Sold a Mini, bought a Mini...

[pegasus9]

Very stylish.
What a cool collection.

you've probably got the coolest cars on your block.

[Joeaksa]

Very nice!

[Jim Richards]

Those early Mini's are cool.

[Paul K]

Thanks guys! Interior shot...

[SXSMAN]

Ohh yeah.......Rokie dash , bar , clubman or cobra seats .

Sucks having to back through the drive thru though..... .

You just missed an event in North Carolina , Classic Mini 53 - Spring back to the Smokies

When the wife and I retire it might be to Italy . Would take mine unless I fine a Innocenti mini.

If you retire to the USVI you may want to look for a Moke .

Have fun and if you need any contacts for clubs in your area let me know , I've been around Mini's (real ones) for over 30 years.

[Paul K]

All:

Wifes Mini now looks like this;





(Great Dane shown for scale)

Great little car blast to drive! Not the most reliable in the world, (it is British, after all) but we're getting there. I swapped out the racing harness for a regular seat belt, removed the kill switch, added lights & stripes, and put some Brad Penn oil in it. Looks like we're probably going to swap the cam out for something less aggressive- which will improve low end torque and make it run smoother.

Cheers,

Paul.

[azasadny]

Very cool! Perfect car for Orygun!!

[rouxroux]

You came back with the cooler of the two, that's for sure!

[Willem Fick]

In the late 80's my brother and I ran a very hot little Mini Clubman (not to be mistaken with the present estate-type Clubman).

Is your "new" Mini an original, or one from the late 90's re-release? I can't tell you much about the latter, but here's my experiences from a '70 model summarised:

• The Haynes Manual is actually worth your while.
• Both my brother and I are 6'2" plus, so the first mod was to move the seat mounting points further back so that we could actually get into and drive the car.
• The mechanical fuel pump sits on the back of the engine, right under the exhaust manifold, and is prone to failure whenever the exhaust manifold is waaaay to hot to touch.
• If you think the SU carburettor is Satan's own handiwork then try our approach of fitting twin SU's to have this fact absolutely confirmed.
• When not working on SU carbs Satan was hard at work designing the "hydrolastic" suspension system.
• Oil changes are a mess given the bright idea someone had of putting the oil filter facing downward on the upper front part of the block. Any oil change comes with a mandatory garage floor and engine clean.
• The cooling fan pumps air from the engine compartment out, and not into it like other cars. (I'd rather not tell you how I know this!)
  Not much of a problem when in the US, but having to work with non metric fasteners was a major PITA

If you have an early model, there's few things you must consider!

• Get you wife to unreservedly hand it over to you.
• Lose the hydrolastic suspension.
• Disk brake conversion.
• Weber Sidedrafts.
• Free flow exhaust.
• Uprated radiator and bigger fan. I can't quite remember but I thing the 1100 fan had more blades than the 1275 fan, and this helped cool things down considerably.
• If a it is 1275, consider an 1100 crank, 1275 pistons and an agressive 4mm-odd skimming of the block.
• 800cc head with a crossflow conversion.

Above all - have fun!

[Paul K]

Willem:

It's an '89 with a 1275 bored out to 1300cc. It has discs on the front, adjustable suspension, and the 'Honda starter motor upgrade'.

Runs great at redline, but needs a different cam for street stuff.

No bloody way the wife will ever hand it over- forget that!

[PatrickM]

Hey Paul, nice car. Funny, I have met GTILOVE once, but didn't know he had a mini, new or old. Paul, bring that back to Portland over Labor Day weekend for the All British Field Meet. Love your driveway too, planning on doing something like that to mine one day.

-Patrick

[gtilove]

Originally Posted by PatrickM

Hey Paul, nice car. Funny, I have met GTILOVE once, but didn't know he had a mini, new or old. Paul, bring that back to Portland over Labor Day weekend for the All British Field Meet. Love your driveway too, planning on doing something like that to mine one day.

-Patrick

I am a man of mystery

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by PatrickM

Paul, bring that back to Portland over Labor Day weekend for the All British Field Meet. Love your driveway too, planning on doing something like that to mine one day.

-Patrick

Patrick:

Planning to attend the ABFM!

Here's the thread for the driveway;

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/469815-new-driveway.html

Cheers,

Paul.