Starting Dad's old Minor

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Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

BTW I’ve chosen a name for her ..... LUCY
KeithL
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by KeithL »

Alice Minor wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:51 am Just wondering if anybody is around my age and any lady owners out there by any chance or even your wives if they drive them and how they get on ?
Our Traveller, Alfred, is Jayne's car and she is the main driver whilst I navigate. We have had it over 9 years and she loves tootling around the country lanes of the Cotswolds near where we live. We do go on longer journeys and did three rallies this year (Wales, Oxfordshire and Derbyshire). Her main bugbear is reliability which is why we bought a rebuilt car and not a 'project'. Even so she gets frustrated when we do have problems. I can sort minor issues but I am not a mechanic and fortunately we have a local'ish garage who specialise in Morris Minors who seems to have adopted Alfred.

Let us know if there is anything specific you would like from Jayne.

myoldjalopy
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by myoldjalopy »

Lucy sounds a good name - unpretentious, down-to-earth and endearing....just like the cars themselves! :D
And if its 3 degrees below zero up where you are, no wonder the old girl needed a bit more choke! Even kept in a garage the oil will be thicker, making the engine slower to turn over and harder to fire up. As I said earlier, the more you drive Lucy, the more you will get to know the quirks of her personality until you are an unbeatable team on the roads around the North Pole, or wherever it is you live...brrrr!
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

KeithL wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 2:37 pm
Alice Minor wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:51 am Just wondering if anybody is around my age and any lady owners out there by any chance or even your wives if they drive them and how they get on ?
Our Traveller, Alfred, is Jayne's car and she is the main driver whilst I navigate. We have had it over 9 years and she loves tootling around the country lanes of the Cotswolds near where we live. We do go on longer journeys and did three rallies this year (Wales, Oxfordshire and Derbyshire). Her main bugbear is reliability which is why we bought a rebuilt car and not a 'project'. Even so she gets frustrated when we do have problems. I can sort minor issues but I am not a mechanic and fortunately we have a local'ish garage who specialise in Morris Minors who seems to have adopted Alfred.

Let us know if there is anything specific you would like from Jayne.

Ahh so it’s Jayne’s car , ask her to PM me please and I’ll have a chat with her, that’s if she wants to

Alice x
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

Morning everyone

I’m getting better at starting LUCY , yesterday after work she started 3rd try with 3/4 choke and 4th try this morning with again 3/4 choke , no problems once I began driving so definitely getting the hang of using the choke but it’s all down to you guys

Thx so much 💋

Alice x
Myrtles Man
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Myrtles Man »

Aww! You're leaving us all choked up! :D
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

Myrtles Man wrote: Wed Nov 20, 2019 8:55 am Aww! You're leaving us all choked up! :D
“ choked up “ , I like it , very humorous 😉
SteveClem
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by SteveClem »

We try to do humour,Alice... You have to have a sense of fun if you are into old cars! :D
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

SteveClem wrote: Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:37 pm We try to do humour,Alice... You have to have a sense of fun if you are into old cars! :D
I’ve noticed that just over the past week or so , I hope 1 day I can maybe get to 1 of these rallies and meet you all , I’ve mastered starting LUCY now , 1st or 2nd try from cold, but it’s all down to the help I’ve had from you guys, you’ve been great , thank you 😊

I’ll leave you all in piece now and stop battering your heads by waffling on 😂

Alice xx
Bettythemoggie
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Bettythemoggie »

Hello Alice,
I am a lady moggie owner/driver but I am afraid I am a little older than yourself. My first car was a moggie when I was 18, a black 4 door saloon with a red stripe down the side. As the year's went on and the children came along, i switched over to a modern car. Now I am in my 50's really felt the urge to to back to a moggie. Managed to get one very similar to my first one back in the day. I must admit, after driving a modern car for 30 plus years, I was very nervous and shaking when I got back in a moggie. I have only had the car for about 3 weeks and the experience of driving 'Betty' is so unique in itself. There seems to be so much to think about, i.e choke, starter, wipers, full beam button on floor etc but, I am so happy I have her, it is so exciting every time I take her out but still have that nervous feeling. Enjoy your new loyal friend.
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

