The ClubVan... Back in business!!
Turbo Mini Forums

I've the worlds worst taste in colour! Perhaps one of the pastel 60's colours for a commercial?

Yeah not a bad idea.... we'll see...

Hope I don't make the wrong choice however!

70's orange.... lol, was gonna say oh my hasnt your garage grown..

I dunno about orange Dave lol... I wish it was my garage!

for some reason, I always imagine this car in black as it is

I did consider black.... Ok, I'll spill the beans.. the colour I'm liking very much is anthracite. I have seen the minilite alloys with the anthracite spokes and silver rims and was thinking that the combination would look pretty awesome..

I reckon anyway...

Strengthened up A panels with some steel tubing and welded a plate to meet the front as it comes down...







Gaps are pretty much spot on now...





Filled gaps between bonnet and wings, left a very small groove to keep the look...



Getting mostly there with the front now, all welded up underneath, decided to run slightly narrower tyres to avoid cutting the front lip of the wing because it'll reduce the rigidity of the whole front...





Got my hands on a set of sportpack arches...



But on offer up, I'm not sure if I'm happy with the look.. maybe group 6/7's would look better??



Also got a new rack to go in, limited on steer and quicker turning circle (needed more so for the 13x7's but won't be running them now)...



And also got this baby to go in...



Will be a full front roll cage, gusseted in. Quite a bit more to do now before paint!

Edited by evad1980 on 5th Feb, 2015.

Looks good buddy but im confused you say your running narrower tyres so u dont cut wings? I think most wheels over standard width will need some wing cut away? Also theres a nice dark blue clubby estate that used to be on the scene with sportspack arches probably be found on a quick google search to get some idea on how they look

Well Dave if they have to be cut then I'll cut them... I'll try narrower wheels and see. I'll google that mini you were saying about and see if I can find it...

My cooper where it has sportspack so where the arches have been cut theres some round bar tacked around the arch, thats more solid than standard

I think it will be hard to select the arch without knowing which wheels you are going for. Colour choice will, in my opinion, also have an effect on style

Yeah your right guys, I know Im just jumping the gun a bit... trying to gather all the bits I need! I'm not fully decided on wheel style yet so I guess I need to slow down and keep concentrating on the body. The arches can be changed easily enough if I do decide to change them so no real problem there. Colour wise I have changed my mind, I'm not going to go for a dark colour as I think it'll be overpowering... especially now its a van, there is a lot of it there! Decided on a light grey, tweed grey. Its nice and light and will make it look a bit period as its an older pastel colour (I've seen the light Rob).

liking the ideas

Something like this.....

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic...his-tweed-grey/

I'd like that

Ya thats what I'm going for now, think the other colour would be too heavy. I like it because in some lights it almost looks like a hint of olive green...

I think sportspack will look to modern on it.

All personal taste though.

That's what I was thinking Jonny, as soon as I held them up against the car I didn't think they looked right.. Too rounded/curved for my liking... Prob will go down the route of groups or the other type, think they're called w&p style or something..

Edited by evad1980 on 6th Feb, 2015.

I don't know. These newbies. They just rock up and have their car ready for paint in 2 years. 2 fooking years. What is this world coming to.

Took you 2 years to finish the grille

Haaaaa..... far too long in my book!

We got the roll cage mostly in over the last few days, fits nicely... gusset welded it in in places. Starting to look a bit sporty!



Cross bar behind the seats (invisible buckets) will be used for harnesses to strap on to...





Door bars still yet to go in. Most of the outside has a coat of primer on it too. Really starting to see a bit of progress now with the body work, gonna get it up on the lift and strip the stone chip off that I put on last year... we had a look at it earlier and could see some of my dodgy welds blistering through with some surface rust. Also done a bit of welding to the inside of the floor since it was stone chipped and this has also blistered it leaving the metal exposed to the elements... I thought at the time it would be ok by painting the welds with hammerite and then stone chipping but obviously not! We won't be told us rookies, we know best haaa!!

One last photo albeit a bit blurry...



Thats all for now folks!

Looks good. You may find that harness bar is to low?

Ideal angle for belts is horizontal.

Thanks Jonny... I see what you mean, just been googling pics of other roll cages and harnesses.. I see (mostly) that the straps are pretty much horizontal from bar to chair. Do you think this is a problem? I mean a big enough problem to warrant cutting it out and raising it? Yes, there would be some upward inclination of strap from bar to back of seat... I have seen other cars with this similar installation & in all honesty didn't give it too much thought...