My turbo rebuild
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all,

I posted an intro quite a while ago on the newbie thread - and thought it was time to stick some progress pics of my 'rebuild' since then...



So this is my car (as it was...)

I had a few comments about the bonnet vents (which I think looked a bit naff anyway) - but everyone was kind enough not to point out that the back half of the car is a different colour to the front (cheers)... and yeah it is - not jump out and slap you in the face different, but still not good...

Over the winter I did a bunch of little jobs - including a 10" wheel conversion with a set of 6x10 Mambas and 7.5" disks & calipers from minisp(a well known company).

Hadnt driven it much lately, so took it for a spin, and man did it drive HORRIBLE... strange - put the 12s back on... and hmm it drove horrible too... weird.

Get underneath again - expecting that ive done something stoopid and bent an arm or something, and find that both lower rear subframe mounts have sheared... oops.

And that was kinda it - had to go get some bits - and after looking on egay - i noticed an ad for a bodyshop that had opened near me - looked kinda interesting http://www.oldskoolautos.co.uk (hope its alrite to post the url - nothing to do with me, except im now a customer)

So - they said, come down have a cuppa tea - and I did. Big mistake! - Lee who runs the garage was a top guy - really friendly, and had a good look round the mini - told me pretty flat out that it looked orrible :) and as luck would have it, if I brought it back tomorrow (SUNDAY) he could have a go at sorting it out...

Well - I headed off home and started stripping it down, windows, interior etc. Basically everything that wasnt needed to drive it down there, came off.

Sunday, I headed down, and Lee helped me strip the thing down pretty bare that sunday afternoon.





The front was already removable - so pretty easy..



looks alright in the photo - but up close is all microblistered and all round a bit pineapple.

soooo time to strip... and prime





car was pretty straight... but bits and bobs were a little rough - so time to sort em out



Oldskool, have been awesome, have encouraged me to be as involved as i like, so i've been down there sometimes into the very late hours, farting around doing bits and pieces.

so anyway with the body all straight it was time to figure out what to do paint wise

so...

i found this mini online - and just really liked it



no idea who's it is - but it has been the inspiration for my rebuild.

Anyhow - it convinced me that sportspack arches could work with 10's

SO a color - well, my vin plate says that my car is CNE (Targa Red) - its a color that was only used on minis for a couple of years apparently. I looked online, and couldnt find any good pics of a car in this color, but decided to take a gamble, and repaint in it's original color.

First we shot some down on the dash rail, to get an idea...



Looks pretty nice i think - Lee from old skool agreed.

Then the roof - go black again? or perhaps white like the car i liked? after talking it over with lee - decided to do something a little different, and pick a nice rich cream colour.

Also, i like the cooper stripes on the bonnet - not trying to do a concours job or pretend to be anything its not - i just like the look. BUT - no stickers - if its being painted - then i wanted em painted...

So color scheme decided, it was time to get some arches.

Ordered em in - feppin expensive too - originals. Rather annoyingly, the supplier didnt mention, that they aren't 'matched' sets - 3 use studs, and one uses screws... and starts out a different color. anyway - find that out after they arrive.. and if i send em back now, its going to mess old skool about with their schedule.

so - just get on with it. I set about fitting the arches... With lee making me cups of tea, and generally laughing at me.





Back ones were a piece of cake! - (and look real stupid over my old 12" wheels too)

Front ones, well between my removable front, and finally working out that my indicator holes are in different places on the left and the right side of the car... what a pain in the a$$

so - after much messing about, got the arches fitted, but the indicator holes are way out...

No problem - lee says he'll take care of em - just trust him.

well - i come back the next evening - and sure enough, the holes have magically moved - awesome - cant even see where they were - superb.

So, fit the fronts - and give it a good coat of looking at. So next we decided that rover must have had blind 6 year olds, do the cutting out of bits - check out the nasty cutout near the bottom.



so - glassed up all the gaps - to make em a bit nicer...

It was one of these late nights, we were looking at the interior (well - the few bits left in there) and we kinda stared at the steering wheel cowling, and had an idea



Brown looks pretty crappy!!

Looks good so far, is it going to be red again? and whats the engine spec?

soo... an idea hatches.

i'll come back to that.



on with primering the arches now

and tidying up the front



and finally - on with some COLOR





ok - its hard to tell in the pics- but the roof is now cream - and in real life - it's just beautiful.

NEW bonnet - sick of the vents

so that got some cream sprayed on there too (remember the stripe thing)



so - a bit of masking...



not necessarily exactly as per the factory, but down to what we decided just looked right.



and - finally... ON with some real paint...



(yeah - i had a mask on when i took the photo)



doesn't look much after the base coat is flatted off - but it will get better :)

you can see the masking still on the bonnet here



now - back to the cowling - and the idea...


primered, a few little cracks repaired, and slapped on some CREAM...

now it gets interesting - notice your cowling has a little raised / textured area on top? mm - neither had I until now.

so a bit of masking... can you tell what's coming?


a bit of red on the cowl now

soo

as a preview to what the car will look like.. (although kinda the reverse)





if only photos could do it justice... very shiny and lovely :)

so - there's plenty here who'll understand just how exciting this moment is!

starting to UNMASK!

looks sweet mate...

Edited by Madmx on 3rd Feb, 2012.

I think the next photo shows off the finish the best...


Pretty nice huh?

And thats about where we are up to... paint has baked - and the next couple of days will be flatting and buffing!

At this stage I can't possibly recommend oldskoolautos any higher. He's got the worst workshop you ever seen - but superb attention to detail from a hell of a nice guy. and the results are great.

Nice to find a place that is happy for you to be involved in the work.

Nice job mate ! :)

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

I like that!!
Might use ur cowl idea if you dont mind..

Dazed and Confused....

Looks great. makes me want to get mine painted even more now.

very nice, cant beat a freshly painted mini :)

That looks real nice, a mate of mine painted his 106 cream, looked sweet, better than anybody expected.

Audi s4 b5 - 470bhp & 486ft lbs

On 30th Apr, 2012 Brett said:
yeah stick the bit in and give it a wobble

looks really good, think the cream sets it off nicely

looks like you had a good car to base all the hard work on as well

Thanks for all the positive comments guys!

Theres another forum, where I'm sure all I'd get is a bunch of pedants pointing out that it's not original and hence all wrong blah blah....

On 3rd Feb, 2012 Yo-Han said:
I like that!!
Might use ur cowl idea if you dont mind..

lovley!!! How did you primer the arches? I've always wondered how people paint them because they are rubber??

later shells where made from poorer metal and left outside with no paint....

i recently purchased a few heritage apnels and the fit wasnt evan that good. great looking car by the way

Done now needs redoing lol

Looks really nice, I must have posted while you were typing, as it wasn't painted in the pics i was looking at when i first replied.

Its hard not to sound repetitive, but yes nice car mate.. Alan

Main Build
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=489133

Upgrade to Turbo
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.p...tid=448367&fr=0