This is the kind of trouble you get into while waiting on parts and have a bead blast cabinet. Color matched dust shields and metal clear [so they don't rust] on hub bearings, [no, the bearing weren't bead blasted, just cleaned real well with alcohol]. Of course the inner cast section of the bearings were taped off and painted with the same POR-15 stainless color I painted the steering knuckles with... And I even found stainless metric torx screws for the dust shield on McMaster-Carr, so of course, why not?

Someone stop me...

Robj

P.S. I sent these photos to one of my garage buddies. He said, "take a pill". I replied "I don't think they make a pill for what I've got". $500 Mini..Right.



And then there's this lump. A friend that has a metal fab shop is going to sandblast the sub-frame for a 30 pack. Taking it to what used to be the quarter car wash, [I'm old] to get all the grease off so I don't contaminate his media. Then a coat of Eastwood Gloss Chassis Black.
Cause everyone will see that, right???

And almost worse yet, I ground all the weld splatter off the lower control arms in preparation of bead blasting and painting. [in my previous life I restored vintage motorcycles, mostly European. Old habits die hard].



And unlike all the videos, the 4 bolts for the sway bar mount and the rear control arm mount did not "run right out" even with an impact. [aka the persuader as one You-Tube guy put it]
It took a torch, [Oxy- Acetylene, not a wimpy propane] and getting the mount smoking hot to get the bolts to budge. You do not want to break one of those puppies off...

 

Don't Stop - Looking Good.

 

I was about to say the same thing: why stop! When I was rebuilding I also took the subframe to a car wash and sprayed it down too. In fact, once I get finished detailing the inside I'll probably do it again.

There's always a local Mini club or a Car's and Coffee you could take it to where other people would appreciate your work; I know I do!

I see a couple different posts by you but do you have a consolidated build thread? I'd love to subscribe and watch your progress.

 

Step away from the blaster machine :P

lookin good sir 👌

 

Acgog,
No, no build thread. Being an old guy staring at 68 in a few months I'm a little new at this and didn't think there would be a lot of interest.
I started out in the late 60's drag racing a '57 Chevy but always had a soft spot for European iron. Started out with mostly motorcycles , '59 BMW, '73 Motor Guzzi, '77 Triumph, [bought new] and always wanted either a Bug Eye Sprite or an original Mini.

Decent original Minis are up to about 20K and I'm currently restoring a 29' ChrisCraft. After 2 years of that I needed a little "motorhead" break and my neighbor had this Mini sitting in his driveway for over a year due to a belt and tensioner failure so for $500, here we are.
Doing my homework for common Mini "issues" and dealing with the P.O.'s "deferred maintenance" I'm probably up th 4K in parts. But, it should be pretty squared away when finished.
Not a ton of hot rod stuff, 15% pulley, cold air intake and one ball mod, but all the common Mini failure points addressed. Updated suspension, with some poly bushing on LCA and sway bar but other than that, mostly stock parts.

My "boy racer" days have passed, [mostly] And I have no desire to bounce my insides out on my local country roads. On the other had I have a '93 Cobra Mustang and a year or two ago followed a guy in a 911 out a long county road, about 2 car lengths behind the entire way. We were both at about 8/10's. Got to a light where I had to turn and he rolled down the window and just said, 'pretty fast car". So sometimes it's more driving finesse than equipment.

If I did decide to make this a "build post" think I should re-post some of the prior posts to the new thread?

Thanks for the kind words,
robj

 

You need to do a build post. It's a less labor intensive way to wait for parts to arrive.

Let’s see pics of the boat too!

 

Props to you sir, you do some amazing work. The experience in restoration shows for sure. Maybe you should start a built thread after all! The one thing that caught my eye is definitely that motorcycle list of yours, wow love it. I have an Aprilia Shiver, a 1978 Kawasaki KZ750 cafe racer and a Triumph Bonneville in the garage so your list really caught my attention! Good luck with the rest of it!

 

Hey Rob,

There's definitely a lot of interest, at least here! I know I'd love to see all of the work you're doing. I lot of people here subscribe to build threads to get ideas, see how people do things themselves, and get inspired.

I think it's really up to you whether or not you want to consolidate all of your other threads. I know I've posted asking questions and simple updates outside of the build thread myself and don't think it's really a big deal, especially if you're trying to get eyes on something.

It's funny, your story is a little like mine too. The insurance company offered my mother $8k and no car or $7k and the car so I offered her $1k myself. I've probably sunk $4k+ (including the Koni's and Vorshlags that are on the way as we speak) into the car but it's a ton of fun to work on, and most importantly it's paid off

I also had a 2011 Mustang GT, the first year they released the Coyote 5.0 and that got me in way too much trouble. Stomping on the throttle, popping the clutch and fishtailing out wasn't exactly the best thing to do around other people: thankfully nothing bad happened and that car is long gone though I miss it dearly.

If you do decide to do a build thread I'll definitely subscribe. Your work looks very professional and you obviously have years of experience yourself so maybe I can pick up a thing or two. Prior to doing the clutch and flywheel on my MC40 the most mechanical thing I'd ever done is an oil change

Thanks for sharing Rob!!!