Mini Checkmate
Discussion
As I'm keeping it for at least a year now, thought I may as well post a topic here.
1990 998cc 'Checkmate', which means it's got the same final drive as the Cooper, so has slightly better acceleration than the standard models.
Bought it in 2008 for £1500 on the basis that it didn't need any serious welding and was basically in good condition. Ended up needing new sills and a new floor.
Looked like this when I got it:
Completely standard apart from a K&N.
Then got the welding done, and got a set of Ultralites.
Then put a stage one on which is: RC40 single back box exhaust, Maniflow freeflow exhaust manifold, alloy heated inlet manifold and needle to go with.
It's got adjustable suspension on the front (Minisport's copy of Hi-Los for Mini people) and wider arches which I'm probably going to take off.
It currently needs some basic bits like the points doing, and bits fall off it all the time which gets annoying. If I found a cheap 1275 or, even better, a Metro Turbo engine I'd do a transplant.
It's good fun apart from on the motorway.
1990 998cc 'Checkmate', which means it's got the same final drive as the Cooper, so has slightly better acceleration than the standard models.
Bought it in 2008 for £1500 on the basis that it didn't need any serious welding and was basically in good condition. Ended up needing new sills and a new floor.
Looked like this when I got it:
Completely standard apart from a K&N.
Then got the welding done, and got a set of Ultralites.
Then put a stage one on which is: RC40 single back box exhaust, Maniflow freeflow exhaust manifold, alloy heated inlet manifold and needle to go with.
It's got adjustable suspension on the front (Minisport's copy of Hi-Los for Mini people) and wider arches which I'm probably going to take off.
It currently needs some basic bits like the points doing, and bits fall off it all the time which gets annoying. If I found a cheap 1275 or, even better, a Metro Turbo engine I'd do a transplant.
It's good fun apart from on the motorway.
Edited by TVR Sagaris on Tuesday 4th May 17:25
XJR500bhp said:
I like the little arches
Yeah, I'm probably going to go back to them. It means I'll have to use something to build the rear ones out so they cover the tyres and there might be some holes in the wings from the current ones but it'll probably still look better than it does at the moment.rufusruffcutt said:
Great min, there can't be many "Check Mates" left now in original form. Could be worth a quite a bit in a couple of years if you can resist modifying it 
I love the brake dust on the front wheels, always a good sign of a well driven mini
I wanted to see what they would look like in anthracite I love the brake dust on the front wheels, always a good sign of a well driven mini
.Edited by TVR Sagaris on Wednesday 5th May 16:12
guru_1071 said:
Blayney said:
You're lucky to have the 3.44 drive, mine is a year old so has the 2.95 "economy" final drive.
Love minis
it will have a 3.1 final drive, not a 3.4Love minis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mini_limited_...
http://classicminis.info/index.php?option=com_cont...
The 1990 'colour' LE's had 3.44 final drive. Or so I'm lead to believe...
I've just booked the Mini in for some welding and its MOT. The MOT ran out while I was on holiday and I knew it wouldn't pass because there was a major leak in the exhaust somewhere. It turned out the leak was actually in the manifold and when I took the manifold off both sections came apart. They're supposed to be welded together. Because it was clearly a poor weld, Minispares agreed to send me a free replacement.
I've now fitted that with the exhaust (which finally seems to have stopped blowing) and replaced the engine mounts at the same time. The old mount on the driver's side had come completely apart so one side of the engine was in completely the wrong place. While I was doing all that, I found a rusty hole in the boot above the subframe mounting and a gap between the floor in the driver's footwell around the subframe mounting there. The subframe is very close to coming all the way through the floor in the front, so that desperately needs welding up. It looks like it wasn't welded properly in the first place, which makes it incredibly irritating.
The brake servo has also stopped working for some reason, as well as some other smaller things.
I'm really hoping that it'll work without something breaking for a while when I get it back; it'd be nice to enjoy it a bit.
It does at least sound good at the moment.
I'll post photos when I get it back.
I've now fitted that with the exhaust (which finally seems to have stopped blowing) and replaced the engine mounts at the same time. The old mount on the driver's side had come completely apart so one side of the engine was in completely the wrong place. While I was doing all that, I found a rusty hole in the boot above the subframe mounting and a gap between the floor in the driver's footwell around the subframe mounting there. The subframe is very close to coming all the way through the floor in the front, so that desperately needs welding up. It looks like it wasn't welded properly in the first place, which makes it incredibly irritating.
The brake servo has also stopped working for some reason, as well as some other smaller things.
I'm really hoping that it'll work without something breaking for a while when I get it back; it'd be nice to enjoy it a bit.
It does at least sound good at the moment.
I'll post photos when I get it back.
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