21 replies to this topic

[bdean]

So here is the start of my build thread. A friend of my dad's moved to America. She had this 1997 Mini Cooper MPi sitting garaged and unused for over 6 years. Rather than it continue to sit there gradually decaying she handed custody over to us to try and get it back on the road. First job came a complete strip down. Rather than post dozens of photos of the strip I decided to start from the beginning of the refurbishment. So the shell has gone on its merry way to Sleaford Mini Centre to have some work done on the body and have a compete respray. We will hopefully get it back in the new year some time.

 

Here's Steve making the collection a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

So today I went through all the the boxes of bits that I stripped off. The plan is to send all the brackets etc. up to Steve at SMC so they can all go to the blasters at the same time as the shell and sub frames. Most will be painted but some probably need to be Zinc coated?

 

Amazing how many little brackets there and, not so surprising is that all of them show some signs of corrosion.

 

 

Anyway I hope to keep this thread updated as the rebuild progresses. Now that I have some space in my garage I plan to strip the engine down. The cylinder head is off. I'm now waiting for a flywheel puller from Guessworks to finish splitting the block from the gearbox.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 Ben  

[jamesmpi]

That looks like a fun project. What are your plans for it? Keeping it standard or modifying it?

Here’s my Night Fire Red mpi. You don’t see very many NFR Rover Minis and looks great in the sunlight

[minimissions]

This looks a great build, I don't suppose you no the paint code of the nightfire red? My fiancée's mini has been painted this colour long before her ownership but now that we are restoring the car we would like to keep the colour but the original colour is flame red. So was wondering if you guys has that information?

 

Much appreciated 

 

Thanks

Edited by minimissions, 30 August 2018 - 05:38 AM.

[Steve220]

Steve will do a cracking job

[jamesmpi]

This looks a great build, I don't suppose you no the paint code of the nightfire red? My fiancée's mini has been painted this colour long before her ownership but now that we are restoring the car we would like to keep the colour but the original colour is flame red. So was wondering if you guys has that information?

Much appreciated

Thanks

Night Fire Red paint code is CAQ

[minimissions]

 

This looks a great build, I don't suppose you no the paint code of the nightfire red? My fiancée's mini has been painted this colour long before her ownership but now that we are restoring the car we would like to keep the colour but the original colour is flame red. So was wondering if you guys has that information?

Much appreciated

Thanks

Night Fire Red paint code is CAQ

 

Perfect thank you! :)

[bdean]

That looks like a fun project. What are your plans for it? Keeping it standard or modifying it?

Here’s my Night Fire Red mpi. You don’t see very many NFR Rover Minis and looks great in the sunlight

 

Looks awesome.

 

My plan for the exterior and interior are to try and keep them as original as possible. I'm liking you wheel arches though. At present mine had the standard black plastic ones (thinner than your sport pack ones). Also like the colour of you wheels. The seats are probably going to need recovering. They are a mixture of black leather and cream fabric. Unlikely I will be able to find the correct fabric so need to decide what direction to go with these. Probably try JCS Custom Trim or Optimise.

 

Plan to do some work on the engine. Will probably have some work done on the head. There are only 40,000 miles on the clock. I will probably fit a Swifttune SW5 cam as I'm taking the engine apart anyway. Is it worth having any work done to the block at the same time? Would probably just consider reboring to 1293 but just wondered if it was really worth it on a mini with this mileage?

 

Same story with the gearbox. Is it worth the money of sending off to someone like Guessworks to have it rebuilt?

 

Ben

[jamesmpi]

Mine has done 46k and I bored out to 1380 with SW5 swiftune CAM

Personally I would avoid going 1380, 1293 is a better option... partly because once you go 1380, and something goes wrong later down the line, the options for block are very limited. But the main factor is that the MEMS ECU cannot really cope with increased bore capacity. So then your are looking at having to invest a grand on the Specialist Componets Injection system upgrade!!

Going for the swiftune CAM is a good option and maybe a stage 1 kit (better manifold and exhaust).. and also agree with getting your box inspected and serviced by guessworks. Synchros on Mpi boxes are renowned for failing and the diff should be inspected for wear too. Commonly this upgraded to a minispares 4 pin diff but depends on your budget and intended usage

I hate the arches on my mpi. The arches are copy sportspack and are too big for 10” wheels. I don’t want 13” wheels so if I had the money I would convert to group 2 arches

Edited by jamesmpi, 01 September 2018 - 01:01 PM.

