So it was about time I made a build thread. I always kept putting it off, mainly because after working all day on the mini the last thing I wanted to do was come in and write about it. But, most of the hard work is now out of the way. This is really a time line that I will also continue to update. So here we start.
I bought Patrice in July of 2010. Here is how he looked then. I paid £1800, and later felt a bit stung, and that I should have waited.
He had a few holes here and there, but I never really knew the extent of the damage. He is my first car, and it didn’t help that I had only basic mechanical skills from my previous motocross riding. However he had only about 30,000 miles on the clock with a full service history.
The idea was always to respray, and apart from the odd hole he seemed to be 'solid'. The first thing i did was get the back box changed. Looking back at it now it seemed to be like a fletcher centre exit double piped exhaust, however it was blowing due to a tear, and also the brackets holding it on had gone rotten. At the time i lacked the experience to do ANYTHING like this, so i had HiQ around the corner do it. They seemed to be just as inept, as they bashed the down-pipe with a hammer. 
It was then about a year of the body-work slowly rusting under the paint that prompted me to go head on and tackle it as a project. I really wish i hadn't...
The out-comes of this 'spree':
I started to de-bumper, without truley knowing what i had started. In a flash the front seam was off, and it looked... well...
The rear then went from this
To this
I regretted this afterwards. I was literally on the verge of selling Patrice on. I'm sure many other mini owners have felt this before, but when this didn't go to plan, and i had got myself in way over my head i felt like i had just destroyed my car.
After deciding i would see the work through, i decided to pick up a set of these.
Things were great, i had a slight bit more confidence in my car now.
In my new fount knowledge a vigor of managing to fit wheels, i perused the bodywork further! Leaving myself in a bigger mess, and having to drive and even worser looking car. Here are the fabulous results of a zealous unexperienced 18 year old version of myself.
The bonnet was messed about with, and painted in just primer. It went rusty underneath within a few weeks. Rust progressively got worse the more i messed with it...
In my arrogance i thought that no-one would bother stealing mini wheels, because they tend not to fit on modern day cars, and no-one in the mini community would buy stolen wheels. I was totally naive, and never again will i make this mistake. I came out of college and someone had tried to steal the wheels.
Obviously the Police couldn't do much. There was no damage done, other than a few gouges out of the wheels where it had sat for a while. It really was demoralizing having to wait ages next to my car buckled under the wheels while friends came down to lend me their jacks. That evening i bought locking wheel nuts, and had one hell of a sleepless night. never again will i make a mistake like that.
The doors also became rotten at the bottom, and the metal was literally flaking off. I was told i could have them repaired, and it would be way way cheaper then buying a new set, or a refurbished set. This however turned out to be salt in the wound. I bought a set of door skins, and then paid £350 to get ONLY the drivers side re-skinned, and to have the hole patched up on the wing. The door then wasn't hung properly and the inside wasn't waxed. It was at this point i realized that there are con-men everywhere. Even in the mini community :-/
Around this time it was August 2012. After the door was skinned, i went on holiday to Cornwall for a week. I drove Patrice all the way there, and it was great, until all went dark on an unlit dual carriage-way at around 11pm. I had never known before what it would be like to be a bat driving a mini. It's actually quite terrifying. It turned out that a dodgey cigarette lighter i had wired in for the sat-nav had someone burned out the light switch. Luckily i had some wire, and managed to connect it so i could make it to the camp site. Not too bad for an amateur improvisation in my opinion.
On the way back from Cornwall a nasty knocking sound started coming from the wheels when on full lock. Just my luck that the outer CV's had gone. I managed to pretend it wasn't there for a good 3 months or so, lol. Eventually i decided to replace them. I wasn't sure which one was damaged so i just replaced both. While i was at it i also deiced i might as well do a bit more. I bought new cones all round, and deiced i'd also finally have a go at fitting my Hi-Los i'd bought back in 2010 when i had dreamed on a snazzy lowered mini. I also bought some new shocks, as mine easily kicked the bucket years ago. 
New ball joints also.
Spot the difference. Thats right, I knocked the bump stop off.
I also did the track rod ends, and the bushes at the steering arm (If thats what it's called) because they were ripped, and i heard that was an MOT failure now.
I'll leave it there for tonight. I'll update some more tomorrow, as I'm now fairly caught up to where i am currently.
Edited by Yams, 17 August 2013 - 10:07 PM.
