75 replies to this topic

[mini_mad69]

Be careful with those pads, I've got them on mine, and the brake fade is stupid.

[MiniAlex]

I wanted these plates, this place makes them that are reflective ones too. But not sure if they are ... I just have some normal ones on at the monet. They do the trick haha.

It's something else anyway that might be an mot fail that I can't be bothered with, might aswell leave these plates on for less to go wrong with the mot!
I was thinking about taking the cat off but then I found out it would need to go back on for the mot really, so little things like this are probably best left alone!
But if you get away with those plates on the mot then by all means, keep them on. They might be alrite? I don't know But I know you are meant to have reflective ones by law?

[LuckyThe1275]

Wow... I've been so busy, and haven't had any time for Mini's or even Lucky. Every single project i'm subscribed to has been updated since I last looked, and some rarely used to get updated!

I'll post more later, but he hasn't changed much. I have some pictures of the plates and HT leads fitted that I forgot to post, i'll post them later once i've found them.

Bar the electrical problem, he's dirty and a little rusty (scuttle at the front bubbling, and a-panels, and very light bubbling on door bottoms) but ready to pass an MOT. New choke and throttle cables fitted, oil filter and oil change, new front disks and pads, inner and outer CV gaiters, drum's at the rear serviced, upper and lower ball joints both sides, new plates too. Lights and mirrors to be swapped still, but got the bits. New HT leads, spark plugs, and dizzy bits. New battery too. New tyres all round as well. Probably missed some stuff too!

Also a new engine steady bracket. Did I mention it was broken? New bracket wasn't quite right, but after cutting down it was spot on, might have pictures, there was basically an extra extrusion on the bracket we didn't need, but it was the closes on MiniSpares we thought.

Basically, I still own him, he's still alive. He still has the electrical problem with the lights all round. Can't seem to fix it, and ran out of time. The workshop has been sold, and he's going to be stored in my garage in a block, small, with no power or room for the tool chests, so he'll be there until we move to our new house.

Right now he's with a friend who owns a garage who is taking a look at him in his spare time, for mates rates, as now we don't have the workshop, and everyone is preoccupied with selling houses and moving, my mum's partner doesn't have the time to help me, and when one of us is free the other isn't! They are paying for it though, so I don't have to.

He was driven to the garage, and my mum's partner said he drove very well, no apparent problems to fix or anything bad. He was grinning the whole way there he said, it was very fast he said, and he thinks it is a 1275, he owned an 850 back in the day, and a Marcos with a Cooper engine I think, and he thinks it's definitely not a 998, it bloody goes he said! So that's made me feel much better, and i'm all enthused again

Hopefully he'll be fixed by the end of next week, we'll see, no hurry, he's safe and completely dry there. When he's due to come back hopefully i'll be around to go and pick him up... cause I won't be insuring him for me until I pass... Just paid £250 to get insured for 3 months provisional on my Mum's 206, so he'll be insured when I pass, to save money, so when we pick him up will be my only opportunity to get a ride in him for a while!



When his electrics are fixed I have some white back genuine mirrors to fit, £31 bargain! And some MK2 rear light units too. Silly stickers to remove, and a very good clean and polish, especially in the engine bay! Need to get a basic headunit in for now too. New boot board too. Fuel cap, and bonnet badge.

Next up will be an MOT, then insurance, and hopefully a pink licence! After that i'll get the A-panels replaced, they're bubbling, and the rust under the windscereen sorted. New carpet too.

I plan to get the arches sanded back and resprayed, temporarily until I can justify some 13x7 black centered superlights, and tyres to fit, and some new Sportspack arches (cause of course I only just got £120 worth of tyres for my way over-schedule MOT!)

Then interior will be cleaned up, or replaced after that. Unsure as of now though. What comes up used on the classifieds will probably be the decider! I'll fit a decent headunit while i'm there, with proper ipod control... And a tiny sub in a custom box the same size (or as near) as the fuel tank to go on the other side of the boot.

Keeping an eye out for a good rear subframe I can have shot blasted and powder coated too... Not sure if I mentioned but my rear one will need changing before the NEXT mot, not this one coming thankfully. Basically surface rust and flaking, but not on the main strength structure bit yet, thankfully!

Also would like to change the exhaust I think, and get some new bumpers. He will also be lowered, but that will depend on where we move to, speed bumps etc.

