920 replies to this topic

[Minidarren83]

hi there my name is darren i am 29 and have recently got married, i bought my first mini from ebay in febuary this year as a project i had to dig my van and trailer out of the snow to pick it up from cambridge and dragged it all the way back to essex in the wost snow of this year, but being a class one tanker driver it was no problem. My back alley is on a slope and is 20m long it took me 4 hours to get the mini in my garage!!!!. I wish now i had taken pics of it when i picked it up from the field it was in a mess anything on the bottom of the car is rotten having never done anything like this before i had my work cut out. It came with a 1275 auto engine which i have bought a manual spi lump to replace ill show some pics of where i am at now and my little bat cave garage

the garage as it stands as you can see the car is all stripped out and ive made a good start on the passengers side
new flitch
well thats it for this update but more to come hoping to have it done in 12 months but we shall see coments welcome

Edited by Minidarren83, 17 July 2012 - 09:00 PM.

[Minidarren83]

update time from yesterdays work in the garage but just before i get on with it i forgot in yesterdays post that i have also replaced the toe board with a heritige panel it was the first panel i did and never took any messurements so if the subby goes back on strait i will be supprised and very happy lol

anyway enough of that and on to yesterdays work i had a couple of hours in the garage
as im getting rady to flip the car over i need to get all the little bits done on this side while i have the access so i fitted the under scuttle closure, refitted the steering rack bracket test fitted the heel board with self tappers and cut out a few patches on the boot that need doing before final fitting the heel board. not much but its all progress in the right direction




and just a few more of my garage and inside the car ect





like i said not much but all good if you spot anything i am doing wrong please tell me it is to be my daily for as long as possible so doing it right is a must

[Carlos W]

Welcome to TMF, it looks like a great project and you're doing well!

[Minidarren83]

Thanks it's nice to know there is people reading it

[SMP]

Don't worry if you don't get many comments. There will be lots of people who read your updates but can't think of anything constructive to say so don't reply - like me! I enjoy seeing what people are up to - occasionally it even shames me in to action (or makes me feel guilty about what I have not done!).

Good luck and keep posting so that us lurkers have something to read !

Steve

[Carlos W]

Nearly 100 people have read it!

My wife bought me my mini as an engagement present so she only has herself to blame!

[Down&Out]

Not only nice tidy work, but well written up and lovely clear pictures! nothing better than clear pictures. Mine are only mediochre, but theres nothing worse than phone pictures, makes a thread unreadable.

Lovely work, i'll be checking back!

[Minidarren83]

cheers for the comments i know what you mean about lurkers i am one lol

carlos w my wife hates it she refused to even look at it for months and to fund it i had to give up my pride and joy

proper gutted but hopefully it will be worth it in the end although all the cash raised from selling has gone plus about 800 more as i had to buy everything from tools to the car and panels and ive still got lots left to buy and the worst thing is the engine i bought is looking like a bad egg but i will see more when i fully srtip it its pretty hard to turn over by hand and there is some suspect marks in the bores. im not using books or manuals just bits ive picked up along the years of bike building and reading on here although i was not prepered for how this the bodywork is and hos easy it is to blow through when welding but getting there now
hopefully more over the weekend

[leadly]

Cracking work so far, keep it up!

[AndyMiniMad.]

Seeing the pictures of your garage reminds me of when I did a full rebuild of "Haggis"..Good luck with the project, Its looking good so far!!..

[Down&Out]

You cant fall off a mini, hows that for a bonus!

[Minidarren83]

Andyminimad: it's organised Chaos I leave my crap all over the floor so I know where it's next time I need it, bar the front panels everything from the car is in there it gets tight when flipping the car over lol
Down&out: Clouds and silver linings and all that plus I can carry more than one person and if I shout enough they might here me lol plus I hope I will get less wet in the mini lol

[AndyMiniMad.]

Thought these couple of pics might cheer you up a bit..It is possible to restore a mini in a single garage....Just!!



Organised chaos you say!!



As far as staying dryer in the mini goes....Dont bet on it...lol..

[Andy!]

plus I hope I will get less wet in the mini lol

Don't get your hopes up! looks like an amazing start though, don't give up, it'll be worth it in the end, i have friends who ride bikes, and i've been converting them to buy minis and they're loving it ;)

[grahama]

Loving the organised chaos !! Looks to be comming along nicely though. Keep going, will all be worth it.

Graham