12 replies to this topic

[benmini]

Hello!!

I'm thinking about buying an old mini and re-shelling it into a minus shell - anyone done this?


I've sourced out the shell! about £3500-£4000 fully painted

I need to find out what to do about earth points?!? (because the body is fibreglass)

I need to find out how to make the doors or where to buy them?

Where I can get a custom roll cage - can you get to the rear seats if you have a roll cage?


HELP ME PLEASE!! thank you muchly!

[Paul Wiginton]

I havent done a Minus, but can modify your doors for you and supply aluminium doorskins either fitted or so you can fit them

Paul

[Ethel]

Run a -ve battery cable to the gearbox. The brake system is also handy for collecting earths. I have a Metro loom in my plaggy car, all the earths are collected on a few ring terminals that can be gathered on a couple of bolts under the bonnet. It fits well if you use Metro clocks and switch gear.

As someone as pointed out to me it wouldn't be great if you ended up with the return 150 odd Amps from the starter motor going down a brake pipe. Make sure they are many times thicker than any earth wires connected to them and are likely to remain so if you do use them.

[Tomf]

The stiggy can make you up a pair of fiberglass doors for your minus.

If you wanted to make some metal doors you would have to cut n shut the door about a bit. (remove the base of the door skin, Cut the bottom of the inner skin off, move about 3inches up weld back in place, cut the outer skin to match the shell, obviously you want to take proper measurments offering the doors up to the minus to make sure you have it right)

Thats the mothod im doing for my minus, but im doing it with a pair of standard size fiberglass doors...

For earth points, make some dedicated earth points on the car, so have a cable coming off the negative of the battery and link it to things like the subframes, engine, etc... and then make some earth mountins on the main earth points...

As for a roll cage, you will have to phone round all the roll cage makers and see if they will make you a custom one to your car, but dont expect that to be cheap.

If i was to fit a cage in my minus i would go about modifying a standard mini cage, by cutting down the legs and re-mounting the rear legs as the rear arches are a different place on the minus... You can get to the rear seat with a cage, but the minus doens have a rear seat... the base of the seat is cut back so alot smaller that in a steel shelled mini.

[benmini]

Thanks for all the advice!!

Paul
Thanks I'll take the offer into consideration -how much would they be - jst for future consideration

Ethel
Thanks - I think I need to do some reading on electrics! lol

Tomf
Thanks - i read ur whole project thread - no updates for a few months what colour is yours now? I was thinking of doing mine bright blue - then I saw u were thinking the same thing. lol

[CharlieBrown]

Just a warning, re-shelling a mini with a fibreglass shell will only be lagal if you IVA (SVA) the car after you have completed it, as far as I am aware.

[benmini]

Just a warning, re-shelling a mini with a fibreglass shell will only be lagal if you IVA (SVA) the car after you have completed it, as far as I am aware.

Thanks - I'm aware of this - Info on the new IVA is a little scarce! That's the main thing I'm worried about

[CharlieBrown]

I hear you!

Im building a fibreglass Sprint (Im using the term building generously - going a bit slow at the moment) and not looking forward to the IVA.

Earthing, im planning on using a battery cable.

As for the roll cage STIGGY is currently cutting down a my safety devices roll cage.

[benmini]

I hear you!

Im building a fibreglass Sprint (Im using the term building generously - going a bit slow at the moment) and not looking forward to the IVA.

Earthing, im planning on using a battery cable.

As for the roll cage STIGGY is currently cutting down a my safety devices roll cage.

oooh - Have you got a project thread for the sprint? what's the difference between it, and a minus?

STIGGY sounds like a useful person to speak to about all this! is there anything majorly different in the IVA compared to the SVA?

I can't wait to start this project - I need to get some money together first

[CharlieBrown]

Yes, there is a project thread:

http://www.theminifo...x...c=68818&hl=

The sprint has a chop of both the body and the window pillars.

As for the SVA / IVA, the IVA is set to be alot more expensive but other than that very similar to the SVA.

[benmini]

anyone else built a minus or have put a vehicle through an IVA test

[andybmini]

Have a look on ML Motorsports website, Andy the owner built a minus, although it was more of a rebuild as has an old "S" plate. It has a build article and some of the problems he encountered.

Minus

[benmini]

anyone else?