New Stearing wheel

[cyclomethicone]

Hi all, im failry new here and im sure this topic has been brought up 100s of times, im looking at replacing the massive stearing wheel for something a bit smaller,
What do you all reccomend?

Cheers Lee

[bmcecosse]

Any wheel for a Mini will fit - but beware going too small - I suggest no less than 14" - especially if you are planning wider wheels and tyres.....

[cyclomethicone]

i was looking at a 15 inch mountney wheel but they do a 14 as well, keeping the standard wheels for now but that might be something i change up in the near futre. gotta get it through the mot first which aint to far away now. few little jobs left to do when i get her back from the wleders next week.

[chrisryder]

I've got a 14 inch mountney on my minor. Was worried it'd be too small, but I cope with having 185 tyres on the front. Was a little harder to do more complex parking manouvres, but not bad enough to warrant changing the wheel back!

It's so much easier to get in and out of the car as there's room for your legs to swing around. I always notice how much harder it is to get into one of our standard minors!

Looks pretty neat too:

[cyclomethicone]

Nice Chris i like it alot, gonna order one i think. 14 over a 15 i think they are a little cheaper. Like the dials you have in as well looks smart. I wouldnt mind investing in something similar. What are is each one exaclty? Is one for oil pressure because i have the light on in my car and everything seems to be ok so im a bit stuck?? Still have a lot to learn and a few questions i need answering but ill save them for another time when i get to that bit of the car.

[bmcecosse]

Errrr - if the orange 'low oil pressure' light is on, worry about that before thinking of fancy new steering wheel!

[cyclomethicone]

Any chance of some help as to what the problem might be then instead of dropping in sarky little one liners on everything i comment on? Its 1am and im at work so cant work on the car 24/7. I have lots of questions unanswered because this is the first old car iv ever owned. This post was about steering wheels.........

[midengineracer]

You can consider it a sarky one-liner, but it is sound advice.
Before you spend money on something that works, find out why you have an indicator light on that could be signaling major work/damage in your future.
You could be in the middle of slow destruction of your engine, so ensuring the lubrication system isn't malfunctioning is the to priority. Right now we have more details about steering wheel and tire changes (size advice from him was also good).

Share details on what you have done to make sure your oil pressure is right, then you won't get short (or long) posts lecturing about repair priorities.

Your light being on could be a faulty sending unit, low oil, weak oil pump, incorrect oil, blocked oil passage, sheared key on the pump drive,etc.

[cyclomethicone]

I never said im forgetting about the oil light and the car is not being driven. What you just stated was what I wanted to hear reference that. A few pointers to be getring on with and for that thank you.

Cheers.

[bmcecosse]

As far as I know - this is the first time you have mentioned that you have an oil pressure warning ON... Do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. If you read any of my past postings you will see that I am only too willing to give advice where it matters. For me - getting the car running, good healthy engine and a new MOT are the top priorities..... 'stearing wheel' (sic) is well down the list of importance.....just slightly ahead of headlamp peaks.... But I did give you sensible advice on that anyway, until it became obvious where you really should be spending your hard-earned. Some of the checks you can do re oil pressure are v well listed above - and you may be lucky. But frankly it probably needs an engine overhaul. or a replacement engine.
I refer you to this post - just in case you missed it.... http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52156

[chrisryder]

I am well aware of your situation cyclomethicone. Having just got the car, and having found a few major and minor issues with it, it can be depressing to think about all the necessary stuff to do. It's quite nice, and healthy, to think about things to do for yourself.

It's good to think about what you WANT to do, rather than what you NEED to do. It keeps a healthier relationship between you and the car.

I'm sure you won't neglect the necessary work either.

And regarding your orange light... there are 2. One is the 'low oil pressure' light, and the other is the 'change oil filter' light.

Normally when you turn the ignition on, you'll get 2 lights. The red IGN light, and the orange low oil pressure light. If you're only getting 2 lights on, and the orange one isn't going out, then that suggests that the orange one you've got on IS the low oil pressure.

However, if you get the red IGN light and 2 orange lights, and are left with 1 orange light once the engine starts. It suggests that the one you've got staying on is the change oil filter light instead.

