MED 1293 Lightweight Mini Minus
Turbo Mini Forums

Nice. Lots of weight there. no distortion in the shell after taking it out?

Guess you haven't take the angle iron out yet?

Lots of weight! No, the shell is surprisingly strong without it, wouldn't drive it without a rollcage as it is but its capable of being pushed around on its wheels easy. Some of the angle iron is removed, not sure if I'm going to take it all out.

What do you think?

Rollcage will hold it all together I guess, now I've gone this far I may as well I suppose.

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Minus is on its side, removed the battery box and started keying the underside ready for repairs and stonechip. Then off to rollcage. Getting there bit by bit.

Anyone need a minus battery box? lol

Also took my wilwood pedal box assembly apart because I wasn't happy with the weight of it, so I started making some ti replacement parts for it...

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I would leave the area at the front of the doors definitely. As it gives the something to hang them off. They always seem to crack in that area.

I'd have tabs of the cage to put some glass over so the shell is tied to the cage. My cage is welded to angle and the the solid box up the A pillar.

Yeah what you have is a very stiff setup, but removing that angle iron would basically remove all its strength therefore needing a space frame meaning a more substantial cage, which means more weight.

So I'll have to do some thinking as to wether it saves weight removing the angle iron or not.

Also made some fibreglass mk1 panels ready to fit:)

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Mk1 light panels drilled and fitted, just need rubbing down to match body shape:)

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Good progress today. Got the underside completely keyed and filled and ready for stonechip.

Also got the angle iron removed, and started to clean up that area. Looking close to rollcage time now, just need to get, where the battery box was removed, glassed and it's ready.

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Edited by JBMini on 29th May, 2016.

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Had a spare half and hour tonight to fill the hole where my battery box once was, so it was a bit of a rush job and it showed:/

Turned out good enough as I just wanted a base to layer up to the shape I want.

Also I used a mini speed bag to cover the ply wood used to hold the glass in place, and now my boot floor has a mini speed logo lol

Now I need to layer it up and key it ready for the stonechip:)

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Is that just one layer of glass?

I find parcel tape and cardboard works best for that kind of job. Can get the finish very smooth with the tape (resin doesn't stick to it) and make a nice mould from the card.

Yeah just a base layer, now I can put more layers on top to get the shape I want.

Only reason I didn't use cardboard is because I thought it'd get too wet and soggy. I'll have to cover the cardboard in tape next time and give it another go.

Tape won't leave a mini speed logo either

Edited by JBMini on 6th Jun, 2016.

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There looks to be a lot of work in these glass cars.

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.

You cover the card completely in the tape. Smoother the tape finish the better. It acts like a mould the glass can't stick to it.

You can also use cling film. I prefer tape though.

You're correct there Simon, especially starting with one in this state! No rust though😉

Cheers for the tip Jonny, I need to spend more time setting up next time.

Got more done this weekend, will update with photos soon. Waiting for some stonechip to arrive so it can be pained underneath the car👍🏻

Cheers
JB

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Little change of plan.

As I have said, I want the car to go for its rollcage around now, but I've been waiting for parts from force racing for ages and it can't be sent off without them as I need to build the front subby and set the coilovers up so the rollcage can be made to accommodate them.

So in the meantime I thought I'd start doing some bodywork, so 3 hours sanding and I can see some of the roof now.

And I've been filling, glassing, sanding and priming certain bits of the car that I think are ready. (The drivers sill and the area above the boot you can see in the pic)

Also still waiting on the stonechip paint as the underside is ready for that:)

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Hope you have a good mask!

Lol. Was a lot worse keying the underside.

That amount of dust probably weighs a few kilos👍🏻 haha

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Small parts update.

The original pedals that come with the wilwood pedal box weigh around 80g each!

So this is my replacement, sub 10g.

Cheers
JB

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A whole day spent glassing, filling and re filling and re filling... And I've got some more primer on the car.

Still waiting on the stonechip paint. Shouldn't be too long before I can get the underneath painted and concentrate on the body and setting the front subby up for the coilover setup.

Cheers
JB

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Got the first layer of stonechip on today:) (before and after pics below)

Loads more has been done, stuff like, rubbing down and filling door shuts and wheel arches.

Been repairing a lot of the body which was full of filler. Pretty much got it all out now.

Next step is to get it on its wheels next week and carry on with bodywork until the exterior is all done. Then send down the interior before the rollcage. Also need to get some coilover parts ordered for the front subby before the rollcage.

Getting there though!

Cheers
JB

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Small part update again.

Because I'm not a fan of bonnet pins, I prefer a clean looking car, I decided to make carbon bonnet hinges and a custom carbon hinge mount(not finished yet).

But I can show you the hinges and the weight saving, the metal ones have had the screws grinded off and some material, but they are close to standard weight.

Cheers
JB

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It's been a while since I've updated, I've been busy with exams and car shows but I have been working on the car here and there and I'll show you that at the end of this month.

For now I have a picture or two to show you. Huge thanks to madmk1 for the rear beam setup! I've taken it all apart to check it over, arms had to be sent to KAD to be modified slightly so they fell under their own weight (they were slightly too long compared to the pins so they couldn't rotate around the pivot) massive thanks to Arnold at KAD for that! It's now being built up just so I can use it for a rolling shell, it will be built properly with all the titanium trimmings when being put on the car after paint. I've also been working on preparing for the rollcage which is booked for August.

More to come this month.

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Whats all this i hear about all the minus owners have been dobbed up just because 1 new minus didnt get a reg/sva test so dobbed everyone else up so they all have to be sva'd

First I've heard of it D4VE.

Where did you hear that?

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That's pretty old news Dave and I'm sure I explained the same thing to you on my thread before.

They all need a test to be road legal anyway unless you have date proof from MOT's that it was on the road prior to the test changes or you have a load of parts from the donor and proof it's been on the road for 10 years as a minus (old photos don't count must say on mot it's a minus).

But yes according to some FB stuff about 2-3 years ago someone bought a shell and phoned the dvla to see about getting it registered. When they told him how it was he sent them a link to the minus register asking how all these cars were on the road and the rest is history. Any on a mini plate got a letter saying needs a test and go on a kit car plate unless you have proof as described already. Although it would seem none have done so and use them as is.

Thanks for clearing that up Jonny, interesting stuff. Doesn't seem like the DVLA chased it up as you said people are still using their cars as they were.

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