Bettythemoggie wrote: Sat Nov 23, 2019 6:39 pm Hello Alice,
I am a lady moggie owner/driver but I am afraid I am a little older than yourself. My first car was a moggie when I was 18, a black 4 door saloon with a red stripe down the side. As the year's went on and the children came along, i switched over to a modern car. Now I am in my 50's really felt the urge to to back to a moggie. Managed to get one very similar to my first one back in the day. I must admit, after driving a modern car for 30 plus years, I was very nervous and shaking when I got back in a moggie. I have only had the car for about 3 weeks and the experience of driving 'Betty' is so unique in itself. There seems to be so much to think about, i.e choke, starter, wipers, full beam button on floor etc but, I am so happy I have her, it is so exciting every time I take her out but still have that nervous feeling. Enjoy your new loyal friend.

Hiya

Nice to see another lady owner/driver , why not drop me a PM sometime

Alice x
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

Hi guys

Sorry to bother you again but I accidentally drove through some puddles of water over the weekend and soon after she began to splutter, I parked up for only 1 hour , she did start but took a little coaxing and about 5 or 6 attempts, I didn’t use her Sunday but at 8 am Monday morning she wouldn’t start at all , the best I got was some spluttering but eventually I ran the battery flat , I put it on charge and took my other car , I’ve just got home from work and was gonna have another try at getting her running , any advice from anybody ?

Thx

Alice x
jagnut66
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by jagnut66 »

How deep were these 'puddles'?
If not too deep then you may have just got a damp distributor.
Take the cap off and dry it thoroughly, it may take longer to dry out by itself in this weather.
A little light mist of WD40 in there may help keep damp at bay.
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
liammonty
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by liammonty »

It sounds like the ignition system could do with a service as when all is well, Minors are pretty tolerant of the damp and you shouldn’t have any trouble. It might be worth looking at getting some new HT leads, a distributor cap and rotor arm. You can buy really good quality ones from the Distributor Doctor (google him!). In the meantime though, get yourself a can of damp start (or WD40 if you can’t find any damp start) and give the HT leads ( the cables tat come off the spark plugs and go to the distributor cap) a good spray and it will dry the moisture out. If you carry it in the car with you, you’ll have it to hand if the same happens again 😀
myoldjalopy
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by myoldjalopy »

What they said.... 8)
jagnut66
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by jagnut66 »

1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »


Hi

Thx, I think I’ll invest in these to make her hopefully ok over the winter

Alice x
KeithL
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by KeithL »

Alice Minor wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:24 pm Ahh so it’s Jayne’s car , ask her to PM me please and I’ll have a chat with her, that’s if she wants to

Alice x
Alice,

Did you get Jayne's PM?

Alice Minor
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by Alice Minor »

KeithL wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 3:47 pm
Alice Minor wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:24 pm Ahh so it’s Jayne’s car , ask her to PM me please and I’ll have a chat with her, that’s if she wants to

Alice x
Alice,

Did you get Jayne's PM?

Hiya

Yes hun I did get Jayne’s PM , thx so much , you both sound fantastic

BTW I got LUCY started eventually, I had another try at starting her on Tuesday but she didn’t even try and ran the battery flat again trying , after charging her up again I got a friend to come round and take the distributor cap off and it was soaking wet , he dried everything out and gave it a light spray with WD40 , after checking the leads and putting everything back together again it was time for me to try her , 1/2 choke nothing 3/4 choke she spluttered with 2 try’s and with full choke she started 1st try so up and running again , -3 degrees this morning and she started 1st try on full choke so definitely getting the hang of her , hope you and Jayne are keeping well

Bye for now

Alice x
moggiethouable
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Re: Starting Dad's old Minor

Post by moggiethouable »

We live in the North East, you can contact me by e.mail rbaker41@msn.com
I can drop by while out shopping with the missus and help no problem.
We live in the Darlo area.
Where angels fear to tread
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