After deciding that the half Mini shell I posted about previously was going to be too much work without dedicated facilities, Clare and myself went on a hunt to find another donor car for our project.
We found one on ebay.. so I took a trip to Croydon to hire a trailer and then we both, along with lil Charlie (our 3 year old lad) took a trip to Warwickshire to have a look with the prospect of returning home with it.
It didn't disappoint.. we got a few hundred quid off and paid £1,450 for it, loaded it up on the trailer and away we went. What was it? A 1983 Austin Mini Mayfair 998cc Automatic!
After getting it home, I parked it in the driveway at my ol' man's with the other 2 (well, 1 and a half) Minis:
With the London to Brighton run looming in may, we decided we'd better do something. The plan at this stage is get it roadworthy, MOT'd and do the run.. simple as that for now. We're the 3rd owners, with 55018 genuine miles on the clock and it's been off the road doing nothing for the past 12 or more months.. so decided the best bet would be to put it in for an MOT to get a list of the problems that needed addressing... and being a 32 year old Austin Mini, I expected there to be a fair few of them, especially as there's multiple patches of surface rust in various places.
We get a call from the MOT garage saying the car's ready for collection... we get there and joked that "it passed!?", to which we got the expected answer of "hahah no"... but there was a grin and a "but!".... uhoh!
It did fail, it failed 3 minor things!! These were:
Back to my ol' man's and quickly swap the 10" steel wheels over for the 12" Supalite alloys sitting on the white one... tyres.. job done!
Down to the local car shop with the logbook... £12.50 for a new front plate.
While I'm there, grab a stainless steel cable tie long enough for the CV boot.
From my ol' man's back to mine (4 miles away.. phew!).. parked up ready for the morning.
Next morning.. thought the CV boot would be simple just like most others... alas, the CV is pushed deep into the hub, so top & bottom suspension joints disconnected along with trackrod end... thankfully, none of the nuts nor the joints themselves gave me any problems. Stainless cable tie strapped up and (good job I bought 2).. broke the first one.. they're a royal PITFA without the proper tensioning tool.. but managed it with the second one using some long-nosed pliers and some patience. Push the hub back on, reconnect the joints.. ready for the drum (yes, it's got drum brakes front and rear, and no brake servo... makes for an interesting drive being an automatic, especially when the choke's on!).
Drum back on, wheel on... job done, ready for MOT re-test on Monday.
Clare bolted the number plate on later that day.. so now truly ready!
Sunday... Alfie, my step-lad, who's desperate to learn about cars and has already been helping me strip some bits off the white Mini.. wanted to give it a clean out.. so worked his magic with the hoover and some Aerospace 303 Protectant on the plastics
Monday comes.. back to the MOT station.. leave it with them and off home to do some actual work(!). Call from the garage an hour later, car's ready... result: it passed!
Car brought back home.. and Clare takes it around the block for a quick test with Charlie as he seems to love it too
Happy Days!!
Next stage of the plan... a service and a temp repair on the sump / sump plug as there's a nasty oil leak from there. I suspect someone's overtightened the plug previously.. so as the engine's going in favour of the 1293cc tuned engine currently sitting in the white one, not wasting time / money on the auto.. so hopefully some PTFE tape will hold out better than the silicon(!) that someone has applied before.
Once we're back from the London to Brighton run, it'll be off the road again over the summer and stripped completely for a bare metal respray, engine rebuild and then fully rebuilt as a show car.. as clean underneath as on top.
Cheers..
Ian
We found one on ebay.. so I took a trip to Croydon to hire a trailer and then we both, along with lil Charlie (our 3 year old lad) took a trip to Warwickshire to have a look with the prospect of returning home with it.
It didn't disappoint.. we got a few hundred quid off and paid £1,450 for it, loaded it up on the trailer and away we went. What was it? A 1983 Austin Mini Mayfair 998cc Automatic!
After getting it home, I parked it in the driveway at my ol' man's with the other 2 (well, 1 and a half) Minis:
With the London to Brighton run looming in may, we decided we'd better do something. The plan at this stage is get it roadworthy, MOT'd and do the run.. simple as that for now. We're the 3rd owners, with 55018 genuine miles on the clock and it's been off the road doing nothing for the past 12 or more months.. so decided the best bet would be to put it in for an MOT to get a list of the problems that needed addressing... and being a 32 year old Austin Mini, I expected there to be a fair few of them, especially as there's multiple patches of surface rust in various places.
We get a call from the MOT garage saying the car's ready for collection... we get there and joked that "it passed!?", to which we got the expected answer of "hahah no"... but there was a grin and a "but!".... uhoh!
It did fail, it failed 3 minor things!! These were:
- Rear tyre below legal limit
- Front number plate had peeled apart
- Unsecured CV gaiter
Back to my ol' man's and quickly swap the 10" steel wheels over for the 12" Supalite alloys sitting on the white one... tyres.. job done!
Down to the local car shop with the logbook... £12.50 for a new front plate.
While I'm there, grab a stainless steel cable tie long enough for the CV boot.
From my ol' man's back to mine (4 miles away.. phew!).. parked up ready for the morning.
Next morning.. thought the CV boot would be simple just like most others... alas, the CV is pushed deep into the hub, so top & bottom suspension joints disconnected along with trackrod end... thankfully, none of the nuts nor the joints themselves gave me any problems. Stainless cable tie strapped up and (good job I bought 2).. broke the first one.. they're a royal PITFA without the proper tensioning tool.. but managed it with the second one using some long-nosed pliers and some patience. Push the hub back on, reconnect the joints.. ready for the drum (yes, it's got drum brakes front and rear, and no brake servo... makes for an interesting drive being an automatic, especially when the choke's on!).
Drum back on, wheel on... job done, ready for MOT re-test on Monday.
Clare bolted the number plate on later that day.. so now truly ready!
Sunday... Alfie, my step-lad, who's desperate to learn about cars and has already been helping me strip some bits off the white Mini.. wanted to give it a clean out.. so worked his magic with the hoover and some Aerospace 303 Protectant on the plastics
Monday comes.. back to the MOT station.. leave it with them and off home to do some actual work(!). Call from the garage an hour later, car's ready... result: it passed!
Car brought back home.. and Clare takes it around the block for a quick test with Charlie as he seems to love it too
Happy Days!!
Next stage of the plan... a service and a temp repair on the sump / sump plug as there's a nasty oil leak from there. I suspect someone's overtightened the plug previously.. so as the engine's going in favour of the 1293cc tuned engine currently sitting in the white one, not wasting time / money on the auto.. so hopefully some PTFE tape will hold out better than the silicon(!) that someone has applied before.
Once we're back from the London to Brighton run, it'll be off the road again over the summer and stripped completely for a bare metal respray, engine rebuild and then fully rebuilt as a show car.. as clean underneath as on top.
Cheers..
Ian
