1991 Cooper Mainstream Project

[Peter Laidler]

Phew........ just when I was getting severe withdrawal symptoms, Liam's restoration job came to the rescue. Great progress Liam and Dad

[GraemeC]

If anyone has any later Mini parts let me know, this is missing a few bits!

I have a few odds and ends - what do you need?

[mini_surfari]

If anyone has any later Mini parts let me know, this is missing a few bits!

I have a few odds and ends - what do you need?

Off the top my head at the moment, black carpet that goes behind the heater against the bulkhead, rover head unit, rover aux lamps, probably a bit of a reach I'm sure there will be more as we go on.


Oh and the dash cards, forgot about those

[northern monkey]

Here's a link to a Dutch brochure showing them in standard trim.

http://mainstreamcooper.co.uk/pictures/ ... /id135.pdf

And the optional extras brochure...

http://mainstreamcooper.co.uk/pictures/ ... /id130.pdf

The brochure cars were very early cars, built in the RSP sequence. In reality the RSP and Mainstream Coopers were developed in parallel, and the first few mainstreams even had RSP engine numbers. Most Mainstreams had the holes between the spokes, but certainly a mix from Rover on when they were actually introduced fully.


My 1990 Mainstream is supposedly the 100th one that left the production line,and it does have an R,S,P, engine number,,,it also had a lot of very very odd additions to its wiring loom,lots of odd plugs (all standard Rover/ Lucas)which did nothing,connected to nothing and went nowhere...it was also fitted with an alarm siren with a Rover logo (sensors on the bonnet ,boot,doors) ,
the previous owner had never done anything other than have the car serviced,and it was as it came out of the dealers ( Halls of Chorley)
in the 30+ years of owning the thing ,Ive never got to the bottom of some of the odd features,

[coopersean]

Off the top my head at the moment, black carpet that goes behind the heater against the bulkhead, rover head unit, rover aux lamps, probably a bit of a reach I'm sure there will be more as we go on.

Oh and the dash cards, forgot about those

You can get the carpet from Somerford I believe : https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/carpet- ... eboard-rhd

Radio would most likely have been a Philips R570 originally. They come up on ebay fairly often - but if you get stuck I may have a spare.

Original spotlights are getting hard to find and expensive. Did your car have them originally, as most mainstreams didn't.

[coopersean]

My 1990 Mainstream is supposedly the 100th one that left the production line,and it does have an R,S,P, engine number,,,it also had a lot of very very odd additions to its wiring loom,lots of odd plugs (all standard Rover/ Lucas)which did nothing,connected to nothing and went nowhere...it was also fitted with an alarm siren with a Rover logo (sensors on the bonnet ,boot,doors) ,
the previous owner had never done anything other than have the car serviced,and it was as it came out of the dealers ( Halls of Chorley)
in the 30+ years of owning the thing ,Ive never got to the bottom of some of the odd features,

Sounds an interesting car! Have sent you a pm. I have an interest in these early cars - I've got the fourth car off the production, one of the RSP press cars.

[mini_surfari]

Off the top my head at the moment, black carpet that goes behind the heater against the bulkhead, rover head unit, rover aux lamps, probably a bit of a reach I'm sure there will be more as we go on.

Oh and the dash cards, forgot about those

You can get the carpet from Somerford I believe : https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/carpet- ... eboard-rhd

Radio would most likely have been a Philips R570 originally. They come up on ebay fairly often - but if you get stuck I may have a spare.

Original spotlights are getting hard to find and expensive. Did your car have them originally, as most mainstreams didn't.

Thanks for that Sean, not sure how I missed that!

I'll let you know if I get stuck for a Radio.

There's an early photo of the car with the spotlights, so I'm guessing they were put on on as part of the Italian Job Pack (from reading the brochure). I've left the two holes in the front panel so if I do find a set, I'll chuck them on.

[mini_surfari]

My 1990 Mainstream is supposedly the 100th one that left the production line,and it does have an R,S,P, engine number,,,it also had a lot of very very odd additions to its wiring loom,lots of odd plugs (all standard Rover/ Lucas)which did nothing,connected to nothing and went nowhere...it was also fitted with an alarm siren with a Rover logo (sensors on the bonnet ,boot,doors) ,
the previous owner had never done anything other than have the car serviced,and it was as it came out of the dealers ( Halls of Chorley)
in the 30+ years of owning the thing ,Ive never got to the bottom of some of the odd features,

Sounds an interesting car! Have sent you a pm. I have an interest in these early cars - I've got the fourth car off the production, one of the RSP press cars.

Do both of your cars have the square electic fan bolted to the inner wing? It's one thing I'll be hunting for. Interesting about the loom... Our front one is so butchered that it's going in the bin, will have to see what the replacement will be like. But the rear one has two bullet connector that nothing goings too

If either of you want to post photos of your cars in here that would be helpful, for refence as parts go back together! This wont be a perfectly 'factory spec car', but we'd like to get it close, as there aren't many of these left.

[mini_surfari]

My 1990 Mainstream is supposedly the 100th one that left the production line,and it does have an R,S,P, engine number,,,it also had a lot of very very odd additions to its wiring loom,lots of odd plugs (all standard Rover/ Lucas)which did nothing,connected to nothing and went nowhere...it was also fitted with an alarm siren with a Rover logo (sensors on the bonnet ,boot,doors) ,
the previous owner had never done anything other than have the car serviced,and it was as it came out of the dealers ( Halls of Chorley)
in the 30+ years of owning the thing ,Ive never got to the bottom of some of the odd features,

Sounds an interesting car! Have sent you a pm. I have an interest in these early cars - I've got the fourth car off the production, one of the RSP press cars.

Do both of your cars have the square electic fan bolted to the inner wing? It's one thing I'll be hunting for. Interesting about the loom... Our front one is so butchered that it's going in the bin, will have to see what the replacement will be like. But the rear one has two bullet connector that nothing goings too

If either of you want to post photos of your cars in here that would be helpful, for refence as parts go back together! This wont be a perfectly 'factory spec car', but we'd like to get it close, as there aren't many of these left unmodified.

[coopersean]

The RSP and Mainstream Cooper's had different underwing electric fans. The RSP was a Metal square one, and is very hard to find. The Mainstream one is plastic, and like the attached: https://www.bullmotifminispares.co.uk/p ... 6/PGG10046

For reference pictures - here a couple of good Mainstream cars. A few minor mods, but hopefully give you some information to help? https://www.originalmini.uk/mini-for-sa ... ttor-model

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/199 ... ini-cooper