Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

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Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Die Judicii » 14 Nov 2026, 2:47 pm

I bought a scissor jack for a recently fully restored Mini Minor car, just in case of a flat tire.
Imagine the shock of then reading the highlighted section in the accompanying pamphlet.
:lol:
Good old "protect against being sued" mentality at work here ?
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by fussy » 14 Nov 2026, 3:05 pm

Just bought a spigot for the bath: warranty void if not installed by a licenced plumber.
(Like the clown who installed the original so the window can't open inwards unless I rotate the spigot 30 degrees, is he competent enough?)
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Fester » 14 Nov 2026, 3:24 pm

Like the high lift jack that I bought and have to carry, hoping to never have to use the dangerous sucker.
It wasn't even safe to lift a corner on a flat surface; it looked like it would lift and fall.
Wasn't doing any further testing when it would likely dent the new car while falling over.

We all did the silly things when younger, but I stopped working under jacks alone many years back.
I just take the extra minute or 2 for a stand to back up the jack.
At least the 4x4 is high enough to not think about dieing that way every time I snake under it.

Plumbers must be the bodgiest tradies I have ever seen.
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Wapiti » 14 Nov 2026, 4:35 pm

I bought two of the cheapie scissor jacks off of ebay, I welded two angles in the slots on the top of each.
In those, the 25NB pipe extended farm gates sit - one at each end and the jacks came with these these adaptors you put in your screw gun. So you don't need to use the crappy wind handles.
I can raise or lower the gates fast, to align then weld the hinges to the end assemblies. Awesome.

Stuffed if I'd lift ANY car with these things. A nice short compact 5T hydraulic jack thanks - for a Minor. NOT a Cruiser.
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Die Judicii » 14 Nov 2026, 11:14 pm

Wapiti wrote:I bought two of the cheapie scissor jacks off of ebay, I welded two angles in the slots on the top of each.
In those, the 25NB pipe extended farm gates sit - one at each end and the jacks came with these these adaptors you put in your screw gun. So you don't need to use the crappy wind handles.
I can raise or lower the gates fast, to align then weld the hinges to the end assemblies. Awesome.

Stuffed if I'd lift ANY car with these things. A nice short compact 5T hydraulic jack thanks - for a Minor. NOT a Cruiser.


Mate,,,,,,, Methinks you havn't had to jack up an early model Mini for a long time, and have forgotten that,,,,,,

a) The Poms were past masters at making a simple task downright difficult if not impossible.
b) The Mini's only have one single jacking point on either side.
c) The shape/contour of the sill panel makes it impossible to use an ordinary jack without a special addition/fitting.
d) Without (c) you do structural damage to the vehicle.
e) The OME is extremely hard to get one nowadays.
f) The OME is that complicated it defys all logic & common sense.
g) And last but not least,, with a flat tire even the low profile hydraulic jacks won't fit under.
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I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
And,,,,It's been proven,,,,, the most trustworthy females in my entire life were all canines.
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by bigrich » 15 Nov 2026, 3:33 am

bloody cool , haven't seen a "flying brick" for a long time :D the following vid is from group NC racing at bathurst . looking at the tacho on the dash it's redlined at 9500 rpm ! near the end of the race he takes it to 10,000 :shock: and he yells quite a bit , must be quite emotional going that fast with your arse 4" off the ground :lol: speedo doesn't work unfortunately . i already told ya mate , ya need to cut a hole in the firewall to fit a big side draught weber on your missuses mini
:lol:

https://youtu.be/33URAcRRChw?si=wR6Qpxe-4EM9Yjs_
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Wapiti » 15 Nov 2026, 6:30 am

You got me there mate, the only experience I've had with a mini was a horrifying experience in the early 90s when a mate brought a mini Cooper project over. Sitting 6 inches off the road in a gocart is not the greatest engineering feat the poms ever came up with.

But yeah, I've found that with other cars too, the stupid jack goes under when the tyres up, but when it's flat... no way.
That's one of the reasons I did engineering coming from a trade - these self-important Mech-Eng clowns don't regard you to their level if you have any sense whatsoever...
How many times in coal mining applications have we seen complicated CAD drawings that look interesting when you first look at them, but as you start a fabrication plan you realise they cannot actually be made...
"The only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Damo300 » 15 Nov 2026, 6:55 am

I knew a couple of cooper addicts when I grew up. Their cars were beautiful. One looked very similar to yours. The owners sir name was Driver.
Had a worked 1275. Went like a scalded cat. Nothing beats a mini around a round about.

My old man was a moke fanatic.
He had about 4 at one stage.
All Californians.
Nearly killed us towing a trailer in one one day out Amberly way. He had gravel in the trailer and got the wobbles up, lost control into a passing semi's rear tire... Luckily he had a tow bar on the front of that one and we bounced back off the tyre...Soooo, close to the end it wasn't funny. I was barely 5yrs old, but remember that very well. Mokes were cool. He never had a Cooper though.


And reading the term "flying brick" reminds me of Archerfield speedway back in the 80s.
Can't remember the name of the drivers, but that mini cooper was a fantastic speedway car.
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Re: Makes me wonder why I bought it ?

Post by Fester » 15 Nov 2026, 9:51 am

I wanted a mini as my first car, but luckily I was talked out of it by older blokes who knew how troublesome they were.
Can't argue about the Cooper S performance, though. It would feel twice as fast.

The apprentice training college for 1st-year kids was full of EH Holdens, Minis, M1 and 2 Cortinas.
Datsun 1600s were a pick, and I had one later.

I keep a scissor jack in the garage as a handy, quick lifting device.
I can't get over how light they can make them for some small cars, great mechanical advantage.
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