My Lightweight Turbo Project.
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all, had a bit of progress lately so i thought i would start my project topic on here, i bought my first car back in august and since i have started building it up to my own spec, it was a 1993 rover mini rio but theres not much if any of it thats rio left, this is how i bought it:





Its was pretty main stream with the big wheels and dtm back box, but after a while i got bored of it and decided that it wasn't my peice of cake any more, i started by adding a few little bit to brighten and tidy it up.



















The wheels fitted and currently black but i might change my mind, i love the handling of 10" wheels so much.







And most recently my repair job where the subby mounts the drivers side bulkhead was rusted and cracked so i cut a large area out and replace with fresh metal, although its going to be redone soon with gas mig welding.





Finally i recived my fibreglass front from the arc angels the other day, its fantastic, pre-bonded fg a-panels, and new group 2 arches. should be fitted soon...ish.

Edited by george91 on 1st Feb, 2012.

nice project. its a good base to start with.

are you planning a turbo? if you are then that webber will be a little obsolete tho.

like the pit in the garage

Looks cool and functional. I like your choice of wheels and arches . You were right to get rid of that grille too. I might paint my headlight rings black too

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

Nice one george, keep the pics comming mate .

Cheers guys, Rick, i won't be running turbo for a little while i've decided but in a few years i deffinatley will be i've just decided to leave it for a bit as im still only 18. rubicon, its my neighbours pit but hes such a good guy, i can basicallly use it when ever i need it. Gary because the car had 13s on before, the front arches have been hacked to bits so they could fit, and now i have the 10s on and small arches its looks jacked up, but the new front and arches should fix this. Steve will keep it updated as parts arrive and work is done.

cheers, George :)

Edited by george91 on 5th Jun, 2010.

what have you done with your old wheels?

looks good george, good call on front grill and the wheels ... much better imo :)

rich

2012 Avon class c 2nd place 13.8 @98mph

Edited by george91 on 5th Jun, 2010.

I quite like this Black and white colour scheme.

hello mate , like the look of the car , should be sweet when its done :)
probably a dumb question , but where did the bulkhead box for the webber come from ? i know its common to use battery boxes , but that you have there isnt a battery box is it ?

thanks mate
Ant

Edited by george91 on 10th Jun, 2010.

ok cool ,,, for that money ill buy a sheet , make one and have a lot of steel left
thanks tho mate :)

keep up the good work
Ant

In fact I completely forgot my previous update from November last year so here's that update first.

So for the light weight side of things i've now got a fibreglass front, a boot floor, rear valance, Carbon boot lid, and alloy door skins. Plus i'm going to the non servo type brake master cylinder which gives me a bit more room in the engine bay and takes off some weight. Also i've bought a safety devices rollcage front and rear in black and i'm still deciding on door bars.

Edited by george91 on 23rd May, 2011.

Today: Ok so just an update so that you don't think i've given up altogether, i've just ordered a complete floorpan as the one i started to repair is well out of shape. Progress is slow until the body work is done but i'm getting there. :)

hell you have been busy stripping:) Looks like your on top of the brown stuff now.

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

http://www.mattwoodsphotography.com

Yes Matt, i can't wait till the body work is done, then i get to sort out the good stuff. :)

at the start you had a car now you have a shell LOL

1293 Turbo mini

Finally got some work done today, we braced the shell and dropped the old floor out.

Had some tidying up to do before anything could go back in, so we only managed to fit the L/H door step today, hopefully more progress next weekend.







Also got my matty gt17 manifold, i know you've all seen them but another won't hurt.





Cheers
George

Well its been ages since the last update, and there is something to show for the last 5 months! The door steps were both replaced and the toe board was repaired before i could fit the complete new floor pan and heel board, then it was fitting the sills and the floor cross member.

I have also since decided to build this into track car, so you can see all the new panels have been stitch or seam welded into place for strength.

Oh and i went up to Wales last weekend to see Endaf Owens and picked up some goodies from him. Also got to check out all of this toys he has in his workshop, the miglia race cars were my favourite though and i now have some good ideas.















Right so my parts from endaf, fibreglass boot floor and alloy tank 6 gallon i think.





And my favourite, JKD straight cut dog box, with fd (3.6 i think) and cross pin diff.



I also bought a dished steering wheel and snap off boss, and a denso alternator but no pics of that.

Ah also my lightweight doors, just need to fit the alloy skins.



Next job is tubing the arches.

Cheers, George.

I can just see my van in the top corner of the mini mag

looking good I like the new floor keep up the good work

On 3rd Jul, 2011 george91 said:
Finally got some work done today, we braced the shell and dropped the old floor out.

Had some tidying up to do before anything could go back in, so we only managed to fit the L/H door step today, hopefully more progress next weekend.




Also got my matty gt17 manifold, i know you've all seen them but another won't hurt.





Cheers
George

Craig

my mini van http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=448248

Quick update, haven't done that much but i started to tub the arches. Cut one side (roughly) and cut some metal up to form the new arch.



Also a couple of underside shots while i have the car on its side, you can see how much of a shit state the rear of the boot floor is in.





Cheers, George.

Got some more work done on the car today, got the arch all tacked in place, it looks better in person.

Also it looks a bit wonkey on the edge, as its sticking out about 40-50mm at the moment so needs to be cut down when its all finished.

I'm going to stitch weld it inside and out and spot it on the edge all around.







Cheers, George.

Edited by george91 on 9th Jan, 2012.

wowzers, pretty cool transformation :)