FEBRUARY 2002 Issue (there is no January Issue)

On the beat with Dave Black

    First up this month was the tech session at Mike Gibson's in Groton, CT.
November 24th found six of us assembled under Mike's carport, braving the
rain showers. 
    Mike had recently purchased his lump from "Big Al" Guest in Ontario.  It
seems Al met with a little accident on his way back from MME in July.  While
towing a trailer behind his 60's vintage BMC RV the trailer got away and his
nice red Mini ended up against a tree.  Al saved the lump and Mike was lucky
enough to answer the for sale ad.
    Just to be sure there was nothing internally wrong with the motor, we
set it up on the test stand, and before long it was purring like a
well-mannered 1275 should.  No smoke, and no disconcerting noises from
inside, not even a drop of oil dripping after being run up to temperature.
    Having been pronounced worthy, it was now time to insert the lump into
Mike's beautifully restored van.  This was going to have to be a very
cautious installation, as the van was recently painted a flawless, bright
yellow from top to bottom.  We were careful not to scratch anything, but
while muscling the lump in, a valve cover came crashing down off the roof of
the van and put a nasty scratch on the right front fender.  So now Mike
doesn't have to worry about where the first scratch will come from!
    Lesson:  Do not store anything on the roof of your Mini!!  We hope to
see Mike out and about this season with his family in their van.

NEMO celebrates the holidays

    Our Christmas Party was held on December 16th at John Harvard's.  At
least 30 NEMO members showed up with presents for the Yankee Swap.  As in
years past, the weather was decent enough to bring out 10 Minis, with two
Woodies, two "S"es (one from Cape Cod) and the rest of our saloons of
varying description.
    The food was great (John Harvard's handles our crowd with ease) and the
Swap was a hoot.  This year we added a twist ‹ there was one "mystery
present" which could be chosen and swapped, but could not be opened until
the very end.  There was quite a variety of gifts, from spray lube,
t-shirts, Mini balls (lots of jokes when Dave Reid ended up with these!), a
pair of Mini Hooters (ask Alex Daley about those!) and some very nice Mini
models.  Try not to miss this next year!
    Here we are in the doldrums of winter.  Even though our driving may be
curtailed, this is the best time to do those projects you've been planning
to do for a long time.  You've got about four months before your Mini needs
to be driveable again, so get started.  There's plenty of time to do
anything (bodywork, paint, subframes, brakes, engine rebuild or upgrade,
interior work), so don't waste any more time thinking about it!  If you need
to borrow money to do what you want, interest rates have never been lower.
There¹s really no excuse not to tackle any job!
    Need a garage?  Let's arrange a tech session!  Already we have two
engine rebuilds planned ‹ Dan St. Croix's 1380 needs a freshening (started
that December 29th!) and then comes Ron Lieuwma's Turbo later in January.
There's always time to replace your lump with one of those from my
collection (a one-day job).
    Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Announcing: NEMO's 2002 Planning Meeting!

    Harrisville, RI - Join us on Sunday, February 17th, at Faith and Bruce's
house in Harrisville for a Planning Meeting and Pot Luck Lunch.  Plan to
arrive at 12 noon with a dish to share and your ideas for activities for the
rest of the year. 
    The organizers of the British Cars by the Sea show will be joining us.
That event is scheduled for June 2nd and the Mini will be the Featured
Marque.  They want our input and help for the show, so it is very important
that you join us.

Mini Meet East in June!

    We received an e-mail with the dates for this year's Mini Meet East.
MME 2002 will be held June 27-30 in Charleston, SC.  Make sure you put the
dates on your calendar.  We will get you more information as soon as it is
available. www.minimeeteast.com
    And yes, the new Minis will be eligible to attend!

