327 replies to this topic

[DaveJH]

I have spent the last week looking around the country for the right mini, originally I wanted a 1 litre for around £1000 but I came across a cooper today for a very reasonable price and decided to go for it. I'll be paying for it and picking it up on Wednesday but here are the pictures from the advert. More details will follow when I pick it up.





I can't wait!

Dave

Edited by DaveJH, 16 September 2010 - 03:28 PM.

[rick.spi]

welcome to the scene

[Scallywag630]

Another '96 Cooper. I hope yours does not need as much work as mine did.

[DaveJH]

Picked her up today, here are some pictures of her back home.













Time to make some plans, but first there are a few jobs that need doing. Firstly the exhaust is blowing and needs to be looked at. I got a full exhaust setup with the mini so if something needs to be replaced I already have it. Also I want to jump onto that rust as soon as I can and do a general touch up on her.

Edited by DaveJH, 18 August 2010 - 06:48 PM.

[DaveJH]

OK, in the hope of drumming up some attention, here's the progress report up to today.

Wednesday:
Bought the car from Trowbridge and drove it home via just about everyone who was in to show him off. All in all I did about 85 miles, he didn't miss a beat.

Thursday:
Drove him from home (newport) to Newgale (120 miles) in the pouring rain, again made it no problem but the wipers may as well not have been there, visibility was awful. My Mum, brother and sister were camping in west wales and needed help taking everything down and coming back home so Dad and I went up in our cars. None of the family knew about my mini (except my Dad of course) so they were very suprised to see him when we turned up! Here are some snaps I took in West Wales:





I think my brother likes him.



Friday:
Drove back from Newgale with the car full of luggage and passengers without a problem, getting used to (and annoyed of) stopping for petrol all the time now!

Sunday:
Had to skip Saturday to work on my Astra to get her through the MOT, worked in the pouring rain but I think I've sorted all it needs now, fingers crossed! Got a buyer lined up if she passes.



Anyway, today it was baking hot (note, we have no garage so weather is important) so I got out of bed and straight outside to look at how the mini coped with the rain. West Wales was a good test for leaks, so much so that the boot was actually full of water (the battery was swimming in it's own private pool) and the carpets and back seats in the car were sopping wet! Not good, lots to be done. So, first job, rip everything out!







Lots of surface rust in the boot but nothing has gone through so it is all saveable:





Job 1: rub back and red oxide the boot:





Job 2: erect a shelter for the car in the corner of the drive:



In the mean time, the interior was drying out in the glorious sun and now most of it is dry, just want to rip out the dash and sound deadening from the front to dry that out too and sort the rust and leaks. All that however is for another day as its now gone dark and started to rain, not that my mini will be getting wet.



Right, some of you may be interested in what I plan to do with the car (I hope!), and writing it down will at least order my own thoughts so here goes.

Step 1: Rain proof!
Rip out all the interior, wire brush loose rust away (inside), sort any leaks, sort little problems that have cropped up here and there.

Step 2: Rust proof!
Wire brush rust from the exterior, sort out what can be saved and fix what can't. Spray over sorted rust with a rattle can.

Step 3: Interior
Start making the interior a nice place to be. Fix the ripped leather on the driver's seat, get a new stereo and speakers set up, clean up and start modifying the car to make it more 'me'. (Ideas: electric windows, remote central locking, custom interior parts)

Step 4: Exterior
Full respray! Not sure on colour yet but I love the colour he already is so it probably makes sense to stick with it.

Step 5: Engine
Drop out the engine and refurb it (not a big job, just enough to keep him going nicely). Paint the engine bay and tidy up the engine and wiring etc. OR: get a new lump for him, ideally something with power steering and air con, but I don't know how possible that is yet.


Let me know what you think, and if you have any tips for me.

Edited by DaveJH, 22 August 2010 - 08:16 PM.

[DaveJH]

Weather forecast: loads of rain and flash flooding over the next few days. Just in time with the cover then!

[Scallywag630]

Looks like a nice car. After drying the inside and fixing any internal rust, have a go at the seals to keep it dry. Check carefully the windshield seal as they tend to leak and can cause the scuttle, bulkhead and top dash rail to rot.

Keep the pix coming and good luck.

[Miniowner123]

looks like a nice cooper, as said by scallywag630 check the dash rail and scuttle, they tend to rust quite badly on the later cars as i soon found out, check my mpi project out for some pics, good luck with the project

[miniallsort]

welcome mate nice mini

[DaveJH]

Bit more progress today when the rain had stopped. It really is a lifesaver having the gazebo and car cover to keep the car dry while I work on him! Did a little more stripping out today to find the extend of the rust in the floor, not too bad for a mini in my view. Once piece of welding needs doing but the rest should wire brush down nicely and it'll all be red oxide covered and then covered in Hammerite. Also did a little work on the lip between the arches on the exterior and carried on with the red oxide in the boot, the stuff is all over my hands!

The Lips before:





After:



The floor:





More red oxide in the boot:



Also, I test fitted my new boot panel today to make sure everything lined up properly before it goes to the sprayers. Found out the lock is broken (which is why I couldn't work out how to lock the boot) so that has to be added to my list of items for the boot, at the moment I'm looking at a bill over just over £100 for the parts needed to waterproof the boot. I'd better get the job I applied for a couple of weeks ago!



Tomorrow my Astra goes in for the retest. It HAS to pass because I have two people interested in buying her. Will be sad to see her go but I need the money asap.

[DaveJH]

Bit of a disaster on the astra front today so no time for the mini yet, but I have bought a few things. Firstly I dropped the new boot lid off at the sprayers, should be done within a week (hopefully by Friday) and I made an order with minispares for all the parts I need to waterproof my boot. Came to over £40 without the handle (as they were out of stock) and its just grommets and gaskets! Nevermind, all needs to be done. I also picked up a nice new brush, some more red oxide, masking take, precision wire brushes and a digital multi meter. The latter is for my rear indicator light on the driver's side, for some reason it doesn't work, but the bulb is fine. The multimeter shows that there is a current flowing but it is so small that it doesn't light the bulb. Any ideas anyone?

[Scallywag630]

Looks like you have caught a lot of rust before it did too much damage. Keep it up.

[rick.spi]

i would chisel up the floors sound proofing and doublke check there nothing lurking undeneath, mine look alot less rusty than that but then when the deadening came up a it was a full ineer and outer sill job.

[DaveJH]

I thought I was down to metal, what does the soundproofing look like?

[Scallywag630]

It will be painted, hard and you need to chip it off the floor.