My ex girlfriend passed her test in 01. She was hellbent on getting a mini. I told her that the wheels were too small, the engine was in the wrong place and if you crash them, you're going to lose your legs.
I hated it. It was a tedious thing being a passenger in it. I was no stranger to A Series engines having cut my tuning teeth of a variety of Morris Minors which got progressively more mad until I crashed my 56 Splitscreen S2 in the lanes. It's engine (full race midget) ended up in an Austin A35 which was like a bubble on a windy day. It accellerated like a bike and handled like a hovercraft. Anyway, I was working on a building site and she was doing teacher training. The building site happened to be at the other end of one of the best A/B roads in the region. My car was kaput and I had to borrow the mini.
It was a great week, I remember following a KA^2 and him trying to burn me off and me just being sat there on his bumper as he upset it around a big sweeping bend.
The following week, I went and bought a 64 Mini Minor, which had been "restored" and promptly put an MG metro 12HD24 engine in it. Come MOT time, it ended up being made of filler (I paid £800) and feeling rather sad, I ebayed it for £1800. This was about 2002 and the beginning of the silly rise in Mk1 prices on ebay.
I had bought a Hammond Organ (Jimmy Smith machine) at university for £400 and sold that for £1800. I was reading pistonheads classifieds in 03 and saw 1966 Morris Mini, restored, unwanted rally car £1500. I went and bought it. I didn't like the (souped up) hydro and when a displacer went, I put the subframes from the 64 on it. I picked up a 1275 +60 with S3 head and 286 cam for about £200. That was my daily hack in about 06-07. I was a science teacher then and the job was at the other end of that road as well. Every day I'd set off in a roar of A series looking forward to getting to work. I got the road dialed, I'd hang back and then roar past everything. On the way home, there is a hairpin bend 180 degrees. I would go down through the gears, whack it in first and then go around the corner on 3 wheels and then hit the rev limit before taking a sharp left. It sounded like motorsport.
I remember being in the pub and someone came up to me and said "They've had a meeting about you in (hairpin) village, they are looking into getting an asbo for your driving". This of course got all around school due to my mate going out with one of the U6th.
The exhaust manifold cracked, we pulled the engine out and it's been in the shed since.
I'm no longer teaching, but I've recently got some more time and it's time to revisit the mini.
I've reconned the cylinder head, which was in my childhood bedroom, along with my engine, everything else is in boxes.
Oh, I forgot. I picked up a full race 1430 which had been used as an autograss race engine, 137 baldwins, SC everything and LSD, £570. I think my fat fingers spelled Mnii Raec Enjige and that's what the title was.
It's time to do it and get it making oil/tyre smells and an antisocial screaming/roaring noise. I'm not going to clean it, or respray it, or shine it, it will be put together and then given a wipe off with an oily rag.
There are too many minis not like this and it's time this one redressed the balance.
Stu
