19 replies to this topic

[The-Womble]

Hi everyone,

I'm Chris, I'm 16, and live in Newcastle. I've just bought my 1982 Austin/Leyland Mini with the standard 998cc engine. There have been a few modifications, such as a centre exit stainless steel exhaust, widened wheel arches (one of which is cracking ), bigger wheels + alloys and front disc brakes. This used to be Mandgands's Mini which some of you may be familiar with? Anyway, it's my project car and there is a lot to do, but I've set my deadline for the end of January 2010 (my 17th birthday ) so I've got plenty of time to work at it.

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This is it arriving the other week!

Structurally, the car seems pretty solid. Good subframes, solid floor, near-solid boot, and just a few bits of small rust which unfortunately have been pretty poorly filler'd; not bad for something that had been sitting in a carpark, unused for a year though. However, what it makes up for in structural integrity, it sadly lacks in interior and electrics. I'm pretty sure the electrics are going to be the biggest task as there are a lot of wires that look to have been cut or are just not connected to anything. I connected the battery yesterday, and the headlights turned on...and couldnt be turned off. The horn also worked, however after a minute or so, everything stopped working. Previously, a sparking would occur when you connected the battery (which is normal of course). However this has since stopped, even though the battery still has full charge....I suspect a faulty wire or a bad fuse?

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When the car arrived, there was no steering column (and therefore no steering wheel/ignition etc.), no back seats (which I have since bought), no dashboard (which is in the post as we speak), and was generally in a pretty sorry state. As the picture shows, the steering system is now in place, however when the wheels are turned to about half lock either way, the tyres scrape against the front of the wheel arches. I believe there is an easy fix for this (wheel spacers?), but a point in the right direction would be most welcome

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As for the engine, well I'm not sure yet, as I havent been able to start it, however if I put the car into gear and push it, the engine does turn over, which is a good sign. However there is no clutch master cylinder, and I'm not sure the slave cylinder is there either, so that's gonna have to be installed at some point. Since the picture was taken, I have put on the rocker cover and therefore is no longer covered by a polythene bag

Updates will follow

[mini-man-dan]

Awesome Another 16 year old with a Mini
Looks like a pretty decent start youve got there!
You keeping the 998 in it or swapping it to a 1275? I was really surprised that there wasn't that much of a difference for insurance on my Pickup. If I kept it as an 850 (paha no chance!) it would cost £1085 per year, or as a 1275 £1300. Works out about £5 a week, so 1275 it is
Looks like you've got quite a bit of work to be done before January! Good luck
What are your plans for it?
Oh,a nd you need to cut the front of the steel wheel arch out to allow the wheel to turn all the way. Them wheels are pretty large, so will need to be chopped quite a bit. Aslong as they dont touch the widened arches you're ok.
And the wiring, you'll probably be better off spending £150 and buying a complete new wiring loom. Minis are notorious for wiring problems, and using old looms is just asking for trouble. You have to remember the age of the car, and that loom is likely to be original so probably is knackered! You can get them from MiniSpares and MiniSport for starters, or look through MiniSpeed, Huddersfield Mini Spares and Min-Its for bits
Dan

Edited by digi-cars.piczo.com, 01 September 2009 - 10:30 AM.

[The-Womble]

I'm pretty surprised its such a small difference...I hadnt intended to change it up to a 1275, however maybe that's something I'll consider (should my bank balance permit ). My plans are pretty much to fully restore it eventually. The interior and electrics are the main priority at the moment. I'd like to keep it relatively standard looking, but I'd like it to be fast Although I'm just going to see how things go. Also, I'm not sure about the colour....it's going to need a respray anyway...paintwork is a little chipped in places and where the filler is coming away. I like the look of black. Although the exterior cosmetics will probably be one of the last things I do.

Cheers for the help!

I'm guessing from your signature that you're running a Clubman at the moment?

Chris

[mini-man-dan]

Urm... was!
Haven't updated my sig...
I ended up selling the GT to my brother, so he's doing that now. He's 24, so can already drive and he's into Minis like me. I now have a Pickup that I'm restoring to be my 1st car. Here's my build thread:
LINK
And yeah I know about the bank balance problem... Nightmare! The Pickup is my 4th Mini now (and yeah I'm only 16 too, long story!) and they really do just eat money. Especially when you have to buy Mk1 parts for the Pickup, they are rare and some are stupidly expensive!
If you're going to get it repsprayed I'd take the engine out anyway. Then get the bulkhead and inner wings sprayed the same colour, clean whatever engine your putting in up and paint in, put new brake lines in (might aswell whilst you've got the time before you drive) then put the engine back in with a new wiring loom. The hopefully all the problems of many Minis should be illiminated!
Dan

[The-Womble]

At long last there is some good news to report

Since the last update, it has had: 3 new slave cylinders (which have been in and out of the car more times than I can count), a new ignition plug, a new clutch master cylinder, a boot refurb (rust and holes fixed, and hammerite-ed), a load of filler, new carpets, a new parcel shelf cover, a new interior light, new wipers, a new solenoid and a new battery. (and £10 of petrol).

