33 replies to this topic

[AndrewT]

My plans for a relaxed rebuild have gone completely out of the window.

 

Having stripped most of the car down I got a transfer at work and have to move country.  I needed to get the car back together as quickly as possible so that it could be shipped over but at the same time I didn't want to have to take more apart again at a later than I really needed to.  That meant finish the bodywork and painting but worry about any mechanical upgrades at a later date.  It also meant that I couldn't get the engine out to paint the engine bay properly so that will also have to wait.

 

The main objective was to do as good a job as possible on the key pieces before the end of the year.

 

Life was made harder by the fact that I have been working overseas since I got transferred so have only had a few weekends to get things done.  Regular updating of this thread has also suffered as a consequence.

 

Onto the pictures - the only bit of bodge I found on the bodywork was a badly welded repair on the wing in front of the A panel.

 

 

I'm not able to weld so the local bodyshop sorted that out for the grand total of 40 quid.

 

Then it was on to the roof which was covered in a sort of strange black woodchip effect paint.  That was sanded off, primed and painted Old English White.

 

Old stuff removed

 

Primed

 

Painted

 

Speedwell blue paint on:

 

 

 

 

 

Standard black plastic Leyland arches soon to be body coloured:

 

 

[AndrewT]

Then all the interior trim pieces arrived from the UK:

 

Headlining fitted

 

 

Rear door cards

 

[Vinay-RS]

Wow this is an amazing thread, did you do all the painting and bodywork yourself? I also noticed that the new zealand mini gt looks more like the sa gts than the aussie gt, did you guys not keep the external door hinges like the aussie cars?

[AndrewT]

There hasn't been much bodywork to do other than some light beating, skimming and sanding. I did all the painting using cellulose with 3 or 4 coats of colour and then 2 or 3 coats of clear lacquer.

I think that the NZ cars were built here using kits of body and mechanical parts made in the UK and then shipped out and pieced together here. They are therefore almost identical to the UK spec ones.

[AndrewT]

The doors are on and everything looked complete so I took the car off for its WoF (MOT).

Had 5 minor failures which considering how quickly I had to throw it all back together was quite a result.

Dipped beam adjustment too low. Easy fix.

One of the dashboard indicator tell-tales wasn't working. I tested the bulb and that was fine but then realised that the copper bit of the pcb that touches the bulb holder had bent over so wasn't in contact. Another easy fix.

Left hand main beam wasn't working. Tested the headlamps and could find no fault. Swapped them over and the fault was still on the left hand side. A voltage test showed it a bit low on both main and dipped beam when tested through the headlamp connector but absoltely fine when earthed to the engine block. Traced the dodgy earth to the final bullet connector before the headlight which looked like a bit of a previous bodge fix as it was two male bullets connected to a quad female adapter. I cut them out and put in a new single bullet connector. There is something immensely satisfying about simple electical fixes as sometimes they can take forever to locate the source.

Both top hub ball joints were a bit loose. Luckily I had a brand new boxed Unipart one bought in 1991 so used a couple of thin shims from there to replace the thick ones on the car and that was fine.

The only thing that actually needed replacing was the left hand steering rod end. $20 for a new one from the local motor factors then back to the test centre where it passed!

Just a few shiny bits and trim to finish off now.

[scudracer]

Looks awesome! Love it.

[Vinay-RS]

Well done, congrats on getting the GT back on the road :)

[AndrewT]

Not much more progress since it was back on the road as three weeks later it was crated up and shipped over to Australia. Finally got it through customs and compliance and it is fully registered and road legal over here.

Here's how she currently looks:





I did find some time to build a boot lining



The only cosmetics left to do are a new dashboard and properly fix the carpets after putting some sound proofing down.

Yesterday this little lot arrived so one more weekend and the final mechanical bits should be done too.

[leadly]

Mate.......that's beautiful!

[AndrewT]

I can't believe it's been over two years since I started this project and 18 months since I last did an update.

 

Last June (2015) I fitted the new cones, LCB and RC40 along with a set of brand new hilos that I bought 25 years ago.  Not had much opportunity to use the car much and it's settled a bit more since my first adjustment so they need raising a little bit which I will do over Christmas. 

 

Not much additional work has been done in the interim period but I did make up an under-seat speaker board and matching dashboard.

 

 

 

 

The open shelf bit is lower than the hole in the dash so there is a slight lip designed to stop my phone sliding out.

 

And fitted. Note the cunning iphone cable on the shelf.  That's the reason that the whole thing needs to come out again as it turns out that the headunit can't recognise anything newer than an iphone 4 so I need to swap that cable out for an old version so I can attach an old-school ipod instead.

 

That lot was all done last year before work got in the way again.

 

Anyway, work is a bit less hectic at the moment so I've finally started flatting the paint back to polish it up so that I can then get the 1275 stripes on.  Hopefully will get that finished in the next week or so.

 

I mentioned that hi-lo adjustment would take place over Christmas and that probably sounds like an unnecessary wait for something so quick and easy.  However, I got a bit carried away with my new found enthusiasm and ordered a load of new goodies to keep me busy over the break.  The main bits are some Gaz dampers, a 8.4 to 7.5 brake conversion kit and some 10 inch wheels .   No point adjusting the hi-los until that lot is all fitted.

Edited by AndrewT, 07 December 2016 - 11:36 AM.

[blue gt]

Cool mini, nice to see another kiwi gt

[cp2708]

I was over in New Zealand last month, on the South Island. It amazed me the amount of classic cars on the road and more so, the rust free condition they were in considering the climate.

Nice Mini!

[AndrewT]

More years have passed with very little work done on the car as it all works and I've been a bit busy.

Moved back to the UK and still need to get the mini registered but it's now MOT'd so that's one thing ticked off. The DVLA is partly closed due to covid so it will probably be a while before registration gets completed.

In the meantime I've bought an MG Metro engine which is going to be stripped, lightly modified and then installed.

Started the strip down but can't get too far as there is a bit of a delivery delay for a flywheel puller so while I wait for that the head has been stripped and I've started cleaning up the valves.  IMG_18062020_214630_(1080_x_900_pixel).jpg   58.61K   1 downloads  IMG_18062020_214615_(1080_x_900_pixel).jpg   54.25K   1 downloads

[johnR]

Great project - I don't think I've seen another Speedwell Blue GT? And you're in Dorset, East or West?

[AndrewT]

Far east - Poole. Are you this end?