1978/79 GTS

[GTSPhil]

Some history and background on my beloved GTS.

I bought the car in 2004 after being referred by a specialist who had the car there for a service and some work.  The Saturday morning myself and my Dad went to Benoni to look for a mini for sale.  I looked at the car and liked it, the office produced the then owner’s details.   After having a chat and organizing to meet at a neutral location after I had to draw the price in cash.  As it turned out the owner was not the Father that I had spoken to, but the Son.  A deal was struck for R13 000 cash.  Not really knowing much about classic minis at that stage the car went well enough.  The very first thing that went wrong was after I hit a pothole on the R516 the left front suspension collapsed.  My dad was still far away on his outings for work, so eventually I fitted the 10 inch spare wheel the wrong way around, due to the 8.4 inch disc brakes being in the way and drove like that home.  The aluminium strut had broken and was soon replaced.

   

[Miniac]

Looks like it was a very solid car Phil.

[GTSPhil]

While I was outside the country against my better judgement I let my sister borrow the car.  She had a small mishap with the car.  After my return I found out what had happened to my Left front 12 inch Genuine Minilite that was apparently still made from Magnesium.  Now I sat with three good wheels and one un-usable one that seemingly no-one wanted to repair and then guarantee the work. A set of new 13 inch mags with new tyres came up for sale, so I bought them. After having adapter plates made for the correct PCD and to space the back wheel out, I fitted these wheels. 

   

[Vinay-RS]

It's a bit sad about that wheel. Those minilites did look good on the GTS. What are your plans for this car, it looks very decent.

[GTSPhil]

Vinay stay tuned this is the shortened version of the build thread.

Some more time passed and I became a full-time student and the car was used every now and again.  Then the double roller bearing in the gearbox was kind enough to let go, being a student and not earning an income a plan was devised that involved sourcing a complete second hand gearbox and fitting it.  After a heavy night of enjoying a few too many the fan-belt broke and although it was winter it is not advisable to drive a car 30 kms without looking at the temp gauge once.  Then it happened the first engine overheating and near seizure in 2007 if I am not mistaken. After a re-bore to 20 thou the engine was good to go again, at this stage I started to deal with the already soaring prices of certain parts and their availability.  In 2008 the year in which I started to get serious about not letting others work on my car anymore and I started to gain more and more skills to do things myself.  The front suspension was retro fitted with adjustable hi-los and adjustable lower control arms.

   

   

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At the 50th Birthday bash in 2009 I was introduced to Ryno Verster and then after buying his book I then only truly learned what a GTS really is.  Up to this time my car never had the stripes on to identify it as a GTS. 

This pic shows my GTS and my Dad's blue chopped Mini just in front of it at the parade lap.

   

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A complete re-spray was decided upon in 2012 at this stage the car was truly starting to show it’s age.  I now regret paying for a cheap re-spray as the quality of the work is not that great after 3 years. So after weeks of waiting and pestering the spray painter the car was finally back in my grubby little paws in early December.  Most of that time was spent refitting the engine and getting all the bits and bobs together again.  The big day to fit the perfectly made GTS stripes arrived on 21 December.  In early Jan 2013 the car was all together perfect again and wearing it’s stripes with pride.  I also sourced and fitted a Maniflow LCB.  A used set of Metro Vented discs and 4 pot callipers was also sourced.  I rebuilt them completely and imported the braided hoses to convert the setup for mini use and fitted new pistons etc to the calipers.  Lastly the correct driving-flanges was also fitted to make the conversion to work.  I also got a set of 12 x 5 Superlites to fit back to the car running 165/60R12 tyres.  I could not get the correct wheel arches before the respray.

   

   

   

   

   

   

[Vinay-RS]

What's the red mini behind your car? Looks like a mk1.

[GTSPhil]

Vinay that was possibly a MK1 here is the pic to the back from inside my car.

   

[Vinay-RS]

That looks like quite a neat mk1. That two tone paint job was an option back in the day right?

[GTSPhil]

The cylinder head started to give me problems by letting the oil and water mix.  After having the head “serviced” three times by the same engineering firm, the overheating and mixing of the water and oil still continued.  So it was also at this stage that I started to look at radiator alternatives etc.  A front mount golf radiator conversion was done very successfully then I went a step further and fitted a 10 row oil cooler also.  Unfortunately the damage was done, due to the faulty head, so a re-bore was on the cards again and the 40 thou pistons that was fitted in 2011 did not make the cut. Up to 60 thou the engine went and I found that the original GTS cylinder head was cracked between inlet valve and exhaust valve on no 3 cylinder.  So after this final engine rebuild that was completed in Jan 2014 the car ran great.  I also at this stage opted to fit the correct Twin SU 1 1/14 inch HS2 carburettors with the correct air filter housing for the GTS.  Later during the year a set of K&N Filters was sourced and fitted.  

   

   

   

   

[Jared Mk3]

Those carbs look lovely! Great to see the transformation of this car.