mk1-forum.net

EDIT: Sorry about the photos - Flickr wanted to start charging me $50 a year for having more than 1000 photos in my album, so most are now gone... I'll come back and fix them up one day

I'm on this site nearly everyday looking at everyone else's minis, so I thought I'd share a bit about my project. I'm very lucky to have it now, as it has been in our family for most of it's life, and gone through 3 generations.

The first one to own it was my dad, who got it for free off his aunt in the early 80's. He got it running again and used it as his everyday car until my parents needed a more practical car My grandfather owned it next, from the late 80's until last year. He used it as a runaround on his farm for a while before he decided to fix it up. He had the 848cc engine replaced with a 998cc, and fitted a remote gear change at a later stage. He also had it resprayed from tartan red all over to red with a white roof - 25 years ago. Since downsizing to a smaller house in town he used it as his everyday car


It got passed onto me early last year. Since then I've done a fair bit of work to make it more reliable and a bit more period correct. It currently looks like this




I've been planning on getting a set of Hi-Lo's and a Stage 1 kit for a while, unfortunately most of my modification money keeps getting reallocated into the maintenance side of things. The engine is also a little tired after 25 years, so I'd like to rebuild another 998 or maybe a 1098 myself to replace it in the next few years

Love the look of it !
Nice to keep it in the family so long !
Maybe you can pass it on as we'll.

Craig

looks great....
Shame to lose the original engine though.
Cheers Michael

Thanks for sharing mate!

What a great story, the car having been passed through the family so long is wonderful.

I hope you get loads of enjoyment out of it and will hopefully be able to pass it on sometime in the future.

There is plenty of time for modifications in the future, the fact that it is still about & being used is the best thing.

Good luck.

Craig wrote:Love the look of it !
Nice to keep it in the family so long !
Maybe you can pass it on as we'll.

Craig

Thanks Craig, it was really great that I was able to be the next owner. I have three brothers too, but none of them are terribly mechanically minded (or happy to get dirty working on them). I haven't got any children yet to pass it on to, hopefully there will still be some petrol left in 25 years or so!

mini63 wrote:looks great....
Shame to lose the original engine though.
Cheers Michael

Thanks! It would have been really nice to still have the original engine, but 30 years ago it wasn't such a big thing to keep the original parts. I'm a little surprised how well it still goes as it didn't get used much - just to the shops and back. I've probably done a few thousand miles this year and it's held up well so far.

mk1 wrote:Thanks for sharing mate!

What a great story, the car having been passed through the family so long is wonderful.

I hope you get loads of enjoyment out of it and will hopefully be able to pass it on sometime in the future.

There is plenty of time for modifications in the future, the fact that it is still about & being used is the best thing.

Good luck.

Thanks Mark,

My grandpa calls it the "giveaway" car, as he didn't pay for it, my dad didn't, and neither did my dad's aunt before him! I'll have to pass it onto someone else in the future to keep it going on!

I really enjoy driving it around, especially with other mini guys. I'm happy to fix it every now and then, it just seems sometimes to need work done on it more often than not! It is really nice how easy it is to get spare parts for it though, there wasn't much around for my last old car..

Here are a few shots out and about from the last year. We have a fairly active local group of mini minded people, and some great roads around too

I've picked up a few rusty old parts recently...

Three engines: 2 x 998, 1 x 1098, all with 4 synchro rod change/pot joint gearboxes. I'd prefer to have remote to rod change as the body has been modified for remote change already.


They came with 12A1456, 12G202 and 12G295 heads. The plan at the moment is to make one engine from the three. Hopefully with the 1098 crank, 295 head, and some minor other modifications I should be able to get 50hp at the wheels. The 1098 as fitted in the Mini K were rated at 50hp at the flywheel, so it's in reach..


The next weekend I picked up some good hubcaps, wipers, a side mirror, indicator stalk, blinker lense, chrome trim for the speedo, door strap and a vacuum gauge.

And some bits of 7.0" Cooper brakes


I got lucky and found a mechanical oil pressure gauge in a box of bits from grandpa. It would be nice to have some matching gauges as currently I've got three different brands..

Before I had an SW water temp, Fleet oil pressure and an IIC ammeter. The ammeter hasn't been any use for years since the alternator went in, and I disconnected it last year.

I've always wanted one of these Smiths vacuum gauges. Not that I've ever felt the need to check the readings on it, I just like the style of the graphics on it!

The oil pressure was a simple swap over as the old gauge had the same thread on the back of it. While I was swapping it over I had the oil line dripping into a bucket and there were a few chunky bits too. The vacuum went in easily too. Best if all, they all worked first time!


I also got the car registered for another year and went out for a drive!

I've been cleaning up some parts and seeing what I've got.

The 12G295 head was slightly crusty as it was sitting on the engine with no head gasket.

After I gave it a quick scrub it came up alright.

