11 replies to this topic

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Hi all, this is "Murray", a 1974 Clubman that we have had in the family since new. It was in a sorry state on my cousin's drive for a few years so we decided to take it on as a project. Like all Minis that have been left standing outside for a while, it needed extensive rebuilding, with the front wings, a-panels, front and rear valences, and a big chunk of the boot floor to be replaced, not to mention the usual sills (inner and outer), and doors (which were re-skinned). The project took around 6 months back in 2003.

Here are some pics I took at the time. The whole process was completed in a family friend's garage which we've restored 4 other Minis in since. Everything from the mechanicals to the welding and even the spraying (Ford Olympic Blue, if you were wondering) was done by myself, my Dad, and the aforementioned friend who's also a Mini fanatic!


Best pic I have of the car before the restoration.


Hokey Cokey! Years of neglect at the hands of my non-mechanically-minded family.


The engine bay was fairly solid due to Zeebarting, but still very scabby.


New front subframe under construction.


The brakes - I had just discovered Hammerite came in many different colours, hence the "Noddy car" look!


Original engine after a complete rebuild, waiting to go back in.


Carefully lowering the engine back into place.


Insides of the car painted up and ready to go.


More of that lovely red and yellow Hammerite.


Underside showing brand new rear subframe and rear valence & boot floor.


The car was sprayed in our friend's garage.



There's also a video I made at the time:

L3F7BW1kUhg



I will be posting up some pics from our other Mini projects as I dig them out. Sorry for the quality, but these were compressed to go on a very old website I had and I have since lost the originals, I'm lucky I managed to rescue these.

As far as the car's story since the restoration is concerned, I drove it for about a year while we got my bodykitted City on the road, and then my sister had it for two years as her first car - also christening him "Murray" at some point. Murray has spent the other 2 years since the restoration sitting around on the drive and occasionally being insured and driven for short bursts just to keep him running.

Anyway, fast forward to today and I have a job 5 minutes up the road, so I'm ready for a Mini again (I worked over 40 miles away, down the M1, before!). I've chosen Murray over the City because I want to do him up as a fairly-standard-looking 1275GT for pootling around in, as well as taking on track days with my Dad, who has a Westfield and takes part in regular days with his club.



Here's a picture of Murray at the moment:





Immediate future plans:

Upgrade form the current Cooper S discs to 8.4 inchers with Metro 4-pots.
Install 1275 MG Metro A+ engine with stage 4 head and some kind of hot cam.
Install rollcage, bucket seats & harnesses.
Full respray and resto job.
All new uprated suspension all round.

Very-long-term plans:

Consider engine options.. Maybe a 1380, a VTEC, or just supercharging the 1275.



I'll keep everyone updated on my crazy plans via this thread. If you've made it this far, all I can say is thanks for reading!

Edited by SmellyGeekBoy, 16 September 2008 - 02:48 PM.

[wakkoboi]

looks nice, can you see anything out of the bullets? or just the other wing mirrors?

[SmellyGeekBoy]

looks nice, can you see anything out of the bullets? or just the other wing mirrors?

Cheers, yes the bullets are somewhat useful, good for parking if you have them angled down and out a bit. But really, I wouldn't want to rely on them without having "normal" mirrors too!

[boffster]

yours looks sweeeett! the colour is quite nice and there is nothing over the top but as said, I like the wing and door mirrors.

bet it's nice to drive aswell.

[SmellyGeekBoy]

yours looks sweeeett! the colour is quite nice and there is nothing over the top but as said, I like the wing and door mirrors.

bet it's nice to drive aswell.

Thanks a lot!

I can assure you that all Minis are nice to drive. I've owned two and driven 5 of them, from an 850 estate to a mental tuned Cooper, and every single one of them brought a smile to my face.



The colour is slightly darker than what I originally wanted, but I'm still very happy with it. It certainly stands out!

[boffster]

all minis that i have been in have put a smile on my face even though i am always a passenger

[clubby]

hye mate ~! good luck

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Time for a big update!



I decided not to just stick the car on the road as-is (even though it is currently MOT'd) and am now furiously trying to stick as many bits on it as possible... I find that I'm one of those people who say "I'll get around to it one day" and never actually do it, so it's better to get all the work done while the car is off the road and I'm not relying on it as a daily driver.

