Caesar the 1275 E - Diary of minor changes

[Vinay-RS]

Hi Guys, 

I figure since I've made quite a few changes to little Caesar since I got him, I should create a diary to keep people up to date on it.

When I first got the mini, this is how he looked. The car had been resprayed and somewhat restored when I got it, meaning that while it wasn't original, it had been tastefully done up. The gold mistrals and a gold pinstripe down the side were neat touches.

These photos were taken after he got his first wash and detailing session









The interior has been reupholstered with black vinyl and there were a couple of large and ugly speaker holes cut into the parcel shelf.  







The engine bay was/is relatively neat, but definitely needs work, including a respray of the firewall and cleaning and polishing the carb and master cylinders. There was a weird box attached on the left, which I think was an old alarm

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As a complete noob to mechanics and car stuff I wasn't exactly sure how to do stuff. Thanks to the kind members of the CTMOC (Cape Town Mini Owners Club), I have learned some of the basic stuff and have been able to do some jobs on Caesar.

The first job that I successfully completed was the changing of all 4 shocks, which went surprisingly smoothly.


Matt made some badges, so that was a nice little detail for the car. Plus I got a club sticker


The previous owner had thrown away the heater because it was leaking, so I got a second hand unit and refurbed it... last year.... and never got around to fitting it. (I know lame right? :| )

When obtained:


After a strip, sand blast and respray:


I picked up some random spares, including a metal air filter box which needs a refurb. (The one in the car is plastic.) and a steering wheel that has the centre badge for the steering wheel, which the car was missing.

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There were some minor bodywork issues. Rust by the rear quarter light window, the rear window and the rear guttering. The front and rear valences were dented and there was a dent on the left rear quarter panel.







Took the car into a local mini specialist to sort out these issues and get the correct Leyland 1275 E stripes fitted. The bodywork was done perfectly, but they made an error fitting the stripes and will be sorting it out soon.

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This year I was very fortunate to be able to get these Dunlop D1 repros.





Once I got the car back from the mini specialists and sourced some wheel nuts from Sean, I got them fitted.







Turned out that the rear tyres were rubbing against the shock mounting, so I figured I needed to source some spacered drums and longer studs to sort out the issue. I was able to get spacered drums from Deon and studs from Sean and Pam.

And here he is with spacered drums fitted. This photo was taken at the car show in Hermanus.


I quite like the poke of the wheels now
At the front:


At the back:


And finally from the side:

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These are some cool photos I took yesterday. The reflections off the stunning mk1 that Andrew restored made for some neat shots. (I've shared a picture of his beautiful restoration because I had to )












And another shot of Caesar

[Dion]

Very nice clubman ?

[Vinay-RS]

Very nice clubman ?

Thanks Dion Oh on a completely different topic, were there minis racing at Killarney yesterday?

[Jared Mk3]

The transformation is subtle, but oh so good!

[Vinay-RS]

The transformation is subtle, but oh so good!

I know right! I was looking through some of the pics from early last year and I amazed at how the small changes make such a big difference.

[DomMINIque]

Very nice Vinay. A neat example of the car!

[Vinay-RS]

Very nice Vinay. A neat example of the car!

Thanks Dom. Still needs work... then again I think that's true for almost all minis

[Miniac]

Looks great Vinay.

[Vinay-RS]

Looks great Vinay.

Thanks Ed. I'm pretty happy at the moment. Time to plan for some more upgrades

[Dion]

Very nice clubman ?