Daily Driver/ Slow Resto project

[Twichel04]

Hi there. Just joined here after stumbling upon this fantastic site, while following a few links from another Mini forum. My name is Rich, and I recently acquired a Mini after wanting one for many years. The car needs a bit of work right now, but does run. She has some rust to take care of, but I have seen (and owned) worse.

I like the idea of a forum that is based around the restoration, (and I also like that it's in the states), so I thought I would start up a build thread here. For now though, I will copy and paste from my other forum, so I don't have to retype it all!

I have wanted an original Mini since the first time I laid eyes upon one. I have finally found one, though I have not yet taken possession of it.

My Mini (which I will be obtaining sometime before the end of January) is a ''1985 with a 1995 1275 SPi engine'', with the steering on the "right'' side of the car (I wouldn't have it any other way). The car is a bit of a project, but does run and drive. It has a bit of rot that needs to be taken care of, nothing too bad. Needs the A panel on the passenger side replaced, and there is some rust along the seams where the front wings meet the front panel (someone tried, unsuccessfully, to put filler over it. I will be repairing it the proper way). The floors are fairly solid, but will eventually need to be patched. The drip rails are perfect! Also, the boot is a little wrinkled from a previous owner backing into something, very minor though.

My plan is to repair the worst areas of rust, give it a fresh tune, detail, new wheels/tires, etc., and use it as a daily driver until I have the funds to do a full restoration on it.

Here are the pics I snapped when I went to go look at the car. Looks worse than it really is, it has been sitting for a little while. The gentleman who owns it has a repair shop locally to me. He is from the UK and goes back there quite often and brings Mini's back with him.



I know that it does not look to pretty, but she does run!


Seats and interior are in really good shape (yes the door panels and carpets are there, they have been removed to look for hidden rust).


Here you can see the rot on the A panel, and the seams for the front wings.


I am still learning about these wonderful little cars, and any advice would be very welcome. I am hoping that this forum will be a great guide to repairing and restoring a Mini.

[Twichel04]

That was just before Christmas, and an agonizing two weeks went by until I could go back, hear her run, and leave a deposit on her.

Stopped by the seller's shop that week to take a second look at the car and leave a deposit on it. Got to hear it run for the first time (tank was out last time) and it sounds fantastic!

Has a little more rust than I noticed before, nothing too bad though. Floors are solid, rear quarters, window frames, and rain gutters are perfect! it will eventually need a new drivers door, but still in good enough shape overall to start driving.

Has 83k on the clock, and even has the factory Rover alarm system AND the remote for it! There are a few things that have been unplugged and it may take a little hunting to find where they all go.

Anyway, here are a few pics from the visit. We rolled it out, had to adjust the rear drum, as it was stuck. We put a little fuel in it (after we put the tank back in) popped a battery in and fired her up.

83k on a very optimistic 110mph speedo


Pretty solid floors with just some surface rust-


Random pictures-
















And the wheels I plan on getting for the as of yet un-named Mini. 12x7's!

[Twichel04]

Ok, now to bring it to current-

Last time I went to work on it, we couldn't get the car to run on its own (we had to keep spraying starter fluid into the throttle body). I went and did a bit of work today, got the tank back in the right way, got the fuel pump working, and she starts and runs beautifully!



Idle is a bit high in that video, but it was just caused by a slightly sticking throttle cable.

After I got the fuel system all situated, I had to change the belt, as the old one was trash, and all I can say is that I am glad that I have small hands, haha. Found this connector hanging out down by the pedals, I can't seem to find where it goes, looks like it is possibly for a relay?



I got to drive her for the first time, and it was fantastic! Even with mis-matched tyres, bad shocks, and no interior, the handling and feel was great. I had to resist the urge to go tearing down the dirt road one street over. I need to wait till I have everything situated before I give her too much abuse.

After driving her and getting to know her personality a bit, she now has a name. Meet Flur. I know it's an odd name for a car, but she is an odd sort of car, so it works

[94touring]

Welcome!  Nice to see a new project.  The current car I'm working on is the same year/model as you have here.  Just looking at the front end rust along the seams, you're probably gona want to just replace the panels.  Once these things start rotting around the front lights and seams up there it just doesn't stop.  Starts from the inside and works it way outward.  For wings I recommend heritage, but have had good luck with knockoff front end panels.  Solid floors are a huge plus.  Its no easy task to work on them unless the car is on a rotissier.  Keep the pics coming!

[Twichel04]

Thanks for the welcome! Is yours the same year that mine claims to be or the same year that it really is? haha.

Thanks for the advice. I had seen some horror stories (and pictures) of the pattern panels being just plain awful. When I do get to the point of stripping it down, I will be using heritage panels. For now though, it will just be a daily driver that I work on little by little, so for the moment I will be hitting everything with rust killer to stop whats there and sealing it up so it doesn't spread. I will be doing that A panel soon though.. it looks bad, haha.

The good news is that my car does NOT have oversills... the bad news is that the sill panels are a bit rusty... but the main floor section is good!

I will have more pictures next week after I put the interior back together and work on straightening out the boot area. My plan is to have it on the road by this time next month.

I love having the injection on it. When I worked on it last, it had been a week and a half since it started last. I put some gas in, hooked up the battery, bumped the key, and she fired right up! She actually starts up quicker than my 2003 Trailblazer, lol. 

[94touring]

I use to own an MPI and it always started right up. 

The car I'm working on is a rolling shell and just happens to have side blinker wings with an antenna, go figure. 

[Twichel04]

I was looking for a carb'd Mini, just for simplicity, but I couldn't pass this one up. He had 8 Minis there and this one just spoke to me. It was also a steal of a deal for a driveable Mini.