So, now I have my engine fitted. It's a 1275 A+ with a stage 4 head (big inlet & exhaust). It's also got a HIF44, and the usual Maniflow LCB etc:



(sorry, didn't get a pic of it actually in the car and it's at my parents' house so can't run out and get one now!)

As I've now gone to 12" wheels I can squeeze some vented and grooved discs in there, with some big 4-pot calipers (not pictured). Also got some negative camber arms and adjustable front tie bars on there (all with poly bushes):



I also managed to fit my Corbeau buckets, you get even get in the back (for now):



I'm now on the lookout for a rollcage (as I will be track daying the car), some adjustable shocks, and a better radiator to keep it all cool. I also have an oil cooler which I'm going to be fitting in the coming weeks, and I'm in the process of fitting my 4-point harnesses.

Haven't actually driven the thing for a while, but nobody seems to be interested in buying my other car (a 2003 Mazda 323 Sport) so there's no huge rush to get it done, especially as the Mazda should be a bit more comfortable over the winter!

Finally, everything comes up nice and shiny with a bit of Jizer...

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Hello again all!

I can't believe it's been nearly a whole year since I started. I guess sometimes life (and laziness) just gets in the way!



Anyway, I've been busy with Murray and finally got him on the road on the Friday before Stanford Hall. Well worth the mad rush even though he's still a little rough around the edges. Next up, I'm hoping to get a respray (same colour, black roof, 1275GT stripes), fit some soundproofing (hopefully driving down to Le Mans next year), and maybe pop in an SW5 or SW10 cam while I'm at it.



So, I fitted my Corbeau buckets and 4 point harnesses. Used the universal seat subframes included with the seats and bolted them to the floor with some of that square box section stuff. They're quite comfy actually and really help with the "feel" of the car. I now have to pop the choke in with my foot though... Lucky I don't have a stereo at the minute too!



As the rear seat's now completely useless I decided to carpet it. I did the parcel shelf too (it's flatter than it looks in this pic - stupid phone!). Got a big offcut of black carpet from someone at Stanford (sorry I didn't catch the company name, someone who does Mini carpet sets). Now the back seat's a handy place for keeping all my stuff, and I can legitimately turn down weight-adding rear seat passenger rides!



Here's how the harnesses bolt through the parcel shelf. I think that should be strong enough! Still had my speakers in at the time - I'm not sure whether to bother putting a stereo in, just makes the car more of a target for ne'er do wells and for the short trips I use it for I like listening to the engine!



Here's the beast... Well, it's actually just a pretty standard MG Metro A+ with a Maniflow big bore LCB system, K&N filter, and a "Stage 4" head. Was going to do the cam while the engine was out, but it's coming out again sson for a respray so I'll do it then. The car pulls very strongly and I'm very happy with performance, but I think a better cam really should unlock the potential of the rest of the kit on there.

Next post: Stanford pics!

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Here he is at Stanford Hall on his first proper post-MOT outing (my friend's 850 estate is 2 cars down):




Terrorising the streets of Swinford. We live in Lutterworth 5 mins up the road, so better not annoy the locals too much:




In his natural habitat, tearing up the Lutterworth area countryside:




Putting the 850 estate to shame... Still a really lovely car though, so we can forgive its slightly slower pace of life!

Edited by SmellyGeekBoy, 21 October 2009 - 05:45 PM.

[Sir Cheat]

Nice Clubman, What power is your engine making?

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Nice Clubman, What power is your engine making?

Thanks!

I haven't had it on a dyno yet so I have absolutely no idea about power. It's on my list of things to do - would be good to do before I change the cam so I can see what kind of difference it makes. I also think I've probably got completely the wrong carb needle in there now. Know of any people in Leicestershire / Warwickshire who can check it out for me?

Incidentally, my other Min had pretty much the same setup but with the standard MG head, and I can say that the head (37mm inlet / 31mm exhaust / ported & gas flowed) makes a really noticeable difference. It's got loads of low end torque now and launches really quickly from a standing start. Top end the power dies off a bit but I'm hoping it's the needle issue I mentioned.

Loving it!