White Cooper

As usual, updates are long overdue. First of all, the latest on the white Cooper, which is not good news at all; the dropgears have eaten each other, which meant the gearbox had to come apart and some expensive components replaced.

After being away for a long time, I stumbled upon the pics from the white Cooper's restoration. I uploaded them to Flickr so that they are available right here on the site again.

Er is weer eens iets nieuws te melden over de witte Cooper, en wel op het front van de spatborden. De laatste keer dat ik daarover schreef was, na de trip naar het IMM in Polen, de situatie nogal schokkend. Score: spatbord rechtsachter doorgesleten, spatbord rechtsachter doorgebroken (door een eerder ongelukje), chroomstrip links verdwenen.

Een update is alweer lang over tijd. Een aantal weken geleden hebben we een dyno dag gehad met de Mini Seven Club en wat ik al dacht te voelen is nu bevestigd door harde feiten: 78 pk schoon aan de haak. Dat is dan aan de krukas, bij SpeedCentre wordt d.m.v. uitrollen een schatting gedaan van de verliezen in de aandrijflijn. Helemaal niet slecht, Joost heeft weer eens eer van zijn werk. Het lek is boven, om het zo maar te zeggen. Binnenkort maar eens een project plan gaan maken van alle zaken die ik aan de auto wil doen.

Het is al een tijd geleden dat ik een update schreef over de witte Cooper, en er is weer veel gebeurd. Zo is er een nieuwe episode in de never ending story "chroomstrip", en zijn er een paar duizend kilometer op de teller bijgekomen... door het voormalige oostblok.

It's a bit late to report, but last sunday, the overhauled cylinder head as created by Joost went back on the white Cooper. In the end, valve seats went in for all four inlet valves, because the other valves were not properly cut either (was just not as apparent as with the one valve). Joost also performed some magic on the flowing of the head, and reckons the head should already make a good difference.

With all the new Mini stuff, it has been a while since I reported about the white Cooper. Last weekend, some stuff happened that is more than worth a report, though. More than likely, we've found what is causing the hole in the engine's power!

Looks like I've commited to reporting everything that happens in my automotive live, so it wouldn't be fair to only report about the good times (and the moderately bad, see chrome trim episodes), but also the bad and shameful times. So, here goes...

One of the key characteristics you often hear about driving a Mini is that you are sitting so close to the street. Last weekend, I found out that I would have almost been sitting much closer to the street than is dear to me.

Yes! After having reported about the not-so-great attempt at fitting new chrome trim to the white Cooper, we put a lot of thought into how to proceed. I considered paying someone with a proven track record numerous times, although the thought that we should be able to do this was always present too. One thing was certain; we wouldn't be sattisfied with the trim looking like it did. Certainly not when knowing full well there were Mini's out there that did get it right.