Other Stuff > Misc / Open
One for Mini lovers, (Ted)
Laverdaroo:
--- Quote from: Orcade-Ian on June 04, 2023, 08:01:53 PM ---Still got mine after all these years. 20 years ago I put all of the bits of a crashed Cooper LE into the shell I'd had for almost 30 years - including all the injection stuff.
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Rear door from a Reliant, rear lamps Mk5 Cortina estate.
With the passengers seat removed, my coffin will fit for the final blast!
Ian
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Love it, what a cool build!
Orcade-Ian:
I modified the Reliant door myself - it had the wrong curve, was too tall and not wide enough - so a really simple job 8)
The Stallard badge - that's me! You were not allowed to use the Austin or Morris names on a self build. Even the tax disc has the name. There was another based on a 1300GT (1100 shape) which I built for my girlfriend back then and the local licensing office gave me GAT 404L to go with the Mini number - how times have changed, it would now have a Q plate! Unfortunately that car was written off in a rear end shunt a few years after we sold it.
As usual there are a few ramblings about the Mini on my site - including modifying the door and injection system:
http://www.stallard-engineering.co.uk/stories/Minis/clubmanestate.htm
I remember those David Ogle cars - lovely jobs and he also did a Scimitar based car.
Ian
McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
Thanks for posting the link Ian - reading your rebuild of the Mini Estate was really interesting as was your article on the 1300GT.
FWIW the 1300 GT & its MG & Wolseley variants reminded me how underestimated they were as comfy vehicles. The engine as you will know is almost an S engine (has the extra 2 head studs) but without the expensive EN40B crank without the two rear crank case covers so a more rigid block. When I was in the car trade they sold well as used vehicles if they were not too rotten at the rear.
Me and my best mate at the time re-shelled quite a few minis and found out to our cost how some things just do not fit, different spaced wiper spindle centrers, two thread sizes on the rubber suspension doughnuts, bigger rear windscreen. We had a new Hydralastic rear subframe that we fitted with the dry rubber suspension - it was a nightmare as the rear trumpets were too short to give the right ride height. With no access to an engineering option we ended up fitting Hi-Lo adjusters with extra thick spacers at great extra expense.
As much as I loved my Minis back in the day when I bought a used early version BMW Mini it did in my view manage to retain the Mini Go Cart drive with modern ride, comfort and lower cabin noise. What the original Mini really lacked IMHO was separate engine/gearbox oil systems. That said the original minis were a hoot to drive compared to the competition at the time a four wheeled equivalent to Honda 400 fours.
Fond memories of my first 850 with the floor mounted starter button & dip switch plus the long pudding stick gear lever with no synchromesh in first gear.
Orcade-Ian:
Yes Ted, it's quite amazing what small changes were made during the Mini production run. My front subframe came from a brand new automatic Mini which had been partly drowned in the North Sea when a ship carrying brand new cars to Belgium sank. Universal Salvage in Sheffield bought them all after recovery - lots of really good undamaged parts became available! However, the Auto front subframe is slightly wider across the engine mounts so I have 1/4" Dural spacers to make up the difference. I've owned 32 Minis of all variants except Moke and Innocenti and rebuilt 12 with new shells starting at £650 and rising to about £1800. I helped a friend re-shell his van in 1972 and that new shell was £178 - they are over 10 grand now for a saloon shell.
Happy days!
Ian
McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
I only had three myself an early 850, a 1275 Mk 1 S, then a Mk2 998 Cooper that I upgraded to a full 1275 spec over several years a couple were spent stood on my driveway as a bare shell sitting on four oil drums. Sadly most of those photos were lost in our house fire in November 2017.
My Mum had a couple of manual versions followed by 3 autos the last two were Clubman Estates.
It was my best mate that rallied a 1275 that he kept on crashing so I helped him re-shell the last one three times.
Its a small world when I was a student I worked part time for a Vauxhall dealership that supplied a new 1275 S to an existing Vauxhall customers son. I picked it up on trade plates from Kennings driving it to the Vauxhall Dealership in Derby (Allsops) for delivery - a lad called Neil Wheal who my mate bought it from some 5 years later - what a small world. My BiL was Neils best mate when they both worked for Web Corbett Glass factory in Tutbury.
PICT0319 by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
.PICT0340 by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
.Trichcolour Cooper by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
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