Collecting a mini, now rust rust and more rust

[Stinkwheel]

4 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

A couple of years back I did a similar collection of a basic MiniE for some friends in Scotland.  Hired a trailer from a place near Thame, then into the suburbs of London to collect it.  Then up to the highlands to our friends near Lochgilphead.  It’s currently undergoing a full resto, most of the mechanicals are ready to go back, but the shell is away at a local welder but should be done by the end of the year as the guys moving workshops or something.  Hopefully next time we go up we may get to see it.  Mind it was nowhere near as bad as this one.  

Nice, lots of miles travelled for that one, lucky ours was just 40 mins down the road (shame the trailer hire was an hour in the other direction first though)

I am really back into (real) minis lately.

[Bmwdumptruck]

This was an inheritance from a best friend of our friends. She died from cancer relatively young but knew her hubby would just leave it to rot. So she left it to our friends knowing that they’d restore it and look after it and then bequeath it back to her daughter when they toddle off, by which time hopefully the daughter would cherish it. It was her mums daily driver originally.  The hubby was glad to be rid of it I reckon, he couldn’t get his Intergrale in the garage quick enough as we were leaving😂

[Stinkwheel]

A mini update, text heavy to start with but picture dump at then end - lots of jobs being done/have done/planned. But essentially, front end welding is done. Ok, it still needs a bit on the rear valance and boot floor, but not much compared to a lot of them these days.

list of things having been done are, 

new brake discs and pads, refurbed calipers, new hardlines and flexis. So it should stop.

new front wheel bearings both sides, new ball joints top and bottom on correct mini hubs (metro ones are outside gathering rust, anyone need a pair of metro swivel hubs and 4 pot calipers?) 

The upper suspension arms were obviously tired in the bearing department as one was graunching and the other was semi seized, that one had to be cut out of the subframe and I’m waiting on a new arm to arrive to go back in for the passenger side.

Loom ripped out and a good used one swapped in, the old one just had too much rodent damage and the wiring for the rally style MANY gauges and switches dash as seen earlier in the thread was awful, as in fire waiting to happen, so that’s all gone, the dash will be an 80’s two clock in front of driver set up with a mid 90’s dash top - simply because this is being done on a budget and that’s what was available cheapest, I do plan to reinstate the oil pressure, charging and maybe water temp into a small 3 pod alongside, because why wouldn’t you want to know those things! 
 

What I have been surprised by is how many spare bits coming from specialist suppliers and eBay are still Rover group branded. 
 

oh and I trial re-hung the drivers door after A piller and sill/floor surgery. It goes in the gap and seems to fit and close nicely, so I’m happy with that. 

And last but not least, all mininowners, change your rubber springs, the new v’s old pic below will show why, they compress and go hard as hell, think how much of the limited suspension is lost with old units, surprising 

now for the pictures -

 

[Tommyboy12]

Xpart never stopped using MG Rover labels even today. Burgundy-coloured Rover-branded boxed items are pretty much the last true MG Rover parts but they're starting to get thin on the ground.

[Stinkwheel]

8 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Xpart never stopped using MG Rover labels even today. Burgundy-coloured Rover-branded boxed items are pretty much the last true MG Rover parts but they're starting to get thin on the ground.

That makes a lot more sense than the idea of being loads of spare bits left over 

[Matty]

Absolutely hammering along with this!

Up until changing to my 1310 I was buying spin on oil filters from minisport as its only round the corner. They were all MG Rover branded too.