1967 Mk1 850 Deluxe

[njl1275]

Hi all,

I have just joined and looking forward to all your input in my new project, i have bought a 1967 850 deluxe which requires total restoration, nothing scares me being in the trade and have completed a few previous builds, 2000 Cooper Sportpack, 1979 austin 1000, 1982 city E.

This will be my first mk1 and which way do i go? keep it completely original? build a goodwood type replica with 1293?

Lots of questions. do people keep the hydrolastic suspension or convert to dry cones? can the hydro units be refurbished?

Can i keep the magic wand selector and convert a later type gearbox or will i have to cut the floor?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Neil

[timmy201]

That looks like a great base for a project!

I’ve got a 4 synchro gearbox with a magic wand shifter on my 850. It’s a 22G1128 4 synchro remote casing with a diff housing off a 3 synchro 850. The potential issue with this is the bearing tunnel being misaligned but mine was ok. The other option is the shifter assembly off the van, but these parts are becoming harder to find

[mk1]

I agree with Tim, that looks like a very good starting point. A pretty decent MK1, It's good to know that they are still about

Re your questions,

Hydro: You'll get varying opinions on this one. You can keep hydro, if you do, you can get the displacers refurbished at a couple of places. Tim at Minimail does them. https://www.minimail.co.uk/ or alternatively these people also do them. https://hahsltd.co.uk/ I have known Tim for years, so he is my preference, but I have heard good reports on HAHS.

If you are tuning, like you suggest, you may prefer to ditch the Hydro in favour of a dry set up. This is far more "tuneable" for fast road, competition type driving. While Hydro is a smooth somewhat sedate ride.

Tim's suggestions are bob on.

Please keep us posted re your progress, there is lots of good experience on here & I am sure you will find it helpful.

M

[Old English White]

You can do whatever you like of course but of all the Minis I have owned in the last 50 years (including Mk1 and Mk2 Cooper "S") the one which gave me the most enjoyment and driving pleasure was a really good 1967 850cc Super Deluxe. Personally I would never get rid of the hydrolastic because I like the comfortable ride. Other people will ditch it immediately! I just found it a really enjoyable, smooth quiet car in which to drive enthusiastically and was happy to drive it 200 miles in a day without a thought
Good luck whatever you do though!

[mk1]

OEW Makes a VERY GOOD POINT!

[Peter Laidler]

Changing from Hydro to Dry isn't the absolute doddle that some people make it out to be. Depending on your facilities of course, it is a bastard of a job and could be expensive. I've studied the hydraulics and elasticity of 'hydrolastic' (hence hydro-elastic) since Pontius was a pilot and hate it with a vengeance. That said, I've got it on my pretty-well original S but make sure that it is well maintained. In other words, if it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it.

What I'd say or suggest to you is this. With my old hat on and having been there and done it a few times........ Since you're virtually starting a restoration from scratch, restore the car to original spec to start with. Then in time, as you want to improve or modify, to, say a 998 Cooper engine or brakes, do so BUT KEEP THE ORIGINAL STUFF. Don't do anything that isn't easily reversible

Great project and look forwards to seeing it progress.

[AndyPen]

Have to agree with Peter, not least because you appear to have a great little base car there, and in very similar condition to a couple of my family's collection.

We do have a 970S in our 64 super deluxe, but the original engine is carefully stored so that it could be converted back - admittedly with a plate required in the gear tunnel. I should also add the conversion was done around 1990 when there were a lot more about.

Your car and your choice is rule 1 here, but I'd nudge you towards the originality as much as possible

[njl1275]

Thanks for all the replys, I'm going towards keeping the body all original but with an old English white roof, see how much to refurb the hydro units and replace pipe work, have looked into converting to dry and it's a lot of parts needed. Cooper S front disc conversion will be a good idea, not original but safer and a known option. Will do another engine at some point but will definitely keep the original 850 as it's numbers matching.

So original route but with a few tweeks just to make it better that can be reversed if needed.

Friend of mine thinks I should do a Goodwood mini but for the road, sounds expensive, lol.

I have seen nick swift conversions that are called madgwick that are very nicely put together.

Thanks guys.

[AndyPen]

You'll need to get the correct offset wheels for those brakes of course, but a very nice look. Rear drums will need to be spaced types to match.

You probably know most of this already, but we ran an S without a servo when rallying, and the pad selection made quite a difference. Hard cold pads needed a lot of pedal pushing, resulting in a few scary moments

[olddave]

New soft pads ran out after 50 miles!

[njl1275]

Hi all,

Sorry have not been on for a while, bit of an update, i have now got the mk1 fully stripped to a shell.

Its not as bad as i first though but will need a fair few panels replacing.

Have a few options regarding the shell, do i stone chip/coat underside and paint body colour or just body colour, this will be used when its done not driven around on a trailer.

Old english white roof or black roof, i am going towards black roof as i am not doing a "replica". body will stay original almond green.

Have also put up some pics, 2 are of subframes, i do believe they are possibly originals due to the markings?

Will be staying with the hydro suspension.

Stanford hall show coming up so have a list.

As i restore bits and shell comes on will keep you all posted.

Regards

Neil

[njl1275]

few more pics

[steve1071]

Have a look at the Raptor products for the underside.

[Costafortune]

With Minis, the more you modify them the less pleasant they are.

Nothing wrong with Hydro but a front damper kit is worthwhile. A brake servo ditto. The 850 can be rebuilt with a lightly shaved 1100 head with a 9.5:1 compression, a slightly better cam and a 1.5 inch SU. That's all they need to be as peppy as a good 998. 40-45 bhp, good torque and throttle response. The standard pudding stirrer 850 gearchange is very direct and accurate.

I'd keep it all green, retain the standard wheels so that looks like a standard 848 cc Mini, but with a bit more go. Hydro gives a much better ride than cones.

[roger mcnab]

hi
you are not wrong about it needing a few panels how come the boot floor looks good did it forget to rust
cheers roger
ps i had a 850 that went well drove it from sydney to melbourne and got 85 mpg but it was slow on hills a bit to lean but cheap to run no hydro
cheers

[alexm]

This is my kind of project.

I used to own an Island Blue 67. The previous owner had gone OEW on the roof, fitted some 4.5" steels and retained the hydro.

Similar to the engine spec Costafortune suggested, the original 848cc engine was taken to +0.040 with a mild cam, 1.5" carb and freeflow maniflow and RC40 system and I think it had a 998 Cooper head (12G295). It made 48bhp from memory and drove superbly having been set up in the rollers. Would definitely recommend breathing on the engine.

Look forward to seeing more updates