SP450andLE's Austin Mini 1000 LE

SP450andLE · July 9, 2012

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30253-sp450andles-austin-mini-1000-le/

I am not a happy chappy.

There's a weird problem where the car coughs and splutters sometimes in 4th gear, uphill. I can't figure out why.

But that isn't even the bad news.

This happened today:

At a friends house. In his driveway.

His mum drove her stupid X5 into it.

And it's worse than what you can see in the pic.

So I'll be getting a new door out of this, fuck just popping it out and bogging it.

And to top it all off, a bird pooped purple poo on me when I was taking that photo.

RAGE RAGE RAGE

EDIT: Hah, lovely start to my second page

SP450andLE · July 18, 2012

Quick update...

Started making some storage things for under the rear seats.

Used old political signs, duct tape and some weird flooring vinyl stuff.

Needs chopping a bit, it sticks out past the edge of the seat base. I may also paint the face a yummier colour at some stage too. Maye Old English White.

Also may need a lid and a way of securing it to the floor - I'm planning to put tools in one, and keep the other for putting valuables out of view.

Discussionnnnnnnnnn... viewtopic.php?f=18&t=28143

SP450andLE · August 10, 2012

Woohoo!

Had to fix radiator leak and exhaust leak before I got a WoF. But then it flied through!

I should fix the speedo at some stage though...

SP450andLE · August 25, 2012

Righty, I replaced the radiator cos the old one was leaking heaps.

And I primered the steelies, ready to be painted soon

And I grabbed some cheap spotties off Indy, and started playing around with where I'll have them.

So, two options:

Option #1:

Option #2:

Which do you prefer? (And I don't care about stones hitting them, I've already broken one glass cover so I'll be replacing it anyway lol)

Discuss: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=28143

SP450andLE · September 14, 2012

Started sorting out mounts for Lincooln's roofracks (that happen to fit pretty much all our cars )

So I ended up with this:

Some paint and it'll look almost safe

SP450andLE · September 16, 2012

Right, finished the mounts today.

They look yuck but I don't care . I put some felt on the back of them to stop them scratching my soon to be new paint, and I just need to trim it down a bit so it doesn'y have yucky fluffy edges.

And they're actually super sturdy, I can grab hold of the rack and rock the whole car, and the rack doesn't move at all.

Really tempted to cut the feet a bit so it's not so tall, and also paint them old english white. I'll have to consult with lincooln first before I go chopping up his roof rack

Pics for fun:

SP450andLE · October 3, 2012

Small update today...

Made up a temporary sound system for this after having all my mates nag me to get some sounds for it

With the help of a bunch of people on here, I managed to figure out how to rewire the power cord of a set of old computer speakers for a ciggy lighter plug.

Then had to actually put a ciggy lighter socket thing in the car so I could actually use the sounds

So now it's all working. Sound is suprisingly good, will get better after I make a proper box for the speakers. I'll make it so it looks nice and retro and hides the speakers.

I'll have to sort out a radio for it at some stage, currently only works with my iPod.

Also, I tuned the car a little today, was running quite rich. And now it's running super dooper well

Discussion: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=28143

SP450andLE · November 2, 2012

Sneak peek of things to come...

SP450andLE · November 2, 2012

Mega raging right now.

Took the wheels in to have the tyres fitted, and turns out one of the wheels is mega warped. So I either need to have it straightened, replace the one, or sell the set and have some standard wheels widened to my liking.

Suggestions on which option you think is best? Also, where to get wheels straightened?

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30253-sp450andles-austin-mini-1000-le/

SP450andLE · February 5, 2013

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30253-sp450andles-austin-mini-1000-le/

Right, I've been holding off on an update for some time now, because I've actually had some proper progress.

I took the Mini off the road to get the door fixed with insurance, and planned to give the whole car a quick respray.

And then it started... The painter was like "why don't you take both doors off". Then "you might as well take both screens out" etc etc.
So this went on for a while until I was pretty much stripping off the majority of the paint. And lucky we did that. There were a few bog patches that had been done by a previous owner, which were straight over bare metal. This meant that all the metal under the bog was covered in surface rust. So I sanded that back and cleaned it up with dioxidine until it was clean metal again.

