76 Austin mini named Skidittle

[Dmulder]

So I purchased my girl June 30, 2015. I love driving this car. I also love all the conversations and head turns it causes. I've often thought about creating a Facebook page for her and having a sticker made asking people to post the pics they take as they drive by on that page.
She is in okay shape (I think).  I've noticed some rust in places I didn't see it before. I think this comes from spending more time with the car. I plan on doing a full restore bit by bit. This winter I was thinking about all new seals in the motor. The guy who sold it to me told me it was an 850 but after having another mini enthusiast look at it I believe it is the 998.
I've noticed a slight lean in the front right corner. Should I consider taking the sub frames out and redoing them this winter?  Hard, easy, expensive, not too bad???
A few pics of her

[Dmulder]

I don't know how to do more than one pic at a time.

[94touring]

Cool.  The lean is a sagging cone.  You can do it with the subby in the car.  Or add high los to raise it up. 

Regarding attachments, after you click attachments you'll see right below it where it says more attachments.  You can do 6 per post. 

[Hercplt]

 4.gif Thats a great looking car!!  Congrats on the buy, you are going to love it... but of course you already do right?!

Post a pic of the engine, and specifically the engine ID tag... this will tell us if its a 998 or 850.... probably a 998...

You'll probably get told this over and over, but you should get a Haynes Manual for the Mini.  Its a wealth of info! 

Welcome to the Club! 

Rich

[SoCalMiniFan]

What a great looking car. 

I love the yellow.  In San Diego we have a lot of classic colors, Red's, British Racing Green, Off-White, and then we have a few cars in our club clearly from the 70's.  My own Mini 1000 that is Aconite Purple, a Mr. Bean car in slime green, and Bumble Bee who is Yellow. 

I like the idea of doing a Facebook Page.  I want to do one for my car and also have a hashtag that matches her license plates "KILRMNI" so #KILRMNI so I can possibly track her adventures on Instagram.

Enjoy the adventure.  I've had my car just over a year and on the road just about a month and thus far it's been quite adventurous and fun-filled.

[Spitz]

Your lean is more likely a knuckle joint cup has worn through.....new springs and knuckles joint assemblies would be in order.
Your grill is later than 1976...so double check the age/ID of your car

[MtyMous]

Love the car. There was a guy in the Dallas area when I still lived down there and he had a car that was very similar in looks, but a bit different yellow. Love it.


As for dropping the subframes, it's not an impossible task but it's annoying. I'd avoid it if you can. They are awkward to drop and lift with one person and without the right tools/jigs. There's also all the brake lines/fuel lines/engine linkage, electrical, etc. that you have to deal with. I'd avoid doing it unless you're doing repairs to the actual subby. But if you need help with it post up and I, or others, will gladly help you out. If you're gonna drop the front sub, go ahead and do the engine seal replacements at the same time. I will tell you that you'll probably find other things you need/want to replace. Brake lines that flexed/broke, fuel lines and other bits that are old or rusted, etc. Or maybe I'm just the crazy that can't help myself. haha.

[MiniDave]

Ha! You're not alone, I pulled the head on Buzz just to convert it to unleaded - couple hundred bux and I'm on the road, right? Right.................

[Dmulder]

Your lean is more likely a knuckle joint cup has worn through.....new springs and knuckles joint assemblies would be in order.
Your grill is later than 1976...so double check the age/ID of your car

I question the year on the title as well. Someone once told me that there was a date stamped part on each mini. Mine says 1985 on that part. Would that be more accurate?

[MtyMous]

'85 seems about right, actually. More detailed pics of the car would reveal the truth. Don't just trust one part btw. I've replaced a couple of those date-stamped parts on my car and they no longer match the shell. There are actually a few date stamps on the car if you look around. Let me know if you want some examples.

[Dmulder]

Yes examples would be great. She is all tucked away for winter. I will get some more detailed pics when I go out to the garage where I have her tucked away.

[Dmulder]

I finally got around to taking some pictures. It has been an extremely busy fall.

[Dmulder]

Some more

[Dmulder]

And a few more. It appears to be turning some of these pics upside down

[Dmulder]

And the last batch. I'm wondering what I need to do to fix the lean to the right. Cone, Knuckle, or something else. There are a few holes in the boot floor. The under carriage doesn't look too bad. The fenders are mostly surface rust by appearances. The doors seem to be the worst to me.
Also wondering about an accurate age of the car. Mtymouse mentioned a few more ways to date the car. Wondering if he could help.

[Dmulder]

I lied. A few more. Also a friend of mine has asked me about about running a very aggressive tsd rally with him in my mini. I think I'm going to make it as capable as possible of running very aggressive tsd rallies and still look classic and be in good shape. Do I need to attack the body or just go after the rusty spots?  Change suspension or leave as is?  Any other suggestions. I have rally lights, etc. change front seats and put in a roll cage or leave alone?

[Dmulder]

Last pics. The hood has had some fiberglass work done to the lip. Thinking of getting an extra and using the current one for rallies and rally crosses and the good one for shows.

[Willie_B]

Lots of good info here and ways to help date your car.
http://new.minimania.com/Mini_Identification

[94touring]

The pic rotation usually happens with pics from cell phones.  If you have large quantities of pics you may want to mass upload to the media gallery, then attach their link using the tiny mona lisa icon.  I use an app on my phone that shows me the pic orientation so I can pre rotate before I post directly from my phone.  As of now the forum isn't smart enough to do it on its own.

[Dmulder]

12" wheels, plastic arches, discs makes it likely to be '84+. When someone asks what year it is it's a '76.

My understanding from the PO was that he took 10's off and put on the 12" mini lites. I'm not a big fan of them because of the rubbing e inner fender. Outside of going with smaller wheels is there a way to cure this?

[MPlayle]

Considering it has front disk brakes, it may have originally had 12" wheels unless the PO also did an upgrade to the front brakes.

Measure the diameter of the disk.  If about 8.4", then from appearances it is likely an 84+ and came factory with 12" wheels to go over the front disk brakes.  The rubbing is going to be from the switch to those particular Minilight style wheels more than being 12".  There have been discussions on various Mini boards about wheel offset and backspacing that are the most likely the true cause of your rubbing.

The "quick fix" for your rubbing would be the consideration of the thinnest spacers available.

[94touring]

Has all the signs it's a later year with 8.4 disc which wouldn't fit 10s. 

[Dmulder]

Well that is good to know and also a bummer since it was sold to me as a 76. Still fun. When the tires rub it is them running the back of the whee well when I turn. Spacers would help that?  I hat spacers but if I have to I will use them. I was thinking a shorter side wall

[94touring]

76 or 84+, I wouldn't let it get you down.  Same ole car.  What's the tire specs on there now?  Maybe it's simply fitted with the wrong rubber. 

[MPlayle]

There are really only two 12" tire sizes for the Mini: 145/70/12 and 165/60/12.  These two sizes are rarely available from standard US tire shops and have to be ordered from the Mini part specialists in the US or from overseas.

If anything other than these two sizes, the sidewall may be just enough taller to rub.  Usually, people are asking about the 165/70/12 tires that can more readily be gotten through standard US tire shops.  For that size, more often it is the rubbing on the trailing arm mounting bracket at the rear that draws the complaints.

For the fronts, it may also be the rim offset and backspacing - especially if the tires are one of the two sizes first stated above.