[bdean]

I hate the arches on my mpi. The arches are copy sportspack and are too big for 10” wheels. I don’t want 13” wheels so if I had the money I would convert to group 2 arches

 

Most likely will try and fit a maniflow full system. 

 

Guessworks can fit X pin diff and centre oil pickup if you send it to them for refurbishment although I'm not sure who's diff he is using.

 

It's a tough one. The standard plastic arches aren't great but as you say with the sports pack arches you probably need to 13" wheels to fill them out. Like you I don't really want 13" wheels. It probably creates more issues anyway with the mounts on the subframes in need of strengthening? And rubbing on the arches?

[jamesmpi]

I hate the arches on my mpi. The arches are copy sportspack and are too big for 10” wheels. I don’t want 13” wheels so if I had the money I would convert to group 2 arches

 
Most likely will try and fit a maniflow full system. 
 
Guessworks can fit X pin diff and centre oil pickup if you send it to them for refurbishment although I'm not sure who's diff he is using.
 
It's a tough one. The standard plastic arches aren't great but as you say with the sports pack arches you probably need to 13" wheels to fill them out. Like you I don't really want 13" wheels. It probably creates more issues anyway with the mounts on the subframes in need of strengthening? And rubbing on the arches?

Yes if you want 13” wheels you will need to reprofile the wings to stop them rubbing. Plus I’ve read before that 13” wheels put more stress on ball joints... but how true this is I don’t know.

If you want 10” wheels you will need to change your brakes too. I’m using Minisport 7.9” setup

[bdean]

 

 

I hate the arches on my mpi. The arches are copy sportspack and are too big for 10” wheels. I don’t want 13” wheels so if I had the money I would convert to group 2 arches

 
Most likely will try and fit a maniflow full system. 
 
Guessworks can fit X pin diff and centre oil pickup if you send it to them for refurbishment although I'm not sure who's diff he is using.
 
It's a tough one. The standard plastic arches aren't great but as you say with the sports pack arches you probably need to 13" wheels to fill them out. Like you I don't really want 13" wheels. It probably creates more issues anyway with the mounts on the subframes in need of strengthening? And rubbing on the arches?

Yes if you want 13” wheels you will need to reprofile the wings to stop them rubbing. Plus I’ve read before that 13” wheels put more stress on ball joints... but how true this is I don’t know.

If you want 10” wheels you will need to change your brakes too. I’m using Minisport 7.9” setup

 

 

Have you changed your final drive? From 1996 on they introduced 2.76 for better motorway performance! I do not plan using it on the motorway so will probably change to something like 3.21?

[jamesmpi]

I hate the arches on my mpi. The arches are copy sportspack and are too big for 10” wheels. I don’t want 13” wheels so if I had the money I would convert to group 2 arches

Most likely will try and fit a maniflow full system.

Guessworks can fit X pin diff and centre oil pickup if you send it to them for refurbishment although I'm not sure who's diff he is using.

It's a tough one. The standard plastic arches aren't great but as you say with the sports pack arches you probably need to 13" wheels to fill them out. Like you I don't really want 13" wheels. It probably creates more issues anyway with the mounts on the subframes in need of strengthening? And rubbing on the arches?

Yes if you want 13” wheels you will need to reprofile the wings to stop them rubbing. Plus I’ve read before that 13” wheels put more stress on ball joints... but how true this is I don’t know.

If you want 10” wheels you will need to change your brakes too. I’m using Minisport 7.9” setup

Have you changed your final drive? From 1996 on they introduced 2.76 for better motorway performance! I do not plan using it on the motorway so will probably change to something like 3.21?

Yes to a 2.95 I think. Not best for 0-60 times, but at least it’s not screaming it’s head off on motorways

[bdean]

So I received my flywheel puller from Guessworks. Tried with the breaker bar but couldn't hold the engine steady enough to get enough leverage. I needed an excuse to buy a compressor anyway! So out came the impact wrench. Came straight off 

 

 

[bdean]

Stripping the front hubs/bearing carriers is a bit of a task.

 

[bdean]

Long overdue update. Car arrived back from Sleaford Mini Centre today. Spent the morning there helping to refit the front and rear subframes so we had a rolling shell to bring back. The car was in a bad way. The following panels have all been replaced:

 

Full Floor

Bonnet

Front Wings

Front Panel

Screen Surround

A Panels

Top Dash Rail

Door Steps/A Posts

Rear Quarters

Rear Lower Panel

Upper Rear Arches

Rear Valence

Rear Subframe

 

If anyone is looking to have any bodywork completed I would recommended giving Steve at Sleaford Mini Centre a shout. Great work at very reasonable rates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the hard work begins!