377 replies to this topic

[blue blood]

After a lot of time i have decided i should document the slow rebuild of my beloved mini. My ideas and plans have morphed so much even i have a vague idea of the final product i want to achieve. One thing i can say about the final thing is it will be perfect as i am an attention to detail kind of person.

So lets start at the very beginning Me and my brother went and bought a mini sky together with an MPI 1.3 engine in. It came with a K&N filter, Chrome wheels, Twin DTM , cobra monaco seats and was how we say boring and uninventive! There are so many to a similar standard/degree of dullness. I then bought my brother out but i wasn't happy with the mini after it kept having problems. Delving into the mini world i gained an acquired taste and began to go off the sky blue and constant battle with rust.
This is what my car looked like to begin with:-
 mini_sky.jpg   1.41MB   142 downloads

 P1010716.JPG   1.96MB   118 downloads

The engine bay looked a site and the underneath was staring to rot through coupled with an overheating problem and dodgy electrics. I stripped her down to nothing and sold everything of apart from the engine front hubs and driveshafts.

Part way through strip down:
 P1010724.jpg   3.67MB   58 downloads

[blue blood]

Stripping down more:
 P1012383.jpg   285.31K   91 downloads

[blue blood]

Why won't this let me post pictures? They are jpegs!

[Twincam]

Try using PhotoBucket?

[blue blood]

how do i upload from photo bucket? i don't want loads of links so people have to click on separate things because thats just annoying!

[blue blood]

o.k carrying on this is the strip down further:

Edited by blue blood, 06 December 2010 - 07:22 PM.

[blue blood]

Edited by blue blood, 06 December 2010 - 08:30 AM.

[lewis]

hey blue blood, easy peasy to show images, basically hover over a photo and left click the bottom code saying IMG code (like in the photo)

then when on here right click and paste it in, then do that for each photo you want to show, simples!



looking forward to seeing more of the project!

[charie t]

i have loads more pictures to show but i don't want them as links so i won't carry on for now so if anyone could help me i would be grateful. Then i will be able to crack on with making this blog and it does get alot better than what has been put up i can assure you all Regards Blue

Copy the img code at the bottom of the box

[blue blood]

O.k with the car stripped down i had several options open to me. I could work on it piece by piece removing repairing and getting on to the next panel or i could have it dipped and e-coat it or i could do bodge and make it into a horror story with filler and any bits of crap in reach! But no instead of doing all of the mentioned only to have to do them later on down the line i had another idea......









MINI MINUS

There are no real down sides in my mind. I went and purchased the minus as a blank canvas. The best thing about it is it will let me work on it at my own pace, as i don't have to worry about rust forming and priming it straight away and stuff.

O.k So i had my shell but it is far from perfect so i cracked on with it. Things i had to do is get rid of that metal rotten bootlid and take those hideous arches off. I am not a fan of smoothed in arches or rust for that matter so i took the doors of to work on later. Another job i did was mock fit the MPI engine in it for bonnet clearance.







Looks like the engine would fit but the keen eyes amongst you would notice that the air filter on the throttle body sticks out and near the front the thermostat housing protrudes too much!

What do i do? Well simple i will eventually have to make a bulge in my bonnet and remove the sandwich plate.

So i took the sandwich plate out and created this on the thermostat housing for the hose take off:





I will be using this fan thermostat device as i will be making my own wiring loom.

Edited by blue blood, 06 December 2010 - 10:39 PM.

[blue blood]

Going back to the shell i removed the arches and took out the back seat with a hammer! It may seem over the top and brutal but it was satisfying as it was only ply wood and bits of resin.























I then started to smooth out the bonnet as a central bulge won't look right with a ridge going into it! So i filled the holes in with fibre paste and layered fibreglass matt over it and sanded off from the other side. I am also getting rid off the teardrop bulge for the rocker oil filter and will weld on a lovely machined one on the side.

[blue blood]

I had a few items from the old shell to address such as brake callipers ignition brackets and so on. Originally i wanted to get this baby on the road but i wanted it to look good and be good so a lot of thing i reconditioned i actually replaced.



I did strip back and repaint this but then bought a stainless one instead (won't rust)

Cleaned up and painted drive shafts



Throttle body went from this:



to this:






Also got rid of the orange stained splitting leaking header tank and got an alloy one and cleaned up the bracket for it:

Edited by blue blood, 03 January 2011 - 11:40 AM.

[blue blood]

More reconditioning



Anyway carrying on.

Reconditioned the back plates same way stripped back rust treatment and painted




The ecu was a lot dirtier than this when i pulled it out it was covered in black muck and years of neglect!





but you can always do better so i did:





Also i re-did the steering box not finished the pedals yet their still in their anti rust primer:

Edited by blue blood, 03 January 2011 - 11:39 AM.

[blue blood]

Going back to the brakes i was originally going to stick with the one pots that came off my MPI but after painting them they just didn't look up to the job!



and so i acquired these bad boys:









As you can see i also cleaned up my front hubs and steering arms.

Well i can't have nice looking front hub set up so on the rear i opted for alloy hubs and minifins:)





I can't have all these nice items and ruin them by having ugly wheels. Now to begin with i loved chrome wheels and am guilty for buying a set but after a while they were boring and after a while i found them a bit garish and eventually repulsing. Merely personal opinion! In fact i went completely off chrome!
So i went for these beauts instead:









Off corse i need something to turn these shoes so i bought a new steering rack and painted it to protect it properly as i rarely see things you can buy off the shelf that will last if you stick them straight on your car!



Rounding off things under the bonnet:

Due to not having much room under the bonnet as minuses have 3inches out of the body i have to have a single line brake cylinder so i decided to get a plastic type one and a clutch plastic type:





Also decided to upgrade my radiator with this high performance from hythe performance:





Using stainless steel bolts for the fan.



I also took a look at the old engine mounts and thought to myself hmmmmm i can do better! So A few orders around and i have:







Poly super flex bushes all round with stainless tube insides and top mount rose jointed on engine. With a stainless base plate and titanium bolts to hold them all together.

[blue blood]

The final thing for under the bonnet for the time being are my silicone hoses. Now about a year ago no one produced MPI silicone hoses but Artel motorsport wanted to so i sent my hoses and diagrams off for them to copy from:



And they replicated mine and sold me the first set I am extremely chuffed with them:













I also wrapped my manifold it is supposed to boost power but i think it also looks good:







The minus did come with some original subframe bulk head mounts made from steel which i reconditioned but i made new ones instead from stainless plate and thicker than the original spreader plates



I do have a few more bits and bobs for under my bonnet that i haven't photographed such as a varley25 red top battery and bracket with brass male connectors, stainless clutch plate and push rod, reconditioned wiper motor, custom wiper motor holder and probably a bunch of other things i can't remember.

Edited by blue blood, 06 December 2010 - 09:40 PM.