[94touring]

Where are these minis located?  Might be nice to find some drivable projects in the near future if the price is right.

[Twichel04]

Central Florida. The guy brings back Minis and other UK cars when ever he goes over there to visit. He only buys cars that run and drive (but they all need some work) and he buys in bulk, ships a whole container of them back, some he sells pretty cheap. Some he keeps for himself, like a Clubman estate that he has at the shop.

He also mentioned to me that he may be going back to the UK permanently, and may be liquidating his cars. He also has a stock pile of Mini parts... probably enough to build 2 or 3 minis from scratch.

[Willie_B]

Welcome aboard. You have been infected with the m1n1 virus. There is no cure, so just enjoy it.

[joltfreak]

Welcome to the dark side..... 4.gif

[Mudhen]

After driving her and getting to know her personality a bit, she now has a name. Meet Flur. I know it's an odd name for a car, but she is an odd sort of car, so it works

Cool pic - welcome!

[Twichel04]

Cool pic - welcome!

Thanks. I figured I had to do something to make her look good, haha.

[Mudhen]

Cool pic - welcome!

Thanks. I figured I had to do something to make her look good, haha.

lol.  Looks better than what I started with!  And, actually looks a lot better even a year later!   :-[

[Twichel04]

I don't know, I might have to disagree with you there. I just looked through your build thread, and mine may be starting out as a complete, driveable car, but yours has way less rust! Plus, yours cost a third of mine.

I love rally Mini's, and though mine wont be a rally car, I may still do a bit of rally-x on the weekend for some fun! I just want to drive it for now, I'll take it apart and restore it later, after I've had some fun.

[Twichel04]

Went out to work on Flur for a bit today. I was pleased that after a week straight of just sitting there, she started right up without hesitation.  Mostly just worked on little things here and there. I straightened out the rear panel a little bit, so that I could get the boot lid to fit (it was previously rear ended and it got pushed in a little). The boot lit fits now, for the most part, but will still need some tweaking, but at least it's on there now! I forgot to take pictures of it though.

I also started working on refitting the interior-




I still need to get a carpet for it, as the one that she came with was basically trash. Anyone have an old carpet they want to sell? I dont care about color or stains, as long as it not torn or full of holes!  4.gif

Did a few other things... fixed the hood latch, reattached the hood.

Also hid some rust from view. (don't worry, patch panel is already on it's way, I just didn't want to look at the rust hole anymore!) I thought I would have some fun with it-

Before-


After-


Took Flur for another drive today. I put my foot in it a little more this time, now that the seats are actually attached, and I now feel confident in the condition of the drivetrain. I still can't get over how much fun it is to drive her. Spent about a half hour tearing up and down bumpy back roads at 55-60mph was just so awesome!  71.gif

[94touring]

I liked the creativity to hide the rust.   For carpet, check out the suppliers link and look for a budget set.  Pretty inexpensive and better than used.

[Mudhen]

[Twichel04]

I liked the creativity to hide the rust. 

It's made of colored Duct Tape, haha. Like I said, I just couldn't stand looking at it. I like the Union Jack, I did it as a joke, but I think once I replace the A-panel I'll stick with the theme.

[Twichel04]

Well since this is a budget build, I thought I would share one of my money saving solutions with you guys.

The replacement boot lid that I have for Flur has no handle/lock. So instead of spending $60 or so dollars on a replacement one from an online vendor, I decided to let ingenuity have a chance.

Took a trip to Lowes and got this-


It's a handle with lock and key for a garage door. Looks very similar to the actual handle, just sticks out a little further (which I kinda like) and even uses the same kind of square peg for the lock, I just have to shorten it a bit.

Here is an actual Mini boot handle for comparison-


Price comparison- Original style $55 + tax + shipping from GBcarparts, Lowes budget version- $9.98 + tax.

[Twichel04]

Just realized that the Lowes budget handle looks like the mk1/2 boot handle... kind of a cross between the two-

[94touring]

You'll have to post a pic once you fit it.  There is some resemblence there.   22.gif

[Twichel04]

Not much of an update, but an update none the less.

Did a little work to Flur today and she is finally starting to look like a Mini! Got some used wheel arches to put on her, and painted the steel wheels silver for now, until I get some real wheels, just so she doesn't look bad with the dirty mismatched steel wheels. Also went under the car today with a wire brush and some rust converter just to stop all of the surface rust from becoming a major problem. Also under coated the whole car today too.

New brakes on the rear-


Made a scary realization... I think I could park Flur inside my SUV, haha-


You can see some of the damage to the rear end in that picture.

Unfortunately, while I was under the car, I found a small coolant leak. It's not a big deal, I was planning on redoing the entire cooling system anyway, I will just be doing it sooner rather than later.

I didn't get any pictures of my garage/boot handle experiment on the car, because my phone died, BUT, it fits perfectly, no modifications needed at all. The mounting holes on the handle line up perfectly with the holes in the boot lid, and the square peg is the exact same size as the correct boot handle, so the garage handle works perfectly with the original latch!  4.gif The only thing I will have to do is trim the peg a bit.

Took these pictures earlier when I was testing to see if the two parts would work together-




And finally, the obligatory photo shoot edits  ;D

[94touring]

I would like to get Flur alone and take her panels off.  Looks like a lot of work, the kind of project I like.  The boot handle is a lot better than that rope!

[Twichel04]

Haha, yeah, she will eventually need a full strip and resto, but I don't have the patients for that, so I will probably buy just a shell next year and start restoring that, once it's done, I'll swap all of Flur's goodies over. That way she wont be off the road too long.

The ratchet strap was just a temporary latch until I sorted out the boot handle, haha. It did work well though.

I need to paint that boot lid...it looks bad on there. That's why I never have any pictures of the rear, haha.