1989 Mini - Rolling project - Retro Theme - Lots of photos
Discussion
Have been a member for a while now, have done a bit of posting before and pretty sure iv posted my car before. However all that info has seemingly been lost and made progress on the car since then so figured id start a fresh.
So here is the car as I purchased it, around September 2009 as my first car for £1800
Looked around for a solid example and really took my time finding the right one.
Ended up with this and instantly fell in love with the retro colour and originality. Had no history but 30,000 miles which I checked online. Car ran great and only had a few issues such as a poorly fitted replacement wing and tired interior.
I swapped off the steel wheels with a set of 145/12 cooper wheels and ran the car while got to grips with day to day driving, doing all the things a 17 year old does in their first car.
The first major work same around my the next summer in preparation for the MOT.
We knew the rear subframe would need changing and also replaced outer sills and did a patch to the passenger inner sill.
All this work was done on the drive by me and my dad and his friend.
This gives a slight idea of what went on
While the whole car was in bits, I chose this time to upgrade a few items.
Heres a picture of a few.
An overall idea of the changes made were adjustable suspension in terms of camber and toe, as well a height through the use of Hi lo's, set on new cones all round.
Refurbed radius arms were fitted along with braided hoses all round. Rear brakes were rebuilt and many little things changed for piece of mind such as handbrakes cables and fuel lines etc.
During this time i decided to go for a retro theme and kept the arches off the car, with plans to sorting the paint later.
Here is how the car sat afterwards.
(the grill was also changed because the old was tatty and black compliments the roof)
A year later the headgasket went pop so this was the next thing on the list.
Of course, being me, while it was in bits, I couldn't help but spend some more hard earned cash on upgrading the car.
A minispares inlet was fitting with a maniflow manifold with twin box rc40 exhaust, with a different carb needle. This was done after a long bit of research into the most efficient set up for the 998cc engine.
Also during this time, a rusty engine steady bracket was replaced
and we also fitted an extra one to the thermostat side of the engine because i had quite a lot of issues with engine banging around.
After this, the car ran great and the upgrades to both handling and power had made the car so much more fun and planted. The slight performance increase had made the car much more drive able in day to day traffic.
After a slight incident with a trailer, the car needed some repair work (although the photo above is out of sync) the car needed a new passenger door. We took this opportunity to have both rear quarters painted and the car tidied up.
The car is used a lot so a a full respray was off the cards.
Door was picked up for next to nothing and also replaced the dented boot with a black one for £5.
To save everyones bordum, here is the car as it sits now basicly.
I use to car everyday to drive 40 miles to University and to get to work, so it does a lot of miles.
From 30,000 its now approaching 70,000 and havent had it three years yet.
Iv put a lot of money in the car compared to how much I earn.
Sorry for the long post, amount of pictures and hope it made sense.
Will find a photo of the interior changes for you all soon as well
So here is the car as I purchased it, around September 2009 as my first car for £1800
Looked around for a solid example and really took my time finding the right one.
Ended up with this and instantly fell in love with the retro colour and originality. Had no history but 30,000 miles which I checked online. Car ran great and only had a few issues such as a poorly fitted replacement wing and tired interior.
I swapped off the steel wheels with a set of 145/12 cooper wheels and ran the car while got to grips with day to day driving, doing all the things a 17 year old does in their first car.
The first major work same around my the next summer in preparation for the MOT.
We knew the rear subframe would need changing and also replaced outer sills and did a patch to the passenger inner sill.
All this work was done on the drive by me and my dad and his friend.
This gives a slight idea of what went on
While the whole car was in bits, I chose this time to upgrade a few items.
Heres a picture of a few.
An overall idea of the changes made were adjustable suspension in terms of camber and toe, as well a height through the use of Hi lo's, set on new cones all round.
Refurbed radius arms were fitted along with braided hoses all round. Rear brakes were rebuilt and many little things changed for piece of mind such as handbrakes cables and fuel lines etc.
During this time i decided to go for a retro theme and kept the arches off the car, with plans to sorting the paint later.
Here is how the car sat afterwards.
(the grill was also changed because the old was tatty and black compliments the roof)
A year later the headgasket went pop so this was the next thing on the list.
Of course, being me, while it was in bits, I couldn't help but spend some more hard earned cash on upgrading the car.
A minispares inlet was fitting with a maniflow manifold with twin box rc40 exhaust, with a different carb needle. This was done after a long bit of research into the most efficient set up for the 998cc engine.
Also during this time, a rusty engine steady bracket was replaced
and we also fitted an extra one to the thermostat side of the engine because i had quite a lot of issues with engine banging around.
