt will come in quite handy.

The only real concern I still have is if the alternator is working correctly, it seems to be able to keep the battery charged as long as the headlights are not turned on, turning the headlights on seems to then start draining the battery. It is weird the alternator can charge the battery while the lights are off but can't produce enough charge to do so when the headlights are on, anyway I think just to make sure that I don't end up on the roadside somewhere in the middle of nowhere it would be best if the Count drops by a auto electrician for a wee visit, just to make sure there is enough power to keep everything ticking along.

Oh and of all things the air cleaner element on the pancake air filter I fitted many years ago is really quite tired and dirty so we've been to all the usual suspects and trawled the internet looking for a replacement element and, you guessed it, no one has anything that will come close to the size of the element. Given that it has been so difficult to source a filter element I decided that it was time to replace the whole thing and have bought a RAMFLO air cleaner for a Mini, noting I have a 1.5" Mini SU and inlet manifold fitted to the car,and while I am definitely going to get a lot of induction noise though probably not much more than I already do with the pancake one currently fitted, the RAMFLO has the advantage of having a foam element that I am easily able to clean and if the going gets dusty I can always oil it as well for extra filtering power. Well that and the fact that they have been making them exactly the same for a very long time now, so there should be no problem getting parts for it if necessary.

29 and counting....