mk1 metro, cinnabar red.

[cradleyheathen]

hi all, this is my first post on here!

i have been checking the site out for ages now and decided it was about time i signed up as this forum suits my interests a little more these days.

anyway, my car is a mk1 minimetro, i owned it for about 8 months, before selling it and really regretting in, about 18 months passed and a work buddy called me to say it had popped up on ebay, i called up straight away and bought it back, and that was about 2 years ago now!

when i picked it up it had only cover 21k miles, and although it was in generally really good shape (its never been welded or anything like that) it had a srious missfire which meant my first drive home was s low and teadious one, the previous owner had also let all the hydrogas out, and had fitted some minilights that stuck out too far and scrubbed the arches the entire way back. first job was a service, electronic ignition, and individualised and lowered the suspension. i had to buy my own hydro pump in the end as i have fettled with it for ages to get it how i want it.

here it is now anyway....


the interior was in mint condition when i got it, and I'm pleased to say i have managed to keep it that way, despite it being my daily, and being a mobile welder!


i upgraded the brakes to later vented discs, as early cars had solids, and i think mine were the original ones on the car too! i also added some gaz dampers


i have just had my first go at polishing, so these will being going on later this week when i get another set of tyres

[SamR380]

Dare I say that looks better than a mini? Great looking thing, I'm half on the look out for one to daily myself.

[cradleyheathen]

i have had tons of minis, and spent a ton of money on my last one, making it what to me was my ultimate mini. i really loved it, but when i went self employed i had to sell one of them, and i just couldnt part with the metro again! its much slower but i prefer this to any of my minis.

i know minis are getting more and more expensive, but there are tons of them, this is much rarer now, and the reaction from people when I'm driving it is far greater than i have had from any other car i have owned. surprisingly the VW guys seem to love it to and always give me a thumbs up or whatever.

[spoonerdtg]

Yes that is great.

[SamR380]

I'm interested, when you say its not as quick as your mini is that only because you had a very high spec mini? I assumed they were pretty much the same car.

[grifterkid]

Now that is a lovely example of a very rare car... Superb!

[cradleyheathen]

Feb 17, 2014 8:33:22 GMT SamR380 said:

I'm interested, when you say its not as quick as your mini is that only because you had a very high spec mini? I assumed they were pretty much the same car.

my mini was super-lightweight, i changed most of the heavy bits to aluminium (hubs, flanges, calipers etc) and it was totally stripped bare! it also had a really nice 1310 motor with a stg3 head, 276 cam, etc etc basically being light and having a nice motor in it, it went really well. the metro is a good bit heavier, and is a pretty much standard 998 engine, which is putting out 50bhp roughly, so its never going to be the same.

however, i had a go in a customers MG metro a few months back and it wasn't much quicker, but it did seem to have more torque. if you had a 1275 engined metro, with a little head work and a better cam it would be great fun to drive, and a little less laborious up hills!

its not the slowest car i have ever had by a long way though, i had a mk3 polo with a 1.0 engine and that was painfully slow, oh and i had a 1275 morris ital, that was torture ringing its neck to get up even average hills!

i have had 90 on the clock though a few times and it manages at 75 on the motorway pretty well so its not all bad, as a daily driver its perfect really, and its very good on fuel

[Porsche]

I like it...should look even better with the polished alloys fitted.

[duncancento]

Nice, wheels should look sweet although I like the dark finish too.

I had a Rover Metro Rio edition for a little while, was a complete shed but handbrake turns were amazing!

[metroman]

This really makes me want to get mine back on the road again! I miss it. Those wheels are mega, I never much liked them but seeing them polished changes everything...

How hard was it to individualise the rear suspension and what effect does it have on the ride?

James

[Mike]

That looks great, agree with the others that the polished wheels should look good.

[Matt Hesketh]

That looks loverly, I approve!

[baggabones]

Love it! Had an 83 mg metro in the same colour back in the day, great fun!

[cradleyheathen]

"metroman"
i cant say what difference it has made to be honest, as i shortened all the trumpets, seperated the rears, fitted the gaz dampers on the front and regassed it all in one day, the difference after was amazing, the car has much less roll around bends, and just drives like a much more modern car now. i would say its not far off what my old mini was like.

"baggabones"
the colour really stands out on todays roads, but at the time it was about the most popular colour they did them in i think. there is a really odd coloured one on ebay at the minute, its green-ish-gold-ish? they cant have made many that colour, but it is really cool!
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1982-AUSTIN-MINI-METRO-L-GREEN-/261399887415?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3cdca5be37
less than 4k miles on it too!

[cradleyheathen]

as promised, here is a quick one i took tonight with the new wheels on. i ended up buying 4 new tyres today as my old yokos on my grey wheels arnt good enough to be worth switching over, so ill keep them as a spare set/winters maybe?



i have had to pick the suspension up a bit for the winter as i have been doing more mobile welding/repairs and carting my gear around in the back with it on the floor isnt a good idea. as soon as work goes back to normal though i will drop it back down again.

by the way if anyone needs their hyrdogas pumping up i can do it for you

[metroman]

Feb 17, 2014 20:58:32 GMT cradleyheathen said:

"metroman"
i cant say what difference it has made to be honest, as i shortened all the trumpets, seperated the rears, fitted the gaz dampers on the front and regassed it all in one day, the difference after was amazing, the car has much less roll around bends, and just drives like a much more modern car now. i would say its not far off what my old mini was like.

And the shopping list has just got longer! Thanks for that, I definitely need some of those alloys now...

[cradleyheathen]

Feb 17, 2014 21:14:14 GMT metroman said:

Feb 17, 2014 20:58:32 GMT cradleyheathen said:

"metroman"
i cant say what difference it has made to be honest, as i shortened all the trumpets, seperated the rears, fitted the gaz dampers on the front and regassed it all in one day, the difference after was amazing, the car has much less roll around bends, and just drives like a much more modern car now. i would say its not far off what my old mini was like.

And the shopping list has just got longer! Thanks for that, I definitely need some of those alloys now...

the front dampers i used were mini rear ones, i cant remember if i bought the "lowered" height ones or the "standard" height, but i could check on the box. fitting them I'm sure made more of a difference than the rest of the mods!

oh and if you want a set of these alloys, besides my grey set, i have got 3x others you could have, odd ones turn up on ebay fairly often.

[leaky]

The new wheels look great.Me and the GF keep looking for a a series mini. She has a k series one at the money but she loves the older ones.

[chance]

Polished wheels look nice...I liked the old ones anyway

Every time I see your metro it makes me want an A series one

I couldn't sell my GTA though

Is 3 cars too many??

[cradleyheathen]

3 cars isnt enough CHANCE!

was your car parked up today on a supermarket carpark near me? if not i have seen another car very similar to yours in the area!