Welcome to my project page!
At the start of July I towed home this 1984 Mayfair thinking it would be a stop gap project whilst I found a nice old Land Rover to restore. How wrong was I! 5 months later it still ain't on the road! Still its been fun I guess.
July 2006
Doesn't look too bad really from here!
The Mini had been badly sprayed up at somepoint. Sadly a light sanding tended to reveal filler rather than metal. A-panels, front drivers wing, front panel, rear wheel arches, door steps and the passenger floor would all reveal some degree of rust eventually.
oh, and the rear subframe was rotten. It had even rusted through where it had been previously patched!
Aug 2006
Spent most of the time trying to get quotes for the work.
Stripped the interior out completely leaving just the steering wheel and clocks
Spent many weekends sanding down the whole bodywork to find trace of more rust
The drivers floor had been previously replaced but never rust-proofed or finished properly.
Sept 2006
By september all I had was a bare shell full of rust
More sanding and parts sourcing. Declared the doors as scrap but just kept my head down and tried to sus-out what to do.
At the end of September I had a week booked off work to work on the Mini but my old Land Rover engine decided to eat its exhaust valves on the way to Wales. Sadly the week was then spend stripping and rebuilding the broken engine.
Oct 2006
Fed up with high qoutes for the welding required I bought a SIP Mig welder and taught myself using a book and a bit of spare sheet I had. Its been a good skill to gain and has made my money go much further than expected.
Just look at all those repair panels!
Nov 2006
November was a bad month Mini wise. I am a building site engineer in Coventry and we spent three weeks resurfacing a cross-roads in the Ball hill area of the city. I did get a bit more sanding done though in the evenings. . . and then a new mountain bike destracted me briefly
Dec 2006
Plans changed a fair bit. I cut the passenger a-panel of to reveal the flitch panel was just rust and I had nowhere to attach a new panel. I then cut the wing off to find the front panel was shot. To solve this I calmly pushed the Mayfair back into the garage and had some retail therapy. I ordered a fibreglass flip front, brace bars, solid front subframe mount kit and everything else I needed. Then I went to pick it up in my Fiesta and the damn thing would not fit in the back! The Mini has been testing at times!
Currently most of the welding is finished up the front. new door steps, new flitches, a-panels, footwells etc are 90% done. Would of finished today had it not been raining
The bootlid has had all the holes filled except for where the handle goes. Basically its now just a case of plodding along until the damn thing is finished!I am going to spray it Primula yellow eventually, have got a Mk1 grille to fit, pair of bucket seats for the front, full negaitve camber kit and some hi-los sat in a box somewhere, group 2 arches, motorbike wing mirrors and tons of other stuff I have gained over the months. Considering wether to cage it as I intend to enter some point-to-point and 10-car rallies in it. I have promised the wheels to a local gent thats restoring a Mini Special, i just got to decide on the wheels I want. Got to be 10s though. Thinking maybe powder coated starmags. . .Oh, and the front drums are to be replace by 7.5discs eventually. . .
The true bargain of the build so far is a passenger door that had been restored and then dry stored for 22years. Its absolutly perfect and mine for all of £9.99! Awesome.
Engine is a standard 998. Not sure what to do with that yet. Either big time tweak it (Stage 3 head, Hiff 44, Kent cam etc) or swap it out and tweek a MG Metro lump.
Thats about it for now
Cheers
Gav
