Thanks for the positive comments so far.
I've had the Clubman for nearly four months and I've gotta say I absolutely love it! It's so nice to be driving around in a standard Mini again. It's quiet, it's comfortable, it's economical. The pick-up hasn't had a look in since I got it!
First job was fixing that rust. I actually did all the repairs within the first two weeks of getting it home. The metal work's good but the finish is a bit rough and ready as I'll be respraying it next year anyway. So for now it was just grind the welds back, primer and a quick flash over with rattle can paint.
Next up was sorting a few bits to make driving a bit more pleasurable. I got a steering column lowering bracket from JB Fabrication which put the wheel in a more comfortable position and dropped it out of the line of sight of the gauges.
That big, thin steering wheel had to go next and was replaced with a standard late model one in excellent condition. While I was at it I replaced the indicator and washer stalks with a new set of genuine Lucas ones that put the indicators on the left - where they should be!
I managed to get hold of a NOS rev counter off eBay that matched my gauges but then had to get hold of the 3 clock mounting bracket and plastic facia as well as a new printed circuit board for the back before I could fit it.
Next job was getting rid of those hideous plastic wheel arches that weren't needed once I'd fitted a new set of 4.5"x10" Minilites. The arches were held on with self tapping screws and once they were off it revealed a whole load of painted on bitumen. I'm kinda grateful to the previous owner for doing this as it's probably what's kept the body in such good condition. However, I knew from the 3 hours it had taken to remove it all from the underside of the bonnet using white spirit, rags and scrapers that I had my work cut out for me again.
Once it was finally all gone I welded up the screw holes, ground them back then gave it a quick flash over.
It's the same crappy finish as before, but it'll do for now. Whilst I've had most of the glass out to do the repairs I've taken the the opportunity to replace all of the rubber seals which were starting to shrink and crack.
Out on the road the steering and handling were initially some what worrying but this just turned out to be badly perished front subframe mounts. The heel board mounts were replaced and Minispares "semi-solid" top bolt kit was fitted. It's made a massive difference and hasn't increased the cabin noise at all.
The shabby number plates were replaced. The fat rear plate that Rover used to fit looks ace!
I have a bit of OCD when it comes to squeaks and rattles and one that I couldn't get rid of was the heater controls. As I prefer the look of the mk1 heater anyway I got one off eBay with the intention of restoring the whole thing. I nearly changed my mind when I found out just how horrendously expensive mk1 matrix's are. Turns out though that late model heaters are still drilled with the correct holes to fit the side pipe covers and that the front panel and the hinged panel inside are a direct swap. I grit blasted my mk1 parts, sprayed them in wrinkle finish paint and fitted them to my existing heater without having to drill or modify anything.
So that's where I'm at. All ready for a winter of daily driving whilst I start building the engine.
Edited by podifold, 09 April 2021 - 08:59 AM.
