907 replies to this topic

[minisi35]

Sorry to hear about Barry!

But every cloud as they say. Make it as strong and as rust proofed as you can while you have the chance and it will give you good service for a long time.

[DEPS]

Hi, not been on here for months due to working abroad and also buying a new toy, but good to catch up with your thread.

Yes it is a shame that you could not salvage your current shell, but you have to be realistic. At the end of the day it is not a Cooper S so whether the shell is original or heritage is not affecting value. In fact a new shell would probably increase the value and you are not going to sell it anyway!

So new shell all the way! Just make sure it is painted well.

Another company to try for a weld in cage is SA Fabrication. Steve is now based at Mallory Park. He does full certified cages and seems to know what he is talking about. He doesn't think much to a lot of the bolt in cages you can buy e.g the Safety devices one in my 106. His prices seem reasonable as well. He charged me £80 to weld in harness bars to comply with Hans requirements. His mobile is 07895 486434. By the way he has a mini he is doing up and I first met him at the mini owners show.

All the best mate.

Dave

[rally1380]

Hi All.

 

Thankyou for the heads up and pointers for peeps who can fabricate roll cages.....all much appreciated info.

 

Weirdly (before even seeing any of the posts) I decided that this weekend was when i'd go and see a local company that i'd been meaning to go and see for some time.  I'd seen that they'd been recommended on a rally forum and other local folk had mentioned them too.  So I gave them a shout and went over to their workshop.

 

WOW!!!!!!  I can't actually tell you what they have in the workshop, but lets just say its a bit of rallying history from the early 80's and might be german.  So that will give you a flavour of what it is and will also give you an idea that if they are repairing something of this importance and value they know their stuff.

 

They've also got a mini in that is apparently the fastest drag mini in the country????  i'm not sure exactly how it is faster than some of the race cars, but either way it looked super light weight and had a very nice roll cage in it with a turbo'd motor under the bonnet that they were about to fab up a titanium exhaust manifold for!!!  It's a mk1 mini and looks super understated....so if you pull up next to it at Santa Pod, watch out!!!

 

These are the guys who I've chosen to knock up a cage for me.......

 

 

 http://www.tljwelding.com/

 

 

I really do appreciate the advice given and please don't think i'm shunning you (i'm not), it's just these guys are about 2 miles from where I live and their work is awesome.........plus they are nice blokes.  As much as i'd like to use Owens Fabrications or SA Fabrications, they are a fair distance from me, whereas these guys are pretty much on my doorstep..........and did I mention they are seriously good at what they do!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

From seeing different cage designs and not being completely convinced by any of them, it's nice to deal with a company that don't charge silly prices and that will involve me in all the different stages and allow me to pretty much have a bespoke cage to fit around my needs........better go and have a chat with my local MSA scrutineer and start scribbling some ideas down.

 

Plenty of updates to come shortly, and once the shell has been collected i'll certainly be cracking on and hopefully make some interesting progress......but rest assured, this won't be just a road car with a cage in it anymore, this is now going to evolve and hopefully become something very special (so if you have any ideas, fire away).

 

Dave

[minisi35]

Are they doing the full build or just the shell?

[rally1380]

Are they doing the full build or just the shell?

 

Na mate, they will just be doing the cage and a few other bits that to be honest I just don't have the skills for.

 

The plan is this.........

 

1 - Pick up shell

2 - make a brew and have a sit down when I see the invoice.

3 - scratch my head and decide which bits of the shell are not really needed in a rally car and cut them out to save a bit of weight.

4 - get the shell to TLJ for a fancy cage and a few other goodies (not gonna give away everything!)

5 - return back to my place for a dry build and decide which holes need drilling where

6 - Paint - maybe back at Minisport, maybe local, maybe me if money has run out?

7 - Shiny shell comes back to me for me to do the rebuild which in the meantime has meant I've rebuilt the engine, seam welded the subframes, refurbed all the suspension etc etc etc etc etc (the list goes on!!!) 

 

 

I think that covers it..........seems easy....only 7 easy steps!!! 

[AustinLeonardAutomotive]

I'm very excited to see the rebuild!!  Can't wait to get cracking on my Clubman, I'm just waiting for little parts and only have the weekends to work in it.

[keefr22]

6 - Paint - maybe back at Minisport, maybe local, maybe me if money has run out?

What colour Dave? I'm hoping for Aqua....!!

Really looking forward to the build!

Keith

[rally1380]

Definitely 'Aqua' Keith.... Really is a nice colour and a bit different so why not eh?

I'd love to do a full blown rally livery with different colours and logos and the like but I need to keep it Road rally scrute proof just in case they start doing more historic night events like the upcoming 'the devils own'....which I'm navving on. On that subject, I need to fill you all in on the last event (gogledd) I did with my step dad in his custard coloured Proton.

