Mk1 Mini into Vintage Race Car

[Henry]

I'm taking a Mk1 Mini and making into a vintage race car.. I'm going to attempt to post pictures of progress here as it gets done! I just picked it up from the sandblaster today!

[mk1]

I look forward to following your progress Henry.

[dhenry]

That looks grand. Nice space to work in too. Wish I had a nice big space to work on my projects.

[tomkidd]

Great stuff. Looking forward to seeing it progress

[InimiaD]

Another interesting project for us.
Looks to be a tidy shell to start with which is a great help.
Looking forward to the updates.

[chris-pilling]

That looks a very tidy shell Henry, looking forward to see the progress also! What sort of colour scheme are you going for?

also whats all that stuff in the back ground!? it looks crazy good! ha! ive brighten a pic up to show! what do you do? make giant scary stuff?

[Henry]

that is not my shop, that is the sandblasters's place, they have a huge warehouse... and some interesting decorations as you have discovered... was wondering if anyone would notice! good eye.

It is an early Morris, I had half wanted to put all the Cooper trim on the car and do a two tone paint job, but seeing how everyone else does that, I thought it would be neat to paint solid white with the original painted grill and plain Morris Mini Minor badging.

[Henry]

Attached are pictures of the steering column with quick release wheel that I just finished. I wanted a removable steering wheel, but preferred to retain a period correct look. I bought the quick release mechanism from Lifeline which was specifically designed for a MotoLita steering wheel. I had to cut the end off of the original steering shaft and weld the shaft from Lifeline on. Otherwise, I was able to use the original steering column, turn signal switch, etc.

[graham in aus]

Very nice Henry!

So Lifeline make a Moto Lita specific boss?

Cheers

[Henry]

They do.. you can see it here:
http://www.lifeline-fire.co.uk/download ... e%2009.pdf
As you can see from their website, the setup is really so you can add a quick release to an existing Moto-Lita boss without welding, but I just bought the quick release part and ordered a 'weld-on' shaft instead.

Attached are more pictures of the car, getting acupuncture!

[mk1]

Keep these pics coming. It looks like you have some serious body work skills there! I have seen those weld on panel tuggers before but never known anyone who has used on on a Mini.

[Henry]

Rear subframe pictures...

[graham in aus]

Wow, pretty fancy A/R Bar!

Is that a KAD one like the arms?

Keep it up !

[Vegard]

Which series are you racing?

[Henry]

Yeah, that is the KAD anti-roll bar, it comes awful close to the tires even with the spacer on the rose petals.. has anyone else had a problem with this? I was thinking of machining a few mm off each side of the bar.

Wow, pretty fancy A/R Bar!

Is that a KAD one like the arms?

Keep it up !

[Henry]

I'll probably just do open track days occasionally, I'm in the United States, I'm building it to meet SCCA specs because that way at least safety wise the car will meet specs of just about any vintage racing series. Although that said, I don't think I'd have trouble meeting the rules of any vintage race sanctioning body here though, most cars are much more extreme than the one I'm building.

Which series are you racing?