Great Minds Think A-Like?

Around the World in a 15 year old Fiat Panda!

It appears that this long distance driving in small cars madness is not limited to Mini owners, a couple from Belfast have bought a Fiat Panda for £100, and driven it to Africa, America, the Nurburgring and are planning to go to the Arctic in 2009.

Have a look at www.littlefiatbigadventure.com , looks like they had fun, especially on the first trip back in 2005, with the car breaking down before they have even got going.

Total Kit Car Magazine

Searching the magazine shelves for my usual monthly magazines, Mini World, Mini Magazine, Old Skool Rodz and I found a new one, totalkitcar. The September/October 2008 issue and its next instalment November/December has a two part feature on every Mini based kit you can buy. As you would expect also features a small section on the Mini Minus body shell.

Mini Sprint Build Blog

I have also found another build blog, this time of a Mini Sprint fibre glass shell, progress has been quick and the results look good;
www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=68818

NWS ***Y The Future?

A couple of months back, well just after the Last MOT in May, and again having to patch up the rusting shell of NWS, I got to thinking about GRP bodied Mini's. I have toyed with the idea of having ago at restoring the steel shell, but my welding skills are limited and to get it done professionally will cost £6,500 +.

So I started to look into getting my hands on a GRP shell and I came across the Mini Minus Register's website; www.miniminus.co.uk , and I liked what I saw. Having a quick look back through some of my old mini magazines I found a couple of these things featured and they looked good. So instead of restoring the steel shell and spending thousands getting it fixed up, only for it to start rusting again, I can spend thousands on making it go faster......!

The initial specification for the car goes something like this, a A+ engine bored out by 20 – 40 thou, fast road spec, with a super charger (possibly from either Jon speed or Mini speed), a 5 speed straight cut gearbox (Mini Spares), adjustable ride height suspension, adjustable suspension geometry all round, twin tanks, wide steel wheels (www.wide-wheels.com ), a Webasto sun roof, a 60’s GT car inspired interior, including a dash using original cooper 3 dash clocks and gauges, leather seats and door panels and painted in black (Kustom Flatz so it looks like it is still in primer), with red pin striping, red wheels and the odd bit of chrome.

Initially it appeared that these shells were no longer being manufactured, but they did appear to come up on e-bay regularly, unfortunately as is the way when these opportunities arise I did not have enough money and since I have got some money, none have appeared on e-bay for some time.

But fortunately these shells are now being reproduced by a guy called Sean at twotofour1 engineering, who is very helpful and at the moment is happy to answer any stupid questions I may have. They are selling the shells for £2225.00, they are also available through ABS Motor Sport on their website www.absmotorsport.net/minus-bodyshell-p-5133.html , for slightly more (£2300.00), but this site you get a couple of pictures of the shell.

There are a couple of hurdles to jump through to get the car on the road and legal, the possibility of a SVA test or more probably the Basic IVA test, which will be introduced in April 2009. Then there is the registration of the car and hopefully retaining an age related plate. As this will essentially in the eyes of VOSA become a kit car, and will need to be registered with a Q plate unless I can retain at least two components of the donor car, as defined by VOSA as; the engine, transmission, suspension (front & back), steering assembly and the axles (both).

Useful websites:

Registering vehicles
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/RegisteringAVehicle/DG_10014246

SVA notes
www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/importsapproval/thesinglevehicleapprovalscheme

The Life & Times of NWS ***Y

The history of the car is fairly straight forward and easily traced. A 998 cc Mini Mayfair, in black with originally a blue interior, first registered in March 1983, with 3 previous owners, including myself, my mate and her first Lady owner.

The first owner looked after the car really well, the car was regularly serviced, only covering forty thousand odd miles, before being sold to a friend of mine in January 2000. He owned the car for two years, but only drove NWS for a year, put a further thirty thousand miles on the clock, and took what was a mint condition mini and ran it into the ground, the car was finally left to sit in a garden when the MOT ran out.

A year later with my then current Mini a 1986 Piccadilly was on its last legs, I was offered the car for nothing, just to get it out of the garden it had sat in for the previous year. The idea was to use it as parts to keep my other mini on the road.

I picked the car up in the dark, not even giving it a quick look over, just tied it to the back of the works Transit and pulled it to my parents drive and left, to take my mate for a pint to say thanks! Needless to say, the following morning with a hangover she did not look good, faded paint, holes in the floor, inner and outer sills rusted through, a hole in the boot floor, the clutch had seized and it would not start (Not that different to its current state).

In the end it worked out that the Piccadilly was in a poorer condition than I had realised, a quote for the repairs to the bodywork ran into a couple of thousand pounds, money at the time I just could not afford. So there I was broke and stuck with two cars that would not pass an MOT. Thankfully it was decided that NWS could be saved. My Dad coming to the rescue and offering to repair the rusting floor, the sills and to patch the hole in the boot floor, a much easier proposition than replacing the complete front end of the other.

From picking the car up in the November of 2002, to finally passing an MOT took just over a year and approximately £800.00. The car had a few modifications, namely a brake upgrade from front twin leading shoe drums, to a 7.5” disc set up, spacered rear drums and an adjustable brake bias valve, with parts sourced from the younger mini.

Over the following three and a half years further modifications evolved, a stage 1 kit, leather seats, a stereo install with CD changer, amp and 6x9 speakers, a new carpet and door panels, a planned new adjustable suspension set up including adjustable bottom arms, rear camber and tracking brackets and adjustable ride height suspension (Hi lo’s), that was put off until I could afford a full rebuild/restoration.

Having decided upon rebuilding at some point the idea was to keep the car on the road as long as possible, but the best laid plans and all that. The car failed its last MOT in April of 2008, with a rusted sill, rust in the floor within the prescribed distance from the rear sub-frame mounts, and a seized radius arm. All of which was repaired, the welding again done by my Dad.

But as described previously, the clutch went, tyres were worn and replacements difficult to source and wheel alignment impossible as all the machines in Bristol could no longer be used on the little 10 inch wheels. So slightly earlier than anticipated the Mini is off the road and the rebuild set in motion.

The car now sits on my parents drive once again, soon to have its own space next to the green house, waiting for the strip down to begin.

The pictures show the car when I firts got it, the Gold Car was the '86 Piccadilly (so wish I had stripped more from it and sold the parts off on e-bay), and the other picture is NWS back in 2002 just after its MOT.

Day Dream Believer?

Only in my work time day dreams did I believe; that I will ever find either the money, space or the time to modify my mini so it would be capable of being driven across Europe.

A long distance road trip; starting off from my home town across the Channel to France. Passing through Reims, its Champagne vineyards, its old street racing circuit and on through the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Italian Lakes, down to Turin, to the old Fiat Factory, then across the Alps, over the ‘Col de Turini’ and on into Monte Carlo. Then heading back towards Calais and either the ferry or Euro Tunnel home, via the ‘French Rivera’, the Pyrenees and up the Atlantic coast of France.

All of this in a 1000cc 1983 Austin Mini Mayfair, which to be honest has seen better days and as of the 25th of September 2008, SORN'd with a broken clutch, drivers side sill, close to being rusted through and two rear tyres very close if not on, their legal tread depth limit, it all seems a long way off.

But this is the plan; and to concentrate my mind I’ve given myself a deadline of sorts. The idea is to complete the restoration/modification of the car and to be ready for the trip after a shakedown run to the English Lake District and the Welsh Mountains by 2012, which is approximately 4 years, give or take a few months.............well that's the idea any way.

This blog is going to be a record of the build, getting the car legal and attempting the road trip, or at least my attempt at living out my office day dreams.