1446 replies to this topic

[alexcrosse]

200bhp is where its at =p not taken it over 4k?! lol

[The Matt]

200bhp is where its at =p not taken it over 4k?! lol

It's not legally on the road yet!

I've only driven it a few hundred yards so far, so not even got into 4th.

The test drive will be on the way to the MOT test

The car really does feel finished now. The welding is done, I've painted it (sort of). The wiring is all done and working. The interior is close enough to being finished. Just a couple of nights working on it this week and it'll be ready to rock and roll. Any minor jobs will be done between the MOT and BH2N, so I'm happy with that.

Anyway, does my bum look big in this?


I threw some paint on it, badly:


I fettled my radiator position, so in actual fact I didn't need to cut that much out of the front panel BUT, I am going to look for a bigger radiator as soon as I can, maybe even a custom one. It wants to be about the same width as an MPi Mini one, but about 3-4" taller. I could get something a bit deeper in there too. I may go for a Punto one or similar, they're pretty small and look like they'll fit OK.

The bonnet to wing panel gap was horrid at first, massively horrid. But I think that's because the A-panels were fitted when I had the GRP front on it. So I ordered some new A-panels from Minispares last week and cut the old ones off, so I could start again. Fitted them, but I still have a bad gap between the bonnet and the wing. Again, it'll do for now. Once it's back from Germany, I think I'll have another go at it. Part of the problem is that the O/S inner wing is a little "custom" really. to be honest, I'm still tempted to put a clubby front on it, but I need to take that decision later on. I just need the thing on the bloomin road ASAP. The CF bonnet doesn't help. I got it from Smudger, but it's never fitted the car properly. The curve on the front didn't mate up well with the original steel front end, nor with the GRP front end, nor with this new steel front. So I think if I do start again, it'll be with a different bonnet, perhaps jsut a bog standard steel one.



I've always said that I'm really not bothered what it looks like. If anything, I'd like it to look a bit rough really. I want it to look like a knackered 39 year old mini, so I think I've achieved that

I think my best course of action would be to start saving up once it's on the road and pay someone to do it who can actually do bodywork properly. It will basically need a whole new front end on it at some point Pah, can I be bothered? Meh. If I'm going to do that, I may as well have a full body resto Pah, that's for the future anyway. BH2N is my priority, so MOT will be booked, hopefully passed, then I can start driving it and enjoying it and make a decision then. I tell you one thing though, doing this has made me realise that I aint that good at bodywork. I'm massively out of practise and I don't have the equipment, nor skills to do a decent job of it. So, in the future, anything like this needs doing and I'll pay someone to do it. At least I can say I've done it all myself, I guess?

[Tomf]

Nice one mate, glad you have made some good progress with your mini.

Good luck with the MOT.

[GreaseMonkey]

I got an Astra Mk2 radiator in the end from fleabay, pretty cheap. Hope I can make it fit Maybe look into something like that? I looked at Micra ones too, maybe I should have gone for one of them, look a little too small though?

Edited by GreaseMonkey, 26 July 2010 - 07:53 AM.

[The Matt]

Scirocco ones might be a better fit. They're pretty slim.

If you're keeping the roundnose, you'll really struggle with the Astra one, I reckon.

[Kam]

Wahey!! Nice one Mr H

Which ECU did you go for in the end? And I've given up on doing bodywork aswell, next time I'll get someone else to sort it!

You could always take one of them 'detour' drives to the MOT center if your not able to test drive it yet

[GreaseMonkey]

Doh! I just noticed the Freak sticker on the bonnet, how cool!!

[The Matt]

Yeah, I bought a vinyl cutter so I can do me own stickers.

Kam, my MOT station is about 6 miles of lovely B-roads from my house, so it'll get a reasonable test anyway.

[The Matt]

And Kam, it's only for phase 2 that I need a mappable ECU.

For now, I'm on the standard C16XE job.

[GreaseMonkey]

Gaffa tape your video recording device to the roof and video the drive down!!

Edited by GreaseMonkey, 26 July 2010 - 11:14 AM.

[Shifty]

Matt, if you want a bonnet I've got one here, the hinge plates have been removed as it was gonna be used with pins(not by me)

[The Matt]

Coolies, cheers Shifter!

I'll have a play around with this one.

[The Matt]

Soooo, quick update:

I had my MOT booked for yesterday, but still haven't had my confirmation letter from the DVLA about the change of engine/logbook details.
So, I phoned matey MOT and told him the situation. He recommended that it'd be better if the MOT details matched really. He's persuaded me to give it a week and hope the paperwork turns up.
So, MOT is booked for next Saturday at 10:00.

Other jobs I've sorted in the meantime are:

Set ride height
Set camber (ish)
Set tracking
Sort tyre pressures
Calibrate speedo
Shakedown test
Set headlight aim
Fettle engine position
Realign gear linkage so it's better
Try to get brake bias set

Basically, I'm doing all the little fine tuning that I was going to do post MOT.

I'm so happy with it

It's seriously quick as it is. Off the mark it's brilliant. Little bit twitchy, but with the geometry properly set up it should be better.

I'm just going to be so happy if it's on the road for next Saturday, as it's my birthday on Sunday. I'll be going for a long drive if it passes and I tax it. My two mates with their Exige and Elise are on about heading to the "Evo Triangle", so I may go with them!

[jayare]

Hope you get your paperwork back in time Matt. I'm planning on sending mine off mid-project to try to avoid anything like that.

A nice fresh MoT certificate will be a good B'day pressie!

JR

[Kam]

Nice work on getting the other jobs done And you have to keep reminding people here its your birthday next saturday.........

Got my V5 through the other day (only took couple of weeks) and I used point no'4 on the dvla letter - bare minimum confirmation from the manufacture, as yours is headed paper from a garage you should be fine, hopefully it will turn up before next saturday