31 replies to this topic

[brettsta]

1986 Mayfair auto bought from an uncle for £200. Needed new inner and outer sills on the drivers side, a new front wing, both doors were rotten to f***, the boot was holed, oh yeah and it was an Automatic!

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•  trial.jpg   200.87K   15 downloads

[brettsta]

whole underside de-rusted and hammerited before being thickly coated in underseal!

Oh yeah and both subframes were reconditioned!

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•  underside.jpg   255.76K   27 downloads

[brettsta]

oh yeah and new a-panels on both sides. You might just be able to see some of the repair work in the boot from this shot

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•  back_driver_side.jpg   159.28K   12 downloads

[brettsta]

another view of the underside. You might be able to see the new power cord from the battery to the engine bay, the previous owner had complained about electrical reliability problems. When the car was stripped the cable has just about been cut the whole way through, when wet it was shorting out!

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•  undercarriage.jpg   240.11K   14 downloads

[brettsta]

a close up of the welding work on the driver's sill, hard to tell the difference from the original?

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•  sill_welding.jpg   341.03K   11 downloads

[brettsta]

side view of the repair work, looks a bit mix and match at the minute!

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•  jigsaw.jpg   192.71K   20 downloads

[brettsta]

We decided to stick with the standard 998cc engine as the one in the car was sweet, however being a automatic was not an option. The engine was converted to a manual with this box picked up from a donor car. The pedal arrangement was different so new holes had to be drilled in the bulkhead. Also the oil flow within the engine was slightly different, thus the block had to be drilled.

The pic is of the manual box after an extensive clean!

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•  gearbox.jpg   342.36K   5 downloads

[brettsta]

Here's the engine being lowered into the the car on a custom built frame.

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•  engine_in.jpg   280.71K   14 downloads

[brettsta]

unfortunately there's no pics of the prepped body, but all the interior was stripped, it was keyed then primered and had about 4 coats of cellulose paint inside the boot, and the interior.

[brettsta]

Here's the finished thing!! took a great deal of time and effort, not on my part as i was the lucky recipient but for my grandad who has been working with minis all his life. I hope you enjoy, let me know your thoughts!

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•  mini_rear_passenger.jpg   74.21K   35 downloads

[brettsta]

another view of the exhaust

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•  exhaust.jpg   68.71K   26 downloads

[minipixie]

cool, like the pictures!

how long did it take from start to finsih?

looks like ur grandad knew what he was doing!

[brettsta]

from start to finish probably about a year. This is his 9th mini i think so he knows his stuff! I'm learning slowly so I know the basics, but i've found experience counts for a lot!

[minipixie]

9th mini!! ace!!
has he restored them all?

[brettsta]

mini with her bonnet up!

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•  font_side_bonnet_open.jpg   73.65K   41 downloads