664 replies to this topic

[M44K TS]

LMAO, Cheers Jack.

I was working round the corner from my Grans earlier on this afternoon and I had a spare hour, so called in and ran the car for 5 minutes to get everything up to temperature and put then left it with the battery on charge. So saying as it's nice and sunny, managed to get a couple of decent pictures of the washer bottle. It's different, not sure if I'll keep it as is, or actually bite the bullet and get an alloy one made from scratch.




Just waiting for the weekend so I can swap the top dash rail for the leather one, fit the new seats and maybe even whip the doors off so I can make a start on the electric windows.

Edited by M44K TS, 14 April 2010 - 02:10 PM.

[M44K TS]

New interior is in, it needs a good going over again, might have a go at buying the recolouring kit from furniture clinic, or maybe pay to get it recoloured incase I bugger it up!

Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the talking, (Also gave me a chance to try my new camera lens out...)







Seats now match the steering wheel


And a couple of shots just messing about with the camera






I was going to connect the power for the central locking and swap the top dash rail over, but it started raining jst as I had finished with the seats. Suppose it gives me something to do next time I'm over.

[GreaseMonkey]

They look fricking sexy in a Black mini!!

Edited by GreaseMonkey, 18 April 2010 - 09:50 PM.

[M44K TS]

Cheers dude, I might fit the top dash rail tonight I know I've said it a few times now, but it really would be the finishing touch.

[sam27]

hi me and my dad have a H reg mini and we have been trying different thing with the standard air box, because it had a metal air intake with a flap in it and we thought it wasent letting anough air into the engine so we tuck that off and now the car runs MUCH better and i just came across your project page and was just wondering what air box you have on and if it make any differnce ...thx sam !!

[M44K TS]

I think it's just a standard 1275 airbox from a Metro. It makes the engine much quieter under normal running, but still gives a nice induction noise under load.

[sam27]

oh rite thankyou very much for your advice and we are goin to look into getting one !!!

by the way your mini is looking nice !!!!

Edited by sam27, 19 April 2010 - 05:22 PM.

[M44K TS]

Thanks

[M44K TS]

Bit of an update, the car is finally ready (with the exception of checking and adjusting the rear brakes) for the MOT which I hope to book for next weekend.

Todays jobs were to sort why I had no sidelights, no brake lights and why the volt gauge would only work when you press the dash and why the clock didn't light up.

So. First things first, whipped out the dash




The sidelights turned out to be a fuse had blown so that was a relief, the brake lights not working was down to one of the cable on one of the original spade connectors that supplies the 12v to the brake switch was just say hanging on by 1 strand so wasn't always making a connection, so replaced both with new terminals.

The volt guage problem was down to the spade terminal was half hanging off so that was a simlpe job of clicking back on, and the clock no lighting up was because the bulb holder needed nipped up. So, these few niggling jobs that I've been putting off from doing, turned out to be so easy to sort.

Whilst I had the dash out, I decided that it was a good idea to swap the top dash rail over for the Mini 40 black leather one. Again, I was expecting a nice easy 2 min job. How wrong was I!!!! Whoever said that removing and refitting the top dash rail with the windscreen in place was easy was so worng! What a total ball ache of a job, nightmare to remover as it was tucked under the windscreen seal in the middle, although removing the old one was alot easier than fitting the new one. I spent a good 10 mins just to try and get one side stud slotted into the hole in the metal, then had to sort of punch the top down whilst pushing it towards the windscreen to try and get the middle stud in.

Eventually got it loosely bolted in place then realised the middle of the rail hadn't slotted under the windscreen seal as I hoped and hadn't lined up with the windscreen vents blocking them. So, out with a big flat head screwdriver to coax it all into place. At one point I thought about taking the screen out, but, just as I thought about that, the dash rail slotted in place nicely. I'll not be removing it in a hurry that's for sure.

So, here's how it looks all back together...






After the struggle with the dash, I gave the car a quick wash & wax, gave me a good excuse to try out some Poorboys Natty's Paste Wax



Get your reflicti-on!



So there we are, everthing sorted for the MOT except the handbrake on the o/s. But I'll sort that mid week.

[lawrence]

hey, i just read your entire project its very interesting
i saw how you like a clean engine bay, have you thought about cleaning the top of your radiator?
i did mine the other weekend and its come out lovely and brassy and only needs to occasional polish
L

[bcjames]

Amazing, such a classy mini, looks coachbuilt

[M44K TS]

Wow, quite the compliment James, cheers.

Lawrence, I've thought about polishing the rad top, but I don't know if the brass would look right with all the otehr chrome bits? Have you got a picture of yours?

Also, I've had a look round for chrome covers for the radiator and fan cowl, like what's on the coil and brake servo but they're none existant, and I can't justify the £200+ on a decent alloy rad, despite how cool they look (Sorry, terrible pun) I think for now I might just have to live with the black.

[Marcus_C]

Very nice mini you have there - uber cool

Having just read most of this thread, how are the rear headrests fitted? Are they fitted to the parcel shelf or the seats? Or do the seats you used have them in already?
Also I love some of the ideas you've put in your wiring system, they make a lot of sense.

Edited by Marcus_C, 12 May 2010 - 07:36 PM.

[M44K TS]

Cheers dude, the rear headrests are just slotted in the rear shelf for now, although they're a tight fit, I will eventually use a set the plastic inserts that hold the headrests in the front seats into the parcel shelf with some chrome tubing to tidy them up and some jubilee clips on the inside of the boot to stop them from moving about too much.

As for the wiring, I wanted it to be pretty much plug and play so if I ever need to disconnect anything, it will just unplug.

[M44K TS]

The car is insured as of Wed. gone, just rang to book it for it's MOT tomorrow, the guy on the phone asked if I could drop it down today instead, so you never know, I might have it MOT'd either late today or early tomorrow....

Fingers, toes and testicles crossed