[keefr22]

Definitely 'Aqua' Keith.... Really is a nice colour and a bit different so why not eh?

Excellent!!

Looking forward to reading your latest rally report!

K

[minisi35]

Only 7 ! couple of weeks work then lol

[rally1380]

Only 7 ! couple of weeks work then lol

 

Exactly, i'll have all my projects done by Christmas so might as well buy another wreck to keep myself busy.

[DEPS]

Hi, Glad you found someone local and decent to do the cage. I think the point is that when you start looking around there are more cage suppliers than Safety Devices etc and you can then spec what you need and deal with genuine people .

I know you will Dave, but whilst you want as comprehensive a cage as you can afford, just make sure it will still comply with say historic regs. I seem to remember something a few years ago, where you couldn't have the extra bolt in the windscreen pillar for certain events. Seems a bit daft to me because surely you should encourage people to have the strongest safest car they can, but as we all know a lot of Motorsport rules don't always appear logical.

All the best with the build.

HRCR Mini Cup next year then

[rally1380]

... there are more cage suppliers than Safety Devices etc and you can then spec what you need and deal with genuine people .

....it will still comply with say historic regs.

....HRCR Mini Cup next year then

Yup, speaking to some people who will remain nameless, safety devices are not the be all and end all. In fact now I have seen proper welding, when compared to my SD cage, they look worlds apart. And I've also heard a few horror stories of another company that sells certified cages using less than proper spec materials.... Sketchy or what!!

No fear, I will be researching the ass off what I can and can't do with the cage. I'm going to ask a few people for input and fingers crossed have the ultimate in historic spec mini cage... For rallying at least...race cages are different kettles of fishes. I think a way around the issue with bolting to the a pillar is exactly that....use a bolt and tab rather than welding it with sexy holed gussets...that way if a scrute says no, you just take the bolts out.

As for the hrcr cup next year.....doubtful to be honest. I'd like to think the car will be built by summer ready for fettling but as my life has changed since becoming a father the car's play second (if not third) fiddle. I might attempt a single venue event in autumn next year but I'll have to get my proper rally licence first aswell as all the safety stuff in date which is going to cost a bit....and on that subject, the cage design will most definitely be with both eyes on hans type devices and getting the harness angles spot on....something I don't see with other cages and their harness bars.


Fingers crossed the build goes to plan.

Edited by rally1380, 10 September 2016 - 06:21 PM.

[DEPS]

I should have put a "smiley face" after my comment on the mini cup! That would be a tall order for next year, especially for a family man. My Clubman Baldric ended up being parked up for over 20 years after a house buy and 2 kids!!

 

I would love to do the mini cup, but Baldric would have needed some serious work to bring him back up to stage spec and then the paint job left him "too nice to rally", well on my budget it did! I therefore went out and bought a Peugeot 106 Rallye rally car for less than the spray job on the mini! Also rather expensive to build a competitive engine, especially when Mr King is running an 8 port. I personally think there should be a different class for 5 & 8 ports.

 

Whilst the 106 isn't a mini, I actually think it is more in the spirit of the original Cooper S than the BMW version. It is a small 1300 FWD car that was built specially for rallying. That comment might be a bit contentious??!!

 

Reference Hans. The 106 has a basic Safety Devices cage and did not have a harness bar. This is where SA Fabrication came to the rescue and knew all about the required angles. I still look at rally cars on e bay and there are a lot that say ready to rally, but a lot do not have correct harness bars. 

 

Single venues are great. I did 2 in Baldric years ago, but did my first with my son in the Pug 2 months ago and it was horrendously rough. Snapped a wishbone on the first stage (so game over) and then discovered we had also knocked a hole in the rear of the sill by the wheel arch......so it is currently away being welded up as it was beyond my fabrication/welding skill level. To be fair the venue does have a reputation for being rough, but we were keen to get out and do an event and others clashed with holidays. So lesson learned, stick to asphalt or smoother airfields!!

 

Investigate doors as well. According to the HRCR you can have alloy door-skins (and polycarbonate windows), but a mini on ebay said that he had alloy doors, but hadn't fitted them as the MSA wouldn't give it a logbook with them??? Which from my reading of the blue-book would seem correct. You can have fibreglass boot, bonnet and wings though, so what are the mini cup boys running?

 

Sure you knew everything in my ramblings here, but sometimes good to get confirmation on your thoughts perhaps??

 

Anyway, I look forward to watching the build. All the best.

[rally1380]

Date has been set folks........11th October is SP day.........Shell Pickup!!!!!!!

 

So need my shell gone...............who wants it?

 

It's to good to throw away and it could definitely be of use to someone...........no sensible offers refused.

Edited by rally1380, 30 September 2016 - 03:36 PM.