For sale here we have a 1982 Mini HLE Auto. According to 'howmanyleft.co.uk' at the end of last year there was only four of these left on the road. Ran from new by a lady owner in Chiswick until she stopped driving in 2003, it was then bought by a mechanic at the garage it was serviced at and I then bought the car in late summer of last year. It has had the following work done:
Welding:
O/S front floorpan replacement
O/S A-Panel replacement
Around 75% of O/S inner sill replaced
Around 50% of N/S Sill replaced
O/S Flitch panel localised repair
N/S Flitch panel small localised repair
O/S Doorstep small repair
Both N/S and O/S outer sills were oversills and were replaced with the correct narrow 4” vented outer sills (pictured)
N/S and O/S Jacking points also replaced while the sills were being done.
Boot floor corner given invisible local repair.
Small repairs to N/S and O/S wings and scuttle corners.
This car came off the road at some point in 2003 and sat mostly indoors for the next 12 years, before I did the outlined welding and put it back on the road this month. All repairs were done with the greatest care and were done in such a way as to look factory. There is nothing worse than welding a patch over the top of a rusty panel to get it through an MOT. This car was riddled with such examples and is now completely free of such repairs and looking essentially how it did as it left the factory in terms of bodywork. The well hidden areas which are not normally checked by buyers when looking to buy a mini are all solid. Around the fresh air vents and the scuttle panel closing panels are all perfect. The doorsteps are the original factory ones, with only a small invisible repair required on the drivers side.
People always stick ‘oversills’ on minis, these are wide sills which fit over the top of a rusted factory sill in order to bodge a car through its MOT. The main problem with these being that mini sills are designed to be vented to let moisture escape, closing them up like this means they are not vented and the car rusts from the inside out. Hence the requirement on most minis including all the ones I’ve done is always full replacement of the inner sills, outer sills, doorsteps, flitch panels and so forth. Anything structural, basically. With this car, you don’t have to worry about that any more. Everything has been done correctly to factory spec, the underside has been waxoyled where repaired and it now has the correct structure, meaning this car should last many many years to come.
A NOS exhaust appears to have been fitted and at the time of its last MOT still had the sticker on it! After the welding was done, some spot repairs were required to the paint, this is the only area that really lets the car down - The paint is a bit naff. It has a small dent in the rear and the original bootlid was caved in, which leads me to believe it was backed into a low wall. I replaced the bootlid with a solid one and i was going to spray the roof white to match (it must also be noted that the roof lacquer is deeply scratched as if it had something stored on it over a long space of time, hence i was going to paint it, but for now i have left it), if the car sells at the right price i will throw the paint in with it but for now i have left it. The car has clearly been resprayed in the past, at least to some extent, if not fully.
Mechanical/MOT work done as follows:
New engine mounts both sides
Brand new brake master cylinder fitted
Brand new brake cylinders all round, brake shoes replaced where required.
New front brake hoses also fitted.
Replaced track rod end boots
Replaced steering rack boots
Re-shimmed ball joints to correct stiffness, regreased and fitted new boots
New starter solenoid and starter motor cable fitted to improve cranking speed.
New front indicators and washer jets fitted for MOT.
Brand new battery fitted
Serviced (oil change, replaced oil filter and air filter).
Reset engine timing as it was slightly retarded.
Rebuilt carburettor due to reluctance to start, it pulled an air leak around the float bowl outlet and has now been rebuilt with new gaskets and O-rings and as a result the car starts straight up now.
The car has also had new HT leads, points, condenser, distributor cap, and rotor arm.
As mentioned this car has lots of little foibles, the drivers door creaks when you open it (needs shimming), the passenger door is a little stiff, and so on. The doors are rusty, hence the aluminium tape repair on the nearside, one skin is fine but it has gone along the bottom of the frame and the other door has holing (hence tape) and has also gone along the bottom. I had intended to keep the car and the plan was to convert it to manual and have it painted, but i've got two other minis and lots of other things hanging round my neck so I've got to cut and run with this one. All the hard work has been done and all the usual mini horrors have been dealt with. Its not rusty, it drives as it should, and it stops fairly well considering some of the experiences i've had with drum brakes.
All in all, a very nice example for the money with all the lash-ups removed. I’ve seen far worse selling at this price and providing it’s maintained properly it should never need any serious work ever again. I would suggest a viewing if you are serious about buying because you may spot something i've missed and you can get a good idea of how happy you are with the paintwork etc. Thanks for looking, viewing is welcomed, just contact me to arrange!