There were a few rust holes that needed fixing, but overall I was damn surprised at how solid it was for a daily hack with unknown KMs lols.
These were all fixed by the panelbeater at my work (he's used to working on fancy cars worth at least 10 times what the mini is worth), so I can rest assured they'll stay right for a while yet.

Doing all the prep was horrible. But In doing so, I learn what makes or breaks a paintjob. Bad prep = bad paintjob.

Luckily the guys made sure I did good prep.

I won't bore you with all the details of swapping bits round on the doors, getting all the panels gaps pretty much damn perfect and all that rubbish.

But so finally we got it painted. It turned out real well, straight from the gun. Apparently the painter got a better finish on it than he does on most of the customers' cars (mostly show-winning hotrods and classics). And that was on the wednesday before Kumeu...
A mad rush later it was ready for kumeu on friday night bar the screens. A trip to Smith and Smith (unltimate wankers, they f##ked me around so much and scratched my paint) in the morning, and we were at Kumeu by the arvo.

Since then I've been fitting items up, and painting things to make them look pretty. I've also fitted a ramflo filter for more doort.

Next on the job list is to paint the roof black, do the stripes, paint the centre of the visor white, paint the current wheels white to see what it'll look like with that colour wheels, pull the fuel pump out and see if it's stuffed or not, underseal the whole underside of the car and a bunch of other things I can't summon into my mind currently.

I've probably forgotten a whole lot of stuff that was really amazing and all that, but it's time for pics so here we go... (pics of the entire process will be uploaded to an album somewhere later on, so you'll have to make do with what you see here for now)

Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4849470467780.2165712.1027525483&type=1&l=56dbe255d2

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30253-sp450andles-austin-mini-1000-le/

SP450andLE · July 3, 2013

I figured it was time for an update...

I've been dailying this since I had it repainted.

There's been a few small problems...

Weird high speed misfire - fixed by fitting fuel pump from my spare engine.

All-speed misfire that got me stranded in Dairy Flat - fixed mainly by replacing the dizzy cap.

Broken steering rack boot - replaced.

Massive oil squirtage throughout the engine bay discovered when in Kaukapakapa - fixed by tightening rocker cover bolts that didn't even seem loose...

There's also various extra squeaks etc coming from the suspension - time for some attention there I think.

But all that isn't very surprising.

If I had a working odometer (or even speedo cable drive come to think of it...) it would show that I've been racking up the Ks like crazy.

The girlfriend and I went away to Pakiri a little while ago, spend most the time just driving all over the incredible (and unexpected!) roads round there.

And most these Ks haven't been the most easy-going either. A lot of it is rather 'spirited' driving...

But seeing as I've actually been working a bit over these holidays, I have me some moneys to spend on this.

Plans are rather extensive and most probably won't come to fruition, but oh well...

Here's a taster of what I have planned...

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30253-sp450andles-austin-mini-1000-le/

SP450andLE · July 22, 2013

Lame update alert...

After sitting at 130 on the motorway for quite a few Ks, I looked behind me and saw blue smoke everywhere.

After shitting my pants, I pulled over and, fearing the worst, I opened the bonnet to have a looksee.

Luckily it had just squirted oil everywhere again.

So, I've come to the conclusion that the breather is clogged and when I go too fast it sometimes blows oil out past one of the grommets on the rocker cover and messes shit up.

So no biggie, I'll fix it when I do the next engine-out cleanup (which will hopefully be soon...).

SP450andLE · June 23, 2015

Wow, Its been a while since my last update...

Things have been up and down since then. I've swapped the engine out for a 1000, just temporarily. I'm slowly building up my performance 1100, but in the meantime I've bought some 20thou oversized pistons for a 1000, so I'm going to do a real quick budget rebuild on that. Basically just bored out, slotted pistons, decked head and reground cam. Keeping it simple!

But other than the engine swap, things have been going fairly well. Chucked on the Cooper S reverse rims and Yokohama A008s and now it sticks to the road even better than shit to a blanket! I honestly don't know how it does it. Next up suspension-wise is new shocks, seeing as the old ones are very well stuffed. I'll get some nice adjustable and shorter shocks so that I can adjust my suspension down a bit too - it's currently sitting on the standard height.

Other than that, I've given the interior a bit of a tidy up, with bargain reclining front seats and a Riley Elf rear seat (luxury!). I also chucked in some retro speakers and a soon to be hidden headdeck.

Now here's some pictures: