673 replies to this topic

[minili]

Hi

I've had my mini, Minty, for about 7 months now so thought I'd put up a little project page showing what I've done to him. He was only ever a tidy-up job because, to put it nicely, I know nothing!

Firstly this was him when we got him:


(that's my sister trying him out)

Lovely interior! LOL!

He was a bit tatty looking, and had pretty manky wheel trims. Apparently they would have started silver

He also ran awfully, the timing was way out, he'd been run on unleaded with no engine adjustment, and there was something up with the points - the previous owner "fixed" them... so well that they barely did whatever it is they do. He limped home (slowly) from Watford though (about 20 miles) so we were pleased with him!

So job number one was send him down the garage to have the timing sorted and the points actually fixed. £40 later he ran much better

We then set about doing a few small touch-up jobs on the paint, lining up that bonnet, giving him a good clean and polish, and improving the wheel trims (they went yellow when he washed him), so a lick of white paint was called on... We also sprayed the front bumper black as it was a funny greyish colour with black splodges where the previous owner had touched up the rust



Much better .........

(more to come)

[Bungle]

and you even put a picture of you with your mini up for jammy

[Bean]

More, more! He's lovely!

[minili]

Then we had a problem



There was water spraying from one end of the top hose

So we replaced the clips on it... replaced the top hose... and it was still spraying

Then dad realised the water wasn't coming from the top hose - it was coming from the radiator, where the top hose is clipped on

A healthy dose of chemical metal nearly sorted it out, it was still leaking but little enough for me to put up with it on the short journeys it did anyway

While we were attempting to stall the leaky radiator we put a new badge and grille on (so shiny!!) which looks much prettier


...And also attached a makeshift dashboard I acquired off a Minifinity member


We had problems with rust on the front valance (which I don't think I have photos of) which thankfully was only surface rust, and the rear valance was in red oxide following repair by the previous owner, so the mini went up on axle stands so dad could rust treat the front, and paint both ends.

We also discovered at this point a leaky heater matrix - which has not been fixed, simply bodged for the short term by pulling out the tap thing to stop water going through it.

We also fitted spotlights while it was on stands which I STILL haven't wired in (requires skill, you see) and stainless steel bumpers


One more thing was to fit "minilight" wheels (in inverted commas because either 1 or 3 are fakes - they're not all the same!) to the existing tyres, except one which was VERY illegal so was replaced, and he was looking much smarter

Shame about the badly touched up door though - which is rapidly rotting away. Doesn't look THAT bad but it's getting worse very quickly and the bodge done by the previous owner didn't help




In the meantime I have also called upon a local mini nut called Pete (fireman-sam off the forum) to help me with the radiator, we removed it, flushed it through a couple of times, soldered up the rubbish end, and put it back in. Job's a good-un

He also helped me install the halogen headlights I'd been sitting on for ages, so we can see in the dark now

As we were putting the halogens on, it made sense to put the headlamp peaks on too and this is how Minty stood last month...



Ooh also somewhere along the way here the wing mirrors went from grey to white to green They look nice colour coded

Edited by minili, 21 July 2007 - 05:02 PM.

[minili]

and you even put a picture of you with your mini up for jammy

That's my sister

Also just noticed the last photo shows him with headlamp peaks but not the halogens, I've got my photos muddled up

But hey he looked the same with halogens...


Until today!

Edited by minili, 21 July 2007 - 04:00 PM.

[minili]

We have a couple of problem points with rust... being the door as shown above, and here:




The other problem which I found today is the front panel has a hole in it but I haven't taken photos yet.

I have bought a pair of cream Cobra Classics, one of which is installed and the other back with MiniSport, while Cobra send me a replacement (it was ripped)

I also bought some chrome sill trim which is to replace the plastic wheel arches

And that's what I've been up to today... until the drill battery died! So I currently have one plastic wheel arch

Once the drill is recharged I'll get rid of the last one and take some photos while it's not raining

[Car Nation]

nice little mini

[mike.]

Very nice, looks much better after some TLC. I'd do somthing about the interior though its a bit... brown

[minili]

This is what I did today (in between rain showers)

Drilled out the rivets on the wheel arches... Still have a few broken rivets stuck in place but it's a start

We used cutting compound to get black marks from the arches off the bodywork, which has revealed a few bits where the paint has been scratched by the arches but it looks much nicer already before doing any touching up I think

Here's Minty with no arches:




There was a bit of rust ... There's a small hole and some black ( ) rustproof paint on the seam on the front right - previous owner again! - and a couple of rust spots in the same places on the front left. Nothing we can't bodge though




Then I had to rush him back in the garage as he was getting wet

He does look cute without arches

Edited by minili, 21 July 2007 - 05:01 PM.

[yorkshirechris]

Looks a lot better without the arches... wish my dad was as handy as yours with car stuff lol. Might consider taking off my plastic arches but I'm scared of whats underneath

[minili]

My dad's not that handy, well I think he knows more than he lets on but he's reached the grand old age of 49 and can't be bothered any more lol.

I wasn't sure what I would find under the arches, it was a gamble but really it's very good underneath! There was just 21 years worth of mud to clean off!

I did the arches myself until dad came out and stuck the cutting compound on it. It's years old and had dried out a bit so he watered it down with puddle water

Edited by minili, 21 July 2007 - 05:28 PM.

[yorkshirechris]

My dad's not that handy, well I think he knows more than he lets on but he's reached the grand old age of 49 and can't be bothered any more lol.

I wasn't sure what I would find under the arches, it was a gamble but really it's very good underneath! There was just 21 years worth of mud to clean off!

I did the arches myself until dad came out and stuck the cutting compound on it. It's years old and had dried out a bit so he watered it down with puddle water

Still, even if he just holds a torch or screwdriver for you he's helping

I'm going to have to take my arches off at some point anyway, I think there's more random cross head screws holding them in than pop rivets.

After seeing yours I think I'll be taking mine back to how it was originally in the long run, it looks a bit chavvish with the double exhaust and everything

[Retro_10s]

That mini is gorgeous (about the 5th time I've said it now lol but heck it's lovely)

I think it'd look great with some chrome trim going along the arch lip instead of the plastic arches... stunning. would add to that cute look you like.

[yorkshirechris]

I think it'd look great with some chrome trim going along the arch lip instead of the plastic arches... stunning. would add to that cute look you like.

I agree, I automatically assumed she was going to do that anyway

By the way I'm also quite jealous seeing as though it's a C reg Mayfair (same as mine) and yours is much nicer lol

Edited by yorkshirechris, 21 July 2007 - 06:02 PM.

[minili]

I have chrome strip ready and waiting but need to touch up those rust spots at the front first

And I do like cute hehe

Your mini looks pretty good in the avatar Chris! But as I well know, a photo can hide a multitude of sins

I am planning to Stage 1 my mini so getting rid of the peashooter exhaust

It's all standard at the moment, I'm sure it still doesn't idle quite right, although the main problem is sorted - the vacuum advance pipe had fallen off lol

Hopefully Stage 1 and a rolling road session which I hope to do at MITP should sort it out nicely