MARCH 2002 Issue

On the beat with Dave Black

    HOPKINTON, MA - As you might have guessed, this has been a quiet month
for activities in the MINI realm.  Big news was the Planning Meeting on
February 17th at Bruce and Faith's.  We were treated to a wonderful array of
pot luck dishes (food, not girls!), and Faith took great pride in showing
off her newly decorated home.  No expense has been spared in covering the
walls with Cuban art and what I can only call "nouveau MINI."  The Cuban
stuff is interesting, but that other - ugh.  Beauty really is in the eye of
the beholder!
    Steve Wincze and Dave Werblow from The Connecticut MG Club were present
to formally invite us to their June 2nd "British Cars by the Sea" show.
Each year they choose a featured marque, and this year it's the MINI
(Classic, of course).  The event will be held at Harkness Memorial Park on
Connecticut's south coast and promises to be a huge event.  There will be
more details as June approaches, but if you'd like to contact Steve direct
for information, his e-mail is MGTD52@attbi.com.
    Lots of ideas were kicked around and it seems there's just not enough
time to fit in everything that we'd like to do.  At least 19 items are on
the calendar (see below). That means that three out of four weekends a month
will see some kind of NEMO activity!  At this rate, every one of you should
be able to make it to at least one event.
    In member news, Steve Dodge has been busy putting together his Innocenti
Cooper S after a complete paint job.  Rumor has it that he even put a coat
of wax on the bottom before reassembly!  He has threatened to bring one of
those mirrors to show off his bottom at the next show.  (The kind that folks
who never drive their cars use!)
    Bruce and Faith announced that they have put deposits on two of the new
Minis.  Needless to say, they are mucho excited about taking delivery in the
near future.
    Greg Mazza is busy with construction on his new barn/garage, so hasn't
had much time to work on his fleet of Minis.  Dan St. Croix, meanwhile, is
currently engulfed in Mini parts.  He is doing a complete rebuild of his
1330 and rod-change tranny.  After an interminable wait for parts, he's
starting to put it all back together and should be driving in a couple of
weeks. 

Dan St Croix's MINI (at the CCBCC October 2001 show)

    Dave Newman has decided to build up a "fresh" 998 to keep his older car
on the road for yet another year.  (There should be an award for longevity!)
Ken Taplin is about to replace inner pot-joint boots.  He called to ask if I
thought he was up to the task!  Any of you who have done this realize that
it requires the complete removal of hubs and axles, and can turn in to a
long weekend! 
    Last word from Ron Blanchette had him wading into a complete lump
rebuild alone.  You know, Ron, here in southern New England we gang up on
the project - safety in numbers - and there¹s few among us who'd attempt
that job alone! 
    Ron Liewma will be rebuilding his Turbo lump beginning in March.  Anyone
who'd like to be present can just come over to my house almost any weekend
    That's all for now.  Don¹t forget to check out the events calendar!


Spot the MINI   by Faith Lamprey

    The latest MINI to "spot" was in a Target commercial.  Watch closely and
you¹ll notice a race-prepped Mini running through an autocross course, with
bottles of Tide used as traffic cones.

APRIL 2002 Articles


New Mini debuts at Boston dealership

    ALLSTON, MA, Mar. 22, 2002  NEMO was out in force for the Boston area
premiere of the new Mini Cooper.  Attendance was encouraged by a telephone
invitation from our President, Hrach Chekijian, who now works "in
operations" at the sponsoring dealership,.  An e-mail blitz
from anxious customer Faith Lamprey to her fellow NEMO members also helped.

    Three of the new Minis and two classic ones (for comparison and perhaps
nostalgic purposes) were on display.  Test drives were to begin the
following day;  by appointment only due to demand.  No Cooper S' were
available as yet, but the standard Coopers made an impression just the same.

    The Mini showroom is small and located on the second floor, over a BMW
dealership   The space would be cramped if the product offered was
anything but a Mini.
    Although the first allotment of cars will be coming in this month,
if you want a Mini with your own specs ( like one you can work up by
visiting Mini USA's website) you can expect delivery in June.  The
"typical" Mini arriving at the dealership will have leatherette seats, CD
player and 5-speed, though cloth, cassette and CVT are listed options.
    It"s great to have Hrach there.  Naturally, he provided the food.  (all photos by Bruce Vild)