For now though, with the bits i've got and a few small things to buy and do, he'll be looking tidier, and will be cosmetically ready to be allowed to go out for his MOT.


Regarding the number plates, they seem to be quite reflective if I remember correctly. I know the guy who will do the MOT, and he will have a look around first to advise me on anything I need to change or do before it's proper test, so we'll see. My mum's partner is an ex-traffic policeman, and thinks they're other than the fact that they do not have the producers name or details at the bottom, which i'd only be told off for. We'll see anyway.

Pictures to update a few things later, and more when I go pick him up/he comes home... Not seen him since he had his tyres changed and the wheels put back on, so pictures are outdated!

So sorry about the lack of updates recently too!

Matt.

[LuckyThe1275]

WOOOOO!



MOT'd! No advisories! Rear subframe is better than I though, and structurally it's brilliant the guy said

Handled the drive home well... Needs timing and tuning properly though. Dead spot in acceleration, and doesn't like hills, but it revs high, and corners so well, had me beaming, despite all the things I want to do! My mum's fiance threw it around a bit, and it really is superb. Will be brilliant when i'm happy with how it looks

I'm a perfectionist though, and it's killing me knowing it's my primary car. I just want to strip it down, have my a panels and scuttle done, and resprayed, and all put back together properly, how I want and know it should be!

Oh well, going to get my exams done, work like buggery over the summer, and earn some dosh... Enough that I won't be bothered about spending what I need to get what I want.

Also moving within the next four weeks, after exams are done, and we're now going to have a workshop as big as the old one, but on our drive! Yay - not miles away!

Going to keep my eye out for bits and bobs and start building up the bits for a new interior... Looks so tired. Then arches, wheels, and rust, and lower-age

Will need to tax and insure it soon, currently sorn, but back in the garage now. Going to finish learning in it, hitting the driving hard when exams are done! I've only done five hours, and spent £200 insuring my mum's car - waste.

Anyway, will organise the pictures soon, and get them up, and some new ones.

I've mistreated this thread, sorry guys!

Oh, and 100% needs valve stem seals! Going to get them done when I can find some time

Matt

[LuckyThe1275]

Oh, bill was epic. Mates rates labour, £100. Normally £30/hr. Bits at cost only... apparently.

MOT, £50.
Bulbs. £2.97.
Wiper Motor, £61.44. (Expensive supplier?!)
Alternator, £47.98.
Fan belt, £6.78.
2x flasher units, £10.08.
S/H wiper linkage, £41.13!?
N/S Track rod end, £9.37.

+ VAT.

= not cheap.

Oh well, we had the tools in storage, and no workshop, so it had to go away. Plus the electrical issues were testing us.

All done now, and I only paid half of it, cause it went away against my will, cause family sold Lucky's house! (workshop!)

Matt

[LuckyThe1275]

I need a kick up the bum.

Still learning to drive between end of year final coursework, exams, moving house etc.

Changed my mirrors, and ready to change my lights, and removed my stickers. About all

Washed, T-cut'd and polished, FINALLY! ..and found so many dinks and deep scratches and rust bubbles. I guess it was to be expected though, why I never got around to it!

So unmotivated... I wish I just had £2k to splash, and have all the dinks pushed out, door skins done, a scuttle repair, and a-panels replaced, and a lick of paint, then i'd be all enthused again.

Hope you're all well. Sorry about the lack of updates.

Any words would be appreciated to get my bum in gear!

[LuckyThe1275]

Consider this thread reupdated!

Picked up my 1320 Janspeed engine on wednesday… i’m SO out of my depth though, but we'll get it sorted!

I thought it was slightly breathed on 1275… but no.

It’s a pucker Janspeed engine. 1275 block bored out to 1320! Makes a difference from all the 1380's!

I don’t know the full spec yet, but we’re looking at a stage three head, 266? kent cam, straight cut gears, competition clutch, centre main strap, central oil pickup, and the rest. Quite specc'd up.

I even need to stick an oil cooler in somewhere, far more extreme than I imagined!

Will be worth it though… it’s gonna be quick (When I can drive a competition clutch?!)

Can sort out half the loom while the engine bay is empty, and give it a clean and a lick of paint in there… then iron out some more unknowns when I start ripping the interior out and replacing. Then get some bodyshop work done, and some 13 x 7’s and nice arches on it, then it'll be my dream first car really!

