The story with this one, I have been shopping for another mini with a limited budget for awhile now. I came across this Mini on the Mini Mania website and noticed that it had been for sale for awhile now, since about June of this year. After sitting on the ad for about a week, I decided to contact the owner. He was asking $5500 USD, but I didn't want to pay that much. I had him send me additional pics of the car, since the ad only had one and I also asked him to send me pictures of all the rust and interior. He also provided me with video of it running. The rust still made me a little warry, so I decided to take a shot in the dark and offer him $3000 USD for it. He agreed to the price and we finished the deal out. I was also able to get it shipped up here from American Canyon, CA for $509 USD, not a bad price. The main reason why I think he had to sit on it for so long is because its a Clubman, the unloved model of the Mini line up. Most everyone wants the round nose, since its considered the classic design, but I have always an affinity for the odd.
Last Thursday, I received all of the paper work for the Mini and found a couple of receipts for work done at Mini Part, a British repair shop. The receipt showed that a used 1275 motor had been bought, and a complete rebuild of the short block had been done. I called the shop on Friday, and spoke to the owner, he told me everything that had been done to the motor, including a +20 overbore. He said that they had retained the previous owners transmission from his 998, but that the syncros and bearings were replaced in it. In all it ended up being over $3600 in work.
Yesterday (12/03/11), it shows up to the house. The drive was unable to get it started and said that he had trouble getting it started at his last stop. He thinks that its out of gas. I decide to start trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and the first thing I found is that the positive battery cable head was completely cracked through... So, I ran to the parts store and got a new head. After that, I spent a couple hours trying to figure out why it would catch and run for 10-20 seconds but then die randomly. I checked all of the connections, found a blown fuse, and I was already getting mad at the stereo system and alarm system that the previous owners installed (both will be getting ripped out). I checked the plugs, and found out that I had flooded them, and put some other one that I had laying around in. I also checked the ignition components, most of which seem to be new. My next step today or tomorrow is to put in fresh gas, as I don't know how long its been sitting. I already pumped out the old gas out of the tank.
Rust:
The previous owner told me about the rust in the right front floor pan, that was definitely there. There is also rust in the right sill / door step area. I also found a little bit in the left front floor pan as well. The rest of the car has a little bubbling, but seems to be ok overall.
Some photos the the previous owner took:
