Had a fun day today... stripped out my brother's mini, an he knows nothing about it!

[El_Freddo]

My brother is in Japan til April and little does he know that dad and i pulled his mini apart to do a full rebuild and re-spray. We started with his car complete.
So far bros' effort has been to pull another motor down for a rebuild and hadn't touched the car even though he's been talking about doing it up for ages.

Dad's decided that since he won't have a car when he gets back that we'll get it all together. And today was the day for the strip down. Basically the only things left in it is a few items in the engine bay, the loom, fuel tank, rear suspension (don't like hydrolastic suspension) and the ceiling liner. The rest was taken out before 7pm and work started at 11am. I was hoping to add some picks of the work so far, but dunno how to get the pics off the camera to this computer...

So it now sits on a shopping trolley base, we bent the rear wheels out and welded on some supporting rods then stuck it under the car as it is now and it handles the weight very well.

Tomorrow will see just the shell with nothing in it. Then the plan is:

- clean up surface rust
- knock out any dents
- rub back and re-spray mid-night blue with a white roof (its what bros wants)
- put the engine and gearbox back together
- put the car back together
- have the interior done over
- put the glass back in
- and have it road worthy before he gets back in april

Dad's already got a million things to do and i live an hour's drive away, so it should be a fun exercise.

Just hope he doesn't check this site out... he's not into subaru's... so i'm guessing i should be safe.

Anyway, i'll try and post some pics later tomorrow.

Cheers

[KERAZY]

what the... I have to see this. The camera should have come with a USB? plug it into the computer, then plug the other end into the camera, should come up with a prompt.

go son go!!

[Milla]

what u puttin in there, prolly a subi turbo of some sort?

[tim_81coupe]

Sounds like an awesome project Freddo, certainly a giant excercise for a small car! I know a few people into Mini's, they're certainly a fun car.

Midnight blue with a white roof will look tops. Keep us posted, and see if you can't get some pics up eventually .

[Subafury]

keep us posted. should look awesome when finished.

[steptoe]

the sort of project that shouldn't take up too much space, given the size of the mini

[El_Freddo]

the sort of project that shouldn't take up too much space, given the size of the mini

If you've seen our shed at my pero's joint, its packed...

Photo's coming... just gotta load them up, going to do that now.

Cheers

[coupe]

Mate
Already im jealous, i have a mini cooper relipica sitting in my backyard
waiting for me to rebuild it.
If i can help with info or anything just yell
Cheers Pete

[El_Freddo]

Thanks coupe

I think we've got it covered, but i'll hit u up if i need some info.

This car was the one that got me into toying around with mechanics, dad and i re-built the engine when i was ten then mum drove it around for a few years before it ended up in the shed for a few more... then we got it going again for my bros about 4 years ago, its spend the last two years in the shed cos the engine was un-reliable and is currently being rebuilt (engine in photos to come is a replacement to keep him going for a bit before he got another car)

[El_Freddo]

I'm finding this frustrating... how do you re-size images on image shack? I can't find that "resize" menu selection they talk about... and what size is best for you guys?

I also hate having slow internet, we're running at 115.2 Kbps... country internet sucks

[D3V1L]

better than my dial up that connects at 48kbps............

dave

[El_Freddo]

Hey all.

Here are some pics of the two day strip out of my brother's mini... all that's left in it are the fuel, brake and hydrolastic suspension lines under the car. All done in two days...

Here's shortly after starting on saturday at about 11:20am:



This was dad and i droppin out the front subframe with engine and gearbox (more like lifting body off the subframe but anyway)



Here's the end result of day 1, note the shopping trolley base the car sits on, very stable surprisingly.



This is the front and rear subframes out of the car... we move the front subframe with engine and gearbox with a skate board that it sits on...



And as it sits now, no wiring in it, no interior parts... i love moving it around on those trolley wheels, its so un-natural its fun



The 3rd and 5th shots show the place my subie spent 16 months as i played around learning about EFI while installing it and finding missing bits that i needed to get to the next stage... i still gotta rebuilt my good engine...

I'll keep you updated, progress will slow down now

[tim_81coupe]

Mate, nice effort! Keep us up to speed with the project!! Certainly looks like its kept you busy lately.

(yes I have had secret thoughts about doing up a Mini)

[El_Freddo]

Saturday saw the mini off to our uncle's where there is a very nice 260 Migmag... i think dad has now put one of these on his christmas wish list (good luck)

So now all the holes we don't want are filled, rust patches cut out and replaced, all in about 2 an a half hours (dad had a crash course in mig welding - he says it makes the stick look obsolete)

I'll try an get some pics up tomorrow, basically what was welded: rust holes above top door hinges on both sides, old antenna hole (that's going on the roof in centre), a coulpe of holes in the dash strip, and the other big bit was the wheel well in the boot, the centre piece was waiting to fall out.

Dad wants to rub it down and hopefully spray it between christmas and new year... let the games begin.

Til next time, cheerio.

[Fatz]

u could read my sticky on subaru chat:P

[El_Freddo]

u could read my sticky on subaru chat:P

Got it sorted... I'll set the image size to what you recommend.

Cheers (and good thread that one)

[El_Freddo]

Okay, so now i'm having problems with the camera... sorry to all, i'll get them up as soon i can.

Cheers

[El_Freddo]

Hey all,

This is basically the result of the weekend welding session... i'm kicking myself for not taking the camera with me to get some welding "action" shots...

Here's the left hand guard with rust hole above door hinge cut out and a new piece of sheet metal welded in (this was done on the RHS too), the antenna hole was also filled, that's going to the centre of the roof above the windscreen.



All holes on the body for flares were filled, this will allow us to drill new holes if flares are fitted (99% chance they will be)



And the centre in the wheel well was cut out and replaced (dodgy photo)... you could move the floor up and down by pushing with your hand... now it doesn't move.



That's it for now an maybe for a while with the silly season and all...

Happy Xmas and Merry New Year to all, have a safe one for me!

[El_Freddo]

Well, we've got the paint, sample anyway, but we know what we want. Dad checked out a paint joint in benders while on jury service and came home with a datsun blue because he said the midnight blue was too grey.

The datsun blue is non-metallic and after a trial spray we decided to go against that and try the midnight blue. Another trial spray today and we're happy with it, it's metallic and looks the part. Now dad'll be rubbing down the whole car between work this week to hopefully have it ready for a spray between christmas and new year. Being in bendigo i sort of feel like i'm no longer a part of the project at this stage...

Anyway, that's the latest update - metallic midnight blue will be the colour with a white roof - i'll try and get some work in progress of the spray job.

Have a merry christmas and happy new year!

Cheers

[Brumby Boy]

Thought about doin a black and white checker roof? seen that and it looks sweet. anyway sounds like a good job. i bet your bro will be surprised and love it.