Garaged unused for three years worth anything?

A friend has just offered my son a 'free' morris mini that was on the road with a M.O.T. , until three years ago and has then been kept in a garage 'with nothing done to it since'.

Its of an age that still had the horizontal 'sliding' window, instead of the 'wind up' vertical window. Since it was road worthy before going in the garage and hasn't been used since, presumably it is still road worthy.

Its about 15 miles from our house. Would it be likely the engine would get us home, if we put petrol in it and jump started the battery? Or would the battery be too clapped out to be useful? Since I'm a novice any tips to help get it going would be appreciated.

My sons main interest is not in restoring it in any way, but to sell it on. What roughly would a road worthy, sliding window mini, with a small bit of surface body rust ( and it's not an estate or a cooper) be worth, if anything? Or would going over to pick it up just be largely wasted effort for reselling it? Thanks for any advice.

Reply to
johngood_____
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Absolutely not!

Battery will be US.

Other problems may include the hand brake seized on, the clutch seized, brake hydraulic leaks or seized wheel cylinders.

It's also likely that the tyres will have deteriorated to an extent that they would be a danger.

For the safety of yourself and others, you should only move it on a trailer.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I'l have it ;-)

Seriously, that's a Mk1 Mini, increasingly rare. Look at the prices on Ebay.

_Any_ Mini with tax & test should be worth over 1k these days, and Mk1s are very desirable. For God's sake save it somehow.

You will be unlikely to get it started without some work; the fuel tends to gum up in the carbs after that length of lay-up, and you'll like as not need to change the battery for one that's charged. Borrow a trailer if you can, if the car is anything like you'll easily get the cost of hiring one back. If you're anywhere near Nottingham I have a trailer that will suit. I know plenty of people in the Mini forums up and down the country that would be just as eager to help.

Reply to
Chris Bolus

After three years in a garage, you can expect some deterioration of rubber components. Are the tyres flat at the bottom? Are the brake flexibles showing any sign of rot? If it has the rubber trumpet style suspension rather than hydrolastic, do they look OK?

Possibly, but not necessarily, see above.

Once you have jump started it, even a clapped battery will keep the engine running provided you don't stall it. But, if damp has got into the engine, it might not turn over at all because the piston rings might rust to the cylinder wall. But it hasn't got an MOT and it hasn't got road tax. The only place you can legally drive it to is a garage for a pre-booked MOT.

The best advice I can give is either to sell it from the garage in which it currently sits, and let the buyer worry about how to move it, or to at least put it through an MOT test, when you can make the decision on whether to repair it and sell it with an MOT, or wave the failure certificate at the buyer so they are aware of what they are letting themselves in for.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

My first thoughts are to wonder if the friend offered the car for use rather than to be just sold on?

My second thoughts are that if he just wants rid, it's a heap. Very very few people don't realise reasonable 40 year old cars will be worth more than scrap. Quite the reverse, actually.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

The date being 14 Nov 2007, "johngood_____" decided to write:

Not necessarily, but there's a good chance it won't need much work to return it to working condition.

If the battery hasn't been charged it could well be u/s so take some jump leads. Take care - it is probably positive earth! If you get the engine running and don't stall it the battery should get you home.

Take the plugs out, put a little bit of oil in the cylinders and turn the engine over for a bit to get the oil circulating. It might be worthwhile undoing the oil filter pipe banjo on the front of the block and running some oil back into the oil pump to prime it. Then check the distributor points, check the plug gaps, clean and replace the plugs.

Drain the tank and put some fresh petrol in it, and make sure that the petrol pump is working. It might need a little encouragement. When you know you've got some petrol and some sparks give it a try.

As it's a Mk.I or II it's worth quite a lot. On no account scrap it!

If you get it running, and, better still, taxed and tested, it will fetch a higher price. If you don't want to do any work on it just sell it "as seen" from where it is.

Reply to
Richard Porter

ebay it "as is" (maybe roll it out of the garage for pics), you'll get top price with least hassle.

Reply to
Tony Bond

Not necessarily. Chances are it's got a generator and they're not the best performers at the best of times. Running it off a spare battery isn't a big deal though. My worry would be all the brakes.

