1960 R1 Mini Project

Started by roadhouse, April 14, 2016, 10:54:21 AM

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roadhouse

Hello all-

Dave made contact with me over on "theminiforum.co.uk" and told me to check out this site. Thanks Dave! It's great to know that there are some good people and resources near the Tulsa area when it comes to classic minis. I live in Tulsa, OK with my wife and we are currently working on restoring her 1960 Austin Mini. I'm sure some (maybe more) won't like what we are doing with the car (and that's ok) but we are having fun with it so far. The plan is to swap in a Yamaha R1 motor utilizing a Lynx AE kit and use the car for some fun street driving and even some track time at Hallett.  4.gif Anyway, here are some pictures to show the small progress that has been made on the car so far. We are hoping to have the car painted soon so we can get suspension underneath it. The body will be Ford Thunderbird Blue and the roof will be Wimbledon White.

We drove to Atlanta to pick up the shell and various other parts 2 years ago. The body was pretty straight, had a custom floor welded in



We had the shell blasted which uncovered a few rust spots but over all we were happy with where we were starting


Various stages of body work














We really struggled with what seats to use. We have these right now but they need a little tlc. We may end up with something else. Who knows.


My wife testing out the seating position. This is originally a LHD car that we are converting to RHD



Here is the engine. 2003 Yamaha R1


We had a custom 4 pt roll bar welded in. Also working on fitting the sportspack flares, which is taking a little time. For the fronts, we are filling in the side marker indents along with the front bumper indents.






94touring

Hey welcome!  Another Tulsa mini!  You'll have to stop by the shop sometime.

roadhouse

Thanks, and definitely! I figured there were some minis around Tulsa but I've never seen any of them before...

94touring

Well I've got 4 or 5.  Then there's a few other locals.  Most are under restoration.  Seems to be the standard lately.

Merlin

More tulsa people!

We need to have a cars and coffee one morning. And by that I mean, we should drive our regular cars and talk about our dreams for our minis!
Engineering the Impossible

Merlin

And also, No one here will interject on your plans for the mini as most of us are misfits anyway.

Dave wants to ecoboost one
Dan wants to Vtec one
I want to K1000 one

You will fit in nicely
Engineering the Impossible

roadhouse

Thanks for the welcome! I try to make it out to Caffeine and Gasoline on occasion and check out the cars... I just recently sold my 2012 Mustang GT track car so the mini is the only fun car around now. I'm hoping that will encourage me to work on it more often.

I'm partial to Fords so an ecoboost mini sounds spectacular.

AcesLow

I was following your build over on the mini forum.. I find the motorbike swap forum has slowed over there. I'm doing a pro-motive swap in a pickup.  Welcome to the FUN forum

LilDrunkenSmurf

And here I just want to swap a B-series into my mini, and a 1L ecoboost crate motor into my pinto.

94touring

Yeah fun forum...all new members are required to get drunk and post in the drunk thread.  Restoration mini hazing!

Merlin

Engineering the Impossible

roadhouse

Quote from: AcesLow on April 14, 2016, 01:38:22 PM
I was following your build over on the mini forum.. I find the motorbike swap forum has slowed over there. I'm doing a pro-motive swap in a pickup.  Welcome to the FUN forum

I was following yours as well. Your work is great and can't wait to see the finished product. Yeah, not much activity over there lately. Bring on the FUN

Quote from: 94touring on April 14, 2016, 01:47:08 PM
Yeah fun forum...all new members are required to get drunk and post in the drunk thread.  Restoration mini hazing!

where is the beer smilie  77.gif

94touring


roadhouse

#13
Here are some better pictures of the roll bar




I bought the motor online from a salvage yard and watched a video of it running so hopefully it works out when it goes in.  So far what I've done to prep the motor includes:

-Gutting the stock airbox for trumpets and sensor, since stock airbox won't work on a BEC (bike engine car)
-Pulled clutch to see what kind of shape it was in. Have a replacement clutch pack ready to go in
-Pulled the AIS (air injection system) module off the motor to install Graves Motorsport block off plugs. The AIS causes issues when you try and dyno tune these motors so we trashed it. WEIGHT REDUCTION BRO. Have a power commander for tuning.
-Added oil pan baffle plate to ward off oil starvation
-Still need to get an exup eliminator, speedo healer, and airbox cover







94touring

I think I saw a ppaint booth in one of your photos.  Are you farming that out or doing it yourself?

Merlin

Did you build the roll cage or farm that out? I love your door roll bars and would like to know if those are legal for Hallet. do they comply with SCCA ect?
Engineering the Impossible

roadhouse

#16
Quote from: 94touring on April 14, 2016, 02:14:01 PM
I think I saw a ppaint booth in one of your photos.  Are you farming that out or doing it yourself?

The body work and paint is being farmed out to Andy's Hotrods and Restoration here in Tulsa. It has been a side business for a few years but the owner is in the process of going at it full time.  I like to think I'm semi-mechanically inclined so I'm hopeful I can do a majority of the assembly/motor swap once it comes back home.

Quote from: Merlin on April 14, 2016, 02:18:58 PM
Did you build the roll cage or farm that out? I love your door roll bars and would like to know if those are legal for Hallet. do they comply with SCCA ect?

Andy's Hotrods built the roll bar. I wanted to put a full cage in it and my wife didn't really want anything so we compromised with this. It would not be legal for any sanctioned racing (NASA, SCCA) but it will pass tech for an HST (High Speed Touring) or private/open track day at Hallett. The door bars were his idea and I think they turned out great and will be unobtrusive for street use. Mainly the bar just provides a nice way to mount harnesses and gives a little rollover protection.

MiniDave

Welcome to the forum, Roadhouse, glad you found us!  62.gif 62.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I may have missed it but what color?

MiniDave

It's going to be T-Bird Teal Blue with Wimbledon white roof......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

roadhouse

Something like this.... although the white won't be as bright.


AcesLow

Roadhouse. I bought my exup eliminator from these guys if you are interested

http://www.12oclocklabs.com/products.htm

MiniDave

How will you handle reverse?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

LilDrunkenSmurf


Spitz

Looks like you started with one heck of a good shell!

Have to ask though...why in the world would you want to make it right hand drive??

There are opinions out there, but the fact of the matter is LHD in NA is easier in traffic and much safer.
I absolutely hate driving in the RH position in my 89 Jap MINI....only reason I havn't changed it is the unique dash doesn't allow (practically)