January 1960 Austin Mini

[TRP]

** Status as of 1/5/2019 **

Spoke with the shop manager. She's going to try and get me a schedule together for the next few phases of the build.

I am selling off the 10" x 6" wheels and the W&P arches. Going for more of a classic vintage style racer.

I ordered up new wheels, tires, GAZ shocks, fluted fender welting, and some adjustable suspension bits from MiniSpares in the UK. Parts should arrive sometime in the next few weeks. All that is left to purchase will be the rear seat cover and the brake hose that connects the left and right front brakes. Garage full of parts and no car to put them on.

I'm thinking something like this:









The waiting is the hardest part...

[mk1]

Ha, ha, waiting is always terrible!

Hang on in there, before you know it, you will have lots to do

I look forward to the next update.

[TRP]

I swung by the shop last week and found they had made some pretty amazing progress on the car.

20190510_124613_sm.jpg

20190510_124634_sm.jpg

20190510_124224_sm.jpg

20190510_124218_sm.jpg

20190510_124553_sm.jpg

Ted

[TRP]

More photos...

20190510_124627_sm.jpg

20190510_124235_sm.jpg

20190510_124231_sm.jpg

20190510_124301_sm.jpg

20190510_124310_sm.jpg

Thank you for letting me share...

[TRP]

Annnnd.... more...

20190510_124253_sm.jpg

20190510_124244_sm.jpg

(poor lighting / artifact from the booth lights)


...Here is the big reveal...

2019-05-15 18_sm.jpg

2019-05-15 18_2_sm.jpg

[AndyB72]

Nice!! Can't beat a bit of fresh paint.

[Nick W]

like the blocks its sitting on....great Idea

[TRP]

More progress today!

I had to take them through the cloudy windows of the paint booth.

20190517_154853.jpg

20190517_154906.jpg

20190517_154910_HDR.jpg

20190517_154955.jpg

Sorry for the blurry vignette photos! Next week I should have photos of the car out of the booth!

Ted

[TRP]

Some progress! May get to bring it home this week. We'll see how it all goes.

20190531_143000.jpg

20190531_143014.jpg

Need to get the boot hinge screws painted before they can finish up the install.

20190531_145145.jpg

They are working on lining up the bonnet a bit more. Seems a bit askew.

I'm going to have their glass guys install the front and rear glass.

20190531_143111.jpg

Hopefully I can bring it home Friday

[TRP]

I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated you fine folks with the progress on the Mini. To be fair, I was in London for a week, then in Lake Tahoe, California for a week. I managed to steal away some time to get some work done. I figured I'd update you all on the progress.

I was finally able to bring the car home on June 17th. All in all, I'm happy with the paint job. It will have to go back in to fix a few minor nibs.

Here is the car waiting for the glass install team to come and install the front and rear screens:

20190607_125221.jpg

Once installed I was able to bring the car home. I should have cleaned the garage prior to it's homecoming. We had just finished our last baseball tournament for my 12 year old son, so his gear was still in the garage:

Message_1560907382508.jpg

I couldn't stand to look at the car with no front blingy bits. Needed to jump on that right away:

Message_1561303050162.jpg

Once that was all squared away I turned my attention to the rear:

Message_1560907505506.jpg

Much better. How about the tail lights, new lowered shocks, freshly reconditioned fuel tanks, boot board, bumper, and exhaust!

20190704_170403_HDR.jpg

[mk1]

That is looking fantastic!

The paint really pops.

[TRP]

Thank you, Mark!

I'm slowly reassembling everything. Trying to balance the line of getting it going again vs. getting it perfect. I think I did a few parts multiple times before I learned to live with my less than professional results. I may try to fire the motor tonight. No reason why it shouldn't run. I'll prime the carb a bit and crank the motor with the coil disconnected to get things wet before I give it the spark.

The one job I'm dreading is swapping out the existing speedo with the replacement I picked up. There are SO MANY WIRES on the back! Are there any pointers for speedo replacement on the site?

Thanks gang, for letting me share!

Ted

[mk1]

Hi Ted,

Any wiring ALWAYS gives me the willies. None more than the speedo back.

The truth is that there is no really easy solution to this. HOWEVER, if you start by getting a copy of the wiring diagram copied & enlarged as big as you can go & then carefully follow it, maybe crossing off each connection as you go, you will, I am sure find it a lot easier than it looks.

Good luck, M

[TRP]

Hi Ted,

Any wiring ALWAYS gives me the willies. None more than the speedo back.

The truth is that there is no really easy solution to this. HOWEVER, if you start by getting a copy of the wiring diagram copied & enlarged as big as you can go & then carefully follow it, maybe crossing off each connection as you go, you will, I am sure find it a lot easier than it looks.

Good luck, M

Sounds good! I'm also having an issue with one of the tail lights now that I've reassembled everything and the wires are impossible to get to. The wiring diagram will come in handy.

Ted

[TRP]

Hello Gang,

The speedo is all wired up and everything lights up like it should. The end is in sight! Down to just a few bits on the interior (wire up the amp meeter, the tach, and the lights for the amp, tach, oil pressure and water temp instruments).

The one item that has stumped me is the seals on the rear quarter windows/popouts. When I install the seals and try to close the windows they no longer close without hitting the body. The windows fit fine without the seals. What am I missing? These appear to be the right seals.

Any advice anybody could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ted

[mk1]

Ted,

The rear quarter light seals are an ongoing problem. Historically a lot of replacement seals sold have simply been the wrong shape causing the problem you describe.

Different restorers have found different suppliers who have solved this issue.

Some swear by Woolies Trim, but when I got some off them a few years ago it was rubbish. I have very recently used new seals on 2 cars, both the sets were bought from Minispares & fitted very well indeed.

https://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/ALA5897.aspx

When fitting these seals a little lube is a good idea as it helps the quarter light settle down into the new rubber.

[Daz1968]

I can vouch that the current mini spares seals can be made to fit but I had to trim the seal a little especially around the hinge location to get window forward as much as possible and keep working on them to get windows to close, they are not perfect and window will not fit flush with the body, but I am hoping in time they will soften a little, I almost gave up but my originals were beyond use.

[TRP]

Thank you both for your replies! I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to share insights.

I've ordered the replacements. I will follow up with my results.

Friday I'm off to the Department of Motor Vehicles to wrap up the VIN verification and finalize the registration. Pretty soon I'll be able to drive this little gem!

[TRP]

I figured I should give a quick up date on the assembly process!

Interior is in! Having Newton whip up a new rear seat for me. I went all black because the early Mk1 fleck stuff didn't do a lot for me. Don't judge! I need to wrap up wiring on the Amp Meeter and Tach'o. Once that's done I can insert the dash panel and the Mk1 binnacle. I can also see that I need to replace that heater hose that ended up being painted blue! Could use a good hoover on the carpets too!

Message_1563753778666.jpg

Message_1563753688803.jpg

Message_1563753719331.jpg

Trying to decide if I want to go with Smaller mirrors. I don't want to drill holes in the doors so I recycled my wing mirrors. Do they look too big?

20190723_203201_HDR.jpg

20190723_203309_HDR.jpg

Thanks for checking in,
Ted

[TRP]

I'm at DMV right now. So far so good!