Classic British Flight Sim

Yo Mark

'Apologies for the slight continuance of OT'

The ZX750E1 was a complete tw@t when I first got it. Used to tank-slap at anything above 115mph (not on the public highways you understand) I then found a 'nick' in one of the fork legs.. only small but big enough.. which explained the rather odd handling. One fork had no oil!! Played my face and got the fork changed.. changed the tyres to Dunlop Endurance and it was better and eventually went to a rear profile Pirelli Phantom on the front and a rear Phantom on the back which sorted it. Turbo lag.. err, no. Kawasaki made the only production turbo that worked The turbine sat about 8" down from the exhaust outlet so no lag whatsoever Between around 7000 and 9000rpm, it was so quick it was difficult to change gear and stay on The turbine cut in at a smidge over 7000 and it was relatively easy to get it bouncing off the rev limiter (I was younger in those days and could do more than one thing at a time)

That bike ended up getting me a divorce and subsequent marriage to the present Mrs B

ATB

DaveB

good OT subject though Dave

SkippyBing wrote:

I'm not sure about the location letters but the 'S' on the end shows Aug '77 to Jul '78

Sounds right, my first car was an S reg mini, but they didn't make the Mayfair 'Special' Edition until '82 which makes me wonder if the number plate is original to the car? Of course they could have added the Mayfair stickers to a late '70s model but it's not an obvious choice of special edition to mimic.

The "Mayfair" was one of five limited editions in the "London Collection" (along with the Ritz, Park Lane, Piccadilly, Chelsea). Overall there were more than 60 various editions (including the Cooper models).

This one is an early model - you can judge that by the MINI-lettering on the boot lid that was replaced by a badge later on. The minilite-wheels are not original, the car came with plastic wheelcovers, neither are the attachments to the wheel arches.

Cheers,

Nick

Overall there were more than 60 various editions (including the Cooper models)

Yes.. and that paid dividends when looking for spares The wiper motor went on mine and not minding getting my hands dirty in those days, I thought I'd change it myself. Off I went to the BL dealer armed with engine number, chassis number and everything else I could lay my hands on and the bloke behind the counter said ' There are 3 different types.. have you got the old one with you?' In the end, I bought a bit that looked like the one I had then shoehorned it into place when I got home.

ATB

DaveB

My wife had a bog-standard V-reg 850 Mini which we sold about 14 years ago for £125. It was her first car so a lot of distress - had to buy her a Vauxhall Tigra to make up for it .

Installed "electronic ignition" to avoid adjusting the points on a regular basis. But that was the last car that I used my spanners/socket set on. Everything is now left to the garage.

Ian

Nick
I was wondering about the wheels being original , and after taking a second look I bet it's a
daily driver, .. brake dust on the front wheels . Which brings to mind the question Steve asked, is he chancing it with the tag.
My guess is no , I have seen these tags around here over the years.

airboatr wrote:Nick
I was wondering about the wheels being original ,

Well, Minilites on a Mini are always somewhat original...
They started their triumph of popularity on Coopers and now can be found on classics all over the world...

Here are some examples:

http://www.motorwayltd.com/images/Magne ... lites3.jpg
http://www.minilitewheels.us/images/sce/boss_450.jpg
http://www.minilitewheels.com/gallery.php

However the Mayfair was originally delivered with plastic wheelcovers (alloys were an extra from '85 on). A good indicator for these Minilites being retro-fitted are the wheelarches on that car (neither original) - someone took up some money to refine this Mayfair...

airboatr wrote:
and after taking a second look I bet it's a
daily driver, .. brake dust on the front wheels . Which brings to mind the question Steve asked, is he chancing it with the tag.
My guess is no , I have seen these tags around here over the years.

I have no idea how US law treats this...
However to me this issue seems to be a legal grey area in many European countries. I got in touch with that myself. Austria and Spain e.g. don't find a clear way of treating foreign cars of local residents... Their drivers often don't even know if they're chancing it or not...

Cheers,

Nick

My old Mother had an old Clubman a long time before I was born. She loved that car to bits and cleaned & polished it every week.
It was destroyed when a Lorry driver fell asleep at the wheel and bumped her off the M62 and cartwheeled down an embankment. She was lucky to survive and that means I'm lucky too!

you know your right Mark , - In fact thats what I kinda had in mind when I penned my epitaph



I owe everything to my parents, without them, I would have never come this far.