58 replies to this topic

[GT Jimmy]

I've had mine nearly seven years and not driven it. Won't be any time soon either

[Marc_mcq]

Looks a great little mini!

[TheFabMini]

update time

 

the previous owner had resprayed the bottom half of the mini using some rattle cans and left it with a very chalky dull finish.

in reality the car does need a full respray but there is also some rather shoddy filler work which I just dont want to get involved with at this point in mini ownership as im desperate to get her out on the road and have some fun.

My original plan was to flat the paint and spray some clear coat on but with some research and advice of Ben_0 I went with a bit of wet sanding followed by compound and polish and the results I am really happy with

yes I have several tones of yellow and the trim is a multitude of blacks being half original and half new but the patina half restored look is cool so ill claim its that and not just me being too poor to have the job done properly

 

I did decide to respray the seam around the roof, to be honest once I had cleaned it up after taking the plastic trim off it wasnt actually that bad but after doing all my paint research I just wanted to have a go, it turned out alright so im not gonna complain

 

I have been having issues with getting the bonnet open, the latch would pop but then get stuck and I would have to pull incredibly hard on the bonnet to pop it open. tried adjusting the latch on the grill area but had no sucess. ended up with some jeremy clarkson logic and hit the lock pin with a hammer and now it works perfectly!

 

So yeah thats me up to date, and this is how the mini is going to look for at least this year (new number plates are on the way)

called up Adrian Flux yesterday and got fully comp insurance with breakdown for £125, so just need to book the MOT and see how it gets on!

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[TheFabMini]

by the way, is it normal for the front of the bonnet to stick out that much? the rear is lined up nicely but its almost like the bonnet is too long

[MacGyver]

by the way, is it normal for the front of the bonnet to stick out that much? the rear is lined up nicely but its almost like the bonnet is too long

No, look on the long straight bit and see if it's been pushed down?
Lovely car! 😎

Ben

[TheFabMini]

by the way, is it normal for the front of the bonnet to stick out that much? the rear is lined up nicely but its almost like the bonnet is too long

No, look on the long straight bit and see if it's been pushed down?
Lovely car!
Ben

Which long straight bit am I looking at?? The sides and back of the bonnet line up nicely with the wings and scuttle it’s just the front sticks out terribly

[MacGyver]

by the way, is it normal for the front of the bonnet to stick out that much? the rear is lined up nicely but its almost like the bonnet is too long

No, look on the long straight bit and see if it's been pushed down?
Lovely car!
Ben

Which long straight bit am I looking at?? The sides and back of the bonnet line up nicely with the wings and scuttle its just the front sticks out terribly

I was thinking of the sides... 🤔
Has it had a new bonnet on or a new front that you know of?
Maybe its curve is flattened a bit.
Not sure what you could do as you seem to have nice gaps everywhere.

[TheFabMini]

by the way, is it normal for the front of the bonnet to stick out that much? the rear is lined up nicely but its almost like the bonnet is too long

No, look on the long straight bit and see if it's been pushed down?
Lovely car!
Ben

Which long straight bit am I looking at?? The sides and back of the bonnet line up nicely with the wings and scuttle its just the front sticks out terribly

I was thinking of the sides...
Has it had a new bonnet on or a new front that you know of?
Maybe its curve is flattened a bit.
Not sure what you could do as you seem to have nice gaps everywhere.

I have no history details at all I’m afraid. The previous owner got it as a ‘barn find’ in 2009 and replaced a load of parts but didn’t mention the bonnet. Before that it was garaged from 1999...
When I purchased it the bonnet wasn’t on... maybe that’s why! It almost looks like the curvature of the bonnet is different to the front of the wings.. did they make different sized bonnets?? This could go some way o explaining my issues getting the bonnet latch to line up

[MacGyver]

Not too sure about different lengths, I doubt it, but maybe it's a Jon genuine bonnet? I had a similar problem on a friends mini but it had been bent down the sides, pushing the front forwards.
Reshaping the front is tricky as it can bend at an angle farely easily.
Do you have access to another one to see if its any different?

[TheFabMini]

MOT is booked!
Tuesday 20th March so gives me another week to make sure everythings is ready for the first MoT since 1999 for my little mini!
Decided the discs could probably do with replacing as the old ones were a bit shoddy and I want to have as few/no advisories..
I think Ive ticked most things off the mot check list but if anyone can think of anything that catches people out on restored cars please let me know.
I only discovered yesterday that you have to have the vin plate displayed so rummaged through the box that came with the car and have stuck it on the firewall. I know its not the right place but the gap looked like it needed something putting in it.
Might be a bit of a cosmetic change later on today/this weekend to the mini. Ive had the week off work and have been ordering things online... if it arrives I will post a picture
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[megamini_jb]

Looking good!

Don't forgot the split pin through the castle nut

[Hindy]

Been looking at this on Instagram, brilliant progress on this, no hanging about. 

[TheFabMini]

Evening,

a lot of this has been covered on another post but I wanted to make sure my build thread was kept up to date for future reference

 

I had a brief go at wrapping the mini roof in gloss black as the original paintwork was pretty terrible and all the polish in the world was not going to make it look better than a sheet of scrap

I used Avery Supreme gloss black wrap which I found very easy to use (never wrapped anything before) and for the money the results was pretty decent. It was very forgiving with being heated and stretched which I had to do several times on the corners and it kept going back down without issue. Unfortunately once applied I personally thought it looked kinda cheap and tacky. the finish was very glossy but reminded me of shiney wrapping paper. 

After swiftly ripping off the roof wrap I drank lots of tea, scratched my head and decided to be brave and have a go at painting. once again I have never painted anything automotive before but gave it a go!

read lots of threads on here about how to paint something and am very happy with the results! shame I wasted money on the wrap but lesson learnt and now im not afraid to paint something else when needed

 

a few finishing touches, in my eyes all minis need bonnet stripes. ebay £10 cant complain. A 99p bonnet badge and an old AA grill badge. Really happy with how its coming along!

 

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[TheFabMini]

Sorry that photos seem to upload sideways... 

 

MOT tomorrow! 

[panky]

Looks great, all your hard work paid off