Will also consider swaps or part exes but a straight sale is preferable. Car located in Farnham, Surrey.
Welding:
O/S front floorpan replacement
O/S A-Panel replacement
Around 75% of O/S inner sill replaced
Around 50% of N/S Sill replaced
O/S Flitch panel localised repair
N/S Flitch panel small localised repair
O/S Doorstep small repair
Both N/S and O/S outer sills were oversills and were replaced with the correct narrow 4” vented outer sills (pictured)
N/S and O/S Jacking points also replaced while the sills were being done.
Boot floor corner given invisible local repair.
Small repairs to N/S and O/S wings and scuttle corners.
This car came off the road at some point in 2003 and sat mostly indoors for the next 12 years, before I did the outlined welding and put it back on the road this month. All repairs were done with the greatest care and were done in such a way as to look factory. There is nothing worse than welding a patch over the top of a rusty panel to get it through an MOT. This car was riddled with such examples and is now completely free of such repairs and looking essentially how it did as it left the factory in terms of bodywork. The well hidden areas which are not normally checked by buyers when looking to buy a mini are all solid. Around the fresh air vents and the scuttle panel closing panels are all perfect. The doorsteps are the original factory ones, with only a small invisible repair required on the drivers side.
People always stick ‘oversills’ on minis, these are wide sills which fit over the top of a rusted factory sill in order to bodge a car through its MOT. The main problem with these being that mini sills are designed to be vented to let moisture escape, closing them up like this means they are not vented and the car rusts from the inside out. Hence the requirement on most minis including all the ones I’ve done is always full replacement of the inner sills, outer sills, doorsteps, flitch panels and so forth. Anything structural, basically. With this car, you don’t have to worry about that any more. Everything has been done correctly to factory spec, the underside has been waxoyled where repaired and it now has the correct structure, meaning this car should last many many years to come.
A NOS exhaust appears to have been fitted and at the time of its last MOT still had the sticker on it! After the welding was done, some spot repairs were required to the paint, this is the only area that really lets the car down - The paint is a bit naff. It has a small dent in the rear and the original bootlid was caved in, which leads me to believe it was backed into a low wall. I replaced the bootlid with a solid one and i was going to spray the roof white to match (it must also be noted that the roof lacquer is deeply scratched as if it had something stored on it over a long space of time, hence i was going to paint it, but for now i have left it), if the car sells at the right price i will throw the paint in with it but for now i have left it. The car has clearly been resprayed in the past, at least to some extent, if not fully.
Mechanical/MOT work done as follows:
New engine mounts both sides
Brand new brake master cylinder fitted
Brand new brake cylinders all round, brake shoes replaced where required.
New front brake hoses also fitted.
Replaced track rod end boots
Replaced steering rack boots
Re-shimmed ball joints to correct stiffness, regreased and fitted new boots
New starter solenoid and starter motor cable fitted to improve cranking speed.
New front indicators and washer jets fitted for MOT.
Brand new battery fitted
Serviced (oil change, replaced oil filter and air filter).
Reset engine timing as it was slightly retarded.
Rebuilt carburettor due to reluctance to start, it pulled an air leak around the float bowl outlet and has now been rebuilt with new gaskets and O-rings and as a result the car starts straight up now.
The car has also had new HT leads, points, condenser, distributor cap, and rotor arm.
As mentioned this car has lots of little foibles, the drivers door creaks when you open it (needs shimming), the passenger door is a little stiff, and so on. The doors are rusty, hence the aluminium tape repair on the nearside, one skin is fine but it has gone along the bottom of the frame and the other door has holing (hence tape) and has also gone along the bottom. I had intended to keep the car and the plan was to convert it to manual and have it painted, but i've got two other minis and lots of other things hanging round my neck so I've got to cut and run with this one. All the hard work has been done and all the usual mini horrors have been dealt with. Its not rusty, it drives as it should, and it stops fairly well considering some of the experiences i've had with drum brakes.
All in all, a very nice example for the money with all the lash-ups removed. I’ve seen far worse selling at this price and providing it’s maintained properly it should never need any serious work ever again. I would suggest a viewing if you are serious about buying because you may spot something i've missed and you can get a good idea of how happy you are with the paintwork etc. Thanks for looking, viewing is welcomed, just contact me to arrange!
Will also consider swaps or part exes but a straight sale is preferable. Car located in Farnham, Surrey.
