Classic Mini - Low, Wide and Built on the Drive

Thought it was about time to show you all our project - Lenny the 1275 track car

A very brief history of the car; it's my first car and has done 47k in its 18 years on the road and was built 3 months before I was born! Also, just before we bought the car the owner slipped in that it had previously been rebuilt by the guy that built James Bond's Aston Martin DB7 and BMW Z8, at which point I went to look for the ejector seat button... I know its there somewhere!

All the work will be carried out by me and my dad in the garage, mainly to teach me how to restore/modify a car I.e welding, spraying, filling etc, and how the car works. The aim is to get it fit for hill climbs by the time it gets to summer!

This is how it looked when we picked it up:



After some small mods such as deep dish wheels, wider arches, an engine start button and a stereo, we dicided it was time to do things properly. So, once I was home from college one evening I parked it on the drive and began the strip-down:





Interior before the rebuild (minus one front seat)


Out with the old!


We then rolled it into the garage knowing that it wouldn't be coming back out for a few months, which was sad but I knew it would be perfect once it finally returned to the world

Once we'd got it in the garage we stripped back the paint where bubbles were forming, mainly under the windscreen, below the doors and on the front valance. Once these were treated, we poked around in the boot only to find a hole in the floor which needed sorting out. We ground out the hole/patch of rust, cut a piece of steel to fit and welded it in, ground down the welds and job's a good'n! Weldy pictures will come later once I've found my other camera

As we were around the bumper area and had the welder out, it seemed like a good time to get de-bumpering! After much deliberation over what type of bumpers to run on the finished car, we eventually decided that no bumpers at all would be best for a clean, racey look so got to work grinding off the rusty lips and welding up the seems. We found that grind a bit, weld a bit was the best tactic and stopped the valances from falling off like in some of the horror stories I've heard about!



Once we'd skimmed these with filler we went about fitting a sportex 3" cat-back exhaust (which tucks nicely up against the rear valance and doesn't stick out too far) and started the engine for the first time in about 8 months. Sounds like an absolute beast! Really deep note with some nice rumbling on tick over, well worth the money. Once a lack-of-fuel problem was sorted (put a bit of fuel directly into the carb to get the engine turning over and clear the fuel pipes of air bubbles) the engine started straight away! (see the exhaust above ^^^)

So this is where we are now, lots more to come and we'll keep you updated as it happens!



Oh and I lost my wheel arches somewhere along the line! No idea where they’ve gone, it’s taught me to be more organised and in control instead of the bull in a china shop approach

So these are the plans for the future and how I want it to be when it’s finished:

* Debumpered front and back
* Mk1 bonnet and grille, and raised bonnet hinges
* Smoothed boot lid
* Lowered on Gaz adjustable shocks
* Stripped interior – remove back seats, floor mats and carpets
* Racing seats and harnesses (FIA approved) – Cobra Monacos
* Deep dish quick release steering wheel
* Carbon fibre dash, door cards and parcel shelf
* Safety devices roll cage
* 13x8" wheels (Once I get the money to import them)
* Sticker bombed details
* Sigle seater carbon fibre mirrors
* New arches!
* All red rear lights and clear indicators and side repeaters



Oh, and all on a student budget!

More coming soon, Tom