richminiturbo's clumban build
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all just thought id share with you my recent purchase! Will hope to add to this thread as things progress so will be cool to look back on when its done (hopefully)

Well as some of you might have seen recently in "Ebay Items for Sale" TurboDave made a thread about two cars hed seen on ebay that where worth a look at, before id seen it i was looking all over for a sound clubman shell to replace mine and then gradually continue with my turbo project. But in the end waiting for the perfect clubman shell that may never come along didnt seem like a great idea! Then i saw TurboDave's link to this rolling shell, 99% complete mini:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...31004&rd=1&rd=1

I got in contact with the guy straight away and arranged a viewing for the next day, i was a bit worried as there was a buy it now of £525 and the starting price wasnt too far below that. Me and my mate where 3 mins from getting to the guys house when my mum rang me up to say that someone had just "bought it now" on ebay!! Extremely anxious we decided to play it cool and pretend we didnt know the car had been won, looked the car over and tore the guys hand off basically! Went out with the guy to a cash machine to get a deposit and then got back to his, his wife told him that someone had just won the car and the bloke didnt know what to do!! But in the end he decided that i could have it as id been to look at so many different shells before and was on his doorstep, having just giving him the deposit!

But yeah went to pick the car up last monday and im really pleased with it!! It doesnt look much but who gives a shit, the cosmetics can be dealed with after! The car is really solid and thats all that matters, everything is really good and i think its well worth the money so cant complain really. Definately a big corner cut compared to sorting my old shell!

Heres a few pics just after i got it (you can see the other pics of it on the auction):





As soon as i got it home i went about switching bits round from what i had to make it look a bit more attractive!! (click on the pictures to get a sharper image)












So yeah thats all the pics i have for now, been busy working on bits that it needs to finish it off, it needs a bit of wiring re doing, work to the clutch and calipers fitting which i have all ready to go on. Have sorted all the rusty bits today and its looking even better! Will hopefully be back on the road asap, will be working full time in the next few weeks so can start to crack on with the turbo build! Hope to get it most of the way there by the end of the summer! At the mo im just so looking foward to getting back into a mini again ive waited so long!

Will add some more pics as i add bits and make progress!

Cheers, Rich

Edited by richminiturbo. on 21st Sep, 2008.

Hehe, keep the sticker on the back window! That's a sound buy indeed.

bargain!

post some pics of that badass boat in your garden, awesome

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

oh, and leave it all random colours, i think it looks mint as is LOL

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Let me know if you ever want to get rid of the clubman front end

Bit of an update! Got me a Cobra Imola S through the post, quite expensive so just the one for the minute, love it though, never had a bucket seat before!

Fits reasonably well, has the sidemounts so is quite a bit simpler to fit than ones with tilting subframes.







Thinking of getting some wacky coloured harnesses, maybe green or perhaps pink if i can bring myself to do it!

Not really sure how im going to bolt the seat to the floor, has anyone else used sidemounts? Think ill get some high tensile stainless bolts, big washers for eitherside of the floor and some nylocs - should do the job hopefully!

Rich :)

Ther is no such thing as high-tensile stainless.

You want 10mm 8.8s with good sized spreader plates 50mmx50mm, above and below the floor. Even then you might find the seat wil move around.

However, the brackets do appear to sit close to the tunnel and on the start of the sill so you'll probably get away with it.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

Yeah they are right up against the tunnel and sill so thats a bonus being a bit more rigid!

No idea why I mentioned high tensile stainless, completely for got about that!! Thanks for the info on the bolts, down to the engineering supply shop for me!

Rich

Havnt updated in a while so thought I may aswell! Progress has been quite slow as ive been working alot this summer but have had the last few weeks to do the car before I go back to uni!

Almost road legal now, finished all the wiring etc and am halfway there with the flipfront and thats it, so fingers crossed wont take too long!

Got some harnesses and fixed the seat down properly:


Still havnt bought another one yet and probably wont for a while but who cares! At least the driver has one lol.

Got the brakes working in the end so the car was then driveable:



Fitted some carbon fibre miglias to the rear aswell, didnt fancy any bolts for the brackets showing so made some ally brackets, glued them to the arch then glassed over them like this:


Then after that just fitted them as normal, the arch to body line is gash due to the way they make the arches but some strip will fill it out hopefully:



Got a free clubby front off a mate, mock fitted it to check the fit:


Wasnt too bad so started cutting bits out of it for grille and headlights etc:


Quite fiddley job but got the headlights in:




Fitted some round type indicators and the numberplate and thats it at the mo, going to get on with fixing front down properly, not sure where the hinges need to go really but once thats done the carbon migs can go on too and the car can have the test!

