Hi guys, I've built an old mini with a 1.2 16v from a punto sporting
I got it MoT'd a couple of weeks ago but its developed a problem today,
I got up this morning to find the wipers happily sweeping away to their hearts content even though the keys were in my hand and the wiper stalk was in the off position?? (I used the fiat wiper stalks)
They seemed to sort them selves out after a min but then when I went back to the car a couple hours later they were doing the same thing
Took the car to Hi-q to fit my new front tyres while I was at work and 14 hours later when I get back to the car to go home the wipers have stopped working all together and now for some reason the car wont rev over 2000 rpm?? (it feels like a hard cut rev limiter)
the bonnet is raised at the back so I dont know if maybe water has got where it shouldn't perhaps but I really cant understand why its doing this, could the 2 faults be related?
hope its not raining at 7am when I go to work :-(

Can any of you guys think of what could be causing this?

Almost anything is possible with a bad earth, but in this case I think the issues are seperate.

The hard rev cut may be -- I'm guessing you retained the OBD2 stuff and thus can do a code read or even retain the ECU warning light? -- a fault with the crank sensor. The sheilding must be earthed one end and be continuous. Highly adviseable to route it away from any sources of interference. Alternatively, the ECU may have gone into limp home mode, although I think that causes a cut at around 3,000.

If you fitted a Sei or Cinq radiator you'd probably get more/better airflow through the exposed portion, although I doubt the actual area would be bigger. Vents and/or a bagged ECU might be worth looking into.

turned out the wiper relay had shorted coz it was full of damp sludge? so I've made a temporary waterproofing system(a plastic bag ) for the wiper motor and ecu etc, seems to be ok so far

It's a really interesting car.

There are 1.4 16v motors out there which offer a little more poke when/if you get bored with the 1.2 16v.

After drying out, silicone grease ("free" from a friendly industrial electrician or about £6 a tube from a factor) is pretty much a permanent cure for water induced electrical issues.

Love to see more pics.