After this, the car ran great and the upgrades to both handling and power had made the car so much more fun and planted. The slight performance increase had made the car much more drive able in day to day traffic.
After a slight incident with a trailer, the car needed some repair work (although the photo above is out of sync) the car needed a new passenger door. We took this opportunity to have both rear quarters painted and the car tidied up.
The car is used a lot so a a full respray was off the cards.
Door was picked up for next to nothing and also replaced the dented boot with a black one for £5.
To save everyones bordum, here is the car as it sits now basicly.
I use to car everyday to drive 40 miles to University and to get to work, so it does a lot of miles.
From 30,000 its now approaching 70,000 and havent had it three years yet.
Iv put a lot of money in the car compared to how much I earn.
Sorry for the long post, amount of pictures and hope it made sense.
Will find a photo of the interior changes for you all soon as well
Edited by GTIAlex on Thursday 18th October 13:25
Edited by GTIAlex on Thursday 18th October 13:26
Edited by GTIAlex on Thursday 18th October 13:32
Also done lots of little jobs such as new glass all round with seals. Little jobs can be quite hard to fit in around using the car everyday so it can be quite a challenge sometimes.
Some of the things to go wrong include things like ball joints, wheel bearings...the usual things.
Been doing the work myself with my dad and have learnt a lot over the past few years.
Replaced a throttle cable at the side of the road once and perfected my bump start technique.
Plans for the future are:
Fit the set of wheels im currently having refurbished.
Fit new wing mirrors and replace many fixings with riv nuts.
Chop the front end off and make it tidy again.
Replace the boot floor as wev had to put some patches in for the time being.
Will also put the car on 10's at some point but cant afford the brake conversion currently after only recently replacing the current braking system.
Some of the things to go wrong include things like ball joints, wheel bearings...the usual things.
Been doing the work myself with my dad and have learnt a lot over the past few years.
Replaced a throttle cable at the side of the road once and perfected my bump start technique.
Plans for the future are:
Fit the set of wheels im currently having refurbished.
Fit new wing mirrors and replace many fixings with riv nuts.
Chop the front end off and make it tidy again.
Replace the boot floor as wev had to put some patches in for the time being.
Will also put the car on 10's at some point but cant afford the brake conversion currently after only recently replacing the current braking system.
Replaced the mirrors, wipers and fitted my original refurbished wheels 
Some rubbish photos for you, il take some better soon.
Totally changes the look and stance of the car, makes it look slightly aggressive if you will.
Front end its progressively getting worse, although im happy to leave it for a while longer due to how much i use the car, especially in the winter.
DSC_0670 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0663 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0657 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0653 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
Some rubbish photos for you, il take some better soon.
Totally changes the look and stance of the car, makes it look slightly aggressive if you will.
Front end its progressively getting worse, although im happy to leave it for a while longer due to how much i use the car, especially in the winter.
DSC_0670 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0663 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0657 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
DSC_0653 by alex.robinson18, on Flickr
Suppose il do a little update since im a bit bored.
Mini passed its MOT with flying colours the other week. Was a nervous time as I had done the wheel bearings and ball joints the few days before. As well as this I replaced the CV joints as they had been clicking for some time so I figured it was time to get that job ticked off the list.
Id never attempted the CV joints before but following the trusty,oiled and tatty Haynes manual, I managed relatively easily.
I refitted the silver cooper style wheels for the MOT because if I am honest, the revolution wheels do stick out a far way and might be the wrong side of strictly legal.
Only issue is not being able to fit the metal clip on the outer edge of the CV joint which has meant using a plastic strap. The only issue with this is that it catches on the hub ever so slightly and has created an annoying buzzing noise while driving. This is slowly driving me insane so I SHALL fix remedy that as soon as i get a free few hours from work/university.
That links nicely as I am now using the car to do a few more miles as its back in the University rush hour commute a few times a week. However its coping fine at the moment (apart from that f
king buzzing noise.)
Upon passing the MOT, a set of wheels came up online which i could not turn down for the money so i picked up these...
DSC_0352
DSC_0351
DSC_0350
A quick trip up to coventry picked up these Cooper S reverse steelies with four new tyres for 100 of my hard earned.
Of course they don't fit, and wont do until sometime next year when I upgrade/change/downgrade the brakes.
What else have a missed...ermm
Oh yes, the panel that all the switches/choke/heater controls are mounted on has come uncliped at the choke end...another annoying fiddly job that needs doing.
