116 replies to this topic

[irishdude]

So its been a while since my last post.. but good news. the first shipment of kits has arrived here in california. I have been working all week getting an inventory ready and assembling the first kit.

So here are the pics

The first opening of the crate to see the goodies inside -





Followed by the big unveiling, shiney shiney shiney. the red and blue powder coating just glisened in the sun








Getting all the support bars out. Chris and his guys did a great job in packaging all the components





BIG Brakes FTW



So I was up till all hours last night assembling one of the kits outside the chassis





Blue just looks amazing and hte red is just beautiful. So now the fun starts on my build. but anybody reading this Stateside contact me on the kits for sale. they are ready to go and ready for you )

I will have more updates over the weekend. Plan on placing the chassis inside the frame and soft fit it mark up all the holes etc.. and position the seat. Then strip it all down again for the body to get painted.

Oh and the engine is ready to go too ) once in the wire tuck begins

Edited by irishdude, 14 August 2009 - 08:45 PM.

[cptkirk]

I spy a raised tunnel in the shell in the background - cheeky....

Its the way forward, I am so glad I got mine with a raised tunnel, allows many more options for wiring and switches.

[irishdude]

I spy a raised tunnel in the shell in the background - cheeky....

Its the way forward, I am so glad I got mine with a raised tunnel, allows many more options for wiring and switches.

You got great eyes Yeah the tunnel is a great addition to the kits will help with all sorts of things and it just looks great in the car. Really finishes off the interior

[z cars chris]

good to see you finally got the kit i was getting worried with the delays in customs
looks like it travelled well and got there in one piece
chris

[irishdude]

its been ages since I have updated the build. So here goes.

Got the kit installed in the car. So have been getting everything fitted before I send the body out for paint. Plenty of trimming and cutting





GOing to have to figure out how to cover the Extender shifter hole. The shifter tower is designed for the flat top tunnel in the later mini's. Funny problem we have over here in the states is the earlier Mini's are more dominentthan the UK LOL Not to worry though.



Kit fitted






Was working on the seat bracket next:




Front subframe fitted:





On another note had an week, ended up picking up 2 more Mini bodies down in LA. Will have these available for some of the US customers if they are looking for some bodies for their conversions The 2 Mini's look so funny on the trailer they looked like dinky cars next to the truck...




Oh and I love LA, on the way down we spotted an R8, Aston Martin Vantage and a Beautiful Grey Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. No pics of the Ferrari but it was getting pulled over by the cops. My copilot's photo skills need improvement

[cptkirk]

Brian

I dont think that trailers long enough..............

[irishdude]

Brian

I dont think that trailers long enough..............

Yeah was pretty funny seeing the trailer on the highway with those two little cars.. We could have fit another 2 on there I found it terribly humorous

[2lrminivan]

that trailer is huge just think how many minis you could fit if they went side ways on

[E.L.M.O]

That is one amazing trailer! I am sure it wouldnt work to well on UK straights though!

[irishdude]

well its been awhile to say the least since my last entry.

Chris was out here for the past week helping with the Build over here in California. I am working on getting all the updates, photos and vids of my camera. I will write up all the work we got done. Lets just say we got everything fitted, engine running and all the electrics done.

here's some teasers until I get time to write up the rest )

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[Joe250]

Nice work, Brian. That Chris is a crazy character.

[irishdude]

So been downloading pictures from the last week. so here goes:


it was great to have Chris over and work on the Car and getting all the final touches on it before we get it out on the road.

First thing first was to get the Engine into the Frame. This was a relatively easy process we just lifted the Frame up and over the engine and hey presto the engine is Kinda in the right place -



Then a little bit a jiggling we raised up the engine and bolted it in place. i got some nice Billet Aluminum Mounts for the rear -







Yes I know the side mount is not fully bolted in place ;o)

With the engine mounted into the frame we started to work on shifter assembly. we had to grind off the small stock tab and then drill a small hole in the assembly to accept the Shifter cable. Not a problem out with the trusty drill -





Next task then was to start working on the wiring -






The wiring was surprisingly one of the easiest part of the build. We used a Custom ZCars Engine loom. We modified my stock charging harness which was pretty easy too.

With most of the engine wiring completed we moved on to the Plumbing part of the engine. We wanted to hook up an outlet/inlet for the Header tank to the engine block, so we just used the stock Water pipe, added a AN fitting and we were sorted



We were trying to figure out the location of the Header tank so we used some trusty Tape




With most of the work down outside the body we were set to put it into the shell




we had to install the Front Subframe first in order to make putting the rear in a lot easier; We hooked up the plumbing for the front end also,

[irishdude]

So onto the installation of the rear frame:






Chris Lining up the body while I ran to take a picture )



Then Happy camper once its installed



With the Rear in and the front Subframe in place we started on bolting the remainer of the frame in place -



So as you can see there are few holes in the Shell from where the Shifter from teh original Mini came through the body. looks like there was both holes for the Wand and remote Shifters. This called for us to pull out the Welder - and do some magic around the car to clean it up -




Think it turned out pretty slick!

Next on the list was to secure the front subframe. We decided to cut a small flap in the floor which allowed for teh front subframe to get into position.




When all else fails ;O)



The front Subframe fitted real smoothly after that -




For the Accelerator Cable we decided to feed it through the cabin and just drilled a hole through the cross beam so we can fit the cable away from any obstructions -



Shifter Tunnel Welded in place -



Everything was running along nicely until we had a nosey quest -



So Chris cornered him in the corner and caught him with ease ;o)




The only remainder of the interior left to do was to fit the seats. We made a cross Bar between the Door sill and the Shifter Tunnel. And we welded in some support plates onto the cross member.

[irishdude]

Prepping the crossmember - Check out our clever use of Bricks LOL







Seats Fitted in nicely




we also welded in some bungs for the Harnesses





So with all the hardware installed we moved onto the Wiring cause we wanted to get the engine up and running -





note the clever use of Carboard We are going for real light weight materials. I am going to put in a Bulkhead metal from half way up and then plexiglass from the half up to the roof.

Now the electrics are installed the only thing left was some Petrol or as we say over here "gas" -



The engine started up first time only for it to turn off after 3 secs. So we turned it over again and the same thing happened again. we scratched our heads for a bit then released we had plugged the cam sensors wrong. Switched the cables and bang she started straight up and ran brilliantly. Sounded great. We worked on the idle of the engine for a bit to get it to around 800rpm and she purred nicely.

So we had the majority of the work completed now. The only thing left was to fit the Fibreglass front end. a little bit of work to get it to fit but looked great. We welded in some tabs on either side of the firewall and on the sides of the arches to bolt up the Front to -






we moved the car outside to fit the front end

Edited by irishdude, 09 February 2010 - 08:15 AM.

[irishdude]

With the front fitted we needed to do the final trimming of the arches for the wheels




Look a FLOATING MINI AAAAhhhhhhhh




So with the engine installed and running, the body is all cut and prepped for seats and a harness, the shifter tunnell is in place and the whole ZCars frame installed we did a 4-Wheel alignment and we're all set. unfortunately we didn't get to drive the car around the block we were waiting on the drive shafts but not to worry.

So Chris headed off back to England and I have stripped the entire car back down to the shell. Paint shop is booked for this weekend so stay tuned for the next set of pictures. Next time we see the shell it will be painted the good olde fashioned Mini Red. Can't wait!

Great thing is the plan is to get this car out on the tracks around california and beyond. Anyone interested in booking a Demo drive give me a call or email.