281 replies to this topic

[Steve220]

Love that colour!

[Crazy]

Spoke to Ben today informs me car is almost ready to leave, had to make some adjustments for the wider tyres, then i added in a couple of extra jobs.

[ac427]

Blimey, you must owe him a year's rent

[Crazy]

hmm no kinda extended the stay in there regardless as things changed my end so just had more done than originally planned which I essentially dropped on Ben as a no rush situation, 

[Crazy]

Just a quick update, I called in to see Ben at the start of this week to see how he was getting on an it is almost complete, has an oil leak where he wasnt sure it was coming from and waiting for some ramp time, I heard back from Ben later that evening on email that ramp had been booked for Friday morning and as I am on the island till late Sunday I decided to pop back in Friday afternoon, they have solved where the leak is coming from and parts are on order, couple of small jobs left to do asking Ben when we are now potentially looking at for completion was met with end of next week, Though I probably won't be collecting it for another 2 or 3 now need to start sorting insurance and the like out my end. 
While it was out in the workshop Ben fired it up for me first time I've heard the car running since I bought it around 21 years ago and stripped it down. It was due to be tuned later that afternoon. 

 

The car may well be almost finished with Ben but I'll be switching out bits here and there as time goes on. Just need to juggle it around the other cars.

 

While it was out in the open I took 2 photos which have added to this post. 

 

 

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[JXC Mini GT]

Looking good, I might get to see it in the flesh as my Mini will be there in about 2 weeks time.

[Crazy]

So I spoke to Ben yesterday to see how things were progressing from my trip at the back end of May an all is on target to be completed by the end of this week, he sent me over a couple of pictures as he had it outside, colour just absolutely pings in different lighting see my above post the difference, He informs me the MOT is sometime today 26/6 then once that's all done he will be carrying out his road tests and making sure he is happy with everything, should have update later on at least one thing, then It's time to sort insurance and shuffling schedules to arrange a collection. Almost done almost.....

 

 

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[cooperd70]

I bet you can't wait! Looks fantastic!

[Crazy]

Well it now has it's pass Ben is taking it out later so shall probably have some more photos later on.
Going to be a bit different from the daily that's for sure 😄

[Crazy]

Just a couple more Ben sent me this afternoon while out testing the mini everything seems pretty good. 

 

20 or so years this was sat in various places in the unit got itchy for a project and decided it was time and here we are, 

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[KTS]

very nice. enjoy !

[Crazy]

So a week has gone by since I collected the mini from Ben weather was superb was my birthday the day i travelled over so was a pretty good time to collect the mini well the day after, So I got to mill road and there it was sat outside ready to go, I won't deny I was excited but I was nervous at the same time, having bought the mini when I was 16 and it being stripped within weeks I had never drove one, i'd been in a few. Ben kindly took me out in it first and went through what was what so off we tooted up the road and back, where Ben then adjusted my harnesses for both me and my passenger for the weekend being my dad, the plan being to drive round the island on an adventure for the weekend, I am a regular over there due to my partner living over there and dad hasn't been for 30 or so years so it was good to be a tour guide while giving the mini a blast around. 

 

First stop from collecting the mini Friday mid day was a jaunt back across the other side of the island to visit a very good friend at his restaurant/pub for a well earnt latte 

 

 

He is always in his car park with a varied range of motors that call in and tends to like to put short videos together so he captured some small clips and made the following clip below so I thought I'd share it here too.

 

 

 

The following day now being Saturday we were stuck till around 2 in the afternoon Friday parking outside the caravan on an incline the mini didn't like it and just wanted to roll forwards had to wedge the wheels with blocks and rocks and wait for a mobile mechanic to pop out and make some small adjustments most on the island were either busy till I managed to ping one of the Islanders a message who came in with a contact for someone available, So eventually we made it out, went out and visited monkey sanctuary I'll spare you the photos of that one aha, from there it was time to get some fuel, first time to fuel a mini I had to chuckle to myself how much it cost costs about the same as a 1/4 tank in the daily so I'm not complaining on that front....anyhow from there we ventured up to culver down given the weather and I'd not been up for a while. If the weather is good I would recommend it you can walk round the cliffs there is even a little pub up there that does food which looked and smelt good. From Culver we then headed out towards Chale for a meal no photos here, but leaving here was a story, it seemed that my dash didn't light up so I couldn't see my speedo I had to use my phone for a rough guess. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was meant to be home time day in the evening but we opted to stay cause the football was on and our boat was the same time, anyway we had to leave where we was staying once again calling in for a latte then having a roast, then leaving one of the cars we had with us in the car park and going on another mini adventure where essentially covered the perimeter of the island calling in at various spots only the one photo from Sunday from Fort Victoria, not too far from Mill Road again a lovely spot when the sun is out. 

 

 

All in all I think I covered around 120 miles on the island and around another 140 ish home monday morning due to ferry cancellations and having to move to another crossing but it didn't miss a beat. Hit the handbrake issue which still isn't perfect so need to get that sorted but it is a lot better, no dash illumination on an evening run, the passenger door lock barrel came out the handle within less than hour so had to sort that. The steering column is to high I can't see my speedo and fuel gauge without leaning up and forward, I am not convinced with the wing mirrors they look good but practicality not so I'm constantly trying to adjust them to my liking but I can live with it for now. There are a few little bits that I am not too happy with so will be doing some rectifying over time. 

 

I will follow on this post later on I just wanted to get it thrown up on my collection weekend. 

 

I hope you'll all continue to follow the progress an I will be posting up multitudes of questions in various area of the forum now it's home