175 replies to this topic

[vini]

this is the story of vini so far.2years ago after a 6year break from minis the bug came back and bit me in the ass.i just had to have another mini.the thought of buying another standard mini and spending half my life modyfying it wasnt really appealing to me so the decision was made to spend some money on a mini that was allready completed and not have to much work on it,just use it and enjoy it. yeah right,why does it never happen like that lol.after a short while looking on ebay i spotted the mini i was looking for and arrangements were made for me to go and look at him.as soon as the cover was pulled off him i knew he was going to be mine.after a test drive and a bit of haggling a deal was struck and i picked him up a few days later.


after just a few days of using him the urge for more modification just grew stronger lol 1st up was to upgrade the brakes and suspension so a set of alloy 4pots,discs,pads and a spax coilover kit was the first of many mods to be made.



while in the 2008 castle coombe show i spotted a set of lamps that took my fancy so home they came with me.a mate of mine fabricated a lamp bar for me and the lamps were sprayed to match the car then fitted

next up was to fit a rear roll cage.this was the first cage i have ever fitted to a mini and a lot of lessons were learned that day lol



ooops forgot to mention that a month or so after buying vini i had to replace the crank and clutch.the guy i bought it off had replaced the big end bearings but hadnt shimmed the crank end floated correctly and killed the crank beyond any repair so a donor engine was sourced for a bottom end rebuild. to be fair to vini this is the only engine work he has had since i bought him.

[mini_mad69]

What about the engine rebuild? and the current full rebuild!

[vini]

as all of you know after u have completly changed all of the mini suspension it takes a while to suss out what tweaks need to be done to make it work properley so out with the angle grinder and mig welder to adjust the suspension height and modify the brackets.


while at the bristol show last year i picked up a bargain fibreglass bonnet with bulge for £20. so a quick rub down and a can of matt black lol

couple of months ago i decided to fit a rear beam and fit new radius arms and brake set up

[vini]

theres so many mods ive done to vini its hard trying to remember everything.forgot to say i fancied going on too 10s last year so swapped the 4pots for a set of cooper s brake set up and put some new 10"superlites on him.hence the major suspension mods lol. anyway up to presentish day now.the new year started and i thought id get on with the small jobs out of the way. steering bushes and top arm bushes.sounds easy yeah? sorted my steering bushes piece of cake and was chuffed with how firm my steering felt. right next job top arm bushes.ohhh no theres a vauxhall engine in the way.dammnnn after 5mins of sulking,,, mission on.engines gotta come out


of course one job leeds to another yeah,while the engines out,lets strip it down and give it a clean and paint,then gave the bay a clean down and a repaint,ohh yeah and replaced top arms lol

[vini]

anyway as i start rebuilding the engine and suspension back up i start having this craving for a blue mini and start colour coding everything for a blue mini and a total revamp of vini.used blue dye on my recaros,rebuilt my dash in black vynal and digital clocks.before long the onl thing thats not colour coded to blue was the shell its self lol

[vini]

4 branch manifold i had to modify to fit past subframe and engine mounts.now been beefed up and wrapped.

[vini]

[vini]

decision time.i want the car back on the road well in time for the riviera run.have i got time to get it painted in time.lets hpoe so lol.a new fibreglass front was ordered and the car taken up to a friend whos handy with a gun.thats as far as it goes at the moment.the car went up 2weeks ago and ive been told i can pick it up this friday.these are the last pictures ive taken and im really missing vini lol

[mini_mad69]

Looks absolutly great. Still think you should drop a cam on that engine.

What arches are you putting on it this time?



Ben

[vini]

bought some miglia arches but they look huge on the car.gonna end up cutting them down a bit but cant do nothing till vini is back from paint.

[vini]

the engine is next inline for modding.the bottom end and clutch is new so its just head and cam work to do.

[miniadventure]

looking gud

[Nick '91]

Looks great.

Likes your idea of "tweaking" the suspension.

Thought you couldn't post this sort of stuff on public forums, lucky you didn't name him I suppose, also whats his painting like?

decision time.i want the car back on the road well in time for the riviera run.have i got time to get it painted in time.lets hpoe so lol.a new fibreglass front was ordered and the car taken up to a friend whos handy with a gun.thats as far as it goes at the moment.the car went up 2weeks ago and ive been told i can pick it up this friday.these are the last pictures ive taken and im really missing vini lol

Seems you keep on changing your mind with this (bonnet changes and brake changes etc) but everything you do / done looks awesome.

EDIT: Like the dyed seats.

Edited by Nick '91, 07 April 2010 - 10:43 PM.

[vini]

this was my first attempt at blue lol

[Nick '91]

Your not supposed to admit things like that. Did you mask off the black and apply dye or does it seperate?>