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My First Ever Re-build A 1963 Mk1 Cooper


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#1 Mini Basher

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 12:35 AM

Hi All
Well where do I begin, I've always been a fan of the mini, in fact when I was a kid a mate of mine who lived on a farm had an old mini van that we all used to drive around the fields in, probably the first ever car I drove. I've always wanted to do a resto job on a car and when we bought a house with a double garage I talked the Missus into letting me get a car and carry out my dream. Spent loads of time on the internet and looking through car mags for the perfect restoration job to do, eventually finding a Mk1 mini Copper shell on E-bay for £250, the blurb said it was a project that had been started and was in need of someone to complete, the car had been stripped and media blasted so all its problem areas could be seen, never been one to run away from a challenge so took the bull by the horns and arranged to drive to Birmingham with trailer to collect the PROJECT car. In the meantime I had to build a carosel for the car, so went to a local steel stockist and bought some 40mm sqare tube and some flat plate, got a 13ft length of scaffold pole from a mate and did my first ever bit of welding, wonderful the information you can get of the internet (google how to weld)
Well the car was a bit worse than I anticipated but it was definately going to be a challenge, this is by no means a completed restoration and I am putting no time scale to it as I have to source basically all the components for the rebuild except the glass and the front sub frame, oh and an engine, a genuine 998 copper with box, so here we go I've got quite a few pictures some good some not so good, here's what I started with


The day the mini arrived home

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Edited by Mini Basher, 24 October 2009 - 07:21 AM.


#2 Sir Cheat

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 02:00 AM

Hello, Welcome to TMF. Looking at the pics its not a bad shell. Good luck with it, keep us updated. >_<

#3 Mini Basher

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 05:25 PM

So its off with the old including the inner wings

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and on with the new

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#4 Sir Cheat

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 05:33 PM

How long did it take to do all that then?

#5 Mini Basher

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 05:48 PM

Lots to do yet but I think the next area to tackle is going to be the floor pan, had a lot of thoughts as to whether to just patch it or to replace the two floor pans or to replace the whole floor with a new one. Costings helped make that decision and it was decided to replace both floorpans front to back

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So thats as far as I've got at the moment, I started this project in October and as I said I've put no time-scale on it, it does'nt help that I have to work away Monday to Friday so it only gives me week ends to work on. I'll keep you updated as an when the project progresses, really should think of a name for her!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by Mini Basher, 24 October 2009 - 07:25 AM.


#6 Down&Out

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 08:28 PM

your BRAVE. tis great work sir. good luck and all the best :proud:

#7 edi57

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 09:35 PM

You seem to have made incredible progress so far and you're working to a really high standard too.

What are those copper-looking plug grip things that you're using called? They look really handy. What size hole do you need to drill to get them to fit?

Ed

#8 Mini Basher

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 10:22 PM

You seem to have made incredible progress so far and you're working to a really high standard too.

What are those copper-looking plug grip things that you're using called? They look really handy. What size hole do you need to drill to get them to fit?

Ed



Hi Ed

There called Cleco's, some people refer to them as skin pins, the ones I use require a 1/8" hole, if you google Cleco's there are a few Companies in the UK that do them and their not that expensive

Andy

Edited by Mini Basher, 24 October 2009 - 07:26 AM.


#9 rendersonique

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 11:08 PM

Hi there.
Really interested to see what you started with and how its progressing. Looks like you have a real steal if its only cost you a few hundred quid. What stage is the engine in?

Take care

Andy

Edited by rendersonique, 18 January 2009 - 11:10 PM.


#10 Mini Basher

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Posted 18 January 2009 - 11:15 PM

Hi there.
Really interested to see what you started with and how its progressing. Looks like you have a real steal if its only cost you a few hundred quid. What stage is the engine in?

Take care

Andy


Hi Andy

Thanks for looking, the engine is complete and does run and it is a genuine 998 cooper with twin SU's and a genuine gearbox all the serial numbers tally, however I am going to be stripping it down and rebuilding as it seem's a bit silly re-building the car and putting an unknown engine in, plus it gives me the option to tweek various components to get the maximum performance from the old girl. And yes I am doing all the welding myself.

Hello everyone just a quick update on the weekends progress, I cut the drivers floor out on Saturday and started to prep it ready for the new floorpan, Had to do Family stuff in the afternoon so progress wasn't brilliant.
Checked all the dimensions this morning just to make sure the old girl was still square and hadn't twisted on me, everything was fine so offered up the new floorpan and marked it ready for cutting, did a rough cut to fit floor pan into position and fit new crossmember temporarily so as to make sure I cut floorpan right. Marked up floor pan for final cut and did the deed , quite impressed fits really well, me thinks I need a Plasma cutter got lots more to cut out yet!!!!!!!!!!!
Ran out of time today but floorpan is dry fitted ready to weld next weekend so here's some pictures of what I've done this weekend
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Edited by Mini Basher, 24 October 2009 - 07:30 AM.


#11 dfraser

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Posted 19 January 2009 - 09:49 PM

Think I'm going to enjoy this one, good to see loads of pics (getting funny looks for turning the laptop to view the pics, haha). For a first restoration job, you seem to really know what you are doing. Are you making it standard or your own spec, decided on a colour?

Good luck!

#12 Mini-Mad-Craig

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Posted 19 January 2009 - 10:51 PM

Wow! great project!

#13 daemonchild

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Posted 19 January 2009 - 11:10 PM

Wow! great project!


I'm inspired!
Mine isn't half as bad and if I can be even as brave with the welder as you have been... >_<

#14 Mini-Mad-Craig

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Posted 19 January 2009 - 11:30 PM

i Amazed that you won it for £250!

#15 1275gt_hebu

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Posted 20 January 2009 - 05:24 PM

wow you will be done a great job :)




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