Classic Mini Mk1 Conversion (inc Mk1 doors)

[Petrlhead]

Hello everyone,


As you will have read in the title mine and my Dad’s aim is to create an interpretation of a Mini Mk1 Cooper, we are giving ourselves the goal and I appreciate its quite a big one for us at least to create a 60’s Mk1 in the closest format that we can on the humble budget that we have.

So we want to remove all existing rust to have a completely solid shell and this is where we have started after the lengthy strip down, I say that because we bought the car on the 5th of October 2015 and it’s taken since then to get to where we are right now. There was a couple of years where the car sat in the garage while I was moving house, changing jobs, setting up my humble gardening business and Dad been busy in may ways too.

In the last 3-4 months we’ve made a considerable amount of progress in comparison to the previous 4 years, we started by building our own sturdy rotisserie jig to work on the shell, this has made working on the shell a pleasure, it’s always great being able to position the shell in a position that is always comfortable to work in especially when welding.

Fitting of the Mk1 doors to a Mk4 shell with the external hinges is going to be the biggest challenge I would imagine, to show the challenges involved in fitting them and to introduce the build I’ve done a little video as follows.

The build has moved on quite a good bit since this video which was my first video on the Mini, plus the quality of the videos have improved a lot since then also, much more snappy, I hope haha!

Tap YouTube links below:
https://youtu.be/_2bi3rpc-JY

https://youtu.be/4PuxM68WY5Q

Here is a pic of the car we started with, this is actually where we bought the mini from.

|https://thumbsnap.com/3g7K9npx[/url]k

I’d really appreciate the opportunity to share the project with you and I’d be really interested in your comments on the project.

Thanks
Mark and Dad. .

Edited by Petrlhead on Wednesday 25th September 08:21

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:11

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[manmaths]

Looks like a nice project I'd love to get a mini again one day and the mk 1 is definitely my favourite. Cream with a black roof on 10 inch wheels would be ideal.

Watched the video keep the updates coming

[Petrlhead]

Hi manmaths

Thanks for your comments,

I agree the more rounded shape of the Mk1 or Mk2 door with the external hinges look great, it has a slightly narrower rear window also with the small lights I think this makes it look really retro. Good combo of colours you have there.

I hope to have a new video every Saturday but I’ll keep this thread updated too.
Cheers
Mark.

[RC1807]

What are we talking about here?

[Petrlhead]

Hi everyone

I have an update on our Mk1 Mini conversation project it’s mostly cleaning it up to see what we’re working with and cutting rust out to prepare for some new panels.

Here’s are some pics

|https://thumbsnap.com/v9DOQ27V[/url]



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|https://thumbsnap.com/NuA7ikW9[/url][url]

Thanks.

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:13

[Petrlhead]

Evening all

A little update on the Mk1 to be project for anyone interested. This week is cutting out the floor, door step and sills and replacing with new panels.









Thanks.

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:14

[Mr lestat]

What’s the estimated timescale on the project ?

[amc_adam]

Good work, so much easier working on a spit. I'll be keeping an eye on this as i'm a bit of a mini geek too, Stripped my mini in 2014 for a 'quick' winter project, things soon got carried away as they do! it's still sat on it's spit up on my workshop mezzanine waiting to be finished .

I'll patiently wait for your next update........

[Petrlhead]

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the comments it’s really appreciate, quite a lot of work goes into these thing and it makes it much easier when others appreciate the project.

As fare as time scale goes its hard to say because I work full time and just depends on the budget we have which isn’t a lot but definitely would like to think we’re well on the way by next summer.

Thanks
Mark.

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:17

[Petrlhead]

Just a quick pic of how it looks with the smaller Mk1 door temporarily hung to check the lining up of the different Mk1 panels. Checkout the videos above for a bit more detail of how we’ve managed to fitted Mk1 door on a newer Mk4 mini



Cheers

[Petrlhead]

Morning everyone

We’ve been working hard on the mini, we managed to get the rear quarter panel off and the new Mk1 quarter shaped up and clamped in place, we haven’t welded it on yet because there is quite a few little repairs and fab work needed to be done behind the quarter, here’s a couple of teaser pics.








Cheers
Mark.

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:19

[Aluminati]

Interesting project

Having welded more than one Mini in my time, i feel your pain.

What are you doing for the back lights ? Infill panels ?

[Petrlhead]

Yeah they do rust a bit, i want to get every bit of rust I can out of it. Going to use the infill panels as you say for the rear light and also need to narrow down the rear window for the smaller Mk1 rear glass, oh and also the smaller rear reg plate recess. The biggest job by fare is making the original Mk1 doos fit.

[ceebmoj]

I'm liking the videos. I'musing headphones so thank you for turning the grinder sound down a bit.

[rufusruffcutt]

Wow.

[Justin S]

Interesting project from an ex-mk1 owner from many years ago, that I restored at 18 yrs old and thats over 30 years ago. One thing that wont make it a Mk1 , is the rear window in a Mk1 is smaller than all the others. So, this will have to be a Mk1.5. Interchangeability of minis is great. I used a Mk3 loom in mine ( new) as it meant I could get rid of the dynamo and regulator and put an alternator on it. Ran a 1340cc engine with a C.R gearbox and was a fun toy. One thing the Mk1 's used to have was foam filled sills. BL then decided to save money and stop doing this, which then left a huge void for moisture to rot the cars from the inside out.
Intersting to see how you fix the Mk1 door latches to the side slam panel , as if I remember were just a steel hook which the door latch clicked into. Remember reaming the new brass bushes into the door hinges too, which took an age and replacing all the sliding window rubbers were a pain also. But fun days and watching this build with interest.

[Petrlhead]

Evening all

Thanks guy, really enjoying the build.

I have an update on a bit that people have been waiting in anticipation to see or at least some have lol, quite an important part of making my own Mk1 b pillar and how we’ve gone about doing it and what we used, here goes.


Cheers

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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:20

[Petrlhead]

Hi Justin thanks for that, have you got any pics of your Mk1 would love to see it?

There’s a lot to change to make it a complete Mk1 conversion, I’m am actually going to change the rear window to the smaller one too, as you say it would show up if I didn’t change it, this will be an easy change to make in comparison to the work required to change to the Mk1 door though. I also need to either source a Mk1 boot lid with the smaller recess for the reg plate or fabricate one myself. Like I say thought as I’m sure you are aware there’s a long list of changes to make.

Really appreciate the comments and advice guys especially from the previous Mk1 owners 👍 keep it coming.

Cheers 👍

[Petrlhead]

Evening everyone

We’ve been working hard on the mini, we managed to get all the metal work need to finish the b pillar done. There was quite a bit of fabrication needed to get it looking like the Mk1 Mini b pillar, here’s a couple of teaser pics.

Cheers ??














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Edited by Scrump on Saturday 21st December 19:21

[Petrlhead]

Evening all

I’ve just ordered all the parts we need for the metal work on the back of the Mini, hopefully going to pick them up at the weekend then we can get to work on the boot floor and doing the Mk1 conversion bits needed to the back panel.

Hopefully this next stage of the metal work should be much faster as there’s not really any fabrication work needed expect for the narrowing of the rear window for the smaller Mk1 glass. Looking forward to getting on with it and sharing the progress.

Cheers.