Years ago, somebody posted a birds-eye view of a small island with a lighthouse, a short road across the island to the boat landing... and a Mini on that road. If i recall, correctly there was no place to turn the car around. Anybody still have it?

...or been shot at by Sarah when trying to see said daughter?

(Note the good-natured ribbing is coming from Canada!)

Have you dated Sarah Palin ? , or her daughter ??

Big AL

I am confident that Canada still exists, and the province of British Columbia still is part of Canada, and that there are mini owners throughout that province.

Though he rarely posts here any longer, Lurch grew up in the Queen Charlotte Islands and that is where his mini spent most of its life.

Can you see Russia from your kitchen window?

Sorry everyone I haven’t got back to some of your questions..Its a busy time here right now as I manage a Sockeye salmon hatchery.. Steve... First I am located near Juneau Alaska. The kicker is I live in remote Alaska, Port Snettisham to be exact..( google it or search it on Google Earth as it will make more sense). Nearest town is 40 miles by boat or floatplane only there are no roads that connect us to Juneau Alaska or the mainland.. I know odd place to have a mini but it’s a project and it’s small and I have lots of time to work on it in the wintertime. Once finished I will ship it back to Juneau where I Will be able to actually use it..Basically outside of you guys I am on my own in this endeavor since I am confident the closest actual classic mini owner is in Washington state some 1,000 Air miles away. Malcom...yes I had the clutch bracket off just to make removing the engine as easy as possible but then staged it back on to take photos for reassembly down the road I just didn’t put all the bolts and sleeve back on. You are correct in it was originally an Early MK 2 With an A series engine but then swapped to an A+ 1275 in the early 90s..Its definitely a Mr Potatoe Head... Doug...It does have a relay just like that in line.

OK thanks Doug i have been out of town and did not see the post. The bolt that is loose i can understand but the lower bolt on the bracket should still be there even when pulling the engine there is no need to disconnect the bracket.

Malcolm, in an earlier post he said the clutch slave was loose because he was in the process of pulling the engine.

Among other things it looks like the A series motor was swapped out for an A+ motor with the pre engaged starter and the main battery cable needs to be longer. I used a battery cut off switch in the line on a conversion i did years ago, a lot easier than replacing the cable and a whole lot cheaper.
The slave cylinder is not bolted down correctly also it should have a 1/4" bolt with a collar on it on the bottom side as the plate will flex without it eventually bending it, as the angle of the slave rod is wrong it has already started to bend and will eventually fail.

Just to be clear, when Mur and I were asking about a relay, we were not talking about the round cylinder on top of the starter motor.  We're looking for something similar to a Bosch/ISO relay somewhere inline with the small wire (not brown or white/yellow wire) going to the starter motor.

What we were asking about will probably look like the relay shown in the picture below.

Looks like you have a few things to do. You don't say where you are located. That info may very well get you more help with your project. Steve (CTR)

Well I stand corrected. I had never seen anything like this before..Really appreciate all the comments and input.. You are correct as it was an earlier car in its first life but now is an amalgam of MK 2 & 3 parts..The starter is triggered by a relay, not sure the color of the wire at the moment but I will look. I think I will leave it as is for now but just clean it up and move it up away from the clutch housing as it seems a bit too close for comfort...The reason for the clutch looking like it's not connected correctly is because I was in the process of removing the engine. I am in the very slow.... process of a partial restoration. So far it's been an very enjoyable adventure and I have learned a lot in just the 6 weeks We owned the car..It sat in S Carolina for 15 years after it came over from Cambridgeshire in in 1998. So I am finding most all small mechanicals and parts have to be replaced since most are seized as a result of rust, corrosion. I love the fact I can post questions on this forum and get answers from a friendly group of very knowledgeable Mini enthusiasts. K

I have done that. The problem is that the car's wiring harness is made to go to that point on the inner fender, so it is more complex than merely extending the main battery cable.

As Doug mentioned, it is important that the modern starter be triggered via a relay, as the ignition switch can't reliably supply current to operate it. 

If you think about it, a wiring harness has a lifespan like any other part in a car, and the best way to deal with these sorts of drivetrain changes is to buy a new one from Autosparks.

It also appears your clutch slave is not bolted to it's mount correctly. Steve (CTR)

As you suspected, this is not a factory wiring scheme.  Though it may look cobbed up, it's actually rather clever in a way.

Your car appears to have been wired for the inertia starter while your starter is the later pre-engaged type.  As Steve was saying, for your starter motor the factory wiring would have the cable from the boot going to the threaded stud on the starter motor with all the car's brown wires also on that stud.  

If you don't like the cotton-reel solution the previous owner used you can see if the existing battery cable is long enough to reach the starter motor without the additional length of cable and move it. If it is too short and you don't want to use the cotton-reel, you can literally bolt the two cables together directly and wrap the joint up with tons of electrical tape.  Or you could use an industrial splice like that shown in the picture below... probably for #4 AWG... and tons of electrical tape.  Of course... the brown wires also must be long enough to reach the starter motor stud.


Since you have brought up your starter motor wiring and it appears you have an early car with later starter... what color is the "small" wire going to the starter motor solenoid and can you see a relay in the path of that wire to the starter motor?

There have been several ways to route the cables over the years. We can leave the early floor push button start ones out. Following that there was a solenoid mounted in the general area where you now have a exhaust or rod change shift bobbin. The main battery cable for the inertia starter stops at that general location and the short cable goes from the other side of solenoid to the the inertia starter. The later cars with the pre-engaged starter the main cable runs all the way to the starter and the solenoid is mounted on top of the starter. There should be a trigger wire that ended at the original solenoid location and was extended to the starter location. My solution has been to move the short cable to the same side as the main cable and extend the trigger wire. That way if I needed to change starter types it would be easy. Replacing the main cable with the longer one would be a real job. Hope that is the info you were looking for. Steve (CTR)

Ok all here is one for you.. See pic..In process of cleaning up and making sense of the wiring in the engine compartment. Fairly sure this in not correct and the previous owner just through something together to make it work?  So the cable from the battery in the boot comes up into the engine compartment and is connected to a rubbber mounted stud (which literally looks like the rubber mounting piece used for the gearbox extension) anyhow this is attached to the inner right wing just above the clutch housing. As you can see the wiring harness pulls power from this point. The solenoid is also attached to this spot via short length of cable. This just doesn't seem right? There has to be a better/ safer way...Input,diagrams, pics  are much appreciated..K