I took out the valves and gave it a soak in a tub of vinegar for a few days. It cleaned up pretty well, but will need a skim to get rid of some of the corrosion.

It's had oversize valves added, and the combustion chamber has had some work too.

After the soak.. The intake valves are 32.5mm and the exhaust are 29.4mm, so I'm hoping they clear the block. I might get some unleaded seats put in and a smaller valve if they do

The intake ports were a bit crusty too

I'm surprised how good the ports are for a factory casting.


Next up was the 12G202 that was on one of the engines. It was a little rusty on the bottom. It had standard 1 5/32" intake and 1" exhaust valves.

It cleaned up alright too. The dark bits are pitted, but would come good with a skim.



The other 202 was sitting bare out in the elements. It looked like it came from the bottom of the ocean! I thought this one would only be good for scrap.

After. I'm surprised by how well the head has held up!

Chamber looked totally gone

After it looked much better.

And the top/side

After


Once I've finished cleaning and organising what I've got and what I need and I'll be able to formulate a plan... I really enjoy bringing unwanted junkyard scrap back into something presentable.

You using Vinger to do all this?!

i should of done this to mine haha

Chalkie wrote:You using Vinger to do all this?!

i should of done this to mine haha

Yep, everyday white vinegar from the supermarket. It's about $1 for 2L! I think I've got 6L in the tub, and it's enough to do two heads at once...

timmy201 wrote:

Chalkie wrote:You using Vinger to do all this?!

i should of done this to mine haha

Yep, everyday white vinegar from the supermarket. It's about $1 for 2L! I think I've got 6L in the tub, and it's enough to do two heads at once...

Can you use the vinegar soak on chromed parts as well?

Clappy wrote:

timmy201 wrote:

Chalkie wrote:You using Vinger to do all this?!

i should of done this to mine haha

Yep, everyday white vinegar from the supermarket. It's about $1 for 2L! I think I've got 6L in the tub, and it's enough to do two heads at once...

Can you use the vinegar soak on chromed parts as well?

I've got no idea! I have got a rusty chrome rocker cover I'm willing to test with, and from some googling now, it looks to be ok. I'll update you with some before and after photos...

The vinegar method DOES work on rusty chrome too.

mk1 wrote:The vinegar method DOES work on rusty chrome too.

I'll be able to see how well it's worked by the morning. Here's what it looked like today

The rust comes off slowly with polish and elbow grease, here's hoping it falls off after a soak...

mk1 wrote:The vinegar method DOES work on rusty chrome too.

Thanks Mark,

timmy201 wrote:

mk1 wrote:The vinegar method DOES work on rusty chrome too.

I'll be able to see how well it's worked by the morning. Here's what it looked like today

The rust comes off slowly with polish and elbow grease, here's hoping it falls off farther a soak...

I'll be very interested to see !

I've got some localised rust on my Lucas Fog and Spot ranger lamps....and will probably try the vinegar soak method on these !

Cheers

Jon

The vinegar method will remove the rust, but it won't do anything to restore the Chrome plating. It will still need stripping & re plating for a decent finish.

mk1 wrote:The vinegar method will remove the rust, but it won't do anything to restore the Chrome plating. It will still need stripping & re plating for a decent finish.

Hi Mark,

Noted....the chrome is not too bad....it has a certain "patina" that will stay for the time being.....funds aren't quite available for a re-plate !

Jon

funds aren't quite available for a re-plate.

I know the feeling!

I reckon gold plate would probably be cheaper than Chrome nowadays.

There hadn't been a huge improvement when I checked it yesterday morning, so it is still soaking. I hadn't even considered using this rocker cover as I thought the chrome was totally stuffed, but it looks like it will live on for another day and might even make it on top of my current engine... (chrome adds hp doesn't it?)

The results are in on the vinegar.... not as good as good old fashioned elbow grease! It might be better with a fresh batch of vinegar, but it just didn't seem to get the rust off like it did to the cylinder heeds. I ended up using a plastic scraper and metal polish and the best part of a morning to clean it up. The sticker had been out in the Aussie sun for years and chipped into a thousand pieces...

Before

After. The rust around the breather has gone through the plating unfortunately.

Before

After. I haven't finished doing the back yet.

It looks good in the engine bay, if it looks too new and shiny it won't match the rest of the car! I've got some rubber grommets in the post and a length of hose to sort out the breather

I went out for a drive last week in our winter weather... It was a bit chilly in the breeze, but overall a nice day!



I'm always on the lookout for parts from other markets to make my car look a bit different.... US market minis had red coloured rear lamps, and I thought they looked pretty cool. It took me a while to find anywhere that stocked the red ones and didn't want to charge me a huge amount to get them delivered... They aren't as red as the tail lamps, but they are a very deep orange colour

Standard is the amber ones.







After.. I think they look good, and they are something a bit different