Austin Mini restoration

 

Chassis Pages            Engine            Double Tanks            Wiring Page            Mechanical              Brake's             Flip front

 

Donor car a 1976 Austin mini saloon

Work started the 27th of march 2008

Partially repaired

 

1st Day of restoration

The car arrived in my garage and I started stripping it down. Firstly by removing the engine, labeling all the electrical connections before removing them.

 

 

With the engine and sub frame removed it was time to start on the rest of the engine bay and the other components such as brake lines and wiper motor.

I thought I would try to list what I want to do to the car and maybe a list of parts to get.

 

Plans for the car

Some of the pictures that I have found on the internet that I am using for inspiration..

      Flip front                  Tahiti blue                 Bling Bling        chequer roof pattern

 

   Starmags

 

UPDATE 16/08/08

Today I have been to work and done some work to the body including sand blasting the parts of the car that I haven't been able to get to with the grinder e.g. roof guttering, A,B,C pillars, boot floor and bulkhead.

Whilst I had the sandblaster out I decided that I had some suspension parts and brake parts that could also do with a once over to get rid of any rust.

 

BIG UPDATE

It has been decided to change the planned colour of the car from Tahiti blue to a deep metallic red/black flip paint. As (at the moment) the plan is that I will be doing the re-spray myself it has been decided that it doesn't matter what the paint costs (within reason). 

 

ORIGINAL

chrome Starmags                                               Ally cats                                                 white Starmags

These are some pictures that I had made from a member of www.theminiforum.com

I found the original picture on the internet and I asked someone on the forum to change the colour from the silver and added a black base with a candy red on top then I asked him to add a chequered roof and some starmags in both white and chrome.... as a bonus he added some ally cats wheels

 

This week I have been able to be do some more work on the car whilst at work. including painting parts blasted at the weekend and the two petrol tanks now both finished. Also this week I have repair the door and boot lid where the rust fairy's had been (sorry forgot to take pictures of these ). I have added to the list of things needed to source after looking at the parts after they had been blasted.

 

 

NON MINI-ish?????

Winter is just around the corner so I have been busy getting somewhere for the mini to live over the cold winter months as our everyday car needs to be in the warm garage. So as we no longer have a dog and have no use for an exercise area I am turning it in to a mini garage.

The original door was only big enough for a person to go through so I have taken away the door and fence to the left of it and made and fitted two doors so that the car will go in.

And of course my trusty helper was with me.....

Giant Update 19/10/08

After a few days in the garage screwing parts together I have finally finished assembling the front suspension and fitted it to the car. Next on went the rear suspension , wheel bearings and wheels, I had to adjust the rear suspension in order to make the body sit level on the suspension and then finally I was able to roll it out on to the grass. I had to steer it by pushing on the wheels as, at the moment, I do not have both of the steering rack clamps fitted. (please note the angels looking down on the car in the top right corner of the picture)

So now the car is stood in "the mini garage" and i will take more pictures of it stood there. CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

A few hours later and the garage was clean and our everyday car stood in there.....

New update 30/11/08

I have bought some new-ish steel 5 X 10" wheels that I am now waiting to have the tyres removed and then they can be can ship them over to Sweden....

Before

I have looked on the internet to find out what they are, I think that they are a copy of Weller wheels called Jolly's

The plan with these is to sand blast them and re-spray them white and finish with a nice shiny clear coat. pictures of that to follow...

 

Today i have received my wheels back i decided to send them away for power coating as this lasts longer than ordinary painting especially on wheels so here they are in nice shiny white

After

UPDATE

I have added 2 new pages Wiring Page and Mechanical page (see links)

The wiring page is all about the wiring loom, from strip down and total rebuild including new parts and (hopefully) useful info to anyone else that is thinking of doing the same thing.

The mechanical page shows some of the new parts that I have created on the computer using CAD ( computer added design) and how they looked in "real life" .

 

Finally the long awaited chrome has arrived

 

Decision change again!!!

After countless hours of work on the glass fibre front i have decided to sell it and make one out of metal (see link)

 

Parts to source

.

Rear sub frame

Found on Ebay

Boot lid

Supplied by member of www.hundkoja.com

Left door

Supplied by member of www.hundkoja.com

Bushes all round

Supplied by plminis

Hinges to flip front

Made See link here

New shocks all round

Supplied by plminis

Rear wheel cylinders

Supplied by plminis

New brake lines all round

 

New fuel lines

 

Wheel arches

Found on Ebay

Gaskets to engine

Supplied by plminis

Ignition lock

Found on Ebay

Make new wiring loom

Supplied by Auto sparks

Wheel Bearings both front and rear

Supplied by Minispares

Knuckle joints

Supplied by Minispares
Hilo’s (adjustable suspension) Supplied by Minispares

Rubber cones front

Supplied by Minispares

Ball joints

Found on Ebay

Suspension arm repair kit front

Supplied by Minispares

Suspension arm repair kit back Supplied by Minispares

Wheels

Found on Ebay

A panels

Supplied by Nottingham mini bits

Clutch

Supplied by Minispares

Valve Guides

Supplied by Minispares

Scuttle panel corners

Supplied by Minispares

Front wings

Found on Ebay

Front panel

Found on Ebay

Bonnet Found on Ebay
Alloy rocker cover Found on Ebay
Clear rear light lens's Found on Ebay

Extra fuel tank to be adapted to right hand tank

Found on Ebay
Cylinder head Found on Ebay
Front clear indicators Found on Ebay
New seals to clutch master cylinder Found on Ebay
New starter solenoid Found on Ebay

 

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