6 replies to this topic

[Jamesy_UK]

O.k first some Introductions, an outline plan, then some pictures up in the next day or two detailing the progress so far.

First things first this is a revision of an old plan my Dad (Peter)

has had for some time that kept getting put off and put off but now his annoying son James (me)

and his grandson Aaron (Az_racinggreen) have got him to get things rolling

The Plan:

Take this 998cc Racing green Mini
And turn it into a light little fair weather Roadster type car

Phase 1
Putting me on a diet........ yes I am skewing the power to weight ratio plans quite badly and I have been told to lose weight or I will make them look bad

Gutting it down to a shell, repairing any rust spots and then lopping the roof and front end off (the gutting part is pretty much done)






We estimate (via an old pair of scales we have currently removed in excess of 160lbs in weight off the car and we havent gotten the front end or the roof off yet, obviously some of that weight will be going back on in the form of new doors/front end etc but its not bad going.

Phase 2 (currently not completely decided)
Reinforcing the bodywork to compensate the lack of roof
replacing removed panels with moulded lighter panels
move the fuel tank to where the back seat is currently and having the filler cap placed center on the old parcel shelf
Use audi TT style roll hoops for protection as well as grounding for the racing harnesses.
Plus no doubt a lot more tinkering we havent even considered yet.

Phase 3
Lots of cosmetic touches including a full re-spray, Smiths dials, create a new dashboard from scratch to house them and sorting out a button down canopy for the back half of the car.

Phase 4
See how exhausted we are from the constant tinkering and attention to detail then decide wether to play with the engine as removing so much weight from the car willl give it a nice boost in power alone and its already had a stage 1 and a metro carb in it. The current ideas bouncing around are to put in a Turbo or a more radical idea is to put in a 1000cc motorbike engine, half the weight of a standard engine and buckets of power. Normally that idea would sound nuts but good old dad used to build and race his own cars at weekends in the Formula 1300 series and 750 motor club as well as being a trainer at Vauxhalls and working at the Millbrook test track and he knows what he's doing even when we don't have a clue

Edited by Jamesy_UK, 11 September 2007 - 02:19 PM.

[MINIMON]

it all sounds good mate, until you mentioned lopping the roof off... this will reguire alot of work and will look cack if done poorly

[Jamesy_UK]

it all sounds good mate, until you mentioned lopping the roof off... this will reguire alot of work and will look cack if done poorly

Aye it's going to be a challenge, lopped off the front end today just sorting out pictures.

[Jamesy_UK]

So....
Today we were intending to lop off the front end and the roof but alas, Aaron was out with his girlfriend and my dad was catching up with some jobs he did yesterday after we had to take my mum to A & E, thankfully she is o.k now.

Firstly we tried using a very poor jigsaw to cut into the panels however not only was the power tool C**p so were the blades and we rapidly gave up on that idea and my dad dug out the most odd, but awesome tool to cut the metal and he called it 'The Nibbler' god knows what its real name is but it cut a nice neat swath through the front end in no time !

I entitle this Picture dumbo gets ready to fly........

After some fighting with a pair of sheet metal cutters on the double seams around the headlights we finally got the front end off, went to undo the bolts holding the nose to the subframe and it fell off onto my foot..... yes the bonded rubber intended to hold the nose on wasn't so bonded anymore and my toes weren't so happy either.



So, although we didn't get off the roof this time at least the front ends done and we have plenty of room to get at the engine and replace the flywheel when we get a chance, give it a nice high pressure hosing as well so we get a good look at her. on a side note, I weighed the front end and came up with almost 30lbs in weight on the scales so another good deal there.

[MINIMON]

just to let you no as soon as you lop the roof off its going to bend all over and possibly collapse in on its self! so get the bracing in before you even think about doing it

[supermotolee]

are you gonna weld the doors shut and make it into a propper speedster i think they look great theres a really fast one about thats blue and runs very quick 1/4 times!

[Jamesy_UK]

just to let you no as soon as you lop the roof off its going to bend all over and possibly collapse in on its self! so get the bracing in before you even think about doing it

On this note we are going to support the load bearing areas of the car as we remove the roof so shouldn't be too much of an issue although we will be getting the roll hoop welded in right away to provide some good support for the mid section. We were considering 2 roll hoops (1behind each seat sort of audi TT style) but a single hoop would be more structurally beneficial although i'm a little worried it wouldn't look very nice so i will try and mock up some photoshops to get an idea as its hard to visualize things when the cars in pieces.

are you gonna weld the doors shut and make it into a propper speedster i think they look great theres a really fast one about thats blue and runs very quick 1/4 times!

At the moment we would like to try and preserve working doors, my dad is a little old for jumping in the car and cutting lower into the door to make access easier loses some of the original shape we would like to keep, we want it to still look like a Mini at the end of the day. Compromises will no doubt have to be made, Aaron is dead set of removing the seam flaps for example