My 1990 flame, its back at last!!!!!

Projects Mini Saloons
1

hey guys, my mini came off the road on the 26th of october last year, after a nasty incident with a bmw :S
the result was a new front end needed, and while i was at it, i thought id respray the whole car!!!
what was originally planned to be a quick new front and flash over soon turned into a 1200quid respray/refit…

i tried to weld up a steel front from panels id been given, but they were pattern parts and they just wouldnt line up properly at all.
so i took teh plunge and bought a carbon fibre front from curley uk.
with that sorted i then replaced every chrome thing i could thing of with stainless steel, and fitted a chrome handle set instead of my nasty red ones!
its had a new rear valance, and a plate let into the drivesr door step.
other than that its solid!

the suspension and interior are all sorted now.

inside its got vinyl monacos, an alloy dash, minidisc headunit with 6x9’s and 4’’ comps up front, im soon taking out teh rear seat to fit a 6pt cage ive got hold of.

suspension wise its pretty run of the mill stuff, with 1.5degree front lower arms, rear camber brackets, HiLos all round with gaz lowered dampers, poly bushes on everything.

its currently running on std callipesr up front with green stuff pads and grooved and drilled solid discs, but they arnt working right, and ive got a few nasty issues, so ive got hold of a set of metro vented 4pots with greenstuff pads and new discs whicha re going on next week.
at the rear its running ebc shoes with alloy Superfin drums.

keeping it all on the road are a set of MWS 6x12 deep dish minilights with yoko a539 rubber, hiding away under a set of sportspack arches, the fronts have been cut off higher up to fit in with the bumperless carbon front.

the engine is sadly a lowly metro 1275 unit,with metro box (3.44fd) the only real mods being a minisport stage 3 head, mg electronic ignition, a minispares 2core rad, HIF44 carb with K&N filter, an lcb and a maniflow twin box system, on the rolling road it made 84bhp at the crank, but a poor 60 at the wheels (gear box must be tired)

just been resprayed a month ago, all the work done by myself and a mate, his dad simply put the top coat on and we did the rest!
sadly its had a few knocks being rebuilt, but im in the process of blowing all these in, so soon itll be perfect!!!

future plans include a 1380 motor which is in my garage now awaiting a rebuild, thatll be running my stage 3 head, a 296 cam, s rods, wedged turbo crank, driving a rebuilt box with sc drops and a twin pin diff.

i can wait for the new engine!!!
sorry for such a long post, i jsut wanted to show everyone my mini!!!
thanks
nick

2

another…

3

rear veiw

4

and this is where it all began, just over a year ago!!!
(ignore the price in teh windscreen, i didnt pay that for it!!!)

5

Looking good

6

Nick, its really looking good!! keep up the good work!

7

After looking at this mini with what I presume are wood & pickett arches they are starting to grow on me. That shot of the front end looks well menacing.

8

Doh, :nugget: just read your post again, and it says they are sportpack arches. Have you cut them?

9

Looks nice.
Good work fella

10

cheers for the comments guys

the arches are sportspacks, i would ahve changed to group 5’s, but all the holes for the sportspacks were already drilled in teh a-panels and the rear panels, i decided to stick with them.
i initially put them on in std form, but with no front bumper the bumper recesses at the bottom looked TERRIBLE!!!

i also loved the mean look of the group 5 arches, so i decided to cut mine off to give a similar appearence.
being soft rubber i simply cut them with a sharp pair of kitchen scissors, and kept trimming them until tehy were both equal and the look was right.
personally, i think its a bit unique, as it gets away from the roundedness of sportspacks a bit.
these arches are only temporary though, i had no money at the time and bought the minispares copies for £50, and tehy really are cheap any nasty and dont fit too well.
when i can afford a new set of genuine ones ill do it properly and cut them before spraying, and ill also fill the side repeater dip in the top to make it that bit smoother

thanks guys
keep teh comments comming!
nick

11

Does look a bit tastey, and see what you mean about the arches and loosing that ‘roundnes’ of the sportspak…

“*Proppa Job*”

12

thats mint, like thr trials bike in the back ground. just wondering where you got you stick on numberplate from?

13

Wow I love those trimmed arches, It gives it a motor racing “vibe”! Very nice!

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> thats mint, like thr trials bike in the back ground. just wondering where you got you stick on numberplate from?
hehe, thanks, the trials bike is mine, its my other hobby along with the mini.
its often hard to decide which to spend money/time on
it used to be teh bike, but lately the mini has stolen the show a bit, yet things are equaling out a touch now…
i need to keep up my riding to maintain my standard…

the stick on number plate came from Kevin Cooper Motor Factors limited.
which are pretty much the same as most local motorfactors i think.
its annoying, because as you can see in the head on pic its impossible to get it to stick down totally smooth due to teh curvature of the mini front panel…
ah well
you really dont notice those creases when u look at it on teh road so its all good
thanks for the comments,
i like the arches too :tongue: tehy make it look more ‘evil’

15

cool, iv not done much trials riding for ages, went more towards dirt! i know what u mean with the mini though, sort of takes over from the bike. he he uv got the same cranks as me apart from the trials Rs 7’s

16

nice pic, thats quite a double…
ive used rs7’s for 4 years now and not broken a set yet, awsome cranks!
back to mini talk…

im still trying to find time to get my rollcage sandblasted and powdercoated, then that’ll be going in and teh rear seats comming out!
then its just a case of building up my new engine for summer :slight_smile:

17

righty then…
in light of teh mini world action day at castle combe in a few months, the cage is going to be fitted sooner than planned.
if im going to a track day, and ive got a cage already, i may as well fit it!!!

so
i took teh time to get it out of teh old mini today, to find its not in teh best state visually!
but all the rust is surface only, so itll clean up, and with a good spray itll look good as new!
i have no idea what the cage is, only to say it was FIA approved about 10years ago, as the sticker on the side ways… or did before it rotted away

so
ill be spraying that up, and purchasing a set of these harnesses:

HARNESSES (click me)

all of which should go very nicely in my car

18

looking good! hope u can post a pic up of the cage after its been touched up!

19

haha
will do
i should have the rear cage al finished and painted up by this evening.
ive spent an hour or more this morning flatting it all down so its perfectly smooth.
im just having lunch, then its getting a few coats of primer, then a shiney top coat of smooth white :smiley:
should look brand new by this eve.

20

nothing too exciting, but the cage is now all sprayed up and being left a week or so before fitting so the paint can harden properly.

my harnesses have arrived, so the rear seats are gone and the harnesses are in.

ive currently got teh shoulder straps in the rear belt mounts, but after reading a few things on minifinity i may get some plates and mount them near the top of teh rear bulkhead to give a better angle, plus i personally think it looks better being higher up!!!

sorry for the shitty harness pic, twas taken in twighlight on my phone

now ive just got to debumper it, fit my roller tips, and have it rolling roaded again!