Microcar Museum Tour - Sunday, May 19, 2002

    We at NEMO are honored to be one of the first groups to tour the new
Microcar Museum in Hudson, MA.  Charles and Nancy Gould (organizers of the
ever-popular Microcar Day) have moved their eclectic collection of
"everything motorized and micro" out of their garage and yard to a site in
Hudson.
    Plan to meet there for a tour on Sunday, May 19th, at 11 a.m.  We will
adjourn afterwards to a local watering hole for refreshments and sustenance.
    The museum is located in Hudson on Brent Drive - which is right off of
Main Street - at around number 555 Main, near the Hudson/Stow town line. It
is actually between 555 Main and the Fire Station.
    To get there, Charles and Nancy prefer the back roads, but depending
where you are coming from you basically can go Rt. 16 to Rt. 30 or Rt. 20,
and then to Rt. 126 (also Rt. 27) until you reach the new fire station just
after Sudbury Center.  Then you have to stay straight where Rt. 27 turns
right, and follow the Mapquest® directions below from there.  They are:
    From Route 128/95 North:  Take the U.S. 20 exit (Exit 26) towards
Waltham/Rt. 117/Weston; go 0.2 mi.  Stay straight to go onto U.S. 20
East/Weston Street.  Go 0.4 mi., after which U.S. 20 East/Weston Street
becomes U.S. 20 West/Boston Post Road.  Go 1.1 mi.  Stay straight to go onto
Boston Post Road.  Go 1.7 mi.  Take a slight right onto Boston Post
Road/U.S. 20.  Go 2.4 mi., then turn right onto Cochituate
Road/MA-126/MA-27.  Go 0.1 mi.  Stay straight to go onto Old Sudbury
Road/MA-27.  After 3.1 mi., Old Sudbury Road/MA-27 becomes Hudson
Road/MA-27.  Go 0. 4 mi.  Take a slight left onto Hudson Road.  Go 2.9 mi.
Hudson Road becomes Sudbury Road.  Go another 0.5 mi., and stay straight to
go onto State Road.  After 0.2 mi., State Road becomes Main Street.  Go 1.4
mi., then turn left onto Brent Drive.
    Mileages are rounded to the nearest tenth.
    The museum is the first building on the left side as you climb up the
hill.  It is a blue corrugated steel building with a large stockade fence
out front.

On the beat with Dave Black

    This has been an active month for member news.  Though there have been
no scheduled events, many NEMO folks have been busy getting their cars ready
for the driving season.
    Dan St. Croix completed his 1310 rebuild - and after chasing numerous
leaks whilst running on the test stand, it was deemed fit to put in his car.
His e-mail after driving home to Plymouth noted that the pesky timing cover
oil leak had reappeared!  Also a shift linkage problem has mysteriously come
up.  It seems to engage 1st, he needs to engage 3rd-4th, then move over to
1st.  When going directly into 1st, there seems to be nothing there!
There'll be a couple of tech sessions to solve these problems.
    Curtis Boivin sorted out a carburettor glitch by re-installing his old
floats.  It seems the new ones would stick when things warmed up around the
exhaust manifold.  He also etched and sealed the fuel tank, and installed a
shutoff valve where BMC should have had one!
    Ron Lieuwma's Turbo is now in pieces down cellar.  The tear-down
revealed several problems - one blown piston and three that weren't far
behind, a questionable crank and worn valve guides.  He's decided not to
rebuild the turbo but to go with a 1293 short block with a 276 cam, redo his
head (12G940), and go through the tranny.  Reassembly will occur over the
next couple of weeks.
    Dave & Barbara Newman's 998 short block is assembled and ready to install.  This
will most assuredly be a tech session not to miss! (May 18, 2002)
    Ken Taplin writes that he finally finished changing all his CV joint
boots (see last month's article).  His words: "Wish I could say it wasn't as
bad a job as I expected, but it was.  That part in the manual about needing
an assistant to reinstall the CV joint is certainly true.  I waited almost a
week before anybody showed up, down here in the woods, to assist."  Knowing
just how far down in the woods Ken lives, I'd say he was lucky to have
waited only a week!
    Steve Dodge continues assembly of his pristine Innocenti.  He reports it
is nearing completion and will certainly be ready for our first event.  He
also reports that he's gone and bought another Italian Mini arriving any day now.
    Glenn Carliss is grappling with an electrical problem.  It seems his
headlights wink out at the most inopportune moments.  His last communiqué
says they seem to be working okay, but that is during daylight.  (Would any
of you dare to drive his car at night?)
    Thom Pickett has found the solution for the guy who's too busy to work
on his car.  He has convinced his shop that his Mini would be a suitable
company project, and it appears he'll have all sorts of help getting his S
back together!
    Geoff Neiley got his S to a restoration shop.  Greg and I went over last
weekend and removed the lump to aid the body guys.  His lump will be a
subject next month and we hope he'll keep us informed of progress on the
body.
    Yes, Hrach has landed a job with Herb Chambers Mini in Boston!
Congratulations!  While I'm sitting here at the computer, he's hosting an
open house to introduce the new Mini.  As I am limiting my editorials to
classic Minis, I'll let one of the attendees of tonight's festivities put in
their two-cents worth.
    Hope to see all of you in very short order!

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