Heres some pics of it now:





Then after the test, going to de seam the rear bumber seam. Sort some rusty bits, tub the rear arches then get on with the Tubby engine! Short motor is built, have everything for the box to go back together. And everything else to finish it!:

I assume not all the rods are bolted up in the last pic? Either that or you have a strange shaped crank!

Edited by neilj1678 on 22nd Sep, 2007.

Yeah that was just with one rod connected lol!

Nice!! ive only just seen this thread
im liking the look of the car

Great job with fitting the grill to the front .... often they look crap but your looks tidy.

As for fitting the front have you seen the guide on Manchester Minis, a great way of doing it IMHO.

http://www.manchesterminis.co.uk/

go to technical and then fitting a flip front.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

Great looking car. Keep up the good work. :)

Cheers for the comments guys!

Yeah ive seen the manchesterminis how to but dont really understand the way theyve fixed it down at the front? Does it just slot onto bolt threads? Surely that would crack the f/g if it flexes abit?

Also dont like the idea of having to find somewhere to put your freshly painted (one day) front down and some hero tripping over it or something!

But if theres and easier solution to putting hinges on ill just go with it because I want it finished lol!

Where could I get those trailer plugs?

Cheers,

Rich

I like!!!!
Keep it multicolored. (black white and blue)

I wouldnt use that G-clamp to keep the front end on though. Looks flimsy.

Back once again like a renegade master

Its looking nice and aggressive...if you know what I mean? lol

One question though....when is the turbo going to be fitted.

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

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



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

looking good mate
keep us posted on the whole build.

the engine spec sounds good to me, benross must have done a lot of turbo heads by now! most people on here that need a head done is going to him!

i know i am!!!

My build thread..

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=542985

All sounds good however if your going for 15psi you might find the torque upsets the standard helical box so you might want to consider a SCCR gearset before the rebuild ........ oh and a second car to use as the Mini will be nothing short of painful with them fitted in a daily driver role (well to me they are anyway). That is how I got into Golfs ...... fitted a straight cut gear kit to the Mini as the spec required it and found I could not spend more than 15-20 mins in the car without getting a 15-20 hour head ache anymore so had to buy something else to use daily!!!!

Edited by RogerM on 23rd Sep, 2007.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

Thanks for the good comments! Yeah I really want a sc gear set but couldnt afford it at the time, thats the only thing lacking in the spec ive thought up, that and the crank/rods too!

Im most likely going to be getting a daily but would have to be cheap to run as im 20 and insuring 2 cars will be a pain, but i'll be 21 by the time the turbo is in but im not sure how much of a drop the insurances gives when you hit that age?

Spent the last hour or two changing the plugs and leads aswell as other bits as its running like a bag of nails! Give it a rev and it farts and pops then kind of picks up after it gets through that rough bit, give it a quick drive down the road and under load its worse, splutters and pops and got a huge carb backfire - basically undriveable!

I though the mixture was too rich anyway so when i too the old plugs out i wasnt suprised to see they where totally black, all apart from cylinder one, which was mostly black with a white tip! Not really sure what that indicates? I though maybe too hot?

Anyway Ive notched the mixture screw down and leaned it off a bit to see if that helped and it didnt, still get the coughing and spluttering with a rev. Tempted to get one of those "colour tunes" which help to get the right mixture! Any ideas what else it could be? It was running alright when I got the brakes etc working and ran it down the road, although started to miss at around 3k which i thought was down to the mixture.

Also forgot to put a pic up of one of my custom additions

Gatorade washer bottle baby, all the way from the states, works a treat too lol.

Still trying to decide on the way of fixing the front down, sort of thinking that removeable will be best as I like alot of space when I work and think if its just hinged there will get in the way abit!

Rich

Edited by richminiturbo. on 23rd Sep, 2007.

mint washer bottle, suits the car to a t, imo this is the potentially the coolest car on the site atm!

good luck with getting the engine sorted, have you checked the dizzy over? if its not a leccy one, do yourself a favour and give it a service (points, cap etc) or even better find a leccy one

joe

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Haha thanks mate, thought you might have been being sarcastic then as of the rat looke but cheers hehe! Got along way to go yet but i like it :)

Yeah still running points, will look into getting an electric dizzy as i'll want one for the turbo build anyhow!

Rich

Edited by richminiturbo. on 23rd Sep, 2007.