I'd like to get a cage for the race look, but also get it on the track sometime… and engine cut off’s now… this thing will NOT be stolen! I’d never get a similar engine for the money I paid!

Time to clean everything and give it all a lick of paint, work out what needs buying, maybe an aluminium rad and electronic ignition/megajolt setup

Cannot wait now. Gone from expecting the mini to have a 1275, to it really being a 998, to looking for a bog standard 1275, to buying a race spec 1320!

I'll get some pictures up when I've stripped some bits off and given it all a clean

Matt

[LuckyThe1275]

I still have this car! It's holed up in my mum & step-dads garage, and he's been fed up with having no space for a long time, but I haven't buckled under pressure and sold it. I've come very close to selling it a number of times, but thankfully I didn't get rid of it.

 

It's cool to read this thread back, as I had forgotten everything I had done.

 

After my previous post I managed to install the new engine. The old one was dropped out on the subframe. Subframe was cleaned, a crack welded up, and painted with black hammerite. Some rust in the engine bay (lower bulkhead) was treated with Janolite, and the lower part of the bulkhead touched up with hammerite. The engine and subframe were reinstalled, a bigger carb (HIF44?) purchased, since the engine came supplied with the wrong side of a twin carb setup. I fitted the Ashley Competition Exhausts manifold, and it was left. To get it running it doesn't need too much I don't think - engine oil, a new battery, carb and filter fitting, and the rest of the competition exhaust hanging. Funnily enough I have pictures of all of this I can post!

 

Unfortunately in December 2011 someone crashed into my garage. The brick pillar between the two doors fell inward, narrowly missing the Mini, but the door folded inwards, shoving the Mini, which rolled into the work bench, smashing the NS headlight inward, damaging the wing, and slam panel, and NS rear light which was pushed in slightly too. 

 

The insurance assessor asked me what the car was worth, I said I wasn't sure, but it owed me £2000, and he wrote me a cheque for £1900! It owes me nothing now. I'd just started uni, and didn't need a car, so the money went in the bank, and life got in the way. 

 

The Mini has sat untouched since. I spent the insurance money on motorcycles, and had great fun on them (also broke my neck in 2014 - less fun) - I still have one now, a constant, between a few different daily cars - currently a Mondeo. 

 

I have recently finished uni (at last! engineering degree) and got myself a job as a Vehicle Dynamics Engineer, working in the historic motorsport scene mostly.

 

Now finally I should have some time, and money, to get my old Mini sorted again! - hopefully i'll make some good contacts who may be able to help too.

 

On the surface it seems to need:

Engine oil!!!!! (hopefully I can tease it back into movement!)

New battery

Carb and filter fitting (I think I have a carb rebuild kit too - so that should happen)

Competition exhaust rear section hanging

Interior tidy up

Fuel tank refitting

Lots for an MOT probably (although done no miles since the last pass, before engine change, in 2010)

 

Bodywork

NS wing

NS scuttle corner repair

NS headlight

NS rear light aperture pulling out

Both A-panels

Slam panel

Bubbles on both door skins sorting (probably plenty more on the car)

New bumpers

 

The engine is a big unknown. I believe it's a high spec Janspeed built 1320, with straight cut gearbox, but I don't know for sure. I have nothing to verify this. With the engineering mindset I have now, I think I will pull the head off and inspect it at least before attempting to get it going again - hopefully it's as it was sold to me.

 

I wanted a 1275 at least to replace the 998 that someone had put in at some point - when I changed the valve stem seals I learnt it was a 998 engine, hence buying the engine sold to me as a Janspeed 1320. Hopefully the HIF44 would be enough to get it going once refreshed - i'd look to change it later perhaps. I think i'd just check the engine over, get it running and tidied up, and put it back in - it could be rebuilt in the future as a later mini-rebuild.

 

The interior is salvageable, but with a better budget now, I will look to replace the carpet, max out on sound deadening, make myself a dashboard, put some decent speakers in, and get some nice retro bucket seats.

 

I'm not 100% sure on the direction of the rebuild yet, but I am hoping to just get stuck in stripping it down, and getting the body sorted, and a full respray. I don't want to do it on a shoestring like I tried to when I was 17 - I just want to go the whole hog, even if it takes some time, putting in a few hundred quid a month.

