Thanks! He's definitely on my short list now. I'll be putting together a few emails over the weekend!

Got a guy by us here in Baltimore. He's here on the forum "Meet the speakers" . He does VTEC conversions.

• Contact:John McGee
• UserName: meetthespeakers
• Telephone:7032160921

Final outcome: The mini made it down to New Orleans! Then immediately died where I parked it in front of my new home. I spent a few grand to get the car "fixed" and made it back to New York. It's been sitting next to my parents' house on Staten Island for three years while I gathered the money together to rip this engine out and replace it with a vtec. Now I'm ready for the project to and all projects (yeah, right) and looking for someone capable in the Northeast.

Time goes by, and some things never change.

Well? Out come? Would love to hear the final answer.....

The Mini is fixed!

I will give more information after my trip, but right now I'm scrambling around, packing last minute things, putting pieces of my car back together (hah) and heading to the bank before it closes and I don't see it again for three months.

Thanks to everyone on this board for your help and encouragement, and a special thank you to L.I.M.E.NY president Thomas Abbe for fixing my timing and properly tuning my mini - go to www.thomasabbespecialtuning.com for his awesome work and www.thomasabbe.com to see his beautiful photography.

As Mur suggested, I am going to start a new thread in regards to this trip - but gotta get going first!

Cheers,
Rich

Neal, I don't think so on the early carbed models as i have a friend with a true 75 and his does not have it, they did introduce it later on some of the Jap spec Mini's but i think that was more to cope with the extra a/c load than anything.

I don't have any autobox experience either, but here's something you might try to cfm whether it MIGHT be a ground strap problem vs. a low idle issue vs a tranny problem.

Rev it up a titch higher than idle (and keep your foot steady) and put it in gear and see what happens.

Also, instead of putting it in reverse, put it in drive (or equivalent)....does it still stall? (IE: anything different using reverse vs. a fwd gear?)

IE: is it the sudden THUMP of being put into gear that's stalling it?> (torque converter)

or just too low of an idle (idle adjustment)

or the vibration (ground strap)

Again, no experience with the auto's...just tossing out ideas here.

... or start pushing. If you leave now you'll be there by sunday afternoon. Watching this unfold is seriously bumming me out. These cars are relatively simple machines, but they do have their idiosyncrasies. You can waste a lot of time and money troubleshooting or paying a non mini guy to troubleshoot (ask me how I know).

Nice theory, Dan....worth a look.  I have no autobox experience on Minis, but shouldn't there be some "idle up" adjustment mechanism to compensate for the added load on the engine when put into gear?

A total shot in the dark from way out in left field, but does the engine have a good ground strap? Putting the transmission in reverse and trying to back up would cause the engine to tilt forward. Having had the head off-and-on-and-off, the ground strap could have been left undone, or maybe it separates when the engine tilts. The engine could be loose if the dog-bone engine strut's firewall bracket has broken - something not uncommon. It would look OK because it is hidden under the dog-bone and the upper plate.

I gotta go, but scanning the thread quickly, there's something about starter problems, choke cable issues etc. - also pointing possibly to a grounding issue.

I didn't disable the car. It wasn't going anywhere before I removed the distributor.

Also, started it today, let it warm up for 20 minutes, and it stalled immediately after putting it in reverse. In other words, same issue.

And a trip thread would be a really good idea. I'll definitely do that.

Snide comments aside, they did sort it out for you after you disabled the car.

Are you still planning on driving the car south?

I think you should start a new thread in regard to your trip, so that folks can give suggestions on a thorough pre-trip inspection of the car, and others can point out where they think you should go en route and who lives nearby for you to visit or call if you have trouble.

He installed the other distributor (electronic one) and its running better than it has. But this wouldn't be the first time they gave it back to me and it didn't run the next day.

What was the problem ?

So, a bit of an update. The car is now back in my possession and SEEMS to be running great. I will get it out to long island ASAP to confirm.

Hope it will be all good.

Hopefully will have an update on a roadworthy car tomorrow. After that it's off to someone I trust for a checkup.

Like I said this is the fourth time I'm taking it back to them. They didn't charge me the other three times.

Rich i hate to be a pessimist and i hope i am wrong but i can't understand why any shop would agree to fix the current problem you have which has nothing to do with the head gasket they replaced. As they want you to bring it back to them i can only assume they will want to charge you again for different repairs at ridiculous rates ($1200 for a head gasket).

Again i hope i am wrong and your Mini gets repaired to your satisfaction in a timely manner.

Bit of an update: between 9:30am yesterday and 4pm today they had yet to touch the car. The guy said there were a bunch of other cars on line in front of mine and they would get to it later in the day.

They are closed on weekends.

I always had an issue with how they waste time. The first time I took it there I called Thursday and they said they were too busy and I should bring it Monday. I brought it Monday, they didn't look at it until Wednesday (where they thought it was just a choke cable issue), didn't drive it on Thursday because it was raining (WHAT?) and on Friday realized there was a bigger problem. Did a compression test the following Monday and ordered the head gasket overnight, replaced it and gave me my car back on Tuesday. So the first time I went to them they did one day of work over a 13-day period. Plus they charged me for the overnight shipping of the parts.

But since this is the third time I'm taking it back to them since then, they're obligated to fix it for free. So that's why it's there.