35 replies to this topic

[cradley-heathen]

last week i purchased this from ebay, it was local and it was cheap(ish) so i couldnt resist it.

i bought it with no mot or tax so i got it trailered home on last friday evening. i got it in for its mot on tuesday, and that was it really, a fog light and the squirters had packed up, turned out to be dodgy connections on both, and then i was on the road!

since then it has overheated several times having repeatedly blown the narrow coolant pipe off the side of the header tank. having fixed that the battery lead came off whilst on the move, sadly it was at night so we were plunged into darkness which was pretty scary! i am still battling with the temperature gauge though, but ill get it sorted before long.

other than this i cant really grumble, it drives brilliantly, the handling is bar far superior to what i was expecting, and despite needing tickling up, the quality of the mouldings is very good.

anyway some pics for you.....






and then the worst bit.....

the interior is both tasteless, and in poor condition. on the plus side though, the seats are very light fibreglass jobbies, and are also very comfortable, i just need to strip them off and recover them. the carpet and underlay was totally soaked and stunk like hell, so i binned all that on day one!

the steering wheel is, well need i explain? and the dash and door cards are grey leather look cack. expect a "page one re-write" in here, this has all got to be sorted!

then i need to put some decent boots on it, change the dampers for some gaz items, and the front pads for mintex, all in time for castle combe, oh and finally get it rolling roaded, if only i had money coming out my ears, it would be done easily!

[Artstu]

"Lovely" is that the word you were looking for to describe the steering wheel

Not bad at all.

[cradley-heathen]

the word a i was looking for begins with "sh" and ends with "ite" lol

[charie t]

Jealous! I saw a few of these at mitp and really want to get rid of the mpi now.

[leaky]

If you don't want that steering wheel I'll take it off your hands haha.

[Chance]

Steering wheel is awesome!!!

[cradley-heathen]

i was gutted today to not have found a decent replacement for it, i either want a mountney in black, or i have considered getting a modern momo stye jobbie for it, but not sure.

i did get some new carpet for it today, the usual service items, water pump and thermostat, anyway im going to add some pics of todays work in a minute....

[cradley-heathen]

to make doing to waterpump easier i decided to whip the back off, which did help allot in the end, saved me leaning over the boot anyhow. just 4 nuts and teh back is off! i might swap them to wing nuts to make it super quick in future.

having taken the pump off i found it is actually in excellent condition, so its not the impeller being corroded away thats causing the overheating then. however......

i did find there is a blanking sleeve fitted (as there should be with no thermostat) having now seen this i wondered would this affect the water temperature seender as it is situated directly below the thermostat housing? isnt there something about a "hot spot" being created there if the blanking sleeve isnt fitted? any ideas?

[new_zealand _minis]

mmm big turbo can fit back there :)

[Roach]

Very cool car man, never seen one before.

Please get that interior taken care of!!

[Alex_B]

Loving how easy it would be to set up the rear suspension, adjustable bottom arms for camber, and toe in and out its just a bar instead of the steering rack, only thing I would say is there was the "Twini" that John Cooper made, and then crashed in spectacular fashion due to the bar that kept the rear wheels locked as in your car snapped. I am sure they are built well but something to keep an eye on!

But a very cool car (Bar the interior atm )

[cradley-heathen]

thanks for the comments guys.

i am having a right game finding a metro bottom rad hose, the one i took off didnt look like it was going to last much longer so im trying to get one. rocking horse poo!

i having been fitting pins to teh bootlid this evening, trying to do anything with the boot just open is impossible, as you can imagine from the way the cantilever hinges work, the bottom of teh boot lid is right over the engine, so its going to be removable now.

[cradley-heathen]

mmm big turbo can fit back there :)

there was a turbo'd one in the carpark at uttoxeter at the weekend actually! i would imagine it would be pretty lively.

i did also consider that with some bulkhead mods you could fit a supercharger on the front of the engine as there is tons of space behind the rear seats.

[cradley-heathen]

i went for a spin in the gtm this afternoon, and it broke down, a lose connection on the dizzy, thenm went out this evening and the header tank cap blew.....

im starting to think having it track ready for castle combe might be pushing it a bit! lol

[jaydee]

Lovely car you got there, theres nothing to do when you got minis running through your veins you cant last long without having one. This a kit car, but still has the..erm..personality of the little box!