Maybe some good news ...

I post this holding my breath, whatever that means.
After getting some advice from the guys at The Forums I went and checked the connections on the distributor, and made sure the choke wasn't stuck, and then turned on the car.

It started right up, and then idled beautifully. What's up!

I let her idle for a good long while just listening, waiting for something to go wrong. But it never did. So I went inside and put on some shoes and took her for a spin.

She drives amazingly well. No more hesitation in 2nd gear WOT. If this thing feels like it did today when I go to the track I'll be thrilled. I have to say, it's funny to have a car with such variable driving characteristics. Fickle old thing.

Another point of virtue, which I'm not sure if I should point out or not, is that it was over 90 degrees today. I drove around the block like 4 times, at pretty good revs and the temp. needle didn't even go north of NORMAL until I stopped and parked in the driveway, and then it just barely went up.

I'm thinking the coolant system flush and descaling I did made a difference and it's now working as it should.

Either that or I just didn't drive it long enough to overheat. We'll see.

Double you tee eff.

Have you ever seen that movie, "the money pit"? This little car I think is very much like the mansion in that movie -- including all the over the top humorous parts where you're like "that would never happen!"

I got the car back from the garage yesterday, where it had been determined that I'm a big idiot and that the problem I was experiencing where the car wouldn't start was because two wires fell off the coil. In my defense, there are 3 wires coming off the coil on one side and two on the other side, and two from the 3 wire side had fallen off and only if I had been particularly observant previously would I have known that those wires belonged there. Or if I knew a little bit more about "stuff." But anyway, the car was fixed yesterday.

Then I brought it to get inspected today after a joyous drive to work. It passed with flying colors. ( "Do all your lights work?" -- "Yes" -- "Here's a sticker." )

On the way out of the inspection joint the thing started idling REALLY rough and then it just died. And wouldn't start again.

Realized it was flooded with gas, let it sit, eventually it started. But it's driving like SHIT and if I sit for too long at a light or something it dies, and then requires a couple minutes of sitting to start up again.

Seriously -- can I have the car in good driving condition for more than a day before something goes wrong again? Please?

VTEC, take me away!!

Am I ever going to drive this stupid thing?

So yesterday morning after feeling great about completing my cooling system flush / backflush / descaling / etc. I was excited to git 'er goin' and see if it had any effect on the cooling issues the car was having on hot days, and would presumably have during track days / hillclimbs.

And then it wouldn't start. Rarararararararararara said the starter motor.

What the crap.

So I don't know what's wrong with it, I'm trying to figure it out, but I'm missing the hillclimb and I'm pissed.

I need to save some dollars and get a nice, reliable honda conversion kit, or sell the car and get something that's not going to let me down when I need it the most.

Or just learn how to fix old british cars, I guess would be another good alternative.

Prep for the Hillclimb

Let's see, what have we been up to ...
Last night Tristan and I drained the coolant and flushed the system and put in some descaler which I'm going to drain again tonight and clean out and replace with water and coolant and water wetter. Although it might all drain by itself because it looks like we didn't secure the bottom hose to the radiator well enough because it drips for quite a bit after driving. Awesome.

On a brighter note, the car had some electrical siezure action earlier this morning; driving along Storrow Drive and it just stopped. It was in gear and I didn't have the reaction time or presence of mind to put in the clutch that quickly because it bucked like crazy and then just died, but then there was no power anywhere on the car (except the horn! WTF!). So I sat there with cars whizzing by fiddling under the hood with connections, and eventually it just started again. God I love electrical Gremlins.

So now I have no faith in the car's reliability so I ordered an "Auto Transporter" from UHaul for the weekend, and Paul is going to be a dear and help me tow the car up and back with his F150. Sweet Cuppin' Cakes! We'll see how this goes.

PS - Richened the mixture in the Carb a bit and now the car's driving a bit better. Yay!

New Mini Photos

This is totally a photo post:

Yarrowsport Primer

I've never really been to a get together before, or a "GTG" as they call them in hip mechanonerd spheres. Some guys from work were going to this VW / Audi one, so I figured I'd bring the green monster and see what there is to see. There were some sweet rides, and I was too awed by most of them to get photos of 'em, but I took a couple snaps. Check 'em out in the media section. PS - on the way home from the "Primer" I drove like an idiot with an STi and a G35 and it felt good to feel sporty and behave like a jackass in public. It wasn't any dangerous driving though (disclaimer).

On another note, I totally forgot to post that I bought new Harnesses and installed them yesterday. I drove up to HMS Motorsport and bought 'em and brought 'em home and ripped out the old crappy ones and installed the new lovely 4 point modern style ones. They rock. It makes such a huge difference to be able to adjust your harnesses on the fly. I know, it seems like something one should expect from something as important as a seat belt. But neither of the harnesses installed on the blue mini or on the green one were any good. So now I'm comfy and strappable like you want me.