5 replies to this topic

[Sunnymini]

Hi Guys,

 

So after my mini being off the road for the last 5 yaers have finally gathered the motivation to make a start to restoring her.

 

Sunny is my 1990 Mini Neon 998, except it looks nothing like a Neon, think it might be BMW mini electric blue, who knows?

 

So here we go! after years of stalling making videos on random crap my Youtube channel will now be put to its proper use, the Strip down has commenced! My Father in law is visiting from Philippines right now so i have a helper in my cramped garage. Check out the first stages here if you like - https://youtu.be/M6XFyynIBQ0

 

only real unexpected thing i found was it looks to have had bump to the front, headlights were riveted in and on drivers side, the rivets all thats really holding in the retaining ring, was a bit worried about getting this back in the correct orientation, but lets see how this goes. Also seems to be quite a bit of filler around the opening, not sure how far it goes yet, watch this space.

 

Will add some photos soon, once i sort out my photo bucket account.

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Edited by Sunnymini, 15 October 2022 - 01:11 PM.

[Sunnymini]

Just to share the only part i did complete! this is my rear seat which i refurbished and has been sitting in back of my closet for a few years now.

 

stripped down and a spray with some mold spray and a good rinse came up nice, the seat back was too far gone so i ordered some new foam and cut to size.

 

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[Retro_10s]

Welcome! Looking forward to watching your progress on this. Will you be restoring it to factory spec?.. or will you be modifying it?

Large headed rivets holding the headlamp bowls in are like this from the factory. But I believe the headlamp ring should've been spot-welded in place, maybe it had a bit of a lazy repair in the past

I'd recommend something like Imgur for hosting photos, and not photobucket, as Imgur is entirely free.., lots of images on TMF have long gone missing since photobucket introduced fees/bandwidth limits

Edited by Retro_10s, 15 October 2022 - 02:21 PM.

[Sunnymini]

Thanks for the comments Retro and the tips on photos, i will check it out. Been a while since i posted any online images.

 

was only 1.5 spot welds holding in the ring so yes i think a poor repair in the past. Looks like filler at other side that wouldnt weld very well ahahahahahh. can just see in one of the photo's above the bolt hole 1 spot weld and a half below bolt hole on the edge. 

 

I think this age of car should have had side repeaters on the wing, which it dont. So these have probably been changed at some point already.

 

The car as it is seems so far from original factory spec im not too worried about taking it back to that. Just want to have a nice drivable  car to enjoy with the kids, they love it. my youngest son seems to believe its his car ahahahaha. 

 

Was originally a 2 clock dash but picked up a 3 clock dash i was gonna fit, but it does alter the miles

Also have a blank dashboard i was gonna create something one off for it, but that's in storage for now and feels a long long way off right now.

 

front floors are rotten, flitch rotten in places. inner wings dont look great but requires more investigation. Might just bite bullet and take out the engine. boot floor is a bit like a patchwork quilt so that needs looked at. and of course sills! ahahahaha. 

 

Dont even own a welder yet, but just trying to get on with what i can until i get one. 

[Sunnymini]

just for testing this was the photo i was referring to.

 

Edited by Sunnymini, 16 October 2022 - 10:17 AM.

[Sunnymini]

I apologize in advance for lack of updates but im away on work for 3 weeks now.