Also the whole wiper arm flew off on the M42 last week during the torrential rain while passing a lorry. Not one of the cars or mine finer moments. LUCKILY it landed on the bonnet and I managed to get over to the hard shoulder before it was lost for good. Reattached it and off I went. Cue a remaining hour of utter nervousness every time the wipers were called into action. Lucky boy indeed.
Finally im getting increasingly annoyed with how flat the paint on the front wings and bonnet is. Unbeknown to me it was resprayed with basicly the sttest type of paint you could imagine and polishing my pride and joy has only gone and turned it dull. No reflection at all and nothing I can do about it.
There are also a few parking dings in the passenger rear quarter which want sorting as well as a ding in the roof and the roof paint which has also gone dull as well as the rusty front end and already re rusty door steps....the list just keeps getting longer.
Getting the car ready for the worst of winter now. A type 075 battery is on its way which i believe is the same fitted to a 306. Also been researching into getting some electronic ignition fitted and having the car set up professionally on a rolling road to increase overall reliability and ease maintenance of points etc.
Thats all for now i think
Edit: Due to poor grammar and consistent spelling mistakes. Poor show.
Mini passed its MOT with flying colours the other week. Was a nervous time as I had done the wheel bearings and ball joints the few days before. As well as this I replaced the CV joints as they had been clicking for some time so I figured it was time to get that job ticked off the list.
Id never attempted the CV joints before but following the trusty,oiled and tatty Haynes manual, I managed relatively easily.
I refitted the silver cooper style wheels for the MOT because if I am honest, the revolution wheels do stick out a far way and might be the wrong side of strictly legal.
Only issue is not being able to fit the metal clip on the outer edge of the CV joint which has meant using a plastic strap. The only issue with this is that it catches on the hub ever so slightly and has created an annoying buzzing noise while driving. This is slowly driving me insane so I SHALL fix remedy that as soon as i get a free few hours from work/university.
That links nicely as I am now using the car to do a few more miles as its back in the University rush hour commute a few times a week. However its coping fine at the moment (apart from that f
king buzzing noise.)Upon passing the MOT, a set of wheels came up online which i could not turn down for the money so i picked up these...
DSC_0352
DSC_0351
DSC_0350
A quick trip up to coventry picked up these Cooper S reverse steelies with four new tyres for 100 of my hard earned.
Of course they don't fit, and wont do until sometime next year when I upgrade/change/downgrade the brakes.
What else have a missed...ermm
Oh yes, the panel that all the switches/choke/heater controls are mounted on has come uncliped at the choke end...another annoying fiddly job that needs doing.
Also the whole wiper arm flew off on the M42 last week during the torrential rain while passing a lorry. Not one of the cars or mine finer moments. LUCKILY it landed on the bonnet and I managed to get over to the hard shoulder before it was lost for good. Reattached it and off I went. Cue a remaining hour of utter nervousness every time the wipers were called into action. Lucky boy indeed.
Finally im getting increasingly annoyed with how flat the paint on the front wings and bonnet is. Unbeknown to me it was resprayed with basicly the s
ttest type of paint you could imagine and polishing my pride and joy has only gone and turned it dull. No reflection at all and nothing I can do about it.There are also a few parking dings in the passenger rear quarter which want sorting as well as a ding in the roof and the roof paint which has also gone dull as well as the rusty front end and already re rusty door steps....the list just keeps getting longer.
Getting the car ready for the worst of winter now. A type 075 battery is on its way which i believe is the same fitted to a 306. Also been researching into getting some electronic ignition fitted and having the car set up professionally on a rolling road to increase overall reliability and ease maintenance of points etc.
Thats all for now i think
Edit: Due to poor grammar and consistent spelling mistakes. Poor show.
Edited by GTIAlex on Sunday 30th September 22:03
Wow! Proper post that
I've never had a mini on the road, missus would really like one so I bought an eBay special a couple of years ago and set about it. Turned out to be way more involved than I had time or skill for so had to offload it. Funnily enough, didn't actually lose anything on the deal so was quite happy and a bit more experienced on Mini construction than I was before.
Might do it again sometime, when I've got more time/space/skill/money.
Good job.
I've never had a mini on the road, missus would really like one so I bought an eBay special a couple of years ago and set about it. Turned out to be way more involved than I had time or skill for so had to offload it. Funnily enough, didn't actually lose anything on the deal so was quite happy and a bit more experienced on Mini construction than I was before.
Might do it again sometime, when I've got more time/space/skill/money.
Good job.
