I thought it was about time I started a Project thread for my Mini... 4 years in, the ongoing work doesn't seem to be letting up just yet!
The goal for my mini has always been a standard mini with subtle modification, moderation is key!
This is Mary, affectionately named by my mate...
Or at least, that's how the ol' girl used to look. Since then a lot has happened!
Here we go on the four year journey which has taken us to the current stage we are at now
I first bought my mini in 2011, a 1988 Lipari blue, 998cc Mayfair, my first car after wanting a mini from an early age. On the surface it looked like a pretty sound car for the price. Despite the floor being solid there were a few issues, it seemed it was someone's project and the money pot had run out, so had a few issues. The drive back home after picking the car up was, erm... entertaining. Sitting on the clearly standard 'studio 2' seats, the drone of the very loud exhaust (a peashooter with the back box cut off and replaced with a tube of similar pea-shootey size) at 60mph down the dual with no door cards and no stereo, hmm what have I bought! I won't forget the first time I put my foot on the non-servo brake pedal approaching a red light, nearly having a heart attack because the pedal felt weird, not because the breaks were bad, I just hadn't driven a non-servo car before. I then proceeded to lock up... oh to be a 17 year old, just passed their test and driving a classic... I digress. The bodywork... it seemed pretty solid, there was an oversill however it seemed to be good and rust free. A few bubbles here and there, you know how it is.
A new front end was the first stop on the journey, the old one had inch thick filler in places and really was not nice at all. While the guy was under there, a few patches to the flich panel were done too...
The colour match was not too great from this work, the guy sent a sample off but the colour cam beck a touch darker. The colour wasn't quite the original colour anyway.
Along side the front end work, a 'temporary' engine was put in as the originals rings had gone, the temporary engine was a it had a gearbox issue with the idler gear meaning it was very stiff across the gate. This meant you had to 'know' how to drive it, good anti theft device I suppose if you have a sense of humour!
Among lots of little things such as a new grille, the engine was obviously the next thing to do. I took it to the machine shop, turns out the rings weren't the issue, the bores were worn. They rebored +20 thou, reground the mains on the big ends +10 and the mains were fine. So I ordered myself some ClaverST +20 pistons, all the other gubbins for a rebuild from minispares, the paint from somerford and off I went. The gearbox, in hindsight I should have had rebuilt but on the old engine it had no crunches or anything so I didn't bother. Maybe I will in the future.
Off to the machine shop in Briston
That takes us up to some of the work carried out up to 2014
James