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Therapist-My 76 Mini


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#1 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 20 December 2012 - 11:23 AM

so here it is!my project car!

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it used to belong to my uncle and he had bought it some 10 years ago.after me and my cousin were enjoying it for about a year or so it was parked aside due to clutch failure wich was unrepairable for us at that time.and the fact that uncle bought another mini at that time also helped to keep it undrivable ;) we used to take spare parts off of it when ever needed because we didnt have money to source new parts for the other mini.so it was kept at a dry,half open space to wait for some better times.i always liked that mini,more than other one and i said to myself i will find time and money one day to restore it and drive it properly.so i did!
after my uncle died,i bought it from my cousin and decided to build it up,to keep memory of my uncle alive.so its a special car for me and i will keep it in my family as long as i can.as you see,my son likes it already and he used it to play inside ;)
so,one day in may 2010 i decided its time to move it outside and start some work:

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at that time i didnt know much about minis (today isnt much better hehehe) but i learn every day and loving this little car more and more each day!

#2 mk3 Cooper S

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Posted 20 December 2012 - 11:28 AM

Nice rust free looking project

#3 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 25 December 2012 - 07:41 AM

and so it begins!
mini went into the garage for more detailed inspection

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and i started disassembling him



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some rust started to show right away...under the back seat:


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and on the drivers side floor:


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spare wheel well and the booth had some questionable work done before...


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it was all looking not too bad for me and i kept faith and kept on going...

#4 mattdc2r

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Posted 25 December 2012 - 11:16 PM

Nice looking project. What year is it?

#5 PNL629G

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 12:01 AM

Nice looking project. What year is it?

If the thread title is to be believed, it'll be a '76! ;D
Nice looking project - was there a particular reason for the 12" wheels at the front (bigger brakes?) or just because they were there?

#6 Archived4

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 12:04 AM

nice looking car, looking forward to some progress :D

#7 mattdc2r

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 12:41 AM

I missed the 76 in the thread title, but confused over the centre clocks and the 12" wheels on what would appear to be a standard car.

#8 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 07:38 AM

i dont know if there was any particular reason for 12'' wheels other than disk brakes in the front,when it was bought it came like that,so i dont know..that one 10'' wheel at the back came from other mini when the tyre was punctured so i replaced it with what i had laying around...and yes,its '76 ;)

#9 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 10:24 AM

pics of some more rust started to show and places that needs to be taken care of

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then i started to peel off the paint,to see how that goes....


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first i used some chemical thing called Desol to soften the paint and then i scraped it off.it was going ok,but from time to time i used a heat gun as a help to soften the paint.After that i started to strugle with the engine


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and the engine went off the subframe to be replaced with a stronger engine in the future..


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Edited by Niko-mini1275, 26 December 2012 - 10:26 AM.


#10 Mini-Mad-Craig

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 02:18 PM

Very cool project mate, a car is always more special when it has a story.

Are there many Minis in Croatia? I bet they survive a lot better than they do over here!

#11 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 26 December 2012 - 03:52 PM

we don't have that many minis here,maybe few hundred registred ones and maybe about the same of those that arent ready to drive.mostly mk3s and younger,mk1 and mk2 are sooo rare around here,maybe there are around 10ish of those.not to mention more rare models like moke(there used to be one) or pick-up (none).there are also 2-3 gt's and clubmans and maybe 3-4 vans.as far as i know.more or less ;).the biggest club(practicaly the only one) is Mini club Zagreb of wich i am member.but with our becoming eu member in 6 months we hope of having more liberal market,no taxes etc so we can easily import more intresting models of oldtimers,including minis :)

#12 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 28 December 2012 - 07:55 AM

back on the subject...
so i lifted mini up to take off the rear subframe

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some more rust started to show and it looked horrid,but as it turned out later on it was in a pretty good shape considering the years on his back ;) this was my first mini to work on,so i didnt know all the typical rust places for the minis at that time...but when i got to know minis a little bit better just by joining the club and few mini forums and talking to the mini owners i realized i had a pretty nice rust free car on my hands!and that made me very happy and it was a wind in my sails :)

#13 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 31 December 2012 - 02:01 PM

after a while i realised that this was the best i could do by myself and for further action i could use little help from my friends.so,after i joined Mini Club Zagreb and met some people there,i decided to bring my project to zagreb(since it was on the sea side,where i spend my summers) and continue working there,in the garage of co-president of our mini club.so i rented a garage next to his,borrowed the van from a friend and packed up my mini.we were ready to take it to the next level ;)

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this was all back in september 2010.the plan is to work on it to get it ready and done for the next summer season or for one after it at the worst...

#14 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 02 January 2013 - 08:15 AM

As soon as we arrived to Zagreb,mini went to sand blasting,to reveal all of the rusty spots so i can order new panels to replace.Along with him came bunch of parts ready to be sand blasted,then zinc plated and then powder coated.i figured its the best way to keep them nice and clean,as well as rust free for a long time.here are some of them all ready to go :

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After the sand blasting they went to be zinc plated,some will stay like this and some will be powder coated:

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At the end of the story it should be looking like new,should be durable and in color scheme i had decided to go with :

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#15 Niko-mini1275

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Posted 03 January 2013 - 12:24 PM

some other parts i had been also dealing with :

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subframes after their sand blasting/zinc/powder coat treatment look like this :

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