Yazza54 said:
greggy50 said:
Yazza54 said:
Cool needs a bike engine now 
And a bank loan for about £15,000... needs a bike engine now Lovely little car OP really need to get mine back on the road hate seeing them out and about makes me jealous
Can easily be 15k for a decent spec build
greggy50 said:
Yazza54 said:
greggy50 said:
Yazza54 said:
Cool needs a bike engine now
And a bank loan for about £15,000... needs a bike engine now Lovely little car OP really need to get mine back on the road hate seeing them out and about makes me jealous
Can easily be 15k for a decent spec build
Yazza54 said:
Z cars isn't the only way. I see someone here who does their own spannering, it's possible to do it yourself.
They are fwd kits available as well for less money for sure like pro-motive could do it all yourself for maybe 6kWell thought out kit for sure looking don't see how most people who simply "handy" could have any hope of dropping one in successfully if not utilising some form of off the shelf kit
I feel I could attempt building up an turbo lump for my mini and dropping it in but a bike conversion no chance leave it to the experts imo. Getting a reverse gear and the gearbox integrated would be an utter ball ache for average joe.
http://pro-motive.co.uk/R1KitInfo.html
For me if it was bike engine would have to be rwd if was sticking fwd would just building up a 200bhp a series turbo lump with a dog leg box instead
Edited by greggy50 on Sunday 30th September 22:18
greggy50 said:
Yazza54 said:
Z cars isn't the only way. I see someone here who does their own spannering, it's possible to do it yourself.
They are fwd kits available as well for less money for sure like pro-motive could do it all yourself for maybe 6kWell thought out kit for sure looking don't see how most people who simply "handy" could have any hope of dropping one in successfully.
I feel I could attempt building up an turbo lump for my mini and dropping it in but a bike conversion no chance leave it to the experts imo. Getting a reverse gear and the gearbox integrated would be an utter ball ache for average joe.
http://pro-motive.co.uk/R1KitInfo.html
Just realised tomorrow it has been three years to the day that I passed my driving test and got my self behind the wheel of the beige beast for the first time.
A first journey out on the open road was one full of stalling, hopping, swearing but eventual joy.
Going from driving a diesel clio/fiesta instructor car that left you feeling detached, almost along for the ride rather than being part of it; the mini was quite a daunting experience.
Over the three years we have been some places. Blasting through the tight twist B and minor roads around where I live, to the more established routes through Wales on route to the seaside. Equally as comfortable sitting on the motorway amongst the company car bullets in the 'get the fk out of my way' lane, there is no where I don't go.
So lets sum up the low points over the three years...
Poking holes in the sills and door steps.
A trailer scraping down the passenger door and ripping off the A panel.
The numerous times iv left the lights on and let the battery go flat.
The numerous times iv had to ask a group of strangers for a push.
When the accelerator cable snapped overtaking a lorry just before a dual carraige way merges into one lane, cue me having to push the car over two lanes of rush hour traffic up the kirb. To then be offered "£300 quid mate and il have it now mate" by a passer by in a transit. To then be helped out by a total stranger who runs a mini club so I could get home...
All low points are far surpassed by
The times you have to right bit of road, the right weather and everything works...
The smiles and waved by passers by...
The feeling through the wheel and pedals every time you get in, making a trip to work feel like a lap round the streets of Monaco. (bit dramatic but you get the idea)
A first journey out on the open road was one full of stalling, hopping, swearing but eventual joy.
Going from driving a diesel clio/fiesta instructor car that left you feeling detached, almost along for the ride rather than being part of it; the mini was quite a daunting experience.
Over the three years we have been some places. Blasting through the tight twist B and minor roads around where I live, to the more established routes through Wales on route to the seaside. Equally as comfortable sitting on the motorway amongst the company car bullets in the 'get the f
k out of my way' lane, there is no where I don't go.So lets sum up the low points over the three years...
Poking holes in the sills and door steps.
A trailer scraping down the passenger door and ripping off the A panel.
The numerous times iv left the lights on and let the battery go flat.
The numerous times iv had to ask a group of strangers for a push.
When the accelerator cable snapped overtaking a lorry just before a dual carraige way merges into one lane, cue me having to push the car over two lanes of rush hour traffic up the kirb. To then be offered "£300 quid mate and il have it now mate" by a passer by in a transit. To then be helped out by a total stranger who runs a mini club so I could get home...
All low points are far surpassed by
The times you have to right bit of road, the right weather and everything works...
The smiles and waved by passers by...
The feeling through the wheel and pedals every time you get in, making a trip to work feel like a lap round the streets of Monaco. (bit dramatic but you get the idea)
Nice colour and look better with the reverse rims on.
I've an on going thread on my mini that never seems to end - the list just gets longer and longer of things to do.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I've an on going thread on my mini that never seems to end - the list just gets longer and longer of things to do.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
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