328 replies to this topic

[scrippo]

Hi all,

I've posted a project before but it got a bit lost and felt like it was time to start afresh.

Here was my mini as I bought it back in 2006. A 1983 Mini Mayfair. An Ebay impulse buy! I'd always loved minis and aside from a couple of complete basket cases that never got started this was my first one. I hadn't seen it in the metal but a £770 bid later and it was mine! Needless to say I was pretty nervous on the train to Gloucester, and the 100odd mile drive home!



I got home no probs, it had a hole in the exhaust, and needed a couple of little bits doing to it but I was impressed but how solid it was.

I've called this project snowball as what started as a rolling project snowballed into a full rebuild. The mini didn't stay standard long......



Fitted some McNally alloys and arches, and had a minispeed stage 1 kit and stainless 2" exhaust fitted.

Ran it like this for a while, did minor maintenance things to it, then moved house and got this...



A nice dry garage to put it in! One thing led to another and it ended up like this......



The snowball starts to engulf!

Edited by scrippo, 14 June 2009 - 08:46 PM.

[scrippo]

OK....

So we're now in early 2008 and I had eventually stripped my mini to a bare shell. During this time I'd had loads of pie in the sky ideas about how I wanted the finished car to look (I'm sure anyone building a mini has!) My first original plan was a car as light as possible with lashings of carbon fibre, so I did this.



The intention was to fit a carbon fibre front, however after looking closely at minis at L2B, I quickly realised it wasn't my cup of tea and chopping the front was the biggest mistake ever! I mulled over lots of ideas, and the one that kept coming back is keep it classic and simple. I'm after a retro street racer look, with a full steel shell, standard subframes with hilos, 1275 engine. Classic mini. Interior to be decided, you'll find out the colour later on.

Stripping the mini also found the inevitable rust







And dodgy previous owner welding patches



But overall I was still impressed with just how solid the mini was for a 25 year old car. It was original paint and seemed to be well looked after in its life. I bought myself a welder, and made some half hearted practice attempts at practice welds. To be honest I scared myself at how rubbish I was, so started to think of other options. After all, I wanted a mint mini at the end of it. I realised my limits and went for the cheque book option, knowing that I'll do the rest of the build myself.

So, PanelbeaterPeter to the rescue!

Edited by scrippo, 02 December 2008 - 05:58 PM.

[dezshearer]

Looks like its in quite good condition, nothing that can't be fixed!!

by the way, in your posts, if you put IMG tag infront and behind the image link, they will display in the post.

like so..

[.img] http://imageimage [./img]

just remove the . from the tags

Edited by dezshearer, 02 December 2008 - 11:58 AM.

[scrippo]

cool thanks for the dez, i had wondered how you do it.

Another pic installment tonight

[scrippo]

Don't think they're working because TMF is moving servers, but I guess they'll be on soon. Will leave the other one for now until the server is sorted and people can still click on links

*** LINKS NOW FIXED***

Edited by scrippo, 02 December 2008 - 06:03 PM.

[dezshearer]

Dunno why its not working, double check the photobucket links too!

Looking forward to the new photos!

[scrippo]

So roll on to June 2008. Spending far too much of my evenings looking at TMF I quickly realised that PanelbeaterPeter was a dab hand at the old car bodywork repair and painting. I sorted out a trailer and took the shell to Weston for a full respray, repairing all the rusty bits and fitting the new front end. Pete works for a place called Classy Campers who do some awesome work to VW campers, but he's also taking mini's on.



Here's a pic of the mini on the trailer on the way to Weston. No matter how tight we made the straps the shell still slid about. Got there and the strap had scratched a panel, which obviously didn't matter, not sure how I'm gonna get it back without scratching it!

Once it was there, I drove back to the trailer hire place, made it back with only 5 minutes to spare before they closed, which was lucky!

I then got home, anticipating what the mini will look like when I next see it.......

[scrippo]

My first update from Pete, and Scrippo was a happy boy!



Boot floor rot cut out



Shiny new steel welded in.



Primed



More cut out



More super tidy welding



Primed.

Work was progressing. I was getting more excited, and I'm sure I was driving Pete mad with my emails asking questions.

[panelbeaterpeter]

Wehey! Good to see you've got a project thread up at last

[scrippo]

I know!

You've no idea how much the thing consumes my mind (sad really!). I can't wait to have it back and get stuck into assembly!

[dezshearer]

Lookin fantastic! Glad to see you got the photos up and working!

[scrippo]

Thanks, will update again tonight. All credit has to go to Pete and the skills I only wish I had.

[minimaff]

Car is looking good. Keep up the work

[buddylove]

Coming along nicely!

[scrippo]

Right then so work was progressing nicely. The boot was looking great. Unfortunately there were a few more holes to be found - typical mini I guess!





A previous owner had filled these holes with filler and painted over them. They did a pretty good jobs disguising it as I was none the wiser! Oh well, more money, but at least I knew it would be a proper job.

On the plus side Pete was still busy with the welder!


This piece was sourced cheap from a broken mini!


Old window frame cut out - The rust was too far gone to do anything with.


New piece clamped in


Welded


Welds ground down. He makes it look so easy!

Once Pete had removed the old mudflaps on the rear valance he found another couple of bits of rot


Inside wheel arch


Rot cut out


Arch finished.


Rear valance closing panel


Welded with new shiny steel


Behind rear wing new rear subframe mount


As if by magic its gone!

Things were still shaping up nicely - next episode - front end