188 replies to this topic

[edi57]

Hi everyone.

I've been meaning to get my "Complete Mini Rebuild" project on here for months now.

I'll add a couple of pages per evening until you get the story until the present day... then I'll do my best to keep this topic updated as I work!

The plan for my cooper is to restore it to a VERY high standard. The end car will be something very special, not use in winter time and will live in our nice dry garage!

I'm going to keep things looking as original as possible. That includes the outside, inside and under the bonnet as much as possible. BUT, I'm going to make it as light-weight as possible and squeeze as much power out of my 998 as possible.

So, that's going to mean Carbon doors, bonnet and boot... but built up and sprayed to look as close to original items as possible. Lots of alloy bits.... alloy radius arms, mini fins, alloy hubs, drive flanges, calipers. Then, a very carefully thought out 998. I'll write more about the engine spec another day.

Because of the spec and standard that I want, it's going to cost a lot. That's probably the main reason for why this project is being spread out over a good number of years. Don't expect it to be finished any time soon!

Current estimate of timescales is...

Restoration of shell - Complete by end of summer or possibly end of 2008.

Engine/Subframe build - All of 2009 (due to cost!)

Put it all together - 2010

I'll be happy if I can progress more quickly than that, but at the moment, that's how I realistically see things.

Ed.

[edi57]

Original Advert and Purchase - June 2006

My friend john had seen an advert on a mini forum for an early cooper and said that the price had just been reduced (to £1000). I took a look at the advert and liked what I saw. This is the advert and the pics that went with it:

"1965 Morris Cooper Mk1. 998cc, 7" Disks

Photographs to follow.

11mths MOT, running but in need of a comprehensive restoration. Complete and original car. Was restored in 1980's but due to use and poor respray the tin rot is back.

Grey with old English White roof. Tweed grey interior, even the orginal boot board.

Good history including heritage certificate.

A reluctant sale due to owning a fleet of classics, something has to go.

£2500 or near offer"















When I went to have a look at it, it did in fact look a bit better than in the photos (unusual!) and there were a number of things that weren't mentioned in the advert! I was pleasantly suprised!

Extras that weren't mentioned in the advert were; Mini-Lite style alloys, JanSpeed centre exit exhaust, LCB manifold, JanSpeed 12G295 cylinder head (!) and Hi-Los on the rear.

The rust was a bit worrying, but I thought...a genuinely complete cooper, with a few goodies for £1000? Not bad.

The mini also came with what looks like virtually every reciept for anything purcahsed for the mini going back years and years. It also includes photos of it's restoration it had in the 80's (I'll try and scan some in sometime) and a detailed log of all the work done. It really was a major restoration done to a high standard. It looks like a very poor paint finish let it down though,

Anyway, without hesitation, I handed over my money and drove the mini all the way home to Suffolk!

It drove well, but the brakes were a bit scary after not having driven an early mini for a year or so.

After that I pottered around in the mini on any dry days just for fun until August.

[edi57]

Strip and Engine Removal - August 2006

In August I began to strip the car. I took a lot of time over this. I carefully packed and stored things that I removed and restored many parts too. It should speed up the re-assembly.





As you'd expect, during the stip I was discoving lots and lots of the dreaded tin worm

[duncancallum]

nice car should be lovley when its done

the trim looks in good nick

[edi57]

Thanks Duncan.

Yeah the trim is generally fine.

[tedmcedd]

that s really really nice!! im currently building a cooper spec engine for my mini with twins and a 12g295 head! my dream mini would be a mk2 cooper, yours was a steal at £1000!! good luck with it, sounds like what i would do if i got one! original in looks, but fast and light!

Ed

[edi57]

Underseal Scraping - Feb '07

With the shell fully stripped and everything safely stored I decided to turn the shell on its side and start removing all the black underseal to take a look underneath.

I was finding it really difficult to remove the underseal, but I eventually developed a method that worked effectively. LINK










At this point I naturally discovered more heavily pitted, very thin rusty areas. Lots of cutting is going to be required with this project.

Edited by edi57, 28 April 2008 - 09:06 PM.

[edi57]

2007 wasn't really much of a year for my mini. I was generally really busy the whole year but was saving hard to fund the project (and the purchase of my first property).

I managed to clear what feels like a luxurious amount of space in the garage and went ahead and purchased a spit from M-Machine.

I'd highly recommend the spit. I had been thinking about making one myself, but I'm glad I went ahead and just made the purchase from m-machine. The frames are a nice lightweight design but perfectly strong enough and the mounts for the front and rear bulkhead are made with a high degree of accuracy. I think it only cost about £200 all together. If you only want to buy the mounts I think the price was about £65.

26th Nov '07 - I was lucky enough to enjoy some winter sun in Miami for a few days. I got back on 26th to find my spit had arrived. Suffering from jet lag, I just had to get the mini mounted!








The mounts (if you're interested)...

FRONT

REAR


As my shell had so much rust eveywhere I decided that I would take it to Surface Processing Limited. I think the waiting list was something like 6 months. It was booked in for Sat 29th March '08.

I thought that in the mean time, I could get on with some of the more fiddley jobs. Then after the mini has been dipped, I can get on with all the larger jobs.

[edi57]

Rear Subframe Repair - Dec 2007

When stripping the rear subframe I found a rust hole. I was expecting a lot more rust so it was a nice surprise!





The area was neatly cut, spot welds being drilled out then the area was simply lifted away. A repair panel was then made and shaped correctly. I spot welded a small lip to the top and bottom of the repair panel to reduce the chance of blowing holes when using the MIG.








Repair panel shown in place below. It was carefully aligned correctly and then clamped in place ready for the spot welder. Four spot welds were pleanty enough to make the panel secure.








I cleaned back the metal ready for the MIG and then seamed welded top and bottom. Unfortunately I did blow through in a few places as the metal was quite thin in areas. These holes were filled with a bit more MIG and then the welds were ground back.







As you can see, with a bit of primer and a little camera blur... the repair is invisible!




I'm looking to make all of my repairs as invisible as possible, even if the area can't be seen when the car is assembled. A bit obsessive, I know... but it's the only way that I'll be happy!

[edi57]

Radiator Grille Repair - Dec 2007

The radiator grill had once been cut as can be seen in the photos below. I repaied this using the MIG welder. It was a pretty delicate operation but I think the result is more than acceptable.

The metal was cleaned up front and back. I decided to clamp a piece of copper beind the cut was I thought the gap was getting a bit wide for the mig to bridge. The copper also helped to spread the heat, therefore reducing the risk of just blowing a hole through the very thin metal!







After some metal was added lots of careful grinding followed. The whole process probably took a solid five hours to complete!

[tomkidd]

Excellent, what colour is the mini?

[MiniMick]

I don't think your obsesive i think your doing it how it should be done congratulations and good luck with it
Mick

[dezshearer]

Fantastic work!

[mk1leg]

Hi what a loverly mk1cooper you have a good project and I don't blame you for taking your time its got to be right, as for the cut in rad grill well thats for a cam change with engine in bay block has chest covers and take out cam followers than remove cam ............................

[Jammy]

Wow, you definitely got skills with a welder! Can't wait to see more progress on this.