However, after a good few months of permanently oil-covered hands and a suitable amount of swearing and frustration trying to put this all in, finally, my Mini is now starting and moving under its own power

Totally worth it

[project mini chris]

good luck man, looks like a brilliant project!

[The-Womble]

Hah, I take my previous comment back as per usual with this Mini, it all worked fine for a good 20 mins, before it spontaneously stopped working; in this case....the clutch has gone squishy again. Tried bleeding it but there seems to be an endless amount of air coming through so I suspect a hole somewhere. The likely candidate seems to be the master cylinder so I'm just about to take that off and have a look.

One day it'll work for at least a day before breaking. I have the faith

[miniJJ]

Hey Chris!

I'm also a 16 year old from Newcastle, although I'm 17 in two weeks. I've just got my first mini too, a 1985 austin mini mayfair.

Your car looks great! Good luck with it!

JJ

[The-Womble]

Nice one mate. I'm envious of your birthday I can't wait!

Your car looks great too! I'll keep an eye out for it tearing about Newcastle

[tomgale]

hey womble!

im only fifteen so ive got a bit longer than you to do mine (it needs more though so fair enough) but ive got an blue '82 too!! check your logbook as it may be a HLE which only existed for a few months that year!

[miniman24]

Hiya mate, im 16, and am building a mini too Although mines nearly the opposite to yours, brill engine and electrics, and rusty floors and sills! Easily sorted tho, my dads a pro welder Good luck with it, and do you have a name for him/her yet?

Edited by miniman24, 03 November 2009 - 05:07 PM.

[The-Womble]

Wish my dad was a pro welder ! Just got a job at a local Mini specialist though, so hopefully I can get it all nicely sorted with aid from them

Tomgale, I'm pretty sure its not an HLE unfortunately. It's just a plain and simple City E.

[tomgale]

ah well womble there's no real difference anyway they're all good, good luck with your project!

[The-Womble]

Phwoar, right, where to start. It has been months since I've updated this!

Cosmetically, unfortunately it looks much the same, apart from some new GOLD Superlights and a very broken wing courtesy of a previous owner, which they had hidden under a lot of filler and fibreglass in a vain attempt to make it look like a sportspack! Oh, and it's got a new front bumper. And a new red bonnet to go on (my car is blue ) because I erm......*cough* drove over my old one (by accident of course!)

CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER

As for other work done, by far the biggest task has so far been fitting a new loom....should have theoretically been a 1 day job, but due to my stupidity, I bought a loom for a car from 1989, when my car is a 1982! Therefore there has been a lot of rewiring along with a lot of frustration and swearing. Even one the engine loom was all in properly, the engine still refused to start, up until yesterday where it burst into life for no apparent reason other than me leaving the battery on charge for about 24 hours....must have just needed a real kick up the arse from the battery to get going again. Sounding very rough at the moment though. Is in pretty desperate need of a good old tune up. Still got most of the car to wire up yet though, and then the brakes to fix, and then a new wing and A-panel welded on, and I think the front subframe mounts are on their way out because if I turn the steering wheel, the engine moves slightly to one side or the other.

Pretty much what she's looking like right now :/ .....



I need to remember to start taking more pictures oh, and to update this page more often! I'll try and get it updated again soon when the engine is running properly and the loom is in etc.

Chris

[The-Womble]

Again, it has been months since I've got round to updating this! Oops.

Many revelations since my last update - mainly that I spontaneously bought another Mini (but a working one this time!) just in time for my driving test (which I passed first time ).

So for the past month or so, this car has been on the backburner in terms of work, but it's the easter holidays now so I've managed to get a bit of motivation back to work on this one (which the parents are nagging me to sell to pay off what I owe them for the other car ....I'm gonna have to find a way to procrastinate around this one!).

Anyway, the engine gave up with the whole 'running' thing once more after my last post, no idea why. Firstly it wouldn't do anything at all when the key was turned. Then after a load of fiddlage, the solenoid started clicking on turning the key (even though it's brand new). So, after many hours of pondering, multimeter-ing, and whipping the starter motor in and out multiple times, I decided to check the bushes inside the starter. Dismantled it, check them, seemed fine, put it all back together, put it back and the car, turned the key.... *CLICK*...........*VROOOOM*!

Very odd, but then again, it's never simple with a Mini is it So yes, it's running again, much to my delight. Could do with a nice tune as it's still a little rough, but at least it's actually starting on the key again

Spent the rest of the day hoovering it and putting new (2nd hand) carpets into it to tidy it up a little. Can now move onto cosmetics again at long last!!

Here are a few pictures from today:




Not even any smoke





Forgot to take a picture once I'd put down the carpet!