Hi everyone,
So I have a feeling i'll be spending a lot of time here from now until the unforeseeable future. At 17 my dad took me to a work colleagues to go and look at a Mini he had for sale (I think it was around the £800 mark at the time or so...) having just passed my test and having been driving his old Vauxhall Cavalier at the time as my first car, this Mini was always intended to be driven by me. However unfortunately the shell was in a pretty rough condition and it was taken off the road and placed on the drive, put up on axle stands and we began stripping and chopping away at the car... unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances we had to stop work on the car and time was never available to really give the project the time it needed.
8 years later, its still sitting there... and i'm still dreaming of being behind the wheel despite usually having reasonably adequate horse powered cars since acquiring my licence (with the exception of a Seicento, but that used to put a smile on my face... it will look like I was depressed when considering how I will feel and probably look when driving the mini!).
So the car, its a 1992/3 Mini Rio in Black with the Spira-green interior... and I think in its original styling its quite a funky car, despite being slightly older and that style perhaps suiting my earlier years as a late teen, I won't mind driving around in something quite so wild :).
I found out recently that only 750 of the Rio were produced and the only ones I've seen available are in turquoise and are being sold for a pretty penny (Around £5K Mar 2013), now I personally much prefer the black.
At the moment its had the boot removed and much of the back panel removed, the rear arches have been cut out as well as some of the boot panel. The rear subframe front mount heal boards are also well rusty and need replacing, this is job number 1. The front Scuttle and A panels are tired and also very rusty and a rear bumper needs replacing due to a ding... it will be interesting to see if the engine turns over at all after so long but I feel a strip down will be on the cards also in the near future.
Hopefully people will enjoy any progress we make with the motor and look forward to being round these parts more often :).
Well guys... that was my intro post a while back, now work has commenced and I have some before pictures of the state its been in for the past 8 years for you all to take a look at :).
Sorry for all of the rubbish that appears to have collected in the boot over the time when the original state pics were taken.
So far work carried out has been welding a new plate for the rear subframe mount (now solid once again!), nearside arch has been stitched back in and is ready for seam sealer, some boot floor has been replaced but there is more to do... we have also since cut out the rear offside arch ready for replacement.
Next on the list is sourcing a new rear subframe + fittings kit if anyone can help out there :). Then hopefully the back end can go back down for the first time in 8 years, i'm sure its toes will be grateful.
Before:
After (rear nearside):
Wish us luck :), I crave a plasma cutter to!
