22 replies to this topic

[miniman andy]

first of all it brings me great pleasure to start a rebuild tread on here even tho i hate the reason i have to...

the story starts here.....
£10,000 worth of show car that was 3 years in the making
full tank of fuel.....and £10,000 of car goes up in 10MINUTES!!!
on a sunny easter 2010 sunday morning at 7:20am

the burnt mini.....
http://www.theminifo...x...154308&st=0

after you read that (minus the ranting about fire extinuishers in the middle)
i would like you to continue reading what i now call... "the story so far"....if you can call it a story

anyway.... yes after all that. i like to confirm after months and months of debate with me and my rusty wreak (which i have renamed from thunderbird.... to.... Toast) everyone... family and friends...
the first answer i got was nah... leave it be...
but i made my mind up while i was watching it burn and staring in disblief. as i watched my £1500 worth of paint bubble off.
and i thought.. "i hope that is going to be salvage-able and russ is not going to be pleased to here his paintwork has been burnt off."
i even still beleive i have left it there parked on the hard shoulder. and that the burnt out wreak still sat in my front garden is someone esles that was recovered.
to think i spent £10,000 on it over 3 years has been reduced to a rusty burnt out shell. it really is soul distorying
i even cried more over my mini than my granddad dying. even to this day i still think i can see my granddad where he used to be in malta. and the great holidays we had back in 1993.
but seeing my pride and joy in a rusty state everytime i walk out the front door really is not good.
yet i dont want to get rid of it.
the back end is to good to just skip. i have plans to make it as it was but into a sofa. but it is just storing it.

but here is the official answer ....YES!!! that is why i started a new tread... and got vern's playmate to draw the line with the http://www.theminifo...x...154308&st=0 thread.

by the way i still got to save for a new shell but hey.. here goes...

[miniman andy]

Progress seems to be very slow. due to the fact that i got no job and no money.
so im restoring the mk1 with no money!!!! and i can't believe how far im getting
using nothing more than ebay for selling stuff i dont want off the mk1 and buying in what i need. (not want.... need!)
the mk1 is piroity at the moment, 26 years off the road. (tax disk in 1985)


still as im doing painting on the mk1 i am reconning other bits of Thunderbird 2 as well.
stuff like. suspention bits. they where unaffected in the fire.
just needed a wire brushing and painting.

heavy duty adjustable bottom arms.
Top Arms.
heavy duty adjustable tie rods.
LCB inlet manifold.


PARTS BROUGHT again so far..
black leather door cards £10
red rocker cap (old mini spares centre rocker cover)

next job....
rebuild and repaint engine. (without taking the cylinder head off) - due to custom high performance gasket. that cost me £90 with a days running!!
put in straight cut drop gears that i have in a 1293 engine and change crank seal at the same time.... then reseal.
clean rockershaft and suck out any crap from bores via spark plug holes and inspect with fibre-optic torch/scope a mates got. and pressure test.

[Pitcrew6464]

good luck remember this when it happend was relly unlucky, looking forward to photos

[minimanjay]

pandyy

[miniman andy]

here are a few pictures i have of thunderbird 2. J734 DWP / AND235M






now can you see what a challenge i have.
£10,000 of show car and i cannot even recreate it any cheaper.

[miniman andy]

just a little update... nothing has come this year... no job = no cash.
the mk1 "Mark-One themini" (can also be found on facebook) is getting the attention and with no cash is more of a "genuine rat look" than even the rat look guy's could ever create..

anyway to date this year.. i have got a few little things for my Thunderbird 2 project, (the rebuild)
i got most of the parts already... eg glass, engine (even tho it is currently in the mk1 - for tuning perposes and experimentation only)

i have got a 45 Weber with which i am planning to bolt to an Eaton Supercharger and on to a 1400cca-series. (with high compression)
yes i know what your all thinking...total nuts. but that is where what i have learnt over the years of engine building and engineering comes in.
i have since then been studying other engines and also ECU systems to get the optimum power out of a 1400 mini engine.
as i know there is alot more power to be gained out of it than 90BHP on my last rolling road session.

so anyway with the engine planning out of the way.
on the mini building front....

currectly still applying for jobs. and in the mean time making stickers (to someone else's disgust) i am getting by,
job's are very hard to get hold of. but i am doing my best i can, as well as running a sticker company. that is expanding very fast. that i might even stop applying for jobs.
sure it has cost me my Subaru i once had and sold it for a messly £400 selling mini engines and also anything i can sell for any money at all just to invest i have into it... including building two websites.... really is very hard work let alone building a mini.
but it is paying off slowly. just not enough hours in the day, to love life is non-existant. .. who needs one anyway... (i sware im turning into alan sugar... which can only be a good thing)

so there we are... another year gone and not much acheived. and they say 2010 was a fresh start.. i say roll on 2012... what some would say is the last year of this world??? ... yer right... just keep ya head down and no-one will notice...