 

I'd like to put it on 10in wheels (need smaller brake setup) with small arches (not so into the sportspack look now i'm older!) for a 60s look. At the same time though I'd like to modernise as much as possible for high performance, some comfort, and reliability, but very subtly.

 

I've just started my new job, and still living away from home, but will be moving back home in August (where Mini is) for 12-18 months to save up for a house. 

 

Hopefully I can get stuck in soon! I would like to strip it down, get the body fixed, anything required sorted, and it prepped for a respray. Hopefully some direction will come with time, but thats a start. If I can get the shell completely solid and painted, then i'm half way there!

 

I'd like to do it all myself, but i'm not sure yet if I can! It would save me a lot of money, and i'm into that! But I want to get it spot on...

 

I had considered a metal flip front, since the entire front needs to come off for A-panel, wing, and slam panel replacement, and scuttle replacement/repair...

Edited by LuckyThe1275, 11 June 2016 - 10:49 AM.

[LuckyThe1275]

Holy thread resurrection Batman. I still have this Mini! And a bit more cash than I used to have

After 11 years of little progress, since I bought the "1320" engine (measured somewhere between 1320 and 1340 - can only be a 1340, right?) and it got damaged when someone crashed into my garage, I did a thing today!

Almost fully stripped, in about 6 hours!














Going to drop the subframes next and lift the shell off.

Then off for blasting / dipping, welding and paint.

Not sure where yet…

Edited by LuckyThe1275, 14 March 2022 - 08:46 PM.

[LuckyThe1275]

Hopefully back at it this weekend hopefully. Intending to drop the subframes, lift the body over (no hoist or joists to use) & strip them down. I'll strip the (supposed) "Janspeed" "1320" engine (sold to me as a 1320, surely 1340...?) some time, ready for investigation & rebuild.

Staggered at the costs being ballparked so far for shell restoration and paint What will be will be... Waiting for a couple more ballpark quotes from companies I knew of/have been recommended.

Got a pair of black Cobra Cub Classics to collect (facebook find) for £250, and a brand new Newton Commercial black moulded carpet to pick up for £190. Thinking ultimately i'll couple them with a black headlining & rear bench/re-trim, classic black door cards, new soundproofing and insulation + sound deadening everywhere, nice door hardware and dash trim, and existing centre clock. I'd like to fit a KAD quickshifter.









Current thoughts are to get the shell looking more classic, Cooper S-like. Maybe mk1 rear lights, fold down rear number plate, reversing lamp, 6x9 holes in parcel shelf filled, rear radio aerial deleted / relocated to front wing (period correct?), possibly a twin tank RH filler added, then painted Almond Green (the later lighter Rover shade) with an Old English White roof perhaps, or maybe Surf Blue.

Style ideas:




I will probably fit smaller discs, minifins at the rear, a rear ARB from KAD, and 10" wheels without arch extensions. Current inspiration:

Reading back through this thread, I wonder if my shell is the original 1985 shell? The hole in the NS inner wing for the electric fan suggests it is SPI era, or it's had a new inner wing with fan aperture? Either way, should help keep the 1340 engine cool. Not sure the aerial location at the rear of the roof is original either - but that would have been a relatively easy mod. It certainly doesn't have MK6 bonnet release.

Interestingly it does have blanked off air vent holes in the bulkhead - is this normal, or a mod?

Going to Mini Fair at Stafford Sunday too

Edited by LuckyThe1275, 14 March 2022 - 08:47 PM.

[cal844]

Does the car have a 4 fuse box (on bulkhead) or the 24 blade box (at drivers knee)

Do the doors have the strengthening bars in them?

The passenger inner wing has been changed as my 89 shell had the pre auxiliary fan type inner wing. An 85 shell also shouldn't have side repeater wings (1986 I believe is when side repeaters became standard)

[Quinlan minor]

WOOOOO!



MOT'd! No advisories! Rear subframe is better than I though, and structurally it's brilliant the guy said

Handled the drive home well... Needs timing and tuning properly though. Dead spot in acceleration, and doesn't like hills, but it revs high, and corners so well, had me beaming, despite all the things I want to do! My mum's fiance threw it around a bit, and it really is superb. Will be brilliant when i'm happy with how it looks

I'm a perfectionist though, and it's killing me knowing it's my primary car. I just want to strip it down, have my a panels and scuttle done, and resprayed, and all put back together properly, how I want and know it should be!

