Ok ,
I thought It was about time I started my own thread rather than just lurking in the background viewing everyone else's work. Congrats to everyone that has posted on here , there are some truly fantastic builds that provide loads of great advice and inspiration.
So the background : I loved minis from as far back as I can remember. When I was 17 I bout an "A" plate Mayfair project that someone had already butchered , further examination once home proved the car was just a wreck and good for nothing except maybe a trailer/bbq ...I then bought a rolling rally shell form one of my dads friends for £50 , it had 6x10 alloys , roll cage , good subbys and a quick rack . I stupidly then forgot about them , moved out from home only to find when I went home one weekend that my dad had scrapped them for me !!!!! I'm still furious 18 years on.
So that takes me to this :) . I first bought this Mini back When I was 18/19 for £40 it needed a rear subframe and a patch to the floor for the mot. I absolutely LOVED it ... I used it for 2 years , looked after it , serviced it, drove it sensibly *ahem* but I could never quite afford to do the things I wanted to do to it but after the first two years I needed something bigger/more powerful and bought a mk3 Cavalier ... biggest mistake EVER . I then sold the mini to a friends brother for £150 , It needed more welding for the mot , new tyres and I just couldn't afford it. So she was gone to be done up for his wife to learn to drive in....
In 2004 I bumped in to this friend and got the chance to buy it back for £50 , apparently his brother had done loads of work on it :s .... this is what I bought back
(notice the grill? it's a childs hospital bed headboard it was now also missing the alloys/stainless exhaust / all my fancy interior bits and bobs and no working electrics and 5 shades of green and black)
So with all good intentions I got it working and drove it back to my dads the same day . Straight away I set about cutting off the front wings and planning out all the new panels , mods and accessories I was going to buy for it.
It then sat in the exact same position for 9 years , due to growing up (hmmm) , having kids and work commitments and with every year I think dad threatened to scrap it at least 3 times.
Until yesterday :) I've been pricing up panels for the last couple of months and searching through the forums and image searching on how I want this to look. Ideas are still rough at the moment however yesterday a conscious effort was made to get started.
As you'd expect the brakes were seized solid and by solid I mean I had to smash off the front drums ( ohh well , disc conversion ) , rear drums came off with a gentle persuasion
All rubbish and mouldy interior was removed and now finally back in pride of place in the workshop.
I want and need this done for IMM2014 , I would love to make L2B 2014 but I we'll see....Also living in the north of Scotland these events require some planning .
Sorry for all the rambling but thanks for looking and I will update as often as I can...