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Hi Everyone,

So I’ve been hunting for a mk1 Cooper S for as long as I can remember. Sadly with lack of funds and them being super rare here in South Africa, I could not find one within my budget.

Over December holiday I was lucky enough to find a Mk2 Cooper S that the owner had purchased from someone in the 70’s and he enjoyed it till 82, where he decided to strip the car down for rebuild. 83 he had the motor rebuilt and the car has sat since then sadly.

I’ve made the final payment and now just need to go and collect my latest purchase!

Very excited for the build, although it will be a fairly slow one.

The Mini comes with a set of 5 original Mamba wheels and new tyres at least!

The photo of the red car is what it looked like originally before the owner started stripping it.

Sadly the firewall will require repairing and then few parts that I’ve seen that are missing, is the 130mph speedo, it’s coming with a 1070 120mph speedo, the binnacle, incorrect head and gearbox and carbs. It does however come with a well ported 940 head and a 22A1288 box, which I will use the internals to build in a 333 casing ive managed to find over the years. It also comes with that strange twin su inlet manifold and a set of HS4 carbs.

Will post more pics as and when I’ve done something at least!

Any recommendations or queries I’m more than happy to answer

What a fantastic project!

People in the UK rarely see shells as good as that one!

What are your plans?

I suspect Mark 2 Cooper S's are scarce in SA. Good to hear that another Mini is on a path to resurrection and all the best.
May all your sorrows be 'Mini' ones!

mk1 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:08 am What a fantastic project!

People in the UK rarely see shells as good as that one!

What are your plans?

Hi Mark,

Plan is to take it back to as close as original, with a few mods. Thinking some arches with either the 12 Inch Pearce wheels or arches with the 10 Inch Mamba wheels. Interior ill try and keep original, seats are in good condition and the door cards might just require new boards. Engine wise, I'm thinking back to original 22G333 box, with original AEG163 head and a nice SW5 cam perhaps with Twin SU HS2 carbs.

Color will also be back to original BRG, which was the only color available when they were released.

EMOKID wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:36 am I suspect Mark 2 Cooper S's are scarce in SA. Good to hear that another Mini is on a path to resurrection and all the best.
May all your sorrows be 'Mini' ones!

Yes, there were more Mk1 minis made than Mk2 minis, hence i never thought of a Mk2, but also always like the idea of the sliding windows and liked the smaller tail lights.

Sounds like an absolutely fantastic plan! I am sure there won't be many as original as yours will be down in SA.

To save you the expense. Most of the MK2 Coopers S's came with a 1288 Gearbox. Very few (if any) came with a 333 box. ( unless SA cars were different) In your post it looks like two different cars. One with external hinges and one without.. ?

TECH396 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:32 am To save you the expense. Most of the MK2 Coopers S's came with a 1288 Gearbox. Very few (if any) came with a 333 box. ( unless SA cars were different) In your post it looks like two different cars. One with external hinges and one without.. ?

Yes, i managed to find out that they only changed over from October 68 and as far as the owner mentioned, it use to have a 3 synchro box on, so he changed it and it now has a 1128 box on.
So the Mk2 S is the stripped car and the red internal door hinged car is the previous owners Clubman he's busy building.

TECH396 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:32 am To save you the expense. Most of the MK2 Coopers S's came with a 1288 Gearbox. Very few (if any) came with a 333 box. ( unless SA cars were different) In your post it looks like two different cars. One with external hinges and one without.. ?

My Jan '68 MK2 S (UK) came with a 22A1522 3 synchro g/box

floormanager wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 5:06 pm

TECH396 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:32 am To save you the expense. Most of the MK2 Coopers S's came with a 1288 Gearbox. Very few (if any) came with a 333 box. ( unless SA cars were different) In your post it looks like two different cars. One with external hinges and one without.. ?

My Jan '68 MK2 S (UK) came with a 22A1522 3 synchro g/box

Yes there were 1522's & 1288's used predominantly , I have seen only one 333 on a very early MK2 S. I have 25 different MK2 S cars in my personal collection Database and approx 70% use the 1288 Box from new.

I’ll definitely give it some thought going forward, thanks gents, really appreciate the advice.

This is the stamp markings on the 22G1288 box that the owner said came off his brothers Cooper back in the day. Hi

Quinny1293 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:32 am I’ll definitely give it some thought going forward, thanks gents, really appreciate the advice.

This is the stamp markings on the 22G1288 box that the owner said came off his brothers Cooper back in the day. Hi

That Gearbox number is from a 1275 car & built around March/April 1968...

So the owner sent me a few pics while he's busy pulling out the parts for me to collect the car. Sadly it comes with a 1070 speedo, so will have to find a 130mph speedo and missing the binnacle as well. It's going to be a fun project. He sent a pic of the original seatbelts as well, so that was a very cool find as well.

Then managed to get the GT into storage as well, while i wait for the panel beater to clear some space for me to bring it there for some rust repairing.

So, over the weekend I managed to finally collect the new project.

It’s always nice finding one, but finding it in a basket case makes it so much more difficult, because there’s always stuff missing.

Was quite nice, owner gave me 5 new A008 tyres with the Mamba wheels. Owner ended up keeping the steering wheel, as he wanted it as a sentimental thing.

I started cleaning up the speedo and rev gauge, sadly the 1070 speedo isn’t correct, but luckily a friend of mine has a 130mph speedo that we might be doing a swop deal for.

So here’s a few pics of the mini and cool parts.

Also came with some cool wind deflectors for the wipers, which I found quite cool. Maybe I’m just a little strange.

Sadly, the GT and S couldn’t fit int he container together, so the GT had to be taken back home again. A bit sad about that.

Just more pics

Unfortunately i have not been as active on the build as i would like to have been, but unfortunately funds are a little low at this stage.
Been busy cleaning parts up and sadly noticed the seats were incorrect, so will have to find something that matches these door cards weave. The badges, the red was basically non existing anymore, so decided to paint it in with some modeling paint red i had, it's not too bad. Then decided that the Mamba wheels might look good on my GT and started cleaning one wheel up as much as possible and giving it a nice polish.

Then took the number plate holder and gave that a nice clean and polish and just took a cool picture of it. Found some original paint color in the door, so will try and match that up as best as possible and go with that. Abri on the group also had a look at my speedo, as it wasn't in too great condition. Sadly it will have to go for a full rebuild at a specialist, but because its the incorrect speedo, ill rather allocate the funds to the correct 130mph speedo. He was also kind enough to sell me a binnacle and i had some smiths temp and oil pressure gauges here at home.