Longys lightweight track Build
Turbo Mini Forums

Finally i have been able to get the mini off the road and i can now being the rebuild (thanks to gran for giving me her car).
The Plan:
as per usual funds are tight so nothing too crazy.
Weld anything that needs welding (hopefully not much)
Remove as much weight from the shell as possible
After seeing Nicks gorgeous clubman build im going for a fibreglass clubman front end.
Engine wise 1293, omega pistons, worked bottom end, T3 (i know but my first turbo mini keeping it simple), straight cut box, intercooler. id like about 150 bananas.
Progess has been good so far. all front suspension has been removed and engine ancilleries. just have to lift the block and box out and then its grinding time. as im having to do the work on my drive the plans is to strip the shell and wrap it up for the winter, work on the engine in the shed and whenthe weathers better (march, april time) do the welding.



Aims to have it complete for Avon (but im not going to rush it).
anything thoughts would be greatly recieved.

Edited by longy on 23rd Aug, 2010.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

Looking good so far.

The shell doesn't look too bad either.

If you get the chance any chance of re-sizing the pictures as they take quite a while to load on slow connections as they are about 1mb a piece.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

As above, 3.5Mb photos take ages to load on 512kb broadband (all you get in the country) - they are still loading after 1/2hr.

You won't regret going down the clubman front end, I'm just fitting mine now and there is soooooo much more room for intercooler, front rad etc.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Sorry for the pics guys ill resize them. i thought Nicks looked awesome and like you said rod plenty of space

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

Car looks like a good solid starting point.

Before you wrap it up for the winter, chop out any rusty bits (like the inner sill in the pic) and get everything painted up in something that disagrees with rust. That way you won't un wrap it a few months to find that the rust has got loads worse over the winter.

What you'll find is that if the car has any moisture in the rusty bits, it will freeze over the winter. As it freezes the rusty bits will expand (as the ice forms) and it will get much worse very quickly. That's the reason my old clubman rotted to quickly...

cheers andy. plans to chop the front end off and remove the enigne next weekend. then ill start on the rust. the shells not bad, both sills will need replacing hopefully i wont find any hidden issues

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

The only downside I've found to the clubman front (if your starting with a roundnose car) is getting hold of the clubman specific parts, ie, grill, indicator/sidelamps.

They seem to be going for silly money on eBay at the moment. I'm still after the ones I've just mentioned but refuse to bid stupid prices....

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

im keeping an eye out for those type of parts, ill give you a heads up if i find any cheap.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

At least with the plastic fronts, your not tied to the o/e lights etc. In theory you can use what every you like as you have to cut your own holes for them.

i was planning not to use standard clubman indicators and side lights. does anyone know if round nose headlights are the same as the clubman lights?

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

They are the same, but have no side light holes in them. You can use you standard lights and just cover the extra holes up.

I have some crystal halogen headlights with no side light holes in them if you are interested chris?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

ive got a 3 month old pair on my round nose, i think ill just use those. cheers john

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

No problems

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Is that a 998 engine that you are taking out?

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

no MG 1275 pretty standard

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

hey all,
sadly havent made as much progress as i hoped but still got a lot done. gladly there hasnt been too many suprises. ive stripped most of the interior now. looks like its going to need new inner and outer sills both sides, but im not too fussed prefer to get them done now. the front end is all ready to be chopped off, going to find a moment where i wont piss the neighbours off and go nuts with the angle grinder.

guilty the bodged welding in the drivers floor pan was me. had to do a rushed job for MOT but its held up for 18 months ok.



signs of rush around the base of both pockets, once ive removed them ill get a better idea how bad it is.

view down into one of the pockets, doesnt look good.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

That doesn't look too bad mate. Shame the rust is in awkwars places...always the way!

If you need a hand with anything, let me know.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fusion-Fabri..._homepage_panel

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

cheers matty ill probably take you up on that. im pretty happy with it so fare not a huge amount needed to be done. im not going ot go too crazy with it. thinking of taking it to a place near Brackley caled Frankie's heard hes pretty good with minis

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

i tackled the front end tonight, rushed back from work to get it done before the neighbours got in. everything went according to plan, thankfully no suprises, thought the scuttle corners would be rotten but they look ok, just need a clean up.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

Are they genuine black bumpers?

If your going to get rid then I need atleast one if they are reasonable condition

ive just scrapped one, but ill have a look at the rear when i get home, i think there is some surfaces rust, but its yours if you want it.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

Progress has been slow, but ive had a productive day. the engines stripped and waiting to go to Rob Walkers.
i spent today and yesterday chiseling the black crap off the interior floor, suprising how much it all weighs.

[URL=http://img88.imageshack.us/i/photo0425.jpg/]



as you can see ive removed the bench lip, plan is to remove the pockets tomorrow, thats where the fun should begin, they look pretty rotten around the base



Theres a few holes here and there to patch up, quite a big one inthe passenger foot well but nothing too tricky.


upon inspecting the scuttles ive found that the drivers side is in pretty poor condition, but was really chuffed to see that the passengers side is great considering its 26 years old.



The engine bay is now bare ready for the box to be welded in and tidyed up.



thankfully im still on track to do the welding work before christmas. after iains post about the next RR day before MITP im determined to have it ready for then.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

looks like a solid enough base, i quite like the colour too, is that stayinhg?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

definitely i love the colour and im too cheap to get it resprayed lol

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER