My 1980 Mini 1000 project!
Turbo Mini Forums

So, here is my first mini that I bought yesterday! It was sitting on someones drive who lived down the road from Carl's (Carlzilla) since about 2010 and from what we can tell it's been on and off the road every 6 months for about 10 years before that which is such a shame!
It has a 998 engine which came with it and is currently out of the car which will keep Carl busy for the next few weeks. The car came with about 80% of the stuff it needed to get back on the road and the shell is reasonably solid for it's age. We've already bought a bulk of the stuff to get started on it as soon as it comes back from being welded and painted. I'm super happy with it, it's a good first project and a lucky find!

They don't die, they just get faster!

Here's some photos (:

They don't die, they just get faster!

It will be lowered, but atm theres no engine too!

looks tidy. what are your plans?

My build thread..

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

New front panel, any welding that needs doing, respray in pageant blue ( same colour it is now)
Rebuild the original 998 with all new gaskets etc, upgrade the front drum brakes to 7.5" discs, refurbing the maniflow exhaust as it looked a mess, paint up the engine and engine bay, just basically make everything mechanically sound with minor upgrades so it's still pretty original. Also fitting a radio and an alarm.

Forgot to mention it's also having adjustable trumpets fitted and a new set of gas-adjust dampers, gonna spend a few hours today stripping what I can off the engine and refurbing stuff with new gaskets all round.

Here's some photo's of the engine before when it was all dirty and yuck!


And here's a photo of it after a good blast.


We also painted the engine yesterday afternoon so it's all shiny (:, I need to do some touching up because it's not perfect but this will be done after it's stripped I imagine.

They don't die, they just get faster!

Here's some photos to update him from last week (:. Work is well under way with the front end being chopped off! Sadly he needs a new wing and apanel (I knew there would be some sneaky rust somewhere, it is a mini )

They don't die, they just get faster!

Some more crust that the guys whos doing the work has found and is now sorting!

A few more photo's to keep it up to date with the welding/painting (:. Sadly more crusty bits have been found over the last two weeks which has pushed us back :(. So it's been treated to a few extra panels and some new of metal!













Very much looking forward to getting it back before the end of next week freshly painted and ready for everything to be put on next Weds-Sunday are going to be a busy busy few days!

They don't die, they just get faster!

After a loooooong few weeks the car is finally back and looked like this when we went to pick it up on Saturday!



The yesterday it looked like this


He is now about 99.5% rust free as I poked a hole in the boot floor yesterday morning haha. The yucky 12inch wheels have gone and been replaced with some awesome skinny 10inch steelies , arches are gone, I changed the rear lights for some MK2 ones yesterday and changed the rear bumper. Cosmetically that's about all that's been done atm, we stripped the interior because it was pretty grubby (needs replacing really because at some point someone has made scorch marks in the drivers seat :() ohhhhh and the horrible wheel that came with the car was changed for the original which Carl now loves .

Carl is pretty much taking over this now as I can't take time off work atm but if I sell my current car (you all know you want it !) I'll be back there on the weekend. But he has to do the rest of the engine, brakes, suspension, exhaust, alarm and a few other bits all before the end of the month.

As always, sorry about the huge photos!

They don't die, they just get faster!

Got to say i like the look of the original 10!s

well done your nearly there

It seems like there's still loads to do :(. My deadline has always been the end of June which I think we will still hit it unless Carl gets a major problem/slacks on me. I really wish I could be more involved with this (apart from the bill!) but ah well, there's always the next one

They don't die, they just get faster!

Been stripping and cleaning the wiring loom and centre clocks and binnacle inside the car this evening, gonna spend all day tomorrow on the car, it's mega dusty inside, I've also found a red biro and a small teaspoon haha.

Wahhhh plus that 1p! This car is paying me back well

They don't die, they just get faster!

Sooooo, Carl hasn't updated this because he smells! But the car passed it's MOT today, will get some photos of it today/tomorrow when it's got it's shiny bits put on .

They don't die, they just get faster!

Thats a quick turnaround. Please tell me it still has the white skinny steelies and no acrches, looks great like that.

Yup, indeed it does!

Well, it passed its MOT, got taxed, and guess what? It's broken already. (To be honest it was broken before its mot to be honest but hey ho)
The gearbox has had it I think, selectors or synchros are kerput, so I've got to take the engine back out again to strip it down again to change the box, and rebuild it, again.
But apart from needed a new box, it needs to have the hi-los fitted when I get round to it as its got some rake!
Few (almost) finished article pictures coming up....

Looks nice.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

That looks fantastic! You can't beat a nice center binnacle dash either. Its a pity more girls didn't drive minis!

Aw thanks! We haven't changed the suspension yet so it is riding a little high haha. I also need a new center clock too as the miles don't move

They don't die, they just get faster!

Carls answer to fixing the gearbox..

They don't die, they just get faster!