Failing all that, you could pull the wires of each switch in turn. The one down on the oil filter head, towards the front of the engine, is the 'change oil filter' light. The oil pressure switch is near the distributor towards the back of the engine. You should find which one is relating to the light on your speedo.

[philthehill]

Not going to comment on the orange light only to say that after I fitted a smaller steering wheel (14") I found that the new steering wheel to be rather high in relation to the drivers seating arrangement which did not give a comfortable driving position. To overcome this I lowered the steering wheel by fitting a spacer of approximately 30mm depth between the steering column clamp and the underside of the glove box; after of course slackening the steering rack clamps, not forgetting to tighten the steering rack clamps after fitting the spacer when all was in place and the steering column at the required height. I did put packing either side of the glove box metal and on top of the column clamp to ensure that the maximum strength was retained. A popular conversion on the Mini was to lower the steering column by using the Paddy Hopkirk lowering kit unfortunately that lowering kit cannot be used on a Minor.

[cyclomethicone]

Thanks for the advice ref the oil light, im guessing it is the oil pressure light which is staying on because ut the one on the right near the ING light. The other one iv not seen come on before. When i got it it did have a bit of an oil leak, I replaced the rocket gasket which has stopped the most of it. Im still getting a few drips tho but were talking about 15ml ish once the engine is warm. I am off wrok next week so that will be on the top of my list of things to do if possible, followed by the breaks. Not that they dont work but maybe im just used to modern day cars and expecting more out of them.
That link posted ' bmcecosse ' , not too sure what you ment by that but one thing i will say is that i do appreciate your advice as you clearly know 100 times more than i do and/or experinced the same problem in the past.
I can see how it comes across in writing that all i want to do is replace cosmetic parts but this is not this case. I am no mechanic by any means but know a bit and always learning, with your help
still a good month or so before im wanting her on the road so time isent really an issue, ill know a bit more tomorrow when im off work and can actually start investigating.
Hopefully your not right in saying could need a new engine tho ? that wasent something i planned to replace quite so soon but then again i may have bitten off more than i can chew . Who knows all i can do is try and hopefully not have to fork out ££££££ along the way.
Here is a list of what i know needs doing before MOT ready,
Oil Pressure light.
Washer jets dont work, pump sounds like it works
Main beam dont work, all other lights do
Rear RH pannel and flange replaced. i have the parts just needs welding, spraying ect...
Breaks?? maybe ment to be like they are

This list was alot bigger which iv slowery been chipping away at so i am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel
Everything else is pretty much done underneath but the list doesent stop here as you know.
Steering wheel, stero ect.....

Do you know of any threads ref the oil pressure light which would be of any use to me?


Cheers

[mike.perry]

Before you go taking the engine apart, pull the speedo out and check that the correct wires go to the correct lights. Check that the wire fitted to the oil pressure switch is the same one as attached to the orange warning light

[cyclomethicone]

Cheers Mike that is the first thing i am going to do in the morning, i have orderd a new switch anyways and scanning through other posts i really hope its a simple fix.

[rogerowen]

I maybe wrong, but if the orange (low oil pressure) light stays on even at high revs it would primarily point to a wiring or switch problem. I've only experienced real low oil pressure on a completely cream crackered early Mini Van (850 with sliding windows - yes, please don't tell me what that is probably worth now - I only paid a tenner for it!). Anyway, it was using almost as much oil as petrol - but still the light would go out at any revs above tick - over. Let's keep fingers crossed that what you have is just a wiring problem.

[cyclomethicone]

Well the oil pressure switch is now out and to be honest looks like it has never been replced. New one should arrive tomorrow.
I will take the speedo out as well because I want to check the wiring.
My lights, one click down is side lights, click down again the main lights come on but so does the high beam light? Am I right in thinking that the tiny black switch slightly underneath is to switch between full beam and main lights?
The only thing I can actually see that switch doing it turning the light on my speedo on and off. Havent been able to get full beam working yet so hopefully have a better idea tomorrow.

[brucek]

Headlamp dip switch is at your feet by the clutch pedal

[rogerowen]

Probably worth getting one of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Morris-Mi ... 60834_6748[/img][/frame]

[chrisryder]

Indeed, the little black switch below is just an over-ride for the panel lights.

Dip switch is a big silver button by the clutch pedal on the floor.