Full nut and bolt restoration, will be turbo'd one day.
Turbo Mini Forums

Alright guys, lurked around here for a while. Got a big project thread running on TMF but I'll start one here too, simply 'cause I hope to get it turbo'd. Either turbo my 998 now or upgrade to a bigger engine, which I probably will 'cause of motorway travelling.

Quick background of me, 19 year old lad, studying Graphic Design at Lincoln Uni. Come from the Midlands though, near Leicester. My mini is my first car, so I'm learning to weld & spray myself. Keep costs down and use the skills I'll learn on future cars.

History of the mini.. 1990 Checkmate, got it from Scotland back on the 28th of March 2008, drove it home with my Dad. Failed the MOT a year later and decided to take it off the road completely, do a full rebuild.

Here she is at the start..



& here she is now..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAI8nIUx7Fc...player_embedded

So my final plans,
+ 10" GBs
+ 7.5 brake set up
+ FG 1 piece front
+ FG boot
+ Overhaul of rear subframe
+ Overhaul of front subframe
+ Mild overhaul of the engine
+ Total sort out of rust & a full respray

Edited by analogue_radio on 24th Feb, 2010.

I will be sorting the boot first, which currently looks like..



Whole new list of panels on the way, incl. a full boot floor.

i thought it was going to get you on that video :)

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Haha nah I had it under control, lack of things to grab onto on the underside.







Pulled a few photos out of recent things, rear subframe will finished this weekend when I pop back home.

Great build, did have a peek on TMF. wish my dad was as willing to splash some cash on my car lol

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

He's an amazing help, used to rally cars at my age and has been tinkering ever since. Got two of Grandads motorbikes to restore soon, so any tools he's bought for me to use, he'll be using then.

Tools last a life time, so it's all money well spent.

I'm biting hard into my overdrafts at the moment.. all the bits you see that are attached to my mini, I've bought. Need to make sure I find a full time job over Summer to pay them off or I'm simply in the shit!

nice list of jobs to complete, that should keep you busy! - glad to see your going to do all the work yourself too.

Keep us posted.

Today was rad.



First off was the A-panels and doors.



Drivers side it obviously dead, passengers can be saved though.





Just needs some patching at the bottom! The rest is okay, which is pleasing.



So there you go pretty much done.. I still need to finish the handbrake cable (got all the bits) and the brake lines (think I've got all the bits) & I couldn't get the sodding dust caps on the hubs, I might try buying another pair from elsewhere and seeing if they fit any better, only a few quid each. Oh and I ideally want to take it apart again and copper grease all the bolts and screws.



Looks really nice, can't wait to get the wheels rapped in Yokos.



& whilst I was at it, I tidied the whole garage, binned a fair bit of stuff too. Those bits on the table I'm keeping and need refurbing, can't make them out from the photo.. but there is the two front hubs, wiper motor and rack & the gearstick and rods.

So yeah, pretty good :)

Edited by analogue_radio on 26th Feb, 2010.

That door won't be fun to repair. When you take the skin of, the bottom corner will crumble of. Not an easy shape to repair.

Came back again this weekend from Uni, which now stands at 4 weekends in a row! I won't be back again now till Easter, in which I hope to get started on the boot.



Earlier this week I placed an order from MOSS, which had all the bits I needed to mate the gearbox with the block, get the timing chain cover, clutch housing etc.. all on. I thought I had a part at home, so I didn't bother ordering it.. well yeah, turns out I didn't have it and couldn't find it anywhere! It was the crescent shaped rubber seal that sits on the gearbox, towards the clutch side. So of course I couldn't do what I wanted to do.





Engine and gearbox are ready to mate, will order that part for the Easter holidays.

And so instead I found some other bits and bobs that needed doing..



When I took all my parts to be blasted and sprayed, they said they couldn't do this bit because of the rubber seal.. which I told them to remove, they apparently couldn't get it out.. so I just told them to leave it and said I'd do it in my own time. So popped it out and Ku-rusted..



Ku-rusted.



Etch primed.



Stone chip sprayed.



Dry (obviously the other side was done too)



Then I set about cleaning up the gear stick housing.



Taken apart.



Cleaned the parts up as best I could and found a jar of malt vinegar in the pantry, will leave them submerged until I come home at Easter.



Etched.



Sprayed and dried (sorry for blurred photo)

So a good day, even though I didn't get what I wanted to get done. Still made some progress and did a good job of it. Patio heater is amazing for spraying things under, works a treat.

Good job Luke, nice to see it documented on here too. Dont forget to fit a bulkhead box for future plans

Hey mate, long time no chat!

I'd seriously think about putting a turbo box and weber box in your bulkhead while you've got the chance!

I didn't when I restored my car, and damn, I wish I'd known better back then!

N. Ireland Mini Forum: http://www.mini-chat.co.uk

Yeaah forgot about that!

Seeing as this is a Turbo Mini forum, is there a member that produces them?

& it's been pointed out to me on another forum that I shouldn't have painted the inside of the timing chain cover, at the time it didn't occur to be that it might be a problem.. I didn't think the oil would interfere with the stonechip, but to be on the safe side I'll nitromors it anyway.

Jason G on here makes the daddy of turbo boxes

If you really want to paint the inside of your timing cover, do it with Red Lead/Red Oxide, it doesn't affect the oil.

I painted the inside of my block with red lead, apparently it helps oil flow.

N. Ireland Mini Forum: http://www.mini-chat.co.uk

HA! well.. I don't wish to bore you with updates of the bodywork, but I'll update you all and start doing proper updates when I get round to fitting and fettling with the turbo.

The 1990 shell has been sold, far too much work.. considering I'm at University and not a pro at bodywork at etc..

So I found a 90% solid 1979..



And after a month or two..

Blimey.. well it's been a while since I've been on here and updated my thread, I'll try and do a quick summary..

But in a nutshell..

The '90 was sold (too far gone)
I bought the '79 (i welded it up and had it sprayed)
& sold my turbo parts (can't financially afford it)

Here are a few of the latest shots of the '79.

That colour is mega nice

Matt W

its come along way since i came fetch that subframe off you, looks mint.

one day boost will be mine!