22 replies to this topic

[Brentonmcgrath]

Thanks for all your comments
I picked up the car today and have it at my place now. I found some more information about it today that blew me away.
The original owner had it all retro fitted two years after he bought it new.
He had it stripped to a bar shell and color changed. He had an original cooper S that was in an accident and so had all the parts for the conversion.
he entered it in mini car shows for two years and won best retro fit and best mini in 8 car shows in Japan
finally had a baby and needed the moeny for his house.

Sold the car for $30,000 US three years ago
owner was a 25 year old who drove it and then split with his girlfriend
she drove it till it over heated and then it has sat for the last year.

Put a battery in it tonight and turned it over.
gave it an oil change and some fuel and water.
it fired up within a few seconds but it has a serious over heating problem so shut it down after about a minute
I will pull the head of this weekend and see what is wrong.

and you are right the interior is all 1963 but reupholstered completely.

If the engine is fine after a bit of work I will decide what to do with it
a complete respray or just a fun daily drive

I will stay on the site and give everyone updates and photos as i work on it

Thanks again for you help
Brenton

Attached Files

•  Mini_cooper_S_002.jpg   949.03K   9 downloads

[MiniMonty]

Look forward to seeing this come back to life !

[Shylos]

Looks like an amazing find!

[mab01uk]

Excellent news!
Glad you saved this Jap Retro Mini Cooper from an uncertain future and got yourself a bargain, it would have been a terrible waste if it had gone to the scrap yard, I look forward to seeing more pics in the future. Will also be interested to hear what the overheating problem turns out to be?

[Brentonmcgrath]

Excellent news!
Glad you saved this Jap Retro Mini Cooper from an uncertain future and got yourself a bargain, it would have been a terrible waste if it had gone to the scrap yard, I look forward to seeing more pics in the future. Will also be interested to hear what the overheating problem turns out to be?

Sorry its been a while since I wrote.
I pulled the head off and the head gasket was blown between number 2 and 3 cylinders.
I had the head crack tested and faced and had the valves reground while I was at it. The head was in pretty good shape and nothing out of the ordinary.
The thermostate was missing and the thermo fan was seized. I was able to get a fan that was similar from the wreckers and put a new thermostate in and had the radiator cleaned which was blocked and filthy.

The great news it now runs beautifully. No over heating problems everything is perfect with the motor

the brakes still need some work and it has a bit of a rattle from the catalytic converter

I am thinking about doing some major work to it now

I am wondering if anyone has taken off the injection system and either put a webber or twin carbs on with some extracters?
did it run okay?

what was good and bad about the conversion?

ill put it on some blocks soon and do all the brakes and suspension

looking forward to hearing your suggestions and feed back.

[mab01uk]

Thanks for the update, great news that the engine is ok!
This recent thread may help on fitting a carb to an injection Mini...........not sure how you stand with regard to the Japanese emission laws with a conversion like this?

http://www.theminifo...=injection carb

[japanophile]

Wow! Sounds like you got a great deal there! Did you end up getting it for free? The owner just gave it to you? I've heard of this happening before, but never with a car worth anything.

Do you have photos? I'd love to see the car! (I'm sure the others here would, too!)

[CobraV8]

You lucky bugger! That is a very lucky find.

My car is kind of from a similar background, a 1990 Cooper from Japan now in New Zealand, had most of the hard work done on body (mk1 rear lights, font end converted to mk1, Cooper S brakes etc), but I am in the midst of doing the interior and mk1 grilles, bumpers etc.



If you decide you have had enough of the car- I would buy it from you - I want to get an older look car for my Dad, he has all the other goodies (S motor etc ) in boxes and needs a car like this. Feel free to keep my email handy? [email protected] It is easy to export cars to New Zealand, happens every week.