[miniman andy]

god dont time fly when ya in skeg! skeg mini fest was the place to be in 2012.
what a weekend.

more of an update for ya all to my everlasting story....

back in april i have now got a new shell. from a breaker, identity i am keeping a secret for his own protection for you lot lol.
was originally a L-reg Mini RIO. in green. which means its a SPI shell.
as i am going injection soon on the 1400, i opted for this shell and the fact it is alot lighter than the other shells i was looking at, at the time.
i picked this shell off the floor with pete at the front just the two of us alone. marcus's mk2 shell with loads of wholes in it took me pete marcus and jay one to each corner.
so my aim i have set now is to keep the build going without adding too much un-nessisery weight. (even putting myself on a very strickt diet will help)

so here we are. one rio shell no front end and the start of Thunderbird 2's (mk2) rebuild.
as this year has gone b my first tast due to me moving into my own house and off my perants propperty is to get T2 rolling. as i am only going to be moving down the road i can litterally roll T2 down the hill so im gettig the brake system sorted first. something i usually do last.
i will get photos up as soon as i can. :)

[miniman andy]

since july i have dont nothing.
to busy chasing jobs and saving up for houses as i badly need to move out.
and not only have i done nothing my farther will not let me work on it anyone due to "electric bills" i have not even used my welder for 6 months now.

then again i have started my own sticker company up.....
www.facebook.com/stickaup

as well as get my subaru back on the road. with is now my company car. :)

sorry to those who like to read about my projects. just lack of time and money. bui i am still hanging in there to get it done as its really bugging me every time i go to a show.
dont get me wrong i like going to shows in my Ratted mk1 mini - "mark-one themini" on facebook i just wish i had the money like i once had.

it is such a craul world.

[miniman andy]

wahhhh??? this has been way too long now...
amazing how time flys by.

the only thing i have managed to do since i last posted is on his facebook profile.......
thunderbirdii themini and mark-one themini

basically made it water tight as i had an issue with a colony of wasps last year managed to kill the lot off inculding the queen. and funny enough have had a wasp free summer this year. 1000 points to mankind, free of wasps. and non in any beer around here. :)

started collecting all sort of stuff, selling loads of stuff i had collected that i dont need.
rasing the money and now its time.
all i need to do is make room at my unit i have been renting now for over 6 months.
has took some time to make the unit acually suitable for working in, such as improving the lighting and painthing the place, adding work benches and collecting tools for the jobs.

i got a recovery truck and had to restore that, which i now use for alot of other cars too, as i want to start my own recovery business if i lose my job again.

so we are getting ready for the big move and start some serious work to the rebuild.
should be done within a month.

plans for the engine are top secret, as not to start a keyboard worrior war, and all im going to say is its going to be over 150bhp.
customised everything. wheels from a ford cosworth. bigger than mini wheels as its going to need it.

hope them tongues are coming out as mine is... and i have not started yet. and cant wait too.
 

[miniman andy]

[rally515]

Nice little green bogey there andy

 

The photos in the link of your first post don't seem to be working, better still though not to see the burn't mini  .

 

Over 150 you say...Hmmm, must be either conversion or bleeding insane A-series!!

 

 

 

Cliff

[miniman andy]

i really do love that last phone i made.
if you know the story you'll understand.

not meany can say they crimated a mini (by accident) and have it waiting in heaven for them, for when i pass away myself.

[miniman andy]

Nice little green bogey there andy

 

The photos in the link of your first post don't seem to be working, better still though not to see the burn't mini  .

 

Over 150 you say...Hmmm, must be either conversion or bleeding insane A-series!!

 

 

 

Cliff

well since i blown un the 1400 that was in it with mark-one's help..... i can confirm its not an a-series this time i still am a fan on the a-series as im keeping the original 850cc in mark-one

also photos. one reason i reposted a few of the 1000's i have

Edited by miniman andy, 05 July 2014 - 11:53 PM.

[miniman andy]

right... here goes.
good news is that the shell is now moved from its storage into the unit.
i got alot to do de-rusting it. it was ok when i first got it nearly 2 years ago.
but the rust monster has set in, so a little bit of fresh metal is required.
its no problem to me as im used to cutting and welding.

just glad im finally started.

parts list i need urgnetly.

1x front metro desiel subframe
**** loads of steel box and tube
1x multi point roll cage. (8 to 12 depending)
1x carbon fibre flip front
1x evo bodykit

2x cobra bucket seats that need reconning (that mom wants the recon for me)

that would do for now. all the rest is custom made and top secret. untill i get it on the road.
 

[rally515]

Should be great seeing this come together Andy!

 

May I ask why a specific Metro frame ? I thought they were all the same

 

Cliff