Reply to
adder1969

Many thanks for all the most useful advice. We will not be able to sell it from the garage which is in Clapham. We have to get it to where we live which is near Finchley Central. We are going over on Sunday morning to see if we can manage to start it or tow it.

If the mini is positive earth, would we connect our jump leads from our Corolla (negative earth) like this: corolla +ve battery to mini earth and corolla -ve battery to mini +ve battery ?

Also if the handbrake has been left on and has rusted on to the rear brake drums, I'm at a bit of a loss to know how to free them, since we wont be able to get the drums off to get at them?

If we need to get a car trailer, where might be a good place to get one from, any ideas on that one please? Thanks for all your kind help.

Reply to
johngood_____

Forget about whether the vehicles are +ve or -ve earth. Just connect battery -ve to battery -ve, and battery +ve to battery +ve. DO NOT allow the vehicles to be in contact with each other!

Before even trying to start the Mini, put it in 4th gear and see if you can push it enough to turn the engine over. If you can see that the engine is definitely not seized, get someone to sit in it and hold the clutch pedal down. Now try pushing it, whilst still in gear, to see if the clutch is freeing. (In other words, the engine not now rotating.)

Unless the engine is free, and the clutch lifts OK, there would be no point wasting your time trying to start it. It might be worth seeing that the brake pedal doesn't go to the floor first also!

Check to see there is coolant in it. If it has frozen up during its period on non-use, it may well have forced a core plug out of the block when it thawed.

If the above is OK, connect the jump leads, then allow the Corolla to run for at least 15 mins or so before trying to crank the Mini.

If it starts, bear in mind that it has an electric fuel pump, and a weedy dynamo, so if the battery is as completely knackered as I imagine it to be, you may have trouble keeping it running.

If the rear bakes are seized on, look first at the handbrake cable quadrants under the front of the rear suspension swinging arms. These often seize on a Mini in regular use! You may be able to force them round with a large screwdriver.

Failing that, try removing each rear wheel in turn, and beat the drum with a hammer. You may shock the shoes free in this manner.

Sorry can't help you there. Try Yellow Pages? Or maybe look in the local paper to see if anyone will do car transport cheaply?

You're welcome. Let us know how you get on.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

It should be good enough provided you use the minimum of other electrics. I have driven a car fitted with a dynamo (it was a Jowett Javelin) with no battery in it at all. The engine kept going.

Yes, I agree with that.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

Assuming you get it above cut-out operating speed, a dynamo is easily capable of supplying enough current for the ignition, etc.

Yes and a seized clutch.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Whether its possible to start it or tow it is irrelevant. To drive it or tow it is at best illegal, at worst very dangerous.

You need that trailer. There are plenty of companies who will move it for you.

Reply to
DougP

that will result in one of the batteries catching fire......

it should be:

corolla +ve battery to mini earth and corolla earth to mini -ve battery ?

Reply to
Mallory

Nonsense. "the mini is positive earth"; there is nothing wrong with the connections as written - the only thing to watch is that the two car bodies don't touch each other.

Reply to
TimR

Er, it may be positive earth, but connecting the two batteries in series and then shorting them _will not be pleasant_. It'll probably just melt the leads before anything explodes, but it is not a good idea.

Reply to
David Taylor

Try reading what's quoted - if you did as described on a +ve earth car, it would result in a hot mess somewhere!

cheers, clive

Reply to
Clive George

Oh, sorry, misread the connections.

They are actually

Corolla +ve to mini +ve (earth/body)

Corolla -ve (earth/body) to mini +ve (earth/body)

Which will only short out the corolla body.

On the plus side, no additional harm will come from allowing the two car bodies to touch...

Reply to
David Taylor

Positive or negative earth mini, the described connections would not be a good idea...

Reply to
David Taylor

The date being 17 Nov 2007, David Taylor decided to write:

Just connect +ve to +ve and -ve to -ve. That's all there is to it.

I only said be careful because if the cars are opposite polarities you must neither let them touch each other while the leads are connected nor connect earth to earth and live to live (which you could easily do if you connected the jump leads to the block and solenoid without first checking the battery in the boot of the Mini).

Reply to
Richard Porter

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