Afternoon all,
Just thought I'd say hi on here. I've already posted a couple of questions in the MPi specific area.
I had three mini's in my youth before being tempted away to bigger cars. The last one being a 98 Cooper Sport LE (Brooklands green) which I have always regretted parting with.
Earlier this year I happened across a 97 MPi mini (standard, rather than cooper) in red. It had an aftermarket sportpack but other than that is standard. The car came with some huge bills from a renovation in 2015 and does seem to be solid throughout (we'll see) but the paint finish leaves a little to be desired, which made me wonder about the overall quality of the rest of the work. That aside, a deal was struck and I started planning.....
I've removed the sportpack wheels and arches, done a cooper s front brake conversion and fitted cooper s offset minilite replicas. I'm currently stripping the interior and removing the engine before it goes to a friend of a friend for some new front panels (arches/A panels were cut) and any other metal work, before paint. I'll then be re-building with earlier style rear lights, front indicators, no arches etc - aiming for the mk3 look.
Engine wise, plan is to stay within the limitations of the standard ECU but probably go for a decent cam, possibly a tuned head but certainly a lightened flywheel, fuel regulator upgrade etc.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the forum so far, especially reading about some of the projects.
All the best!
Rich.