Very pleased with ourselves today.

[Ace-T]

Now this is all old hat to you hardened Mini restorers but today Judas and I changed the oil and filter on the Mini. We made our minds up that if we were going to have several silly cars we needed to do the easy stuff ourselves. That started with going to Spanner School with some of the Midlands PH crowd and we were supervised by the teachers changing the oil & filter on the Alfa, changing the brake pads on the Mini and putting the de-cat pipes on the Ferrari.

However this latest effort was at home with no supervision and it all worked and went very well!

Next thing is to do a complete service on her and change the rocker cover gasket. Yay, go us, got dirty fingernails that I can't get clean and a oily smudge on my nose and everything!

Ace-T

[Plotloss]

Nice work!

Next stop, bypass hose.

Best become familiar with pain, you're in the Mini way after all...

[Ace-T]

Cheers Matt

...but what's a bypass hose, can't find it in the Haynes

Ace-T

[Plotloss]

Little tiny hose that goes between the water pump and the cylinder head.

Not all minis have them, they're fine for ages and they go at the most inopportune moments, like minutes after arriving at the National Mini Showdown, when you've got no tools, for instance.

Can be done with the water pump in situ but its one the biggest pain in the arse jobs on a Mini, along the bolts at the back of the upper arms and a few others.