137 replies to this topic

[meetthespeakers]

Here is where I am at now 4/20/14

:


I posted this over on Stanceworks, but figured I might as well get it over here so you guys can see what I am doing across the pond. Well, this one will be a slow build as it is the toy car, and on the back burner really till spring. But I wanted to start up a build thread to show some ideas, and where it is heading. Years ago I built another Estate and sold it to my buddy, and thus regretted it. So I sold my Mini Saloon to a customer which I will be starting his build in March, and bought this 76 Estate over in UK and shipped her over. Currently it's got a 1098cc 4 cylinder engine, 4 speed, Right hand drive. Since I have built so many different conversions over the year, suzuki powered, integra Gsr powered, I want to do something special with this one. Right now I am leaning towards a s2000 front mount, rear wheel drive so I can still keep the space inside.

As far as suspension is concerned, I will be building a one off air ride kit. Going to use hopefully the ride tech 7000 series bag/shock setup. I will tub the rear, just finished painting some aero race wheels for it, have yet to get the tires mounted up. Fender flares I made. If you guys haven't figured out I have a hard on for wagons. Anyway, on to the pictures.
 

Here is how it arrived from UK at Baltimore Port.



Hour later got the 13x7 deep dish steelies I made from a 60's MGB rehooped.



I polished the grill, iridium coated headlights





The Interior I pulled out of my Saloon before I sold it, I re-used the rear upholstery and added a little bit to it to make it work in the Estate.

Edited by meetthespeakers, 21 April 2014 - 01:41 PM.

[meetthespeakers]

THEN THE REAL PIMPING STARTED.



New Aero race wheels, 13x7 Backspacing 2" and 4". Painted the centers black.



A little bit of dish.







Little bit of poke, will correct later with a bit of camber.

[meetthespeakers]

THEN THE REAL FUN STARTED

So I finally got on it in between working on the van. Had a few set backs. Rear subframe has really had it along with a bunch of other components as you will see. Hoping to get this thing lower and converted to disc brakes before the Mini Run. Here's a few pics:





The original 76 cones, yikes!



Check out the rear cones, probably some of the worst I have seen.



Test fitting sump guard, will need some tweaking.





Oh look, backing plate not wanting to be part of the lowered party. Good thing I had a extra set. To bad all the bolts snapped replacing it.



Lowered SPAX adjustable shocks and blue springs. Found a old set of camber brackets, tossed those on, oh the fun of almost 40 year old bolts that have never been turned.



Trimming a little off the inside lip to get that extra 1/2" or so. Cambered right in.



The money shot of where I'm heading.

[meetthespeakers]

Got a bit more done, will have to stop for a little bit due to the run being this coming weekend. Hoping to still fabricate the dash, all new gauges, dye the door cards black, maybe swap to disc if I have time. But onto the pics:







So I did one last push to get the car ready for the CMR Spring Run that I put together. Ended up having 25 Classic Mini's show up and 2 Bini's. Car turned out great, was an immense amount of work to get done, but made it just in time. Had 2 break downs on the 6 hour drive, but minor stuff. Clutch master cylinder lost enough fluid I couldn't shift, so had to refill and bleed on the side of the road. Then I had the alternator go on the drive back, extra battery got me home. Anyway, onto the pictures, and yes I had to raise the car a bit, I had 2 extra passengers and still managed to crack my rear right fender.





Cleaned it and dyed it with duplicolor flat black. Turned out fantastic as usual.



Built up the disc brakes for the front





Little box to hold all my spares, etc in.



The start of making the new center gauge setup



5" Autometer Black Prestige Speedo/Tach Combo with GPS Speedo Sender





Dash all done



LED Backlight, looks fantastic at night



Little Trimming needed.



Trimmed a bit here so I can change oil without dropping the guard everytime.



Figured since I still had a few hours left I would whip up a roof rack



Welded some Mini studs on there to mount spare



All done and painted up





At Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, VA for the start of the run.








The line up of Mini's getting ready.





First break down, getting the full experience, great guys to have.



Getting ready to get on the Whites Ferry











Ontop of Sugarloaf Mountain



Gassing up for the ride home!

[Badboytunes]

That looks cracking !!!

[meetthespeakers]

Here are the other 4 projects at the moment:

[digler]

Love this:-)
What arches are those? They look the same as mine but without the lip on.

[meetthespeakers]

So been enjoying it here and there, and just completed the Mini 54 down in Wythville, VA few weeks back. I decided if I wasn't going to do an engine swap in this one than I would toss a turbo on it. So I picked up a IHI RHB31 Turbo... and I also scored a brand new Weber Downdraft DGV 32/36 with a turbo plenum. I am gonna piece together some stuff and see what happens. Probably take a little while since I got 2 other more "important" car projects to finish, but it will find it's way on over the winter.

 

 

[meetthespeakers]

Well started in a few days ago, gonna have to put it on hold for a little bit, but I decided to cut the intake off the stock cast manifold and will use that to start from. 

 

 

Opened up to .70mm to give a larger shot of fuel under acceleration.

 

 

Another .70mm hole drilled with the pin vise to extend the progression circuit. 

 

All done, got the linkage sorted out for the most part.

 

Had the flip carb around to get better throttle routing. Hopefully this won't be an issue. I don't like having the choke on the backside, but hopefully it will be set it and forget it.

 

The tiny tiny turbo infront of the 61 Minor.

 

[meetthespeakers]

So been busy trying to finish other peoples cars, but finally had some time to order some stuff at least. So I am selling off my 13x7's and swapping in some 10x7's. I went with Yoko 32's. May paint the centers black or gold, not sure yet. I got in the post 8.4 - 7.5 disc conversion, so hopefully pop that on tonight. Also plan on tubbing the rear as well as turreting the rear to fit... some air sleeves.

 

Looks like my buddy wants my weber real bad, so I am gonna cut it loose and go for the SC 5 Port Injection kit to accompany the small turbo. I think it should work well together. Anyway, don't have many pics, but here is what I have:

 

 

 

 

[DazWood]

Thats low!!! Looks the mutts! Those 13s are awesome too, but im sure the 10s will sit nice

[Baldspeed Racing]

proper love this, the new wheels look well trick

[Archived2]

sell me the 13"?

[meetthespeakers]

sell me the 13"?

Wheels are now sold....

Edited by meetthespeakers, 20 February 2014 - 08:36 PM.

[meetthespeakers]

Well finally had some time to do some grindin. Front is mocked up and rear is close, just have to move the shock towers up 2 inches so I can rest the tire on the new tub. Front is not strong enough to lift, so I will most likely be putting in ridetech 7000 sleeves. It's getting there, want it to really tuck the tire and have the lip almost at the arch, but it's gonna be tight to say the least, anyway, here are some pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is with the rear aired all the way up, its def got a lot of travel, ha!