Austin Mini restoration
For further updates on the progress of this car please scroll down this page or choose from the links above.

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Work started the 27th of march 2008
Donor car a 1976 Austin mini saloon
Partially repaired
1st Day of restoration
The car arrived in my garage and I started stripping it down. Firstly by removing the engine, labelling 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
above )




