11 replies to this topic

[northern_monkey]

I've had my mini a couple of years now and its starting to show the usual signs of age, its a 94 mini sprite 1275cc with 39k miles on the clock and:

Maniflow LCB and playmini centre exit
HIF44 carb
K&N pancake
Metro alloy inlet manifold
Hi-Lo's all round and Gaz adjustable dampers
Cobra monaco buckets
No rear seats, or doorcards (at the moment)
Quickshift
8x13 Alleycats that need refurbing (might sell these and go for 12's or even 10's and Cooper s brake setup once finished)
Grp 5 arches (to be replaced with miglia)

now the bad bits . . . .

A-panel on drivers side has a small hole in toward bottom but looks quite rotten all over
The driver side sill at very front under A-panel has about an inch wide hole in - looks like rust has spread from a-panel, rest of sill is very solid.
Scuttle just under the corner of windscreen on passenger side is starting to bubble round the rubber.
Small bubbles around sills and bumpers front and back that need tackling before they get too bad.
A couple of bubbles of rust under each headlight and also a couple of spots on the bottom of the front valance.

It sounds worse than it looks

It's off the road now as I have another car and an R6 to get around on so I thought I would have a go at sorting the mini out properly.

I'll keep you updated with pics, so far I've stripped off all the arches and the rubber form the sills and poked around with my screwdriver to find out whats going to need welding and its not as bad as I thought.

I'm going to fit either a carbon or a fibreglass flip front (hopefully from smudger) and also drop a new cam into the engine and maybe a vmaxxscart head along with a few other bits.
I also want to fit a full cage before it goes back on the road as a kind of weekend toy.

Quick question:
The sill has a small hole in it, right at the front about an inch wide at most, the rest of the sill is extremely solid, no signs of even starting to rot so it looks like the rust has spread down from the a-panel just at this bit. Will I be ok to cut out about a 3" section from the sill and weld in new metal rather than having to replace a full sill?

Heres a pic of it a couple of days ago before I started . . . .

Attached Files

•  23_06_05_1341.jpg   42.28K   32 downloads

[minimadjonesy]

Sounds like you've got yourself a good project on the go! keep us informed!

[Dom]

It sounds worse than it looks

looks alright

good luck with your mini

[northern_monkey]

Well, I've taken the bumpers, grill, sill strips, lights and a few other bits and bobs off tonight.

Hopefully should get chanec to cut the front end off at weekend and sort some of the smaller patches of rust.

Attached Files

•  29_06_05_1850.jpg   32.71K   27 downloads

[captain chaos]

Keep the updates coming because i'll be doing the exact same to my project. I've only just bought the car and looking forward to getting stuck in!

[rob mini]

jesus them wheels are wide hope it gets sorted without too much hassle!

[Al*]

as rob said above... those wheels are fricken huge!!! nice little project you got there... keep at it and be patient and it'll turn out just fine.

Al

[austin68]

How wide are they, 8"?

Are they alleycats?

Looks cool.

[Al*]

it says in his first post.... "8"x 13" Alleycats."

Al

[northern_monkey]

OK, stripped stuff out of boot today, and took the bootlid and hinges off.
The cut off both front wings, and removed bonnet, and sorted out the wiring for the headlights.

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•  09_07_05_1506.jpg   44.25K   4 downloads

[northern_monkey]

another pic

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•  09_07_05_1531.jpg   47.69K   11 downloads

[northern_monkey]

last one for now . . .

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•  09_07_05_1532.jpg   27.86K   6 downloads