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I have just purchased a mini clubman estate. Its a complete heap and is basically just a shell. which means........ I will most likely be frequenting mini forums as well as this place in search of parts and advice. Trouble is most marques have maybe only a couple of forums to choose from after a "mini forum" google I'm spoilt for choice and don't no where to start! Being the diverse bunch we are here I'm sure there we be a few mini folk about that could help to point me in the right direction. If any of the mini forum have a similar atmosphere to this place it would be grand if someone could point me in the right direction, but any advice on where is best to go for spares or where best for advice etc would be much appreciated. I would include pics of said heap, but I don't collect it till next weekend!
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Current cars:-
2001 P38 Range Rover 4.0 V8 (economical family run about) 1980 Mini Clubman estate (very much in a state!)rolling shell project 1976 Reliant Robin saloon 1998 kawasaki zzr 600 (the commuter)
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OUTRUN
Part of things
13...
Posts: 620
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The Mini Forum would be where I start mate.
There's a few dicks on it, but show me where there's not!
Overall though, does what it says on the tin.
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I need your help to get back to the year 1985.
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There's a few dicks on it, but show me where there's not! Um - RR? ;D I quit reading & writing in pretty much all of the Mini forums...
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Id use TMF as a reading resource only. I left properly ages ago because its just full of people who want to argue about everything and most people on there seem to have a 'holier than thou' attitude. Oh, and the majority refuse to use the search function and are illiterate.
Best to use it to search for information, but stay on here, then again, theres nothing you cant really learn with a haynes manual that you could learn on TMF.
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Oh and absolutely do not go on Minifinity, you will kill yourself.
Its a bit like walking into a local that nobody knows about apart from the locals...
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mk1 forum is good, but pretty focussed on the early ones.
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Click picture for more
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I quit reading & writing in pretty much all of the Mini forums... Same here. I ended up just using TMF for reference. I'd think There's enough people on here with the knowledge and experiance to help. I live in the same area as you and I used to just use Minispares, good lads who work there too (by he M5 Toys r us island) and go to autojumbles for parts (British Mini Day at Himley Hall used to be very good, good to chat with other Mini owners too) as long as the said show/autojumble wasn't too far There's an old Mini specialist in Bilston who's very knowledgable. The number of Dicks in the Mini scene has increased a lot in recent times.
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1993 Mercedes-Benz 190e LE in Azzuro Blue.
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I gave up on all of them years ago.
The pety arguments and cock shaking between members was ridiculous.
Best thing I did was quit them and sign up to Retro Rides.
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OUTRUN
Part of things
13...
Posts: 620
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There's a few dicks on it, but show me where there's not! Um - RR? ;D Well of course. I meant forums that cater specifically to Mini's though!
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I need your help to get back to the year 1985.
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I went back on tmf a month or so ago after not been on for a while. Like said above its gone weird, its more like clubpolo now haha. Arguing, people repeatedly asking 'will these wheels look good?' 'will these arches cover things?' Amazing how many people have access to the internet but don't own a tape measure or eyes
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Yeah its all been covered in a few short posts. I particularly like the use of the term 'cock shaking' ahaha.
The amount of dicks has certainly increased. Ive had minis since i was 12, and by the time i went to a mini show in my own car id been into minis for 6 years, so i'd had 6 years exposure to repetetive threads and other forum tosh, and by the time i went to shows i was highly unenthused. Not trying to put you off the scene entirely, just trying to say, don't get involved in the politics and arguing or you will be put off!
You can easily see to this clubman with nothing but a manual and common sense, i learned my way around one just by taking it apart. My advice would be to get a haynes manual and a restoration manual if you feel that will help you, and use the mini forum as a reading resource if needs be. When you take it apart take loads of reference photos and make sure you keep everything as together as you can and box or bag it all up and then you should have no problems tackling said car!
Best of luck, oh and if you're brand new to minis make sure you learn the difference between normal sills and oversills because the latter are bad, bad news!
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I gave up on all of them years ago. The pety arguments and cock shaking between members was ridiculous. Best thing I did was quit them and sign up to Retro Rides. best thing i did was give up and go back to VWs, gave my last clubby estate away.
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craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,998
Club RR Member Number: 35
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Mini forums, which one?craig1010cc
@craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member 35
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I would look out the clubman estate register and also try and find a local club too
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Oh and absolutely do not go on Minifinity, you will kill yourself. Its a bit like walking into a local that nobody knows about apart from the locals... That bad these days eh? One of the worst hangovers I ever had was after a Minifinity birthday bash in the Lakes. At the time a lot of the members from various regions met up quite frequently so it did appear a bit cliquey. It wasn't, everyone was welcome, it just seemed it. Personally, I stayed well away from the tech section for the most part. There are a lot of Mini people who consider themselves to be world renowned experts on the subject and love to take the opportunity to belittle everyone else.
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Jaguar S-Type 3.0 SE
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Minifinity used to be one of the best communities I had the pleasure to be part of - but at one point, their main server went down, and they had several problems with regards to logging on - a lot of people gave up trying, and it turned into a ghost town.
Again, good for using the search function (there was a LOT of good info on there I recall) but I'd say most of what you could get on the mini forums, you can get on here too. Possibly safe to say most people on here have played with minis at one point or another - but aren't anal about you having to have a certain wheel type,or arch, or having the "wrong paint colour", etc, etc
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You're like a crazy backyard genius!
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Oh and absolutely do not go on Minifinity, you will kill yourself. Its a bit like walking into a local that nobody knows about apart from the locals... That bad these days eh? One of the worst hangovers I ever had was after a Minifinity birthday bash in the Lakes. At the time a lot of the members from various regions met up quite frequently so it did appear a bit cliquey. It wasn't, everyone was welcome, it just seemed it. Personally, I stayed well away from the tech section for the most part. There are a lot of Mini people who consider themselves to be world renowned experts on the subject and love to take the opportunity to belittle everyone else. I got flamed off of there a couple of years ago and i havent been back since (and have no desire to!)
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Thanks very much for the input guys! I live in the same area as you and I used to just use Minispares, good lads who work there too (by he M5 Toys r us island) These guys are soon to be my new best friends, they just don't know it yet! and go to autojumbles for parts (British Mini Day at Himley Hall used to be very good. I'm already looking forward to May! There's an old Mini specialist in Bilston who's very knowledgable. Does this place still exist? I remember going there some 15yrs ago or more I thought it had closed down? I'll mostly be looking for advise on welding I'm definately going to be doing floor pans and sills and a few other repairs here and there. The nuts and bolts side of things isn't a problem to me. welding on the other hand is a different kettle of fish!
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Current cars:-
2001 P38 Range Rover 4.0 V8 (economical family run about) 1980 Mini Clubman estate (very much in a state!)rolling shell project 1976 Reliant Robin saloon 1998 kawasaki zzr 600 (the commuter)
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