I bought
It came with all the usual Sportspack extras, as well as electric windows, central locking, a CD player and a sunroof. The Tahiti blue is just perfect.
Of course keeping it standard all went out of the window shortly after I bought it.
The first things I did was to de-badge it for a smooth look, I also fitted some clear rear lights and clear side repeaters to keep it consistent with the front.
I wanted to get a little more power out of it and give it a sportier sound to go with the looks. I wanted to get something that would sound nice but wouldn't make my ears bleed. In the end I got a Sportex cat back exhaust system and a K&N cone filter from here for a good price. This is ideal as it not too intrusive at normal speed, but when you put your foot down it totally transforms the sound.
Dirty engine bay due to being a daily driver, air feeds have since gone to free up a little more space.
The expensive part that I knew would need attention at some point was the rust all along the scuttle, there was also a fair amount of rust on the passenger door skin. I intended to get it done before winter came around as it is a daily driver; of course nothing happened until September.
One of the first things I wanted to do was get a softer ride, unlike most Mini owners I didn't want some stripped out racer with rock hard suspension. It didn't help that the cones on the front had collapsed, giving great handling but a pretty harsh ride for daily driving. I like the sound of the Moulton Smootha Ride cones as these are meant to give a good compromise between a softer ride and still keeping the Minis character. I have to say I'm very pleased with these, just the right balance between handling and comfort. The cones still haven't settled fully so the front sits a little high at the moment.
I didn't intend to change the wheels but I had seen a few Sportspack Minis with different wheels and had decided that it would be possible to change to 10" wheels without having to change the brakes or arches. A set of four 10" Cooper S replica wheels with four near new Yokohama A032s tyres came up on here. They are exactly what I wanted as they came with very good tyres and are spaced out from the brakes so they can be fitted over 8.4" disc brakes.
The main problem I have with it being a daily driver is not reliability (an extremely reliable machine I might add), but every time I work on it I have to get it all back together again for the next day.
Current plans are to make it into a luxury Mini, a wooden centre console, a six speaker sound system, possibly some lowered shock absorbers and maybe some proper leather seats. I'll get round to fitting the cigarette lighter at some point.
Thank you for looking.
Edited by Mini_Magic, 22 July 2008 - 03:08 PM.