Oh well, going to get my exams done, work like buggery over the summer, and earn some dosh... Enough that I won't be bothered about spending what I need to get what I want.

Also moving within the next four weeks, after exams are done, and we're now going to have a workshop as big as the old one, but on our drive! Yay - not miles away!

Going to keep my eye out for bits and bobs and start building up the bits for a new interior... Looks so tired. Then arches, wheels, and rust, and lower-age

Will need to tax and insure it soon, currently sorn, but back in the garage now. Going to finish learning in it, hitting the driving hard when exams are done! I've only done five hours, and spent £200 insuring my mum's car - waste.

Anyway, will organise the pictures soon, and get them up, and some new ones.

I've mistreated this thread, sorry guys!

Oh, and 100% needs valve stem seals! Going to get them done when I can find some time

Matt

Not being paranoid, Matt, but I'd delete the image with the key number on it. You wouldn't want to lose the car now that you've come so far with it.

[LuckyThe1275]

Does the car have a 4 fuse box (on bulkhead) or the 24 blade box (at drivers knee)

Do the doors have the strengthening bars in them?

The passenger inner wing has been changed as my 89 shell had the pre auxiliary fan type inner wing. An 85 shell also shouldn't have side repeater wings (1986 I believe is when side repeaters became standard)

 

I'm not sure about the doors, but certainly the small fuse box on the bulkhead.

 

I don't have side repeaters, or internal bonnet release - just the aux fan hole in the nearside inner wing. Thanks 

 

Not being paranoid, Matt, but I'd delete the image with the key number on it. You wouldn't want to lose the car now that you've come so far with it.

 

Thanks, much appreciated, but that is just a key for the fuel cap. And my car is in a million pieces now, I really haven't come far with it sadly   Soon...

[LuckyThe1275]

Saturday I dropped the front subframe, bit awkward without a crane or joist above, but fine. Started to strip the offside, then had to go out. I'll be back at it down there next weekend hopefully.

 

Yesterday I went to Stafford Mini Fair. Nice to see some inspiration, and have a wonder around. Having stripped my Mini now almost entirely, I recognised so many components at the auto jumble!

 

Couldn't resist a few bits:

• Quickshifter from JBW seemed worth a punt, figured it can't be £100 worse than the KAD one I had planned... We'll see. £20.


• Windscreen de-mister vents & tubes - broken lug on one of mine. Had looked expensive on eBay & not particularly available so thought a tenner was worthwhile... Then found a box full of individual ducts on the last stall   £10.


• Cone compressor - I like having the right tool for the job, and i'm about to strip my front subframe, £22.


• White tipped headlining rod - broke one on strip down. £3.


• Cheap stubby imperial spanners. During strip down would have been handy.


• Cheap imperial spanners. I only have one set, and they don't go large enough.

Also collected the unwanted Newton Commercial black moulded carpet Saturday, £190. Tomorrow the Cobra Cub buckets and subframes are being collected for me, £250. Basically the main components for an interior that I wanted way back in 2009!    

 

I'm really looking forward to stripping this engine down. It was sold to me (for £350 IIRC with the wrong half of a HS4 setup & an oil cooler and some other stuff) as a "Janspeed 1320" from a bloke on here (james-patterson163) in an RAF hillclimb club - I think I collected it from RAF Halton in Aylesbury. I wrote on this thread before that it supposedly had a stage three head, 266 (?) kent cam, straight cut gears, competition clutch, centre main strap, and central oil pickup but I can't find any old PMs or emails to support that, but I found an old "wanted" thread I started where the guy had replied, offering me a:

 

a 1320 Engine with i think its a stage 3 head etc, High lift Cam, tough ride crank highly modified, it is out of my car with the head off, am open to offers.

 

"tough ride crank" must be a typo. I wonder if it has a de-stroked crank? Or maybe it's a 1330? I didn't have the right tools to hand, but a few years ago I measure its bore and stroke and calculated 1320-1340cc, so i'd guess 1330cc or 1340cc. We'll see...

Edited by LuckyThe1275, 14 March 2022 - 09:45 PM.

[Shep76S]

Tuftride

https://en.m.wikiped...itrocarburizing