Mrs Suttys crusty orange Mini project, no longer crusty or orange.

[sutty2006]

Yeah this kinda happened a few years ago. It’s a 998 on a 1991 plate. It’s hideous. We bought it for £630 and it ran and drove but the MOT had expired It’s been badly repaired in the past with mastic Glue and shitty bits of metal. Both A pillars are shot inside and out. The floors are like a sieve and the rest of it is crusty in places. Previous owner spent £££ on shiney chrome bits but neglected to repair thing properly. For example it had twin spotlights in the middle, both scotch locked into the offside headlight. Very poor. It’ll need doors, they’re buggered. Took the brake servo off which was full of fluid.... so the list of parts is going to increase daily. Luckily 99% of parts are available for these. I took it up to my unit about 2 years ago to store it until we had time. Today we collected it and brought it home. Plan is to remove the engine/box combo and then the shell will go up to FIL where they can repair it together. While the engine stays at home to be rebuilt. Watch this space. I already hate it. 

[sutty2006]

A few pictures of nearly 5 years ago when we bought it. A framing it with the landrover is Interesting. Can’t see it in the mirrors 

[Mr Laurence]

I do love a good mini! As far as projects, this one does appear much more solid and complete than most. 1991 is often agreed to be one of the best years as well, since you get ‘modern’* features like rear seatbelts, disc brakes and an engine that’s happy on unleaded fuel, without loosing any of the mechanical simplicity of a Carb’d engine. I’ll definitely be following this with interest. What are your plans for it?

[schonker]

I love them, but they rot and leak like a bastard,but I probably don't need to tell you that!

[BorniteIdentity]

The great thing about Minis is you can buy absolutely bloody everything - and pretty cheap. Total parts cost for getting mine on the road was probably £300 excluding new tyres. Not bad for something off the road for twenty years. 

You'll be grand - keep us posted! 

[sutty2006]

It’s on a single SU carb and old fashioned points distribution. I know sweet FA about minis. Thought someone was pulling my pisser when they said the gearbox is in the sump! Plan is to restore it and give it a better colour. I’d love to know what its original colour was. 

[Mr Laurence]

6 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

It’s on a single SU carb and old fashioned points distribution. I know sweet FA about minis. Thought someone was pulling my pisser when they said the gearbox is in the sump! Plan is to restore it and give it a better colour. I’d love to know what its original colour was. 

I’m not certain, but that rear seat back looks like it’s yellow in one of your photos. That was a colour rover offered in that year, and in my opinion suits them quite well.

what it may have once looked like:

 

[timolloyd]

Same colour as my old one - Snapdragon?

[Bren]

I would have a mini. The only thing that puts me off is they crinkle like tin foil in a collision - I know having being hit by one.

[MarvinsMom]

the original colour code will be stamped on the VIN tag,assuming it still has got it? 

by that age it should be riveted onto the inside of the drivers inner wing.

the paint code will have 3 letters,such as BAG or EAT and soon.

a quick google should give you a name and colour that the car was originally.

and good luck with it. i've seen much worse, and bits are fairly easy to find. much more so that the later SPi and MPi cars, there are a few bits for those which are NLA.

Minispares are a good spot for bits, and they have an online copy of the mini's parts book which i have found useful for getting "proper" part numbers.

[Mr Laurence]

^ +1 for minispares: in my experience, they only stock good quality parts - none of the cheap rubbish you’ll find on eBay. They’re also brilliant if you’ve got questions about virtually anything mini related

[Stevebrookman]

Nice Mini but a STUNNING dog!!!!!

[N Dentressangle]

24 minutes ago, Stevebrookman said:

Nice Mini but a STUNNING dog!!!!!

that dog is HUGE

Reminds me of

[spartacus]

I've missed the 'Mini' boat but I'm quite happy to sail on it vicariously. I like orange cars but I reckon it would look better in another colour, although I guess that's a way away.

My first thought on seeing the pics were, 'that's a massive dog!'

[eddyramrod]

I actually like it in the orange, reminds me of an Airfix 1/32 Mini I built in the 70s.  Of course it no longer exists.

[sutty2006]

Yes Merlin has grown somewhat over the last 7 months. 
 

think I’ll hunt it’s original colour out tomorrow. There must be some remains of it somewhere as whoever painted it orange did a really shit job. 

[purplebargeken]

Big dog, smol Mini.

 

[Bren]

If I had a mini it would be in scalextric colours with a chequerboard roof.

[New POD]

12 hours ago, Mr Laurence said:

^ +1 for minispares: in my experience, they only stock good quality parts - none of the cheap rubbish you’ll find on eBay. They’re also brilliant if you’ve got questions about virtually anything mini related

The condenser and therefore points that they sold me lasted about 600 miles.  

The rotor arm lasted 1000 miles. 

 

[Tamworthbay]

When I was more heavily involved with minis, and writing articles for the mini magazine, I was in close contact with staff at Minispares and their parent group David Manners. They are genuinely dedicated to keeping our minis on the road and supplying the best they can. The issue with modern points and condensers is well known across ALL suppliers in recent years. This has been down to buyers demanding the cheapest possible product. Minispares have had their own products made to address these issues. The other well known problem is the heater take off valve. Minispares went to the effort of making better quality ones that didn’t fail but they don’t sell many as people choose the cheaper ones at other places. I have spent an obscene amount of money with Minispares over the years (David Manners probably has a picture of me on his mantelpiece) and got to know the lads and ladies in Brum very well. There has never been an issue with any part I have needed to take back, which have been very few, and they even happily swapped a couple of hundred quids worth of stuff when I changed a project from twin bolt to single bolt Subframe over a year after I bought it.

[Dan302]

14 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

that dog is HUGE

Reminds me of

I can't see a dog in any of the photos but there appears to be a large grizzly bear

[sutty2006]

I think it used to be white 

 

 

oooo more rust. 
 

[Tamworthbay]

Common grot spot, the heel board rots from that corner forward. The usual first sign is bubbling where the rear quarter starts to curve for the arch. By then they need a fair bit of work. Being a bare shell it’s dead easy. Just use the rear subframe and carefully measure the mounting locations. I am sure we all remember seeing minis crabbing down the road from dodgy heel board repairs. The storage bins add to the structure as well but some people cut them out.

[sutty2006]

Tell me. Does this look dodgy? 

and should there be a chassis number elsewhere? 

 

[Tamworthbay]

Should have one of these somewhere:

They do get lost though, but that is complete mess. You can buy replacements.

[sutty2006]

So its possibly lost its original. Or, its been rung like a soggy wet tea towel. Im guessing it only has the one chassis plate on the front panel.

 

[Tamworthbay]

5 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

So its possibly lost its original. Or, its been rung like a soggy wet tea towel. Im guessing it only has the one chassis plate on the front panel.

 

So many have had a ‘new’ shell I really wouldn’t worry even if that is the case. There is no way of knowing for sure. The plate is either on the inner wing or where yours is now. Later ones were also stamped on the scuttle but yours pre dates that.

[big_al_granvia]

sod the mini, i want to see more photos of the dog, he looks braw

[1duck]

i didn't see the dog on first run through, so scrolled back up assumed you were all referring to this picture and was wondering how the hell you could tell the size of the dog from just that picture:
 

 

 

 

Then I scrolled further up and noticed the absolutely huge dog that had been there the whole time: 

[theshadow]

drove a yellow mini up from london to stranrae ,leaked like a sieve,but it drove great with 5 people in it..