1985 Mini: rebuild ongoing (as always), 6yr update

Yeah steve stuffed it big time, roll cage kept him and pax alive and safe. I know your on TMF, Steve is on TMF too, hes Crocks.



theres a video of Steves penultimate lap, a 9:30.08!!! not bad for his first visit to the ring in a A-series mini lol

Pootle is now safely installed in the lock-up, but what a pain it was getting him in. Took 1/2 an hour to get the planks in a suitable position so he didn't beach on the edge of the floor

Took a few pics but no progress, the strip down will start this week






And a failed attempt to show the flake in the red

well, rather than going to malvern to buy panels for a project i'm not going to start for a while, i thought it wiser to do some more too pootle (and armed with my camera this time ;D

So this was how i found pootle this morning, engine out and subby on the floor


i then fitted the new subframe (after a bit of swearing), the knack with this one it seems is to get the drivers side tower bolt started first

i then spent the next few hours stripping the old subframe out and transferring the suspension across to the new subframe.







Mmmm 4 pots


then decided to see how the front end fitted


will need some work




Next weekend, subframe is coming back out for modifications

man oh man what a thread !!!
vauxhall powered mini rocks to the core !!!

well, a couple of days good progress made as we had power for the weekend

First job was to chop out and redo one of the lower frame legs



Then box in where the lower frame leg had been notched and additional box added to it


Then it was a case of going round the frame adding gussets to strengthen it were deemed necessary and welding up the open ends of the box section (stop water ingress as much as poss)






Then time to modify the shell which meant cutting a large hole in the bulkhead


and then filling it with an Allspeed box

and a coat of paint to protect it (will go red next weekend


So getting there, next weekend i'll be able to paint the subframe and build it back up, paint the bulkhead and get the subframe bolted back up

Some progress has been made, and big thanks to Garry and Owen for their help over the last 2 days ;D

Well, bright and early on Monday we gathered at the lock-up, boy was it cold

1st task, get the engine/gearbox into the subframe. it was surprisingly light to lift between 3 of us. And with a bit of jiggling and it was on all 4 mounts

Next up, swap over to the hybrid driveshafts. Hubs back of, and soon had the outer CV joints swapped over and back in the hubs. then the shafts where mated to the gearbox and all was going well. It was then the 1st of my mistakes was discovered. When trying to refit the hubs, the bottom balljoints wouldn't go through the bottom arms properly. Turns out the the bottom arms are handed, and I had them in the wrong sides . Driveshafts back out and they where soon swapped over and the hubs bolted back up

Next up was wiring in the starter motor. With a bit of routing and drilling out a connector to go over the starter it was all connected up and we could turn the engine over

Then out with the old pedal box so that we could fit the modified clutch pedal to work with the Vauxhall clutch cable. That was a pain getting that out , but it was soon converted. With the old clutch master cylinder gone and base plate removed, we could grind off the bulkhead steady mount (clashed with the inlet manifold).

The exhaust manifold could then be trial fitted (once the old gear linkage was removed).

we then played with the front end as it was getting dark and cold(er). It needed some metal removing around the driverside headlamp to clear the thermostat outlet, and it there was good scope to make enough clearance to get the rad infront of the manifold and pretty centrally.

It was then time to call it a day.

we regrouped at the lock-up at a slightly more sociable hour (but still no warmer ) where I had some bad news. Something had been bugging me over the night and then I realised what it was. One of the top arms needed to come out as one of the end washers had dropped out of the subframe when I first fitted it and I had forgotten all about it Luckily Owen didn't think that the engine would need to come all the way out and by the end of the morning, we where back where we started the day.

Next up was giving the gearlinkage some more room. Which sadly meant cutting into my allspeed bulkhead box. The engine in Pootle is sat about 1 1/2" lower than in an allspeed frame. So out with the grinder and jobs a good'n. With the gearlinkage and the allspeed mount bolted up, I could put a couple of tack welds to hold it in place and Owen could then set up the gears. So I now have 5 (+ reverse) selectable gears

Then it was time to get the pedal box back in. after a fair bit of discomfort and struggling, that was in so a hole was cut into the bulkhead and the cable fed through and connected up. So I now have a working clutch as well!

The throttle pedal was next to come out to allow the cables hole in the bulkhead to be enlarged to take the vauxhal cable.

The final job of the day was to remove some metal from the front end, so back out with the grinder. with the headlamp panel trimmed and the grill area cut back, the front was refitted. Loads of room for the thermostat housing/ rad hose and the rad can sit well forward as well.

Then it was time for some pictures (forgot the camera on Monday)

Major progress yesterday, thanks to a good days work and lots of help from Owen, Rob and Gaz and a good supply of jubilee clips from Keith, Pootle runs :-D

But before we started connecting, we finished off the brakes system (switched the pipes from the master cylinder back round and fitted the bonjo bolt Rob shortened for me) as it would have been nearly impossible to do with the inlet manifold fitted.

Then on with the water system. I ended up using a header tank from a corsa C which is nice an compact, but needed 1 outlet blocking off. It is only zip-tied on at the mo, but i now know where i need to mount it and a good idea how.

Once that was all sorted, it was time to refit the inlet manifold. What a pig to bolt up the nuts, but with a bit of swearing, it was on. Then the throttle body went back on (90 deg round to clear the master cylinder) and the throttle cable mount was 'adjusted' to suit

Next up, the wiring loom. After re-doing a couple of broken connectors, Owen soon had the loom routed inside and was busily joining up the connectors. A feed from the fuse box and a wire through to the injection pump and that was ready. Had to take back the new HT leads i brought as thy were the wrong set

Then it was time to sort out the fuel lines. 2 in the engine bay where easy enough, but a bit more fun finishing off in the boot.

Then it was time to try and fire up

We had some wiring issues (bits not getting power when they should) and a fueling problem (the overflow from the swirlpot being T'd into the facet fuel pumps supply stopped the facet taking fuel from the tank, so at the moment there is a mole grip blanking the overflow from the swirlpot), but as darkness drew in, Pootle roared to life

Vauxhall engine, - airflow meter + rev limiter =



The water system seems to be working well (, there was a small leak from the thermostat housing, but a new seal and some sealant if necessary will sort that out.

Still got a long list of jobs t sort out though, but a big step forward. Forgot to take any pics yesterday, so i popped back today (needed to tidy up a bit anyway as by the time we where finished, it was too dark to see what we where doing)









wiring work in progress


Today i did have a chance to look at ways to mount the front end. I think a small box section structure like this should do the job


i also looked at where to mount the airflow meter (we where running without it yesterday, so it was running a bit rich ) and there isn't a lot of room for an airfilter


And the final bit today was trying out my new bootlid


So all in all, great progress, but a bit more thinking to do still

Brilliant project! and it looks fab on the cosmics.

Its been gone through time and time again but what are Vaux powered mini''s like to drive? Do they feel overly nose heavy?

More progress

Spent a productive couple of hours at the lockup over the last few days building the brace-bars/ frame work for hanging the front end off

at the mo it is only tacked together (and tacked to the shell at the mo, will free it once the bolt holes are drilled)







and with the front back on





There will be extra gussets when i final weld it later this week, and brackets for mounting the header tank and the rad will be added to it also, but it should do the job.