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So my dad used to own a Mini back in the 80's. This one in fact.. He was given it by his aunt. And the car was given to her by a family she used to work for. And that family got given it by their parents. So only one person had actually ever paid for the car since it was new. My dad was a poor university student at the time and was excited at the prospect of a free car, working or not. It hadn't been running for quite a few years, at least since before it was given to his aunt. He towed the car off to his dad's shed. Eventually they found out the spark plug leads were in the wrong order, and it ran fine with them all sorted out. He had it for a few years until my parents started to have a family. My dad then gave it to his dad (my grandpa) in the mid-late 80's where it sat in his shed on their property. He used it for a bit, but soon their road ended up not having enough ground clearance for the mini so it stayed in the shed for a few more years. In the late 80's my grandpa had the car resprayed from Tartan Red all over to red with a white roof, and had the 850 engine swapped for a 998 in 1989. He did a swap from the pudding stirrer to a remote change at some stage too. When they moved into town 15 years ago it was his daily driver for short runs around town. It looked like this at the end of 2012 It is still in remarkably good shape for it's age, living in dry Australia helps, living less than 1km from the beach doesn't. I've been entrusted with the car since earlier this year (a few weeks before the yearly inspection too ) and I've made a few little changes since. I'm aiming for a period style, and trying to preserve as many of the 850 features as I can. There are lots of Coopers and Cooper replicas here, and it's nice to be different for once!
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Last Edit: Jan 1, 2018 3:15:36 GMT by timmy201
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The first thing that I ordered (from the UK) was a cheap carpet set and a tacho. The old rear carpet wasn't too bad. The rear floor was absolutely spotless! The front was a bit worn however. The front floor had some sound deadening stuck on it, but it was still in very good condition. After the new carpets were put in. I trimmed the underlay from over the hump a bit after this And I went round to a friends place to install the tacho. I'm no good with wiring, so it was good to get some help with it! My favourite part is that the brand is TIM
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Last Edit: Oct 17, 2013 6:09:11 GMT by timmy201
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The first "bodge" to go was the rear tyres. My grandpa would say that the front tyres do all the work, and the rear ones don't matter. This thought process lead to the rear tyres being over 40 years old, one being a radial, and the other being a crossply. Both of them rubbed on the shocks on their inner faces, and the crossply was near to an inch taller than the other one. I got those replaced quick smart before they exploded or sent me off the road. I was planning on driving the car rather than just commuting to the shops and back! I took it to a Mini show about 30km away, which was the furthest the car had been in years. The brakes were very soft and it would pull to the side under hard braking. The steering was also a bit vague (for a mini). But I made it there and back without any issues. My grandpa thought I was crazy driving it so far! You might be able to see in the pictures an enormous set of seats (AKA 2nd "bodge" to undo). I couldn't quite fit them into this photo Or even this one. They were so big I couldn't see out, reach the back seats or even fold them to get someone in the back. My grandpa had fitted them because the rubber diaphragms had split on the old seats... He isn't the tallest fellow so he had the seats raised a bit. I couldn't see traffic lights without ducking forwards! And at the back... This was the general condition of the seat bottoms. I got some second hand ones to get me through for a bit Bucket seats vs original ones And how they look now. I got rid of the steering wheel cover after this photo, and you can see my excellent aircon on the dash there!
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Last Edit: Oct 17, 2013 6:27:05 GMT by timmy201
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Next thing to go was the side view mirror. The current one had been the cheapest one from the local auto shop I got an old bullet style mirror and it looks much better now. It's not very useful for seeing out of, but at least it looks the part! After that the brakes gave up. A big shove on the pedal meant it went straight to the floor and it didn't slow very much. The handbrake wasn't much help either. Adjusting the drums (twin leading front + single rear) didn't improve things at all so I thought I'd bleed the brakes to check there wasn't any air in there. The first 3 sides were fine, but the right rear had nothing coming out of the bleed valve. Removed the vale, and nothing out of the wheel cylinder. I removed the wheel cylinder and it was seized, and there was still no fluid coming from the metal pipe. I pulled off everything from the back corner and it ended up being the rubber flexi hose. It looked very much to be the original hose! I then checked the other side, assuming it would be much the same, but it was near new! I don't know why you would only change one at a time, but that's the way my grandpa did things... so for the sake of one rubber hose, I replaced both hoses, wheel cylinders, and both sets of shoes. I installed all the parts on the rear and bled the whole system and it worked a lot better than before. They still weren't great, but at least they worked. There was a car show on up a nice mountain pass, about 40km each way trip so I made it up and back for that. The way back down the pass was interesting, and the brakes got worse and worse. I decided to have a look at the front brakes to figure out why they were a bit off. It was a similar story to the back end - mix of new and old parts, right side had new looking shoes and cylinders and a leaking brake hose! left side had old looking shoes and cylinders and a new brake hose! They all got replaced - rubber hoses, cylinders and shoes! It took a while to bleed them all up and adjust them and then they were really good - high pedal, good braking and brakes nice and straight. It was due for a yearly inspection and thought I'd see how it went. We ended up a fail on: - handbrake not working as emergency brake - handbrake not holding on hill - licence plate bulb blown - greater than 3mm play right front (wheel bearing) - greater than 3mm play left front (ball joints) - greater than 3mm play steering left side (possibly tie rod ends) Now I could see why I got given the car just before the inspection...
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Last Edit: Oct 18, 2013 4:42:10 GMT by timmy201
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Love this!
I love the fact it's being taken back to almost standard!
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,508
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How had it passed tech inspections earlier with that mix of rear tyres?! Or was he using it locally 'unofficially'? Excellent to see the old seats back in and the brakes properly sorted etc.
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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Hey timmy, where are you based? Is this the red Mini I see tearing through Drummoyne occasionally?
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Oct 17, 2013 23:29:30 GMT
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Love this! I love the fact it's being taken back to almost standard! Thanks, it's been a bit of fun to start putting it back to how I think it should be. It's a completely different car to drive now that I've made so many changes to it. There are still a few more things I have done since the above posts... How had it passed tech inspections earlier with that mix of rear tyres?! Or was he using it locally 'unofficially'? Excellent to see the old seats back in and the brakes properly sorted etc. The yearly inspections here aren't too strict, unless your registration has lapsed and you need a full check. The tyres had a legal amount of tread, and he was only driving to the shops and back. The old seats are so much better so use now. I couldn't believe how good the brakes were when I drove it home after getting them done at the shop. The pedal is firm to push, but it stops just like a new car. Hey timmy, where are you based? Is this the red Mini I see tearing through Drummoyne occasionally? That's probably not me! I'm down in the Illawarra and I've only taken it up to Sydney twice.
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When I left off the car had failed the inspection. The licence plate bulb turned out to have a corroded connection so I cleaned that up and it was fine. The handbrake was a combination of brand new shoes and the cable needed adjusting, so I got 3/6 items on the list done for free. I put in an order for front wheel bearings, tie rod ends and ball joints. Luckily I got to bleed the brakes again after this (my favourite job)... Retro cars call for retro tools The old bearings were definitely dead I looked around at a few shops looking for a 1 1/2 inch deep socket to undo the ball joints. I ended up at a truck spares shop Then I could undo and replace the ball joints. It was my fisrt time changing ones with shims, which was real fun! And assembled the new bearings These solved all of the issues with the play in the wheels, but there was still a bit of looseness in the steering wheel. I took it back for an inspection but got them to adjust the drums first and replace a wave washer in the steering which had got flattened and had no spring left in it. It passed this time, and the brakes were exceptional and the steering was so much more direct without the slop in it. It was just in time too, as the following weekend we (local mini group) had a grand tour planned of the local roads. It was over 250km, which was the furthest the car had been in years. I managed to keep up most of the time with the "big bore" guys too! We went up and down a few mountain passes and had a break at a nice lookout This was the fun part! I was tempted to do it flat out Italian Job style, but I didn't want an engine bay full of water (like the guy behind me did..) And a few weeks later we had another run, this time though a national park. The more I drive it on long runs, the better it seems to run. I'm sure all the short trips over the last 10 years weren't too kind to the engine and it's starting to free up a bit now! Next up: new (to me) wheels!
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Last Edit: Oct 18, 2013 4:45:27 GMT by timmy201
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Like a lot of car people I like wheels. I looked around for a while at the different options for 10 inch wheels and decided that I didn't want flares, which narrowed my choices a bit. I also didn't want to upgrade to discs at the moment either (they end up being expensive after shipping from the UK). I really like the look of the wide Cooper steel wheels, which lead me to the reverse offset "cooper" wheels. Essentially just 4.5x10 cooper wheels with the barrels on backward, they ticked all the boxes. I put a wanted add and got a response back pretty quick, the only problem was they were 2700km away in QLD. Luckily a guy who lives near me was going up and back with a bit of room in his car so I was able to get them back easily! Here they are... They filled up the guards really well with the 165 tyres.. Before And after I was trying to decide between the standard silver And Old English White. All Aussie cars have the silver wheels so I thought it would be something different I got them sandblasted And started on the paint. I picked a premixed spray can from the local parts shop but it turned out too white. I'm hoping to get some paint closer to OEW soon and redo the top coat. I had the tyres swapped from the standard wheels as they were nearly new and in good condition and we had the "All British Day" on in Sydney, which ended up being over 300km return. It was a nice drive up along the coast Here are some photos from the show And a before after comparison from the rear:
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,327
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Strewth! What a little stunner! You clearly are the correct custodian of this car; I've liked everything you've done to it so far (although I think I'd have kept the new steels silver). I love the way your climate is generally so kind to old cars. Here, in rainy ol' Blighty, we'd be lucky to have much left of an original bmc product after all those years! Just one thing - please tell me you're not going to stick cooper stripes on the bonnet?!
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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Like the most recent improvements a lot! Damn, I want a Mk1 again
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Really liking the improvements on this! If i were to buy a mini, THAT is the kinda thing i'd be looking for! A credit to you!
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Cool back story, clean standard mini with just the right mods... What's not to like!? Nice work mate
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Strewth! What a little stunner! You clearly are the correct custodian of this car; I've liked everything you've done to it so far (although I think I'd have kept the new steels silver). I love the way your climate is generally so kind to old cars. Here, in rainy ol' Blighty, we'd be lucky to have much left of an original bmc product after all those years! Just one thing - please tell me you're not going to stick cooper stripes on the bonnet?! I've liked this car since I can remember and it was so good to finally have it! No, I'm not going for some cooper bonnet stripes... we were thinking about a roof union jack at one stage though Like the most recent improvements a lot! Damn, I want a Mk1 again Cheers. We are lucky in Australia because the Mk1 and Mk2 both had the same front grille and taillights and they didn't really look any different externally till the Clubmans came around in the 70's. Really liking the improvements on this! If i were to buy a mini, THAT is the kinda thing i'd be looking for! A credit to you! Cool back story, clean standard mini with just the right mods... What's not to like!? Nice work mate Thanks guys, it's really appreciated The most recent new was from a couple of weeks ago. I had been given a set of repro bumpers which had been sitting around for a while at a guys house. They have a slightly different profile to the old ones but they are a huge improvement. The old ones were quite battered and bruised after 50 years.. And after they were installed I went for a nice drive and found a quiet spot to take some photos. I'm in need of one more bumper overrider before I can put them back on
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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Must admit, I much prefer the old bumpers!
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davidk
Part of things
Posts: 43
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Very cool car my friend, amazing the difference a set of wheels can make, really transforms the car.
I will have another mini one day, i have a vtec engine in the garage ready to go in one when i do!
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bgt
Part of things
Posts: 151
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Oct 21, 2013 12:03:35 GMT
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What a lovely little car! Looks excellent on those white wheels. I also prefer the old bumpers though, at least until you get the overriders on again. A few dents are to be expected after 50 years of loyal service, and they are (in my opinion) an important reminder of the history of the car (especially since you know its history so well). It's up to you of course, but personally I would rather have the dented ones (get them fixed maybe) than the repros.
Keep up the great work!
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Oct 21, 2013 14:49:32 GMT
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loving the new wheels i think the colour is great, but you said it wasnt quite right i thought to myself maybe land rover "limestone" if you want something creamier...
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Oct 22, 2013 10:23:16 GMT
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Must admit, I much prefer the old bumpers! It's hard to make out from the photos but the old ones were really mangled and they'd been really dented trying to get them straight. They weren't the original ones anyway.. Very cool car my friend, amazing the difference a set of wheels can make, really transforms the car. I will have another mini one day, i have a vtec engine in the garage ready to go in one when i do! Thanks, I really like the way the wheels look too There are only a few vtec swaps done in Australia, it's very hard to get them done legally in most states. You guys are lucky over there! What a lovely little car! Looks excellent on those white wheels. I also prefer the old bumpers though, at least until you get the overriders on again. A few dents are to be expected after 50 years of loyal service, and they are (in my opinion) an important reminder of the history of the car (especially since you know its history so well). It's up to you of course, but personally I would rather have the dented ones (get them fixed maybe) than the repros. Keep up the great work! Yep I know what you mean about the bumpers. It's hard to decide what to keep with character and what to replace with something newer and better. The old ones were just so bashed up when you saw them in person. I've kept the old ones though and I'll try to find a good set of the original profile ones.. loving the new wheels i think the colour is great, but you said it wasnt quite right i thought to myself maybe land rover "limestone" if you want something creamier... I've been trying to find an off the shelf colour here so I don't have to mess around getting them mixed. I've heard that polar white is close to what I'm after, but I'll keep an eye out for limestone if they have it!
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