128 replies to this topic

[MrElliott]

So I've had my mini for about a year now and I wanted to make a thread to show you my progress :)

 

This is my first car and I use it every day to get about. I always loved minis since going to Brooklands mini day when I was about 11 so this and the cheap insurance for a 998cc made it the perfect car for me to start with :)

When I brought the mini last September it had already had the wide wheels, arches and a stage one kit fitted by the previous owner (my mate tom). 

 

 

It was rough round the edges, had a blue door and it looked a mess under the bonnet. But I still wanted it so much :)

 

I paid £1500 for the car with 29K on the clock and 12 months MOT and I've been a smiley idiot ever since

 

[MrElliott]

so after cleaning it a lot and learning to drive in it. I had my first breakdown. Not knowing much about minis or cars in general I thought it was all over and the car would be scraped.... nope :) it was simply the clutch slave cylinder leaking fluid and after an afternoon spent changing slave cylinder and putting in a fancy braided pipe the car with the assistance of my uncle, the car was driving fine again :) whilst working under the bonnet i decided I would by some paint and tart it up under the bonnet. I also didn't like the look of corroded water hose clips so I got new ones and of course it meant I had to put in blue silicone hoses ;)

 

 

I was happy with that, so i turned my attention to the exterior and brought loads of trim bits and clear indicator lenses

 

then the winter came and I put the mini into dry storage ... Oh no wait.

 I realised that driving this in the snow was the most fun I have ever had. so I kept using it to get to and from college but there was no daylight hours left to work on it :/

[MrElliott]

since then Ive fixed its oil leak by putting in a braided oil pipe and putting new gaskets on the tapet covers, made the engine run soo much better after changing the rusted air filter to a piper cross foam one and putting a new throttle return spring in place. (I also got another tin of Hammerite and tarted up the engine)

[minispaniard]

looking nice and tidy... 

 

I had a Studio2 in Storm Grey too, loved the colour. It sadly passed away nastily on the dreadful A12... 

[MrElliott]

And I forgot to mention the pain in the backside brakes! since i got the mini it has always pulled to the right when braking. so me and various mates have spent ages changing different components. infact heres a list of bits that have been replaced

• front (reconditioned) callipers
• front disks
• front pads
• all round braided hoses to replace rubber ones
• new copper pipes
• new rear shoes (which got p*****d on by the old cylinders)
• and of course new rear cylinders

and finally it brakes in a straight line  

 

Pictures  :)

cheers

Elliott

[MrElliott]

looking nice and tidy... 

 

I had a Studio2 in Storm Grey too, loved the colour. It sadly passed away nastily on the dreadful A12... 

cheers :) oh cool but not about loosing it :/ hope it was only the car that was hurt :)

[MrElliott]

I have started to lower the mini:) Ive changed the front cones as they were sagginz and fitted adjustable trumpets from minisport. turns out its not as easy a job as first thought as i had to remove the top arms to gain proper access to the front cones and the trumpets at  rear where stuck to the cones which made removal tricky but a chisel works well for this  

the car now sits like this after driving it around to uni and back 

 

lovin the height at the back but im going to lower the front about an inch so tomorrow the dremel is coming out to take away some more of the wing

 

Cheers

Elliott

[MrElliott]

been rather quiet since starting life at university and the cold weather we have been having but i thought it might be a good idea to upgrade my dash lights to LEDs 

 

much brighter and white :) hopefully use a bit less power than the old bulbs. took me far too long to work out why half were not lighting up at first and then realising they were polarised :/

and i have started to price up costs for panels that need changing this summer

 

although its still far cheaper than a £5.5k quote i had :)

 

Elliott

[steven]

Lovely little car !

[MrElliott]

Lovely little car !

Thank you 

[MrElliott]

had fun and games on the M25 the other night ending in the mini being taken home on a flat bed truck. 

 

sad times! but with help from TMFers we found the fault to be a busted alternator after loosing all electrics (including lights!)

next day i was working so i located a new alternator from euro car parts who were really helpful and dad was able to pick it up the same day. so that night under torch light i swapped over the alternator for the new one.

 

 

 

 

 

it was a really easy job to do after taking the grill out to get at the lower bracket which was rusted on quite solid.

 

so now i have some bright and working lights and electricals and managed to drive the car back to uni yesterday which was a bonus.

 

thanks for reading

Elliott

Edited by MrElliott, 02 December 2013 - 04:03 PM.

[sonikk4]

Pictures are upside down. Nice car though.

[MrElliott]

hmm right way up for me... ill try tinker

and thanks

Edited by MrElliott, 02 December 2013 - 04:06 PM.

[MrElliott]

had the day off today so I finally got round to changing the lower steering column bush :) 

following the haynes i cut into the shear bolt to get a flat head screw driver in there to undo it. easy enough right?

nope :/ the thing was on there real tight and amazingly just ended up with broken tools :@

so i thought it would be easier just to grind the other side off which eventually worked after an hour. then instead of digging around in the footwell i thought i would take the steering wheel off and slide the column of the shaft to get at the lower bush.

then i got my old bush out! then i lubed up my shaft

then i lubed up my shaft and put it all back together again :)

and now i have a steering wheel that doesn't jump about although it is a bit of a work out for the time being

 

cheers

Elliott

[MrElliott]

A series of faulures on the mini have tested my patience recently but they were relatively easy fixes.

Firstly after a month (to the day) of using the replacement alternator it also broke and about five miles from home i was left in the dark with no lights.... so i replaced it again and got back to driving :)

Then again exactly a month later my brakes failed which led to me buying a new master cylinder £££££ spent on fixing the little bugger.

now there is a slightly scary rumbling sound at motorway speed. mates reckon its an old car and it normal but i know my mini and this vibration was not normal. the rear right brake keeps locking up which keeps me awake! so after investigation i reckon the drums are at fault so i purchased new ones and gave them a lick of paint before i put then on him tomorrow :)

 

He is a pain in the a*** but its my little mini and i wont give up on him