1330 Aspirations

[Grant]

In the 9 years I’ve owned this mini apart from maintenance type jobs I’ve only done a couple of small things like fitting electronic ignition, rebuilding the 1.25” carb and drum brakes; and replacing the venter trailer type wheels with mistrals. 

 

The plan is to do a full rebuild, with a bare metal respray (hopefully), a little bit of attention to the interior and then the following mods -

Convert front drums to 7.5” discs, 

rear drums to the smaller 15.875mm cylinders and then assess the need for adjustable regulator valve

·        Hi-los, toe and camber adjusters, and adjustable gaz shocks

·        1330cc engine, Hypatec pistons

·        1275 cylinder head – still deciding what route to go re modifications, valve size and type, unleaded conversion, cam type, etc

·        1.75” SU carb

·        Maniflow LCB

·        998 flywheel

·        GTS gearbox (if I can find one)

·        Supercool 2 core radiator

·        New oil and water pumps

·        Working instrument gauges to tell me how all the above is doing

·        Replacing other tired bits and pieces that I come across as I go along

 

I’ve been slowly but surely collecting the various bits and pieces I need and finally I think I’m at the point where I can get the ball rolling, with the help of my 2IC younger brother who I’ve managed to rope in … for now.

I’ll be posting more specific questions as they come to me but any advice/ recommendations/ obvious floors in my thinking at this stage please let me know.  

How she looked back when I first got her:

   
   
   
   

How she looks now:
   
   
   
   

Not much difference I know.

[DomMINIque]

Car looks very neat man. Very cool.

With regards to your engine plans maybe make a post in the technical section regarding exactly what your plans are and the more experienced guys can give some advice.

If you've got an 1100 then crank, conrods and pistons are all SA specific and i think you'll battle to get pistons.

Here is a thread on the local SA 1100 engines, maybe have a read through and see.
http://samini.co.za/showthread.php?tid=73

There are a few other things that may concern me but I'm far from a technical guru so we'll rather wait for them to arrive

[Miniac]

Looks like a good basis for your proposed idea.

[Jared Mk3]

I do like the colour on this car. Keen to see how you progress on it

[Sean1380]

Mooi man.

Just a suggestion, with disks, go even smaller on the rear slaves, like GTS 1/2" slaves (12.7mm). (a bit more expensive unfort.)

I run the 15.8mm ones on mine and even with 4 pots, there is still a tad to much rear braking for me.

[Grant]

So after even more procrastinating since the original posts above, earlier this year I went out to see someone who is going to give me a hand with building my engine. He had 3 cooper S’s in his driveway and he was building another.

He was kind enough to throw me the keys to his S and after a 15 minute spin that was the final push I needed. A couple of weeks later and the tear down began …

An initial look under the footwell carpets and I thought I was in for new panels


   


   


   


The most useful "tool" I've found so far - masking tape for labelling


   


   

It was touch and go for a while trying to get the glass out but we managed in the end without incident


   
   
   

[Vinay-RS]

Nice to see you making progress on the restoration Sounds like a really cool plan for your mini, love the idea of a powerful motor and better brakes.

[Jared Mk3]

Great to see a start with this

[Grant]

More bits disappearing from the bonnet ...

   

And the boot ...



   
All the wiring out
   
Probably one of the most frustrating jobs so far was removing the gear extension rod roll pin
   
Engine removal. It took 3 of us to lift it out, the hardest part was getting a good grip. Will definitely be using a hoist for the reverse operation
   
   
   
   
Footwells after chipping out the soundproofing - not as bad as I thought
   

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Front subframe removal
   
   

Rear subframe removal
   
   
   
   

Packed up and ready for the bodyshop
   

[Vinay-RS]

Wow! Quick progress on the strip down. Should look sweet when it comes back from the bodyshop