RYL775E 998 Austin Cooper project

[colonel mustard]

Hi All,
I have been following this forum since I purchased my Mk1 998 Mini Cooper (67) earlier this year. Being relatively new to the mini scene and starting a full restoration with limited or nil prior experience I have been quite busy with stripping and restoring rear and front sub-frames (with help from Peter’s ‘How to’ .pdfs), speedo, switch gear and heater restoration etc….
When I purchased the mini earlier this year, the previous owner had stripped the car back 10years ago and carried out an extensive panel replacement to isolated areas where it stood in his mates body shop for the next 9 years (nice and dry!!).
When purchased the car it was in primer with a very basic fit on the doors, boot and bonnet areas. Currently the shell and associated panels are sitting in the shed waiting for the body shop to take on (hopefully December this year!).
I have attached a few photographs of the work completed so far! (let me know if I have missed / built anything incorrectly!)
I will keep posted on the build as it goes on!.
On the other side of the coin it is the car’s history! The car has a heritage cert and a few photographs from the past with MOT certs back to the mid 90’s. I have found and I am in contact with the owner from the late 80’s, who is looking through paperwork to see if he has anything. The guy I bought the car from has no further knowledge of the cars history! I am trying to pull together some more history, previous owners and the like!.
What I do know:
It is a 998 Austin Mini Cooper
Build date – May 1967
Dispatch date – June 1967
Dealer – Kennings Limited - London
MOT certs dating from 1996 (28k miles) to 2001 (31k miles)
I have also tried contacting Kennings Archive but with no luck!!.
Any help and advise would be gratefully received on how to gain more historical information.
Thanks again for a great informative forum!

[colonel mustard]

a few more photographs

[mini_surfari]

subframes look great! Are they powder coated?

[trevorhp]

Looks pretty good to me.
Well done so far.
Hope you find some more history
I'm sure someone will know the drivers.
Colonel Mustard p.s. "I think you did it in the garage with a monkey wrench"

[colonel mustard]

Thanks both,
Yes the subframes have been stripped, prep'd and powder coated locally to me. They do look good!!
Thanks trevorhp

[miniminor]

Good progress!
That was one seriously crusty sill

[Costafortune]

RYL is a North London number, Highgate area. I had an Alfa with an RYL number (1977) that was registered there.

[colonel mustard]

Thanks all
Just a quick question, to remove the pivot pin that holds the pedals together within the pedal box (once nut is removed) do you tap this out with a hammer or is there something I am missing?

Thanks all

[Simon776]

London registrations moved area frequently.

RYL with an E suffix is Greater London (North East) - registration office in Stratford E15

RYL with an L suffix is Greater London (South West)

RYL with an R suffix is London (Central)

[Peter Laidler]

Yes, the shaft should tap out but you might find a ridge worn into by the pedals so knocking it out is a bit of a PITA. Sadly that means a new p;in and bushes for the pedals, Not a difficult job though

[colonel mustard]

Hi all,
Well the mini will be due for picking up towards the end of next week from the spray shop, I have say it looks pretty good and ready to start building back up over the coming months!

No wanting to damage the new paint, what is the best way in getting this back from the spray shop? Do I bed it down on a soft bed and tether down and protect the paint work with towels etc or bolt sub frames on and secure this way? Are there any recommended techniques, all conscious it will be just me at the other end!

Also stripped the engine down and sent off the block and head for cleaning ready for painting and rebuilding.

A couple of interior painted!
Any help is gratefully received.

[9330FN]

Hi all,

No wanting to damage the new paint, what is the best way in getting this back from the spray shop? Do I bed it down on a soft bed and tether down and protect the paint work with towels etc or bolt sub frames on and secure this way? Are there any recommended techniques, all conscious it will be just me at the other end!

.

I have just had mine painted but I put the finished subframes on. However if you cannot do this at the paintshop and you haven't far to go to transport it I would borrow the paint shops Dolly that it's currently sitting on or buy yourself a rollover spit or dolly which will be great for putting on brake lines etc. I bought a dolly from rollover jigs on the internet only £200 and it comes with winch points for traillering.

Mike

[colonel mustard]

Hi Mike
Thanks for the information I will have a good look over their website. I assume the jig / trolley is secured to the shell via subframe fixings etc...

[mk1]

I have a transport frame that the shell bolts onto for transport. It picks up on the steering rack mounts & the rear subframe mounts. This way you can transport your shell anywhere you want without messing the new paint up.

[colonel mustard]

Well the car has been back from the spray shop a couple of weeks now and have finally invested in a rotisserie.
Started playing around with the preformed hydro lines (as the existing ones leaked once tested) and have got the tweaks sorted and have applied tape around the areas that are touching the underside / fixing lugs.

This weekends job is to start both fuel and brake lines. (And practice flaring on left over copper 3/16” pipe I have lying around).
A few pictures of the car at the body shop and some of the draft hydro lines.

I have to say without this forum I would be a tad lost with never doing anything like this before! Existing build threads have been priceless in working out pipework routes and the like, thanks to all!

Once I have finished the ‘plumbing phase’ I will post more photos up for comments.

[colonel mustard]

On the rotisserie

[Pandora]

with help from Peter’s ‘How to’ .pdfs

Out of interest for many others, what / where are these?


Al

[colonel mustard]

Hi Al
The ‘how to’ info is in the technical section of the forum at the top of the list
Hope this helps?

[roger mcnab]

what a great paint job it looks better than new bet you can not wait to drive it around cheers roger mcnab

[colonel mustard]

Hi Roger
Yes I looks great! Really pleased with how it has turned out.
Hopefully will be on the road by this time next year, nice and steady!