Depotdan is here! A Mini History
#1
Depotdan is here! A Mini History
Howdy, I'm Depotdan! I own a 2005 R52 Convertible in Liquid Yellow, Its a base model but will be seeing some mods in the coming year. It has the dreaded "CVT" but Im babying it for now. I found this site looking for info on Swapping the auto tranny for a manual 6 speed, there seems to be a few on the frontier who have done it. I am open to body mods, upgrades, to keep er going.
I originally owned a 1974 Mini Innocenti 1001 in Aviano Air Base , Italy (USAF) in 1978-80. I bought it for $400 and the motor was in a 100 pieces, An Admin in my squadron had a mini also and we worked together on it. I purchased a 1967 1275 cc cooper S motor from a salvage yard and we installed it over a weekend. It was the fastest little car I had ever owned . I took it on the autostrada and topped 225 KPH, but the body was shaking so bad I never tried it again. It was great in snow and it used very little fuel to travel anywhere. I wanted to bring it back to the states but import mods were a big $$$ roadblock. If there is anyone out-here who have similar stories please pass them on to me. I would like a classic again someday as modern cars are to complicated to really work on under the shade tree. I'm also interested in events and club events. My occupational interests are Welding, Machine work, Painting, Non destructive testing( PT, MT UT, ET) and what ever I can learn to ad to my re'sume'. Looking forward to being an active member.
I originally owned a 1974 Mini Innocenti 1001 in Aviano Air Base , Italy (USAF) in 1978-80. I bought it for $400 and the motor was in a 100 pieces, An Admin in my squadron had a mini also and we worked together on it. I purchased a 1967 1275 cc cooper S motor from a salvage yard and we installed it over a weekend. It was the fastest little car I had ever owned . I took it on the autostrada and topped 225 KPH, but the body was shaking so bad I never tried it again. It was great in snow and it used very little fuel to travel anywhere. I wanted to bring it back to the states but import mods were a big $$$ roadblock. If there is anyone out-here who have similar stories please pass them on to me. I would like a classic again someday as modern cars are to complicated to really work on under the shade tree. I'm also interested in events and club events. My occupational interests are Welding, Machine work, Painting, Non destructive testing( PT, MT UT, ET) and what ever I can learn to ad to my re'sume'. Looking forward to being an active member.
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Welcome to the forum neighbor. (I am in New Freedom) I bought a R52 Convertible in November and just joined the forum. There appears to be an active club in Philly and Carlisle but I have not checked them out and I have not found anything closer.
I am going the other direction with my MINI. I want to keep it stock and bring it up to a better than new standard. (I have a long way to go.)
I am going the other direction with my MINI. I want to keep it stock and bring it up to a better than new standard. (I have a long way to go.)
#7
Welcome, R52 Owner here also but I have the 5-speed manual.
Here some info on the swap.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...trag-swap.html
Here some info on the swap.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...trag-swap.html
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MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
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#9
I originally owned a 1974 Mini Innocenti 1001 in Aviano Air Base , Italy (USAF) in 1978-80. I bought it for $400 and the motor was in a 100 pieces, An Admin in my squadron had a mini also and we worked together on it. I purchased a 1967 1275 cc cooper S motor from a salvage yard and we installed it over a weekend. It was the fastest little car I had ever owned . I took it on the autostrada and topped 225 KPH, but the body was shaking so bad I never tried it again. It was great in snow and it used very little fuel to travel anywhere. I wanted to bring it back to the states but import mods were a big $$$ roadblock. If there is anyone out-here who have similar stories please pass them on to me.
Never did get to drive the Alps in a Mini, but I had a close second fun driving car that was nearly a Mini... a 1974 Honda CVCC hatch. I considered that car the Japanese version of a Mini. I loved it over there, the people, mountains, historic cities, the food, the cars and those roads, especially in the Alps.
Glad to see you have a Mini. Took me a while to get one. Enjoy! Hope you can find a Classic to wrench on! Wish I had those talents of yours.
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