Mike's X18xe1 Powered Mini

Well its taken long enough but its finally back on its wheels

I didn't roll it completely out the garage as it was chucking it down with rain. Also my rear wheels are slightly catching on my rear coilovers. I need to check my alloys but I think they have a larger off set so will miss them.

Just to prove that there is nothing underneath it

And a small video of it rolling a few inches. At first I couldn't work out why it wouldn't budge but then realised I had left it in gear. Duh!

Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures but they were on my phone and the light was going.

Right. Now to fit the front end and see what space I have to cram a radiator into.

 

'Someone on the mighty car mods forum said I had been quiet for a while so I just posted this small update'

 

That was me

Good to see its coming together 

Had to roll it out the garage today to get some stuff out and while it was out took some pictures. These are the first ones I have of the whole car. Only taken 5 years to get to this point.

 

Edited by M J W J, 14 September 2013 - 10:08 PM.

Its been ages since I've updated this and not a lot has been done really.

As it was my birthday this week I thought I would spend a day working on the mini (not my actual birthday as that was spent in a hospital waiting around for my sister who was in chronic pain- she's ok now). My other small project is almost finished (better had be before christmas) so hopefully afterwards I will get to work on the mini a lot more. Still needing a couple of pieces to finish all the back end off but they were on my birthday/christmas wish list so I need to wait until christmas to see if I get them.

With my door all lined up I Scribed round the shape of it onto the repair piece I welded in on the flitch. In hind sight I wish I had bought flitch repair panels but hey-ho, it's done so I will continue with the way I am fixing them.

I then removed the door and set about sorting this hole out.

(some pretty shocking welding when my welder was acting up- this has now been sorted)

Using part of a damaged spare sill I had I made the patch piece and welded it in and bolted the door back on.

I then trimmed the flitch repair so the A panel would fit and held it in place to see how it lined up.

Good work dude  , hope your sister is doing alright too!! How adjustable are the coilovers!? Can the coilovers be stiffened!? Or are they just height adjustable!?

Nath

The shocks can be stiffened too.

Sister is ok. She's on pain killers and has been discharged from the hospital.

Will be back on this properly starting the 24th of December. My other project is a swing bin racer which I have to deliver on the 23rd.

Nice on dude, look forward to it!! That's good to hear pal 

Swing bin racer is done and has been delivered. I will be resuming the mini shortly (need to tidy up the workshop and garage a bit first and have a part that I need to finish for work)

My cousin's kids liked the fact that they can switch the front and rear lights on more than they have a car. Unfortunately due to the weather they didn't get to use it and as the pedals need to be moved (they were built so they had multiple mounting locations for when they grow a bit) the rear brake isn't set up. I left their dad instructions on how to do it.

Before I delivered it to them I added the lotus 7 logo to the front.

My advice to anyone who wants to build one:

1. Buy the plans. I designed this one myself from pictures on the net

2. Use a 24v drill. I used an 18v one and the battery died on me, so ended up using a 12v sealed lead acid cell. 18v batteries are hard to find. 12v and 24v not so hard to find if an alternative has to be found. A 12v drill might not be enough to power it along.

3. DON'T BUILD ONE. It took a lot more work to build than I thought it was going to.

Still slowly plugging away at this.

After painting the lip I tacked the A panel in place. It may need to be move a little to line up with the front so haven't bent the lip over on the back yet.

Once I had fitter the A panel I turned the car around so I had more space to work on the other side. I wasn't happy with the repair I did on the a pillar (had about 3 patches welded in) so decided to cut it out and replace it with a single new panel.

It was after cutting the outer panel out that I found the piece behind had also rusted through right behind the dash rail. Everywhere else was fine so I can see why I missed it. A piece was cut out (had to remove part the roll cage to get the grinder in), a patch piece made and welded in.

Piece removed

Patch welded in.

Seam sealant has been applied where it was needed. Everything has been painted in primer as well since.

I also managed to get the hinge reinforcement panel and the piece which the door stop passes through out  in tact. These have been painted ready to be fitted back in. Hopefully I will be able to trim the replacement panel next week and fit it. I also need to make a replacement sill reinforcement piece as I missed it when I repaired the sill.

Those pedal bin kids cars are ace!

Its been ages since I updated this. It was my intention to post more regular updates on this but not a lot has been done since the last one. I started welding in a replacement A panel post and then my Mondeo started dying on me. Long story short. My garage is now packed with Mondeo parts as I ended up breaking it for spares.

Small update. I decided to go for a steel front end. I was originally going to go fibreglass (soon to be in the swaps or for sale section when I get round to taking some pictures) but have decided against it. I managed to pick up a steel front not far from me. I only really wanted the front panel as I have a couple of wings but I found the complete front for the same money. I'll save the wings for my other one when I get round to it.

After some trimming of the inner wings yesterday I got the front into a state where I could place it over the front. It still needs a lot of work but at least it looks like a mini now.

As all Vauxhall conversions seam to need, a small bit will need to be trimmed out of the wing's inner lip but other than that it should all fit under a standard bonnet. The cam cover and be modified a little to gain some clearance too.

Looks like I will have reasonable space to fit a radiator. One good thing about the demise of my Mondeo is that they have tubular exhaust manifolds. I am going to cut and modify it to make it fit the Vauxhall engine and sit closer to the block. This will get it to fit behind the grill and may gain me an inch or too more room for the radiator as well. I have a Corsa radiator in the garage somewhere for this although looking at it I think it will be a case of take a trip down the scrap yard with a tape measure and see what fits. I'll work it out when I get there.

Now all I need is someone come and buy a Mondeo dash, boot lid and N/s rear door off me so I have space to resume work on this properly