Mini Campfire stories

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As posted on our message board at trinimini.com

Please feel free to add your mini experiences here Towheeed started the ball rolling & i continued .. who's next??
http://www.trinimini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=d222acc9b3da7df43209048890537ce0

TOWHEED ALI
_____________________________________________________________BACK IN 1980,
WHEN MY MOM HAD HER MINI (PS-3276, 850CC, MK 11, ORIGINAL ORANGE COLOUR, PRIMER WERE BECOMING VISSABLE THROUGH THE ORIGINAL PAINT BUT THE ENTIRE BODY WERE AS ORIGINAL AS EVER), SHE USED TO DRIVE TO THE GROCERY AND BACK.
ABOUT EVERY MONTH OR SO WERE USED TO HAVE TO CHANGE THE GAS IN TANK SINCE THE CAR NEVER WENT FURTHER THAN A BLOCK AROUND WHERE WE LIVED AND THE GAS WILL BECOME STALE AND DEAD IN THE GAS TANK.
WE USED TO DO OUR REPAIRS BY THE LATE "MR ARTURE WILLIAMS".
WE USED TO CALL HIM THE POPE FOR THE MINI FAMILY, HE BUILT THE RACING MINI "RED EYE" FINANCED BY D-RAMPERSAD CO LTD AND DRIVEN BY PUSTO (THE OWNER OF JAPSTAR MOTORS).
THIS PS MINI HAD A VIRGIN 850 ENGINE WITH A 11/4" SU ORIGINAL EXHAUST SYSTERM (TORPIDO SILENCER) A RATELING TIMING CHAIN, AND THE SUSPENSION WAS SO DELAPATED THAT YOU CANNOT PASS OVER A SARDINE TIN ON THE ROAD, AND IT HAD A TOP SPEED OF 50 MPH, HOWEVER WE WERE EXCITED.
AS TIME WENT BY WE RECONDITIONED THE SUSPENSION (ORIGINAL REBBER BUFFERS AT TRINITY MOTORS WAS $150 EACH, INNER CV JOINT WAS $60, SUSPENSION STRUTS WAS $25 EACH)
ONE DAY MR ARTURE GOT US A 11/2 " SU AND MANIFOLD, OUR TOP SPEED WENT TO 65 MPH AND WE WERE HAPPY SINCE WE HAD THE OPPERTUNITY TO OVERTAKE A FEW CARS NOW AND THEN.
AS TIME WENT BY WE DID A RING JOB ON THE 850 ENGINE AND BAUGHT A SET OF LCB EXTRACTORS AND A NIKKI CARBURETOR AND MANIFOLD AT GLEN'S WESTERN WHEELS IN CHAGUANAS (NOW GLENS'S SUPER SHOP.
THE MINI WAS ABLE TO TO SEE 75 MPH, AND WE WERE ON TOP OF THE WORLD SINCE THIS WAS THE FASTEST MINI IN CENTRAL.
NEXT WE WERE ABLE TO GET OUR HANDS ON A 12G295 CYLINDER HEAD AND A 3.44 CROWN WHEEL AND PINION FROM A MK111 850 ENGINE AT A SCRAP YARD IN FELICITY, WHEN THESE GOODIES WERE FITTED PEOPLE USED TO SHOW US A LITTLE MORE RESPECT ON THE HIGHWAYS SINCE THE MINI WERE CAPABLE OF DOING 80 MPH.
I WAS HAPPY TO DRIVE THIS MINI ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, MY MOM WAS MORE HAPPY SINCE I WILL JUMP TO THE OPPERTUNITY TO TAKE HER ANY WHERE SHE WANTS TO GO AND MY BIGGER BROTHER AND MY DAD WAS MOST HAPPY SINCE MY MOM WILL NOT BE BOTHERING THEM ANY MORE. BY THE WAY THIS WAS MY MOM'S MINI BUT SHE WAS ALWAYS A FOWARD EVER REVERSE NEVER DRIVER.
WHEN I BAUGHT MY FIRST MINI (PZ-1917) I FOUND OUT THAT A 1300 ENGINE CAN BE FITTED TO AN 850 MINI, I WILL GIVE YOU THIS STORY AT THE NEXT CAMP-FIRE GATHERING.
LOOKING FOWARD FOR A CAMP-FIRE STORY FROM EVERY ONE.
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As posted on our message board at trinimini.com

Please feel free to add your mini experiences here Towheeed started the ball rolling & i continued .. who's next??

http://www.trinimini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=d222acc9b3da7df43209048890537ce0

X2Board
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My first mini.. PX9395..Black with a green stripe down the left side of the car from front bumper to back bumper.. bucket seats , extractors, a nice set of rims, a smoking 1000 engine, a rotten floor, and most of all, a mash up front fender, busted headlight, cracked radiator and broken distributor cap...

The previous owner crashed it and my dad bought it in that state.
I got to work by putting in a new dist cap & starting it.. success #1

I scrappped out the front fender, took out the headlight bowl and put a power handle inside the fender .. i tied a rope to the handle & the other end to a post in the garage.. start the mini & drive it backwards..it did a decent enough job pulling out the fender till i get a pardner to sit down inside & keep a tension in the rope by reversing while i mercilessly beat the fender with a hammer.. ..another friend helped out by fiberglassing the damaged parts of the fender to look original Success #2

All the mechanicals were then addressed. Dan replaced the radiator , tuned the basics and changed the oil to a straight 50 ..smoking eased up significantlly.. success#4

The car was now driveable and since i did not have my license yet, me & Dan took the car to license office to get the transfer done..

this is where the trouble began.. we pulled a certified copy for PX9395.. but the number belonged to a DATSUN 180B !!!!! lawdd look trouble now,..
the officer said basically we in deep sh!t and started checking chassis numbers in front the car ... and corresponding it to the one on the door panel.. it did NOTmatch!!!
He said the only matching numbers on the car was the front and back number plates ...
all this time we worried cuz after all the work we did to the car it looked like we might lose it ..
he said to take the car down to the back ( where they used to have all dem cars rotting away ) & come back to the front office..

at this time a fellow mini owner and licensing office employee came up to us and said .. just drive this car home & take off all what u want & throw way the shell and yuh business fix...rather than leaving the car to rust away in license office graveyard..

we were only too happy .. we drive out of there so faastt down to the garage .. took off everything from the car and by 2:00 am we had a bare shell to throw in the bush..

we dragged the car across the road & left it there in the tall grass...

(BTW that shell was given to someone as scrap and is now back on the road & owned by a popular radio personality )


I was now the proud owner of a room full of mini parts and no mini ...

part two will be posted as soon as someone else posts their story ... .
..
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As posted on our message board at trinimini.com

Please feel free to add your mini experiences here Towheeed started the ball rolling & i continued .. who's next??

http://www.trinimini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=d222acc9b3da7df43209048890537ce0



Smokey

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my first mini was a yellow 1275 that belonged to a lady in marabella. the car used to be serviced regularly at the place i had summer job and at the time i was itching for something to drive . the car Keep on coming to the garage for checks and maintainence and hardly ever after a little while . on seeing the owner sometime later she disclosed that she was selling the car so i jumped at the chance to buy it. So there i was novice to the car world of buying , jumping at the hitch instead of taking advice about it ,and rushing to buy all out of the love of it. So there we go , with cahs in hand and my trusting smile at the wheel , i started on my path of mini on an exhuberant note. the engine was overheating , due to some faulty bent hoses and a head that was warped like a 'u' . Small ting , we'll fix that ,next on the list whilst i was bringing it home from the place the dame day , i decided to give it some stick going down the by pass hearing that 1275 scream a bit throught its exhaust , as i passed my mom's car smiling i remebered the pleasentvill trafific lights , as i apllied the brakes to stop from about 60 mph , i passed the white line ,like a full bus in reggaton , jamaica looking past my mom's car who stopped promptly at the line .goos stuff eh so i thought , time for an overhaul.
Several days after and some reliabilty in i deceided to drop my dad for a bus , now in those days i had a beard unlike now and i was a bit bigger , and if you know my father he isn't on the small side , SO when we pulled up to the lady that sells papers was like " oh my god' the bears have escaped from the circus '' hahahahahahahaha
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As posted on our message board at trinimini.com

Please feel free to add your mini experiences here .. who's next??

http://www.trinimini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=d222acc9b3da7df43209048890537ce0



TOWHEED ALI

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WHEN I HAD MY FIRST PZ-1917, WHICH ORIGINALLY HAD A MK111 850 ENGINE AND BOX, I WAS ADVICED BY THE LATE ARTURE WILLIAMS THAT ZAID MUSTAPHA HAD BRAND NEW 1300 ENGINES BUILT AND IMPORTED FROM ENGLAND.
I BAUGHT ONE AT A COST OF $2,400 TT DOLLARS.
MR ARTURE HELPED ME INSTALL THE ENGINE IN THE MINI WITH A LIGHTENED FLYWHEEL (13 LBS) A MKV GEARBOX (A+) WITH A 3.44 DIFF,
LCB EXTRACTORS, 1300 4-CORE RADIATOR A 11/2 " SU FITTED WITH AN AO NEEDLE, STANDARD CAM.
THE CAR DROVE A IF ITS A BRAND NEW MINI, THE FASTEST CAR I HAVE EVER DRIVEN IN MY LIFE, I USED TO FIND MYSELF SLEEPING IN THE CAR ON WEEKENDS WHEN IM HOME.
I REPAINTED THE MINI (DU-PUNT BRIALANY WHITE), BAUGHT A SET OF 10" X 6" GOLD REVOLUTIONS, 4-NEW 165 X 10 BRIBGESTONE TURBO TYRES(TYRE DEALERS ON WRIGHTSON ROAD @$160 EACH) A RICHARD GRANT SPOILER, A NEW GRILL AND SOROUNDS, ALLUMINUM FLARES, AN AUTO-PLAS LOUVERS AND DASH, SIDE SKIRTS AND SOME MUSIC.
ANY WHERE I GO WITH THIS MINI IT ATTRACTED A CROWD.
I HAD TO MAKE TWO "NOT FOR SALE" SIGNS AND STICK THEM ON THE CAR SINCE EVERY ONE WANTED TO BUY IT.
I WORKED AS AN INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICHAN AT CARONI 1975 LTD AND HAD A SPECIALLY MADE CAR COVER FOR MY CAR WHEN I GO TO WORK WITH THE IT, IN THE RAINY SEASON I USED TO LEAVE THE CAR AT HOME AND WILL GET A LIFT FROM FREINDS WHO PASSED BY ME ON THEIR WAY TO WORK.
WHEN EVER I GO TO WORK WITH THE MINI THE FOOD VENDOR IN THE CAR PARK USED TO WATCH OVER THE CAR FOR ME.
ON A SATURDAY I USED TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY WASHING THE CAR, POLISHING AND CLEANING THE EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR, AUTOSOLING THE RIMS, CLEANING THE GRILL ONE STRIP AT A TIME.
MAN I WAS IN LOVE!!!
STAY TUNED FOR WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY MINI CRASHED.

LATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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As posted on our message board at trinimini.com

Please feel free to add your mini experiences here .. who's next??

http://www.trinimini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=d222acc9b3da7df43209048890537ce0



X2Board

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part 2 of my story...

So now with my room full of mini parts.. i used to go in there , polish my rims with autosol, clean up and amorall all the upholstery parts , oil & grease what neeeded it , i hooked up the deck equalizer and speakers to the battery.. laid it on the floor with the seats and dashboard in its correct position so whenever i got a mini, all wires would already cut to the required length.
I took the steering wheel to the upholstery guy & had it redone.... polished the chrome parts: door handles, trim around the rear windows, weatherstrips by the door, grille surrounds, bumpers..even down to the brakes and clutch mastercylinder cans and SU carb was polished with autosol till they looked like new, i wire brushed the extractors and painted it heat resistant black ..

Eventually my bedroom looked like a showroom for mini parts in my eyes and a scrapyard in my moms eyes.. as good as i thought everything looked and shined , she wanted it outside of her house!
I didnt care..... all my parts was just waiting for a car now...

Everyone i met i told them i was looking for a mini to buy .. till ppl started coming home with some beat out rust bucket minis calling big money for them.. mind you ... i was still in school & all the cash i had saved had to be used to get my license (not counting the money i borrowed from it for autosol, steel brush, paint amorall, polish and carpet cleaner- after nearly spoiling moms carpet in the house while cleaning parts) my requirements were: the car had have an engine and require minimal bodywork and --the best part-- HAD TO COST LESS THAN $1000 !!!!!

after about a month , Dad remembered a friend of his who had given his mini to his sister who could no longer drive it and is supposed to have the car parked up in her garage , the other best part about it , the car was bought from trinity motors, and well maintained by the firm and then by Dan until they retired the car..

When we found the car it was complete, all parts in tact, body in excellent condition except for a caved-in hood where the owners two huge dogs used to sleep on it and a rusted door with some minor rotting on the floor, good upholstery , no brakes, an 850 engine with oil around my age at the time, a siezed up clutch , a carburettor and gas tank full of powder, 4 tyres that had been flat for so long even when they were pressured , they felt like the car was walking

Nevertheless i was the happiest human being on earth that day !!!!


part 3 will be posted following someone elses story
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[Red Dawg]

Red Dawg

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Racing the Moke

There are many stories when it comes to Myself, Andre and the Mini Moke.
One of the earliest was the first Saturday that we showed up to qualify with our Corporate Sponsorship (ESSO) painted all in red and ready to go.
This day was also the first time that Brian Franco came to race in his 2.0 Naps Z Nissan powered Mitsubishi Lancer. The Lancer sounded the business with its lumpy mad cam idle and side draught intake roar. But the times just didn�t seem right, I expected more from it.
Anyway, I had my crew cheif duties to attend to, we needed some practice runs before qualifying and the car has decided that it won�t run. After much head scratching, I took out the fuel pump, scrapped it, and removed the gunk and dirt in there, sprayed it out and put it back in. now it runs even better than before.
We went out to the start line for our first practice run and who should we line up with, this mad sounding Mitsu/Nissan. I heard some guy in the stand shout �where they going with that old car?� I smiled, if they only knew, but at the same time I crossed my fingers. Andre pre-staged, and then staged the car, I watched the yellow lights count down the tree then GREEN. Andre reaction was better and the Moke out launched the rear wheel drive Lancer and never looked back. Andre and the Mini Moke lead all the way up the strip and won the run, even though ther was still more fine tuning to do, this was our first run after a total rebuild.
I didn�t see the car coming back down the return lane, I was lying on the ground, rolling around and laughing hysterically. I should have bet those guys in the stands some money on the Mini.
We went on to race and beat that Lancer in practice and qualifying and then in competition a total of six times that day.
We had in all, completed sixteen competition runs and won every one of them and the category outright. At the prize giving Brian Franco suggested that something was wrong with the timing system because he just could not beat the Mini, not even after he purchased eight Splitfire sparkplugs for his Naps Z motor.

But that�s racing.

Out classed every time by an older car with a smaller engine and by a team with barely enough money to buy fuel.
